The reason is that I've seen just too much, it could fill dozens of Pages, and it ain't pretty.
Would be cool if it was not true, because I still like the basic Win32 Look&Feel (upto Win2000) and would be happy if I could use it without any heartburns. Problem is, I can't. Connecting a Win32 box to the Internet to me is like opening Pandoras Box just enough so the Box content can breathe, but dare not to let the Cap come loose.
Once a Linux System installed and even connected to the Internet and Network, it just sits there and does nothing unless the User specifically tells it to, the way it should be (for any OS).
Win32, on the other hand, is a very curious OS, indexing and collecting Data over the Network and attempting Net Access almost anytime it can, all coming even from Programs you'd never expect to need any (and actually, they don't, except for one purpose I described previously).
My attitute about Linux is more like being thankful for its security and honesty, I do fully admit however, that the learning process was quite painful. Some aspects of Linux I will probably never understand, but given the free nature - I kinda 'suck it up as it comes' and arrange myself.
(I still think there is a competition, which Coder has the best covert name for his Program to hide its function and make it impossible to find out just by looking at the Program name *g*... Like : An Editor can't just be named "edit", it's gotta be 'vi' 'emacs' or alike ;) )
So please don't look at me like a l33t Linux zealot (by all means I'm not), with my preferences and privacy concerns it's just the only alternative I found. Looked into Mac's several times, but at those times found them way too expensive. So generic x86 hardware and Linux it was at the end, basically I needed an OS I can trust.
Windows 2000, after the Service Pack 3 plus the Patches coming along, got worse and worse and by now takes me several hours to just secure.
In WinXP I never had any trust, and I was right all along (had seen enough from an XP pre-installed on a Notebook - it was then banned from any Internet use and only granted occasional, very limited Network Access)
Seen the History over the last 10 years, I assess Vista rather as a security and privacy threat than an OS and won't go anywhere near it even if I got it for free.
Had History been different, I'd still be a Windows User. But MicroSoft forced me to find something clean, secure and trustworthy... and well, they were successful in that. So it's not Linux by choice for me but by neccessity in a way.
For the life of me I don't know why people seem to think that things being "easy" is automatically "A Bad Thing".
... [snip] ...
I completely dare you to sit a 70+ year old person in front of a Linux distro and have them configure it on their own.
I didn't think Clownius implied easy was bad, just the Windows version of it.
When I read your post, at first I thought you'd said "correctly installed". I would like to see Bill Gates sit down at a PC and do a bullet proof install of Windows just to see if a super tech can get one done.
I did an install of Ubuntu recently. After it had booted from the CD, it self installed and rebooted at the end. When it restarted it told me I should have taken out the CD unless I wanted to repair the operating system.
That was my first Linux install in two to three years and it was easier than any Windows install I've done.
Connecting a Win32 box to the Internet to me is like opening Pandoras Box just enough so the Box content can breathe, but dare not to let the Cap come loose.
I haven't taken any real agressive steps at changing things on this XP Pro SP2 installation, so I'm perplexed by why you feel it is such a struggle. The biggest security step from a networking standpoint that I have taken is this computer is behind a SPI-enabled router. Beyond that, I have Norton Systemworks and have done a couple of the suggested things at Gibson Research (www.grc.com) and Microsoft's own Baseline Security Analyzer. None of that was very difficult, thus I flat out don't comprehend this "boogieman in waiting" mentality... :shrug:
Perhaps my different experience is that I build my systems and I install the clean OEM version without adding on all these trial-ware or other things that large OEMs (Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Compaq, etc...) put on there...? One other large item that I don't have installed is IIS... Didn't see the need for it when I was doing the install.
I haven't had any problems since banning the kids from using any of my 'puters and/or network. Have a firewall on the modem that's set on medium, the machine directly connected to the modem has the latest updates for Win2k server, and I run FireFox, SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot S&D, and Ad-Aware SE. No antivirus software installed, reason being is, I'm not forking out the cash for the enterprise version!
As for Linux, have Ubuntu installed on 1 machine. Found it easy to use, easy to install, and it has a nice GUI interface. Running it from a command line is a little different, but anyone who has ever used the command line interface shouldn't have to much problem figuring it out. It's just like learning DOS all over again. Only reason I don't use it more often is that it doesn't play nice with my modem or the NIC my network is on. Been to lazy to change out the NIC or find a friendly modem. :)
@Brian The reason is that
)
@Brian
The reason is that I've seen just too much, it could fill dozens of Pages, and it ain't pretty.
