2 questions about downloading with dial-up

First, does anyone know about how long it takes to download Microsoft Security Essentials using dial-up.

2. If I download MSE to my desktop, drag it to a flash drive, then load in on another computer and install it. Will it work?

My SIL has dial-up which is slow and I'm not sure if I will be able to download it on her computer before her dial-up cuts off.

She does have Win.7

Bets

You can estimate the time to download using this calculator -

Download Speed Calculator

MS Essentials is 13.1 MB, so a dialup connection at 56.Kb would take about 32 minutes.

Yes, you can download it to a flash drive and install it on another PC.

MS Security Essentials is about 10.7 MB.
Dialup is supposed to be 56kbits/sec, but it's actually less -- sometimes a lot less. Assuming it's 33kbits/sec you could estimate 3/4 of an hour. If you've got good dialup at 48kbits/sec, it would take more like half an hour. That's assuming no stalls or disconnects.


Yes.

And the link I sent you should work for just downloading MSE and none of the other things included in Live Essentials.

The times given by others might be even longer if the phone line is not clean, that is, if it doesn't have any type of trouble on it. If there is trouble of any kind on the line, even light trouble, then the CRC check isn't going to match what was sent and that packet will be sent again. Depending on how many CRC checks that don't match, that amount of re-sends will also have to be added to the normal total time.

I didn't think you could still get dial-up. Is it free or something?

no, mj2c, it's not free and in many, many place in the US, it's all you can get. We have absolutely dreadful broadband coverage in our country. I would still be on dial-up if a local company hadn't put up towers to broadcast wireless broadband. There are cell phone services that offer it, but there are caps on data and it's not very reliable out in the country. We do have satellite high speed internet, but it's very expensive.

Blimey. Usually America are ahead of us in techie stuff but they sound waaay behind in net access. I get my broadband through cable and I'm on the lowest speed they do, 30mb. Costs me about 23 quid so don't know how that compares to your prices.

I don't know where the US ranks now, but last year we were #16 in broadband coverage. I pay $50 a month for less than 1 MB download speed. My son has the local cable company and he pays almost $100 a month for 30 MB - and that doesn't include his TV subscription.

Your 30 MB for 23 quid make me want to weep...

My SIL has Avast but it is about to expire. I looked at it, the free one, and it does not automatically update, manual only. She is not computer savvy so does not get updates during the year. What does anyone else think of Avast free version?

Well I'm using the free version and it *does* automatically update the engine and virus definitions if you select that option in the 'update' settings.

Avast is fine, but you do have to register it every year. I found it a pain. Like mj2c says, it should update automatically if you select that in the settings. In fact, I think that is the default setting. Before I switched to MSE on my XP computer, it used to drive me nuts waiting to use my internet while Avast updated when I booted up. I could have changed when it did the automatic update, but I never did. Having to renew the free subscription every year just annoyed me because I know it's just an attempt to get you to upgrade to the paid one.

Drac, will MSE automatically update on dial-up like it does for us on DSL?

I don't know of anything that will do automatic updates until she physically connects to the internet. It can't do automatic updates unless it's connected. So when she boots up, she will need to make a connection, open up MSE and do an update. There is no way around this....

Considering broadband service, many of those living in the rural area don't have a choice to have broadband. That isn't to say broadband isn't possible, but it's rare for the local phone company to provide the service. And because rural areas usually don't have cable TV, they don't even had a choice for the cable TV provider to provide broadband.

In all cases it would require new equipment in the central offices, new cables buried to add to or replace existing cables, and enough people subscribing to the service so recovered returns would quickly cover the initial cost of building the entire system.

Small towns might cover the initial costs, but once outside of the small towns, where many ranchers and farmers live, and those who just live in the middle of nowhere, cost to these people might be such that they could not afford the service.

As long as expenses are more important than customer service, many rural areas will likely never see broadband service. Just a side note, my phone company not only provides broadband service but digital TV. And they do so through the use of fiber optic cables.

WinXP has the option of automatically dialing a provider so if some program is set for automatic updates, the program will trigger the dialing routine, and after a connection will update without user action.
If you set WinXP so that the dialer does not require approval to dial an Internet connection, the entire process will be automatic.

The above is a potential disaster waiting to happen given the abundance of malware infections. I don't permit automatic dialing or even auto-updates of programs on my WinXP system.

