BBs issue

[MrRiplEy[H]]

ripley while there are no "known viruses in the wild", it doesnt mean there isnt any viruses at all.  while lynux is safer than windows you should still be carefull

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware


semp

I disagree. Using linux you're as safe as you can get computer wise. Linux malware is a theoretical risk at the moment, not a practical risk like with windows. On linux and with adblock on, you have a low theoretical risk of catching anything. On windows you have a high probability. Which one would you choose?

[guncrasher]

while I do agree with lynux being safer, i disagree with you implying that you have nothing to be worried about since malware is a not something that "wont happen",  not as much as with windows but some could still be the lucky ones.


semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

while I do agree with lynux being safer, i disagree with you implying that you have nothing to be worried about since malware is a not something that "wont happen",  not as much as with windows but some could still be the lucky ones.


semp

You can disagree all you want and still be wrong. It's pointless to continue as you clearly do not understand the difference between 10 000 000 real threats vs 1-2 theoretical ones. You're about as likely to be hit to the head by a meteorite as catching an infection while surfing on linux. If you stop your life because of that and choose to jump naked in Al-caeda headquarters shouting insults of Mohammed instead (i.e. surf on Windows XP), it's basically your problem.

[Skuzzy]

As long as you are using Linux as a user and not 'root', it is really difficult for anything bad to happen.

File security prevents a user from replacing system files.  Most binaries are not writable by a user either (you can take the extra step and remove write permissions from all binaries).

Simply installing a piece of software on Linux will not do anything bad.

In other words, you would have to be a moron in order to get your Linux system infected with a malware/spyware program.  And even then, it would be very, very difficult to do so. 

Again, do not use the system as root.

[715]

How do I know if I'm root or not? 

I recently installed Ubuntu and defaulted everything and there is only a single user.  Sometimes, when doing it's frequent, large updates it does asks for my password even though I logged on with that password; does that mean when I log on normally I don't have root privileges, and if anything naughty tried to install it would pop up the same password request?

[Bizman]

How do I know if I'm root or not? 

I recently installed Ubuntu and defaulted everything and there is only a single user.  Sometimes, when doing it's frequent, large updates it does asks for my password even though I logged on with that password; does that mean when I log on normally I don't have root privileges, and if anything naughty tried to install it would pop up the same password request?

Since you're the single user, then you're root. In Windows terms "root" means the same as "administrator". Unlike Windows, Linux will ask for your password even if you were signed in with "root" privileges for added safety. That way you'll always know when something is trying to get installed. If you create another user profile with limited privileges, every instance of installing something would also ask for the name of a "root". Actually, it has been recommended to use Windows that way, too, for at least since the launch of XP. Truth to be told, I've met only a handful of people doing so during this decade as a household techie.

[Skuzzy]

The problem is, the "root" user on any Unix based system can do anything!  Write, delete, or update any file in the system.  A user cannot do that.

The worst habit anyone can get into, is logging in as "root" and using it exclusively as their personal account.  Learn to use the security the system provides and you will have many happy years of trouble free computer processing.

How do I know if I'm root or not?  

I recently installed Ubuntu and defaulted everything and there is only a single user.  Sometimes, when doing it's frequent, large updates it does asks for my password even though I logged on with that password; does that mean when I log on normally I don't have root privileges, and if anything naughty tried to install it would pop up the same password request?

I do not need to know you are root.  If I am a script trying to run from a WEB site, attempting to do something bad to your computer, as root, it can happen.  As a user, it cannot, or may not.

[715]

I do not need to know you are root.  If I am a script trying to run from a WEB site, attempting to do something bad to your computer, as root, it can happen.  As a user, it cannot, or may not.

Skuzzy: you misunderstood me.  I was asking how do I know I am root.  According to bizman if I made only one account, I'm root, and therefore I should create another account with only user privileges (which would be a pain as I already have email, bookmarks, etc transferred over from XP).  It would have been nice if Ubuntu's install mentioned this; perhaps it did and I didn't notice.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Skuzzy: you misunderstood me.  I was asking how do I know I am root.  According to bizman if I made only one account, I'm root, and therefore I should create another account with only user privileges (which would be a pain as I already have email, bookmarks, etc transferred over from XP).  It would have been nice if Ubuntu's install mentioned this; perhaps it did and I didn't notice.