Would be cool if it was not true, because I still like the basic Win32 Look&Feel (upto Win2000) and would be happy if I could use it without any heartburns. Problem is, I can't. Connecting a Win32 box to the Internet to me is like opening Pandoras Box just enough so the Box content can breathe, but dare not to let the Cap come loose.
Once a Linux System installed and even connected to the Internet and Network, it just sits there and does nothing unless the User specifically tells it to, the way it should be (for any OS).
Win32, on the other hand, is a very curious OS, indexing and collecting Data over the Network and attempting Net Access almost anytime it can, all coming even from Programs you'd never expect to need any (and actually, they don't, except for one purpose I described previously).
My attitute about Linux is more like being thankful for its security and honesty, I do fully admit however, that the learning process was quite painful. Some aspects of Linux I will probably never understand, but given the free nature - I kinda 'suck it up as it comes' and arrange myself.
(I still think there is a competition, which Coder has the best covert name for his Program to hide its function and make it impossible to find out just by looking at the Program name *g*... Like : An Editor can't just be named "edit", it's gotta be 'vi' 'emacs' or alike ;) )
So please don't look at me like a l33t Linux zealot (by all means I'm not), with my preferences and privacy concerns it's just the only alternative I found. Looked into Mac's several times, but at those times found them way too expensive. So generic x86 hardware and Linux it was at the end, basically I needed an OS I can trust.
Windows 2000, after the Service Pack 3 plus the Patches coming along, got worse and worse and by now takes me several hours to just secure.
In WinXP I never had any trust, and I was right all along (had seen enough from an XP pre-installed on a Notebook - it was then banned from any Internet use and only granted occasional, very limited Network Access)
Seen the History over the last 10 years, I assess Vista rather as a security and privacy threat than an OS and won't go anywhere near it even if I got it for free.
Had History been different, I'd still be a Windows User. But MicroSoft forced me to find something clean, secure and trustworthy... and well, they were successful in that. So it's not Linux by choice for me but by neccessity in a way.
RE: For the life of me I
)
I didn't think Clownius implied easy was bad, just the Windows version of it.
When I read your post, at first I thought you'd said "correctly installed". I would like to see Bill Gates sit down at a PC and do a bullet proof install of Windows just to see if a super tech can get one done.
I did an install of Ubuntu recently. After it had booted from the CD, it self installed and rebooted at the end. When it restarted it told me I should have taken out the CD unless I wanted to repair the operating system.
That was my first Linux install in two to three years and it was easier than any Windows install I've done.
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RE: That was my first
)
Out of curiosity, what kind of hardware?
RE: Connecting a Win32 box
)
I haven't taken any real agressive steps at changing things on this XP Pro SP2 installation, so I'm perplexed by why you feel it is such a struggle. The biggest security step from a networking standpoint that I have taken is this computer is behind a SPI-enabled router. Beyond that, I have Norton Systemworks and have done a couple of the suggested things at Gibson Research (www.grc.com) and Microsoft's own Baseline Security Analyzer. None of that was very difficult, thus I flat out don't comprehend this "boogieman in waiting" mentality... :shrug:
Perhaps my different experience is that I build my systems and I install the clean OEM version without adding on all these trial-ware or other things that large OEMs (Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Compaq, etc...) put on there...? One other large item that I don't have installed is IIS... Didn't see the need for it when I was doing the install.
Brian
I haven't had any problems
)
I haven't had any problems since banning the kids from using any of my 'puters and/or network. Have a firewall on the modem that's set on medium, the machine directly connected to the modem has the latest updates for Win2k server, and I run FireFox, SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot S&D, and Ad-Aware SE. No antivirus software installed, reason being is, I'm not forking out the cash for the enterprise version!
As for Linux, have Ubuntu installed on 1 machine. Found it easy to use, easy to install, and it has a nice GUI interface. Running it from a command line is a little different, but anyone who has ever used the command line interface shouldn't have to much problem figuring it out. It's just like learning DOS all over again. Only reason I don't use it more often is that it doesn't play nice with my modem or the NIC my network is on. Been to lazy to change out the NIC or find a friendly modem. :)