Just been looking around and the last episode is now locked. In respect of dual booting Linux with Windows I have given a blow-by-blow account on 'how to' section of http://www.zorin-os.webs.com - one subscriber to that forum has come up with a solution for people using external drives - EasyBCD - boot manager - just google for it or go to the help forums on the website already given..
I was somewhat concerned by a comment about most Linux users knocking Microsoft for all they are worth (and quite rightly too)! Why? Because Microsoft subscribes to an ultra right-wing economics organisation who paid for an independent *.nix expert to see if Linus Torvalds had 'stolen/copied' Unix code to produce the Linux Kernel - and when the expert concluded his findings that nothing had been copied he was told to go and look again! Further still, a poor African country was all set to go open source at virtually no-cost when Microsoft steps in and all the costs that that will entail. Funny how Uncle Bill can spend money on Philanthropic Attractive Medical Solutions but didn't donate for Mosquito nets from his Foundation!

swarfendor437

All threads are locked if they have not had a reply for over a month, to prevent them being dragged up by spammers.

As for your rant about Microsoft, everyone to their own opinions but this is not the forum to get on your soapbox and slag off things and people that get up your nose. May I suggest that you go to The Grumpy Corner to do it.

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You can always tell a Yorkshireman,
But you cannot tell him much.

Sorry I got up yours, but thanks for the tip - it was an explanation of why Linux users have a high disregard for Microsoft - even if we do use their products.

swarfendor437

I just have Linux on my home PC and I find it very good. My only gripe with Microsoft is they charge an absolute fortune somethings for their products (even though they are good to use) and everything on Linux is free

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Mike
http://rebuildingatimberbungalow.blogspot.com/
any advice welcome

I have no problem with what Microsoft charge. Its not a lot of money in the software marketplace, you take a look at Adobe or Sage or some others.

What I like about Linux however is how it comes in many flavours, and was built with security in mind. Generally complexity is the enemy of security, the more bells and whistles you add, the more potential vulnerabilities to exploit. I was gasping with disbelief when a friend told me they tried to get money out of a cashpoint and was presented with a Windows XP crash screen. A very simple bespoke operating system with minimal extraneous fluff should be used for such purposes but if the banks don't have the money to pay for the software to be written (!) then a minimal Linux or Unix install would be better.

That happened to me the other week at the 24 hour garage in the nearest town to me. The lad working there said it crashes all the time

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Mike
http://rebuildingatimberbungalow.blogspot.com/
any advice welcome

Yes, Steve Gibson, the guy from Shields Up / Security Now! recently described Windows as a toy operating system. He meant that it is ok for playing games, browsing Wikipedia or You Tube, but not for business purposes, storing private information, or for doing things like online banking. Fraudsters/malware is now so pervasive and subtle that I advise people not to use online banking at all. If someone's pc gets infected, and its used for online banking, you have to change all your passwords, tell your bank, and reformat your machine. It just isn't worth it. The only way I would recommend it would be to do a live linux CD boot disk every time you want to do online banking. I must admit, I still do online banking myself on a windows 7 machine but really considering switching to Linux. The only reason I haven't yet, is that I do some asp.net development plus I used to game a lot, but I should probably get a console.

I use a simple as secure as it gets system.

All personal stuff, online bank etc, is on a remote hard drive, and can't be found or accessed on the computer unless the HD is plugged in and switched on.

Ok I want to do some online banking.

Plug the remote HD in and switch it on.

Click the link/icon on my computer.

Do the business.

Turn the HD off and unplug it.

A well know chocolate factory near me, have a remote computer that all incoming mail goes to. The mail is then checked and fed into the system.

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Won't help you if you have a trojan installed. If your operating system got compromised, you would never know, unless you were lucky enough to have it detected by your antivirus and anything you have on your computer is owned by the attacker, encryption means squat, ssl the same.

The only way you can be sure you have a clean system is to boot from a read only disk like a DVD-R or CD-R. In this case, although infection is still possible, it would disappear from RAM on your next reboot.

[of course: if you want to get REALLY paranoid, there are viruses that hide in firmware, like the bios]

Cash machine unless hopelessly designed probably wasn't running windows as such, rather windows embedded, which is a much more locked down version designed for embedded devices such as ATMs, consumer electronics, warships etc (search "windows for warships") It probably crashed due to either an overheating component as some muppet decided to stack stuff on top of the internal vents or due to an otherwise malfunctioning component, which also would have crashed linux tbh.

Internet banking isn't so much to do with viruses as Phishing ie creating webpages which look like those belonging to your bank but not actually your bank, any operating system is suspectible to phishing as it runs on the browser and relies on social engineering (con artistr). Only defence is vigilance...
NEVER follow links in emails
ALWAYS type the address manually, if your not sure, refer to paperwork from said organisation such as a bank statement or a bill
Keep your anti virus and anti malware definitions up to date.
Lastly BE SCEPTICAL of anything you read online and especially information sent via emails (ie facebook will give you 10c for every person you forward this message to)

Linux and Mac OS X (based on BSD a unix derivative) are generally more secure by design, however both can and likely will become targets for hackers, facilitated by sloppy programming and greedy and ignorant computer users.
Linux is free in terms of free speech, not free beer (though most things in the linux world are both) as it is covered by the GNU public licence, which says you can charge for your software but you must supply a copy of the source code among other criteria.

It is true that just about any operating system can be compromised. Stuxnet is a case in point. For those who haven't read up on it, it is the malware that infected the Iranian nuclear reactor's centrifuge control systems, which run a specially designed operating system isolated from the Internet (thank god), but periodically get software updates copied by USB sticks. It was the USB sticks that got infected, when they were moved from Windows machines to the centrifuge control computers.