04-01-2013, 08:40 PM | #31 | |
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Just to add a thought about Linux, I've tried it on a couple of occasions and have always run into problems. Maybe my hardware doesn't like Linux. The last time I tried 64-bit Ubuntu. It looked great at first. Started stuttering and freezing. Ended up refusing to boot. I was running it from a USB stick. I'm not computer illiterate but still found the installation procedure for Ubuntu to be annoying and overly difficult. The installation of Ubuntu gave me a number of options but never explained their significance. "You didn't make a home partition. Would you like to continue without one?" It never said what a home partition was. I had to go back to the partition screen and create the partition myself. I, unfortunately, have far too many physical problems to be heaping a bunch of digital problems on top of them. I've got an old laptop in storage somewhere. If I could find it, then I would try putting Linux onto that since I wouldn't care if it burned up (metaphorically speaking). |
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04-01-2013, 09:57 PM | #32 | |
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It is safe to use Java in programs like OpenOffice and LibreOffice since the programs themselves are trusted and you aren't retrieving untrusted code over the Internet. The problem lies with the web browser plugin, since that can retrieve Java code from untrusted sources. (Incidentally, most people could get away with running OpenOffice without having Java installed.)
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04-01-2013, 10:35 PM | #33 |
Gregg Bell
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I read all these posts and just want to thank everybody for the great information and wise counsel. Right now Linux is beyond what I'm looking to take on, but I'm sure if I keep hanging around you guys, one of these days I might give it a shot. Thanks again.
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04-02-2013, 12:22 AM | #34 | ||||
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04-02-2013, 12:27 AM | #35 |
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Depends on exactly what install disk you're using. The OEM disks are usually dirt simple. At most, you have to install drivers from a second disk. But even retail versions, so long as you have the drivers for hardware newer than the install disk, I don't get why people have so much trouble. The only issues I've ever had, from 98 on, was when I don't have a driver handy for a (built-in) network card. And that can be solved by throwing in a second card long enough to download drivers for the first one. Once you're online, all the world is at your fingertips, provided your hardware isn't so old that nobod ever bothered to write drivers for newer versions of Windows.
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04-02-2013, 06:58 PM | #36 | |
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Once installed, everything worked. Video. Audio. Internet. Then it started stuttering and ended up refusing to boot. I put the poor thing out of my misery and wiped the stick. |
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04-02-2013, 09:57 PM | #37 | |
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Now I understand that things aren't always that simple in Ubuntu-land, but Canonical does a good job of making it that simple for most users. |
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04-03-2013, 12:30 AM | #38 | ||||
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Mind you, unless you're using an old install disk, they do seem to keep things very up to date. Quote:
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04-03-2013, 10:56 AM | #39 | ||
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04-03-2013, 11:02 AM | #40 | |
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The biggest security problem is the user. |
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04-03-2013, 11:35 AM | #41 | ||
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04-03-2013, 11:49 AM | #42 |
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Agreed, a lot of it does depend upon the disk. Yet a lot of it also depends upon licensing. Linux distributions can afford to include virtually all of the available drivers and applications because the dominant licensing schemes permit it. Microsoft cannot do so unless they have the rights to do so, which means negotiating with third parties or sticking to the standards. The competitive nature of the commercial marketplace also creates headaches. Microsoft is not going to ship Windows with LibreOffice because it competes with their own office suite. Microsoft probably wouldn't get away with shipping Windows with their own office suite because it would be deemed as anti-competitive.
This spills over into other areas too. As an example: while Ubuntu ships with LibreOffice, they don't have any issues with including competing office suites in their package manager. Stuff like that makes Linux distributions a lot easier to use and maintain because the end user has control rather than the vendor. Windows itself though is awfully temperamental. You mentioned things like having the right disk, which is often hard to come by because of copyright and licensing issues. Historically you could update your disk by slipstreaming, which was beyond the average user. Thankfully it looks like Windows 8 has started to address that issue by applying updates to USB installation media. Inconsistent installation processes are likely addressed by Microsoft's Store, yet that's nowhere near as comprehensive as Apple's Mac App Store (never mind the package manager of large Linux distributions). I think the best way to summarize the difference between Linux and Windows in this respect is that Windows is uniformly difficult. With a decent Linux distribution, things are either super easy or super hard. That is to say, a Linux distribution that does what you need of it out of the box is significantly easier to deal with than Windows. The problems pop up when you ask it to do something out of the box, at which point things will become incomprehensible to most users. Whether you fall inside or outside of the box depends upon the needs of the user and the hardware that they own. Someone who does almost everything through a web browser, uses standard productivity and creativity applications, as well as well supported peripherals is not going to run into many problems with a distribution like Ubuntu. Someone who needs to use a particular application, wants access to bleeding edge features, or buys lots of poorly supported hardware is going to feel like gouging their brain out with a toothpick if they try any Linux distribution. |
04-03-2013, 04:00 PM | #43 | |
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That is the exact opposite of my experience. |
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04-03-2013, 04:35 PM | #44 | |
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I had the same sort of problem a few years back--the fake antivirus was calling itself by a different name though--and eventually I was able to use Malwarebytes to get rid of it. So this time I immediately went to Malwarebytes. |
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04-03-2013, 05:47 PM | #45 |
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hmm
You are still running Windows XP?? Windows 7 is more secure. Don't use Internet Explorer. Try Chrome, much better, more secure. -- For a really secure computing experience. Try using your windows OS in a virtual machine, and reset the OS regularly, using snapshots of your OS. Partition the drive to have a persistent D drive for DATA C drive for Apps and OS. Good luck! |
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