Home networking - is it 'safe'?

[#1]

A friend of the wife's has an old laptop, which she uses for online banking. This is a replacement for a 'blown' desktop.  Her son-in-law set it up, yet when she tried to access the sites she got an expired license warning. I was 'volunteered' to fix it. This was an easy fix, the date on laptop was wrong - by ten years.
Now the problem.  It only has an 18GB hard drive and 500Mb Ram.  Again, I was volunteered to clear off some of the data and increase the Ram. Ram is no problem. However, she wants me to record all data on dvd = but no dvd writer.
I am considering setting up a home network and transferring to my laptop then burning to dvd.  The Old laptop has no anti-virus, and as she has been accessing the internet I am concerned about transferring data to my laptop without adequate protection.
Will my anti-virus scan data that is transferred across a home network? or will it be safe to transfer to dedicated folder and scan the folder after transfer? or will it not be necessary to scan it as I am not actually going to open it, just burn it to dvd then delete?
My anti-virus is Microsoft security essentials, supplemented by malware bytes.
Any suggestions?

[#2]

Can you remove the laptop HDD?
Have you got (access/loan of) a caddy?
If yes to the above,.... you could put the HDD in the Caddy, then run your antivirus on the E:/ drive ( or whatever shows up)... Then you could check individual folders, and if "clean", you should be able to do a direct "burn" to your DVD drive from the E:/ caddy drive

[#3]

With only an 18GB there can't be more data than could easily fit on a 16GB memory stick.
Copy across to the stick then scan when in your PC then burn to DVD.

[#4]

I have used Microsoft Security Essentials to scan a drive on another computer via a network.  But it would be entirely safe to move the folder and scan it afterwards.  Just don't transfer the contents directly into the root of a USB stick then plug it into a computer that is set to run any executable files it finds when a USB stick is plugged-in.  Computer viruses are not living entities.  As with all computer programs, they don't do anything unless you run them.  But some computers run executables automatically under some circumstances.

[#5]

Quote from: ReedRichards

Just don't transfer the contents directly into the root of a USB stick then plug it into a computer that is set to run any executable files it finds when a USB stick is plugged-in.

Good point. I never put stuff directly into the root folder of a USB stick.

[#6]

You should be ok to transfer via the network. Most AV programs have real time scanning shields that scan network file transfers in real time.

[#7]

Thanks everyone.
I do have an 8GB stick, and there is 11GB to transfer/burn.So will take that route as I would feel as though I have more control ( psychological, I know).
Gotta love these forums ... so many helpful and knowledgeable people.      Thanks. 

[#8]

Surely PC's with 18GB drives are much older than PC's with USB?
Why not just use FTP to transfer from machine A to machine B (via ip address). 

[#9]

Thats a good point even if it does have USB it's likely to be USB 1 not USB 2 so it won't be a fast disk writing operation to the usb drive.
FTP would also be a tad slow too but reliable at least.

[#10]

My machine is a 64 bit dual core - but it came with a diskette drive installed (but not connected). 

[#11]

  success
  Usb needed only to set up home network.  And as a bonus, which I didn't realise, I was able to scan the older computer with the anti-virus on the newer one over the home network.
Then, again I didn't realise, I was able to burn directly to disk without actually having any data 'touchdown' on the newer PC.
All in all an eye-opener for me.
Thanks again guys