[Techtalk] Windows-like Linux

[Carla Schroder]

On Saturday 16 March 2002 05:08 am, No Body wrote:
> I'm getting tired of removing viruses from my parent's
> Windows box, so I suggested to them that I could
> install Linux instead. However, my mom does not have
> the mental capacity (really, I'm not being mean, she
> has a problem... it can take her a minute to remember
> how to turn her computer on) to learn a new system. I
> remember hearing somewhere that there's a way to make
> Linux work and look exactly like Windows...?
>
>
> ~Melanie
>

 I third the Eudora motion. I put all of my winderz customers on Zone Alarm, 
free, and Norton Systemworks, usually around $60. Zone Alarm is hands-down 
the best personal firewall, don't even waste money on anything else. Set up 
Systemworks so that only anti-virus is running, all the other functions don't 
need to be running all the time, they just get in the way. But they come in 
handy for fixing problems. 

The one snag with NAV is Live Update- it's just a button click, or 
automatically scheduled, but users still find ingenious ways to foil it. I 
prefer twice-a-week updates. 

The other snag is configuring Zone Alarm- it closes all ports by default. You 
open only the ones you need. Easy for the likes of us, but it weirds out 
people when they are not sure if it's OK to click 'Yes'.

If you want to switch Mom to Linux, I see no problem with setting her up 
with KDE. It's very user-friendly, and it will settle the virus problem 
decisively. Kmail is great, and the latest Netscape is pretty OK. I recommend 
it for minimum hassles with plugins. I love Galeon and Konqueror, but they 
still present pulling-hair-out-in-frustration problems.

If you want to be a really super cool Linux geek, setup a separate Linux 
firewall and mail processor. Use Procmail to filter out attachments, such as 
.exe, .pif, .jsp, and so forth. Block entire spam zones. Visit 
http://linz1.net/blacklist.html for more information on blacklists.
-- 
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Carla Schroder, ace PC goddess
Plain English Spoken Here
www.bratgrrl.com
this message brought to you by Kmail,
on Red Hat Linux 7.2
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