Does Kindle spread USB virus like USB flash drive?

[MrPLD]

Really getting offtopic here....

I've long since given up trying to move people one way or another when it comes to OS's, you've got as much chance of success as promoting atheism in Salt lake city, and quite honestly everyone should be allowed to have their own choice.

As with a lot of other long-in-tooth IT people, I've used a lot of different OSs over time, from desktops to mainframes, so you do get a feel of what you should expect. For the jobs I do, Linux (specifically Ubuntu now) is the optimal package. I used to get my hands dirty with the innards of linux but these days I have no need because Ubuntu does such a delightfully good job, it's shocked me a few times (like yesterday, upgraded to 2 screens while the system was logged in and live and it did everything automagically, turned on the screen and I was able to drag my apps to it immediately).

I do still use the command line a lot and I am a regex-fu bash-script C master, however using the CLI is more about the sort of work I do than actually anything to do with managing Ubuntu.

I guess what I'm saying is that it works very nicely for me and lets me get on with the job at hand - which is precisely what you want in any OS.

Paul.

[MrPLD]

btw... while those compiz effects are wild, they honestly make me feel ill when I've got them turned on (sea sick sort of effect - especially with the wobbly windows)

[kaleissin]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

We paid the $130 to Best Buy just this week to have them reformat our computer with the rezubeza virus that nothing else would eliminate. I saved everything to flash drives, but now I am afraid to re-install the files in case they are infected.

Did you save any programs or just documents? You should reinstall all the programs. Oh and turn off autorun, everywhere. I don't know how to do that on windows (and I'd charge for it if I did).

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by rockchen

Hi,
Does Kindle spread USB virus like USB flash drive?
Say, I often need to connect my kindle with PCs installed Window XP in public places.
My concern is whether kindle will carry any USB virus and make infection on my PC also installed Win XP.
Thanks.

Rock

You can spread viruses via USB adapters or devices, correct. So if there is a virus which auto install or copy to the Kindle folder, next time you plug that, you can potentially spread it giving the case Windows auto mount the drive and start reading it.

You cannot infect Kindle's or Linux boxes with Windows viruses.

Best approach! Get rid of Windows and start using Ubuntu Linux ;-) ... you won't need antivirus and no need to defrag ever again, besides, is free.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

I have shared data and downloaded files, before there was a commonly available Internet back when there were dial-up Bulletinboards. I was an early member of Compuserve.

Windows is not now, nor ever been, anything like the problem you Penguin lovers make it out to be.

My credentials are equally good, and I have the sweatshirt to prove it (quite literally: it's a TAPCIS sweatshirt from my time as a tester). I use any operating system that looks good (at the moment that's 98 on an elderly laptop, two XP installs on desktops, and a strange distro of Xandros Linux on the netbook; there are several others in the house, too). While I agree that Windows isn't the problem, per se, and clueless lusers are the real problem, the Windows approach has been to dumb down the computer rather than smartening up the user, which leads to the proliferation of said clueless lusers and PEBKAC errors. It's possible to use Windows safely, and it's possible to use Linux unsafely; however, doing either requires acting deliberately contrary to their default behavior.

So, while the problem may indeed lie with the people who use it, the operating system can certainly make that problem either worse or better for the ordinary user. And, sadly, Windows does. They may be smug, but the "Penguin lovers" are also right.