My hometown is up in extreme NW Iowa just 7 miles from the South Dakota border and 3 miles from the Minnesota border. Yup, it's COLD up there in the winter! My town is all of 750 people as are most of the other surrounding towns. The local communications company - Alliance Communications - laid fiber optic in my town and several of the other towns. They offer unbelievable broadband, cable and telephone service in this rural farm community. In the surrounding farms in the country, they don't have fiber optic cable, but they do provide excellent broadband, TV and phone service. Even though they are the only game in town, so to speak, they keep their prices down in the lower stratosphere. My mom paid just a little over $100 a month for their highest cable, internet and phone package.

I pine (and occasionally whine) for such service down here near St. Louis, Missouri.

Drac, have you heard that Nixon wants to get high speed internet to all rural Missouri residents? So far, he has not done it. Since my SIL just gets social security, she has to watch her spending and gets her dial-up through the county and it only costs her $15 a month. She may be able to get high speed but it is much higher. More then she can swing right now.

I downloaded the MSE you sent me, saved it on a flash drive and will put it on her computer this weekend. Thanks much.

Yes, I heard Nixon is working on it. Actually, there is some group trying to get it going because it's good for rural businesses. That's the problem - it's ridiculously expensive. What I wouldn't give for the speeds that other countries get for $20 or $30 a month!

Drac, what you described going on in your hometown is exactly what my phone company has done, and I think they can because they don't have the high overhead the corporations have. Or the areas they cover.

It's sad the small companies realize doing this helps boast service(s) and gives them a shot in the arm in standing with their customers, but the corporations only see it as a loss in the bank book. As happened in the past, it may take a law before the corporations get on board in providing broadband service to even the furtherest out in the areas of coverage. Another testimony to the attitudes small companies have toward their customers vs. the corporations. Good service is, after all, the real name of the game.

Getting back to the original question.
The Microsoft Security Essentials program for WinXP (mseinstall.exe) is 10.7Megs but that does not include the required definition files!

MSE will not work until the definition files are downloaded and that package is 75.6Megs. A typical 56K modem will get a usable connection of 38.6 Kbps (that's the best mine can do) and it took over 5 hours to download these files.
I'm going to experiment with MSE to see if you are forced to download 75.6Megs each update or if only the changed definitions are required. If each update requires something on the order of 70-80Megs, then MSE is not a suitable program for dial-up connections with a 56K modem.

If you are lucky enough to have a library nearby that offers broadband connected computers, you can download the updates, take them home, and install them on your system instead of using the automatic update that is part of MSE.
The 32-bit WinXP defs are at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87342
as described at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971606

Good point, Robert. The initial update is probably that big, but it seems that subsequent updates are not. If she updates the virus definitions daily, there shouldn't be any more big ones.

Homer, here is what this small telecommunications company did for my 90 year-old mother. When she had to move over to the nursing home this May, one of the things she missed the most was her RFD TV. Heaven forbid she couldn't watch Polka Party on Saturday night! The nursing home only had very basic cable. Alliance Communications came down there and 3 guys worked most of a day to run cables in the ceiling down to her room so she could get the subscription that included RFD TV. They charged her $75 to do it and a mere $13 a month more over the $20 a month for basic cable. They made her so happy I swear she giggled. Can you see any of the big telecommunications companies bothering for one old woman in a nursing home?

That's the height of service Drac. And no, I can't see the giants doing all this work for one 90 year old lady. Heck, they wouldn't even do it for a person living 20 miles outside of town, only house at the end of the road.

I am going to put MSE on her Win 7 computer and teach her how to download the updates. Her dial-up is so slow and her daughter, who is on DSL, and I get so frustrated with it. Hope she can see to do it. She is having problems with macular degeneration. Need to show her how to make the print larger by using Ctr and the wheel on her mouse.

I did this for my mom when she was still on dial-up. I just made a document with instructions using a VERY large font in bold and printed it our for her.

Great idea Drac. Thanks.

Apparently we do still have dial-up here -

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a5...-september.html

I didn't put MSE on my SIL's computer. Just re-registered for her. Tried to update it but her dial-up was so slow. Showed and wrote down for her, how to update. Very easy. Told her to try doing it late at night when the internet is not being used as much as during the day.

Hope that group can get this going for the rural areas. Let me know if you hear anything Drac.

I sure will...

I sure will...

What did you re-register? The Avast?

Yes.