Connect A PC To The Local Network but NOT On The Internet

If you have a bunch of PCs connected to a router and that router connected to the Internet, no one on the Internet side can see your PCs. They can't get past the router.

Don't assign a default gateway at all on the machine. 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0 are good uses however if I remember correctly Windows doesn't like these being assigned. In such case just leave it blank and the static configuration should take place.

Of course this would take DHCP out of the equation so you would need to set a static IP address in order for it to be effective... Time consuming...

I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that you are in fact rather secure behind your router with both NAT (Network Address Translation) and your ISP taking considerable action to protect you.

NAT quite simply translates your IP address to an IP address belonging to your ISP so that it can be used on the internet. The big advantage of this is that no one from the internet or outside can reach your machine unless you initiated the connection. How would you initiate the connection? Either purposely via a browser or network application or some malicious code done the connection for you..

Personally, when it comes to protecting an internet connection I would be largely concerned with the anti-virus and malware security of the machines rather than big network related attacks. Your ISP will filter these big network attacks out while you can focus on ensuring that your machine is free from infection.

If you still wish to connect your machine to your local network while removing internet connectivity then can you please follow this tutorial and upload an IPconfig while you are connected to the internet so we can propose a potential static IP address to use

Basic Requirements Before Posting your Networking Thread

Hope This Helps,
Josh :)

basicfriday said:

Thanks for the info. So you are saying if I set my one computer up with a static IP with no default gateway, having no antivirus software or malware software as long as I don't connect to the Internet through a browser or any other Internet related software (mail etc.) my PC is safe? I only need this done on my one computer. The other computers are protected.

Would this be true for other older O/S's like Windows 98 or XP?

That is correct! Though be careful with the no anti-virus part. It is still possible for a machine to be infected from other sources such as removable flash drives or file shares where one PC on your local network was infected and it then spread to the non internet connected one.

The same concept and scenario applies regardless of operating system or device.

Josh :)

basicfriday said:

Then how is it that ZoneAlarm shows IP address's from other places being blocked? Also, Malwarebytes can show blocked IP's. I think just because your behind a router your PC is still vulnerable to attack.

Someone from the internet CANNOT access that pc! You can only go outside (to internet) and get a response to that request.