Tale of woe

[Yellow Fang]

I had my PC lose its connectivity recently, either as a result of a virus or a microsoft update. So much for McAfee then. I eventually took it down to a PC repair shop who just formatted the disk and re-installed Windows XP - thanks a lot bastards. If I thought they were going to do that, I'd never have taken it to them.

Anyway, I was trying to install Linux on it because it was grinding to a halt. It was getting ridiculous. It was taking about twenty minutes just to download my e-mails by the time it had finished booting up, downloading the latest virus checker and installing it. I was frustrated by not being able to find a Linux driver for my USB modem. I bought a router and an ethernet card, but I still couldn't get it to work. I suspect it was the router, because I bought a second router off e-bay and now it works. Unfortunately the router didn't arrive before I despaired and took the PC to the repair shop.

Anyway, I plan to do all my e-mails and internet surfing using Linux Ubuntu, leaving Windows XP for microsoft applications (not that I have any left thanks to the disk having been formatted). Do I have to worry about viruses and such like? I've heard that Linux is virtually immune to them. Is this because writers of malware prefer to concentrate on Windows, or is it something fundamental with the way the Linux operating system work?

 

[derall]

Both, AFAIK.

First up Windows is almost ubiquitous, so malware writers get a bigger return for their effort. They can quickly e.g. compromise a huge number of machines for a DDoS attack on Windows, far more than they'd get on *nix or Mac. That's not to say that e.g. Mac viruses are unknown - there was one last week in torrented copies of iLife.

Secondly, if something nasty comes along in MS, then you've got to wait until someone at Redmond gets around to providing a solution. With *nix there's a wide community of programmers constantly working on the OS kernel, GUI, and apps. Some vulnerability comes up, or should some malware come along then someone notices pretty quick and a solution is quickly circulated. Also, *nix users tend to keep their machines well patched

 

[Mr Pig]

I took it to a PC repair shop who just formatted the disk and re-installed XP - thanks a lot bastards.

Brilliant at that aren't they? :0( The mechanics at car dealers are exactly the same, take the most obvious course of action based on assumptions, rather that take the time to correctly diagnose the actual cause of the fault. And they have the cheek to charge you for not fixing the problem!

 

[Yellow Fang]

Thanks for your response Derall. That's good to know. I wonder if Linux operating systems will begin to get more vulnerable now that it's seeping into the mainstream.

Mr Pig, I don't have a car so at least I don't have to worry about them. It would be nice to know that when you call in the professionals, they will do a better job than you could. Make implicit assumptions explicit was a good piece of advice that I read in a project management book.

 

[Yellow Fang]

When my PC lost its connectivity and the font went funny, I assumed it was a Microsoft OS update. The PC said something about installing the some software updates on rebooting. Later I thought it was more likely to be a virus, even though I had a virus checker installed. I was thinking about it this evening and it occurred to me that it was a funny sort of virus that stopped itself from spreading by killing off its host's internet connectivity. Has anyone heard of a dodgy Microsoft Windows XP update recently?

 

[Mr Pig]

Has anyone heard of a dodgy Microsoft Windows XP update recently?

No. XP is pretty bomb proof. I think it's the best OS Microsoft ever made.

Virus programs miss stuff, some miss lots of stuff. It is also possible that it's a hardware fault, things do go wrong. Unfortunately it's hard for plebs like up to self-diagnose, you're kind of stuck with shops etc. Maybe try to find someone through word of mouth, the guys in shops are rarely the best. If they were genuinely good with computers they wouldn't be working in a shop!

I rarely use car mechanics because they usually 'don't' do a better job than you could do yourself.

 

[tyred]

Definitely go with Linux. I have been using it on my home PC for two years now and it is absolutely trouble free. It may take a bit of effort to get it working with your particular hardware at first but you can always try different distros if one doesn't do what you want and once it's working, it'll just stay that way. I use the free version of Xandros and it is the more stable than any version of Windows I've used and in look and feel is very similar to Win98 so it's not hard to get to grips with it.

 

[HJ]

Two comments:
First, (I know this is a wee bit late) always backup on a regular basis.
Second, Linux can get infested with malware (as can Macs), however, because of the way the OS works the threat is fairly low. There are about 60,000 viruses known for Windows, 40 or so for the Macintosh, about 5 for commercial Unix versions, and perhaps 40 for Linux.

If you are looking for an easy to use Linux distro try Ubutu, although there are plenty of others...

 

[Yellow Fang]

I've installed Ubuntu. It seems pretty good. One of the biggest downsides in that there is no Linux iTunes application, although there seem to be others around that I could use. When I tried the Open Office versions of Word and Excel, they didn't seem quite as good as the Microsoft 2007 versions, which, to be fair to Microsoft, I thought were superb. I also quite liked being able to download visual basic for free, which I found very useful for my MSc project last year. However, since all my microsoft applications and files have been formatted (excepting a few important files I backed up on CD), that's no longer a consideration.

I also tried Fedora for a while. That seemed pretty good too, although not quite so easy to install. Are there any major differences between the distros? They have different backdrops, and some versions require more memory than others, but presumably the operating system is essentially the same. Why is it you have to pay money for Red Hat? Is it much better? Would an application that worked on one distro work on another?

 

[derall]

One of the biggest downsides in that there is no Linux iTunes application, although there seem to be others around that I could use.

Try Mozilla Songbird

I used SuSE*, another paid-for distro, when I had a Mac. I think that it comes down to ease of installation. SuSE had a great installer package which made disk partition, installation and set-up a breeze. Something like Ubuntu is free, but you have to do all the work yourself.

*At the time SuSE was the only distro available for Mac