Making Windows XP Secure for One Website

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RoGuE

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I recently acquired a new (old) computer for my dad to use. A nice HP business SFF with a C2D E6300 with 2GB of RAM (unfortunately in 4 512MB modules). Anyway, I loaded Linux Mint 17 on it which works wonderfully for all his needs except he likes to watch some content on Amazon Prime.

Since Flash doesn't work for Amazon video on Linux (without a huge hassle), I set it up to dual boot with XP. I installed XP fresh, updated it completely, installed Chrome and set it up to go straight to Amazon as the start page. I also added the extensions Adblock and Scriptsafe and only allowed Amazon on it's whitelist.

Should this make XP safe enough without compromising the Amazon account or the OS itself? All other usage will be on Linux.
 
There are going to be OS exploits, and xp is going to be a big target.

I would play around with other linux distros and see if you can throw one on there that works out of the box.
 
I would not worry much.

This is coming from a developer who had wife use Thinkpad T30 for 4 years without any virus software on Win XP for web surfacing since it was too slow with it. Never caught a thing as I'd occasionally install it to check system.
 
Originally Posted By: RoGuE
Since Flash doesn't work for Amazon video on Linux (without a huge hassle),


Have you tried it with the Google Chrome browser? It's got an up-to-date and official Flash player.
 
Does he really want to watch the video on his computer. You could get him a BD/DVD player, or other device, that has an Amazon app.
 
If not done already, I would make the account used a standard user account, using another account for the administrator role.

Day to day work should not be as an administrator.
 
If all he does on the XT boot is watch videos on a secure site, what's the risk? Can anything be exploited if he's not going anywhere else but this one secure site? My hunch is, he'll be fine.
 
He should be fine, as already mentioned, don't run the XP account as admin. Also, have you tried watching the amazon movies on Chrome under Linux?
 
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: RoGuE
Since Flash doesn't work for Amazon video on Linux (without a huge hassle),


Have you tried it with the Google Chrome browser? It's got an up-to-date and official Flash player.


yep still does not work.
 
Are you at all interested in trying to get Linux to work? Can you install pepper and chromium and try that?
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skunk/pepper-flash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pepflashplugin-installer

sudo apt-get install gksu
gksu gksu gedit /etc/chromium-browser/default
 
Originally Posted By: Curtis Newton
Are you at all interested in trying to get Linux to work? Can you install pepper and chromium and try that?
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skunk/pepper-flash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pepflashplugin-installer

sudo apt-get install gksu
gksu gksu gedit /etc/chromium-browser/default


That'll just bring things up to par with the Flash installation contained with Google's Chrome, which ain't working.

Someone asked on the Ubuntu forums http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2121086 and the first response was just to install the Hardware Abstraction Layer application (hal). The OP said that fixed it, but I am not even sure if hal is still in the repositories! Either way, there were some other suggestions there as well. It seems as though the videos from Amazon are DRM (booooooo!) and Linux usually does not play nice with non-free media like that.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yeah, on Firefox it obviously says that the version of Flash is old. On Chrome it doesn't say that but it just sits at a gray screen and won't play. From what I have read, HAL is not in the repositories anymore and it seems like a lit of work to set it up now.
 
Yeah, if that is all he is going to do on XP I personally wouldn't be too worried. Make sure you have a good antivirus like Avast free up and running on XP as well. Then he can do the rest on Linux!
 
Originally Posted By: SrDriver
The only way to make XP secure is not to access the internet.

The Google Chrome Web Browser will work well with Linux and solve your problem.


Could you elaborate or is this a broad generalization that may not be applicable to the OP?
 
I don't have prime, so I don't know if the formats are the same, but I am able to watch trailers on instant video on my Linux Mint 17 installation.
 
Originally Posted By: Curtis Newton
I don't have prime, so I don't know if the formats are the same, but I am able to watch trailers on instant video on my Linux Mint 17 installation.


I am not sure it is strictly a matter of format; but one of DRM. Digital Rights Management uses some cryptographic voodoo to oversee that intellectual property is not used in ways that the owner of that property deems inappropriate (like paying purchased media on non-approved devices).

You are not in control or in a position or ownership with DRM-encumbered media and that does not play nicely with Linux, as the community using Linux tends to value openness and freedom over all else; viewing restrictions like DRM as enemies of freedom. For that reason, makers of DRM-encumbered media do not usually voluntarily support Linux and Linux developers do not tend to spend their time and effort clandestinely (and with dubious legal footing) reverse-engineer DRM.

This catch-22 is not lost on the makers of proprietary closed-source software and media. They benefit by the marginalization and non-compatibility of free, open-source technologies so that users who wish to use proprietary, closed-source technologies (DRM media, Microsoft Office formats, for example) are forced to use vendor-approved products that better position them to exploit their property and their consumers.
 
That would work if the video wasn't out of date. HAL has since been removed from the repository from what I have learned. Is there a way to still get it?
 
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