New to Linux

[jkoder]

Linux. Only free if your time is worthless.

It can be frustrating to use at times as I pointed out I have had some trouble with Mint but Fedora is a solid OS and it's tailored for developers. I will be switching back once I have time.

The reason I switched is because of all the viruses and malware of Windows. It's almost impossible for a competent Linux user to get any sort of infection or have to worry about his bank details being stolen due to an infection in the OS.

Linux is definitely on the right track and as the years go by it will make the biggest improvements and become more and more popular IMO.

[expat]

The reason I switched is because of all the viruses and malware of Windows. It's almost impossible for a competent Linux user to get any sort of infection or have to worry about his bank details being stolen due to an infection in the OS.

Same for Mac OSX: you're running on top of a unix system, and hopefully not logging in as God, so by default your system is secure as a system should be, unlike Windows.

Of course if something asks you for an administrator password because you are installing something, you have to assure yourself that you really meant to install it: but that's basic competence.

In passing, it's one of the things I started to notice when I first got my Mac: as I got into it, from time to time I would have to enable something that I wanted. My impression is that by default everything is enabled on Windows, by default everything is available but not enabled on the Mac.

[minestrone]

I always thought the 'I use linux so I don't get viruses' argument is like saying 'I gave away all my money so nobody can rob me'

[expat]

I always thought the 'I use linux so I don't get viruses' argument is like saying 'I gave away all my money so nobody can rob me'

What's wrong with giving away all your money is that actually you wanted to have money because it is useful to you. What's wrong with giving up Windows is ........

[jkoder]

I always thought the 'I use linux so I don't get viruses' argument is like saying 'I gave away all my money so nobody can rob me'

Not really. Linux does more than what I want and if I can only find an app that will run on XP (and not WINE) I have an installation installed as a VM which I leave off-line - I don't use it very often.

[VectraMan]

Same for Mac OSX: you're running on top of a unix system, and hopefully not logging in as God, so by default your system is secure as a system should be, unlike Windows.

Of course if something asks you for an administrator password because you are installing something, you have to assure yourself that you really meant to install it: but that's basic competence.

You mean like Vista?

Actually lots of things are locked down like that in XP, it's just that most people set themselves up as a local administrator and circumvent all the security.

No OS will help if the user is determined to download and run a program with super-user priveleges.