Bizman doesn't know Ubuntu then it seems. Ubuntu has the root account disabled by default. You're logged in as a regular user but whenever you need to do installations etc. you're asked to 'sudo' which is 'super user do'.

Sudo is a system which allows a regular user to temporarily act as an administrator if he types in his password. So you're using the computer as a regular user and if something tries to attack your computer it can't do anything serious basically. You also know if you're root by your username which is surprise surprise, root on the distros that do allow using the root account. If you are on the command line you can see from the symbol on the command line if you're regular user or not. Regular users have usually (depending on the type of terminal used) the symbol $ in the beginning of each line and root has #.

A couple of Ubuntu hints:

Unless you already did (as ubuntu offers them automatically after the first couple minutes of use), go to the 'system' settings and locate a button called 'additional drivers'. The older versions of Ubuntu look like this:

And the latest 14.04 (software updates):

From there you can install the same kind of graphics etc. drivers to your linux that your Windows used. It will automatically detect your hardware and suggest a driver for you. The closed source drivers can have 2x performance in 3D applications, but the open source drivers are usually smoother on desktop. So only install the proprietary driver if you plan to play 3D games. Also note that if you have an AMD graphics card, their linux drivers are problematic. AMD has (now) excellent open source drivers so try even gaming first with the default drivers if you have AMD: On NVidia the linux drivers are excellent and usually problem free.


Go to the software center and search and install 'ubuntu restricted extras'. That will add many closed source things such as windows fonts, dvd and flash play etc. You can also play many windows games on linux if you install 'playonlinux' from the software center. I'm playing world of tanks with my linux for example. You can also find all sorts of cool and free stuff from the software center.

You'll find a multitude of useful websites advicing you to tweak and improve your Ubuntu install. Once you get more comforable with your Ubuntu you can try them out.

Remember that if you happen to mess something up, you can always just reinstall and you won't be nagged for activation keys etc. afterwards. If you take a backup of your 'home' folder then all your personal stuff will also remain safe. More tips: http://itsfoss.com/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-14-04/

[Bizman]

Bizman doesn't know Ubuntu then it seems. Ubuntu has the root account disabled by default. You're logged in as a regular user but whenever you need to do installations etc. you're asked to 'sudo' which is 'super user do'.

You're right, I don't know Ubuntu much. I confused sudo with root. Thanks for the clarification. 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

You're right, I don't know Ubuntu much. I confused sudo with root. Thanks for the clarification.  

It's natural to confuse things if you don't use linux much. Ubuntu (and other debian based distros) has a different approach to other distros regarding to the root account. They try to prevent users from using the root account for their safety. Most other distros will however let you sign in as root if you wish.

Many linux programmers have also taken steps to protect users so if you try to launch playonlinux for example as root, it will just bluntly tell you it's not a roots job to use playonlinux. This can be also annoying if you happen to use a special distro like puppy linux which runs 100% in ram and uses root account by default (as the session does not get saved to any hard disk unless you tell it to).

I love puppy, it works super fast also in older computers because of the ram drive. I have a USB3 memory stick that it boots directly from and I can have my linux with me where ever I go and run it on any computer safely. Puppy is only 140Mb big but it gives you a full graphical desktop, closed drivers, office, dvd burning, e-mail, instant messaging tools, firefox you name it. And it just works, you boot it up and all your graphics, network, printer etc. settings are automatically set instantly in 99% of computers. Absolutely amazing. 140Mb to do what Windows can't do using its gigabytes.

I think you should also take a look at puppy Bizman because I'm sure it would be helpful in your job. If a customer has porked his windows install you can just boot the computer up using the USB or cd drive and take backups or even manipulate windows files. Yes, it also mounts windows NTFS and FAT drives no problems.

Here's a screenshot of one puppy variation, Simplicity linux. Pretty cool from a 140Mb USB stick huh?:



Here is my own Puppy desktop:

[mbailey]

Set IE to run in compatibility mode for the hitechcreations domain.

Mine does the same thing....how do u set compatibility mode?

[2bighorn]

Skuzzy: you misunderstood me.  I was asking how do I know I am root.  According to bizman if I made only one account, I'm root, and therefore I should create another account with only user privileges (which would be a pain as I already have email, bookmarks, etc transferred over from XP).  It would have been nice if Ubuntu's install mentioned this; perhaps it did and I didn't notice.

While Ubuntu creates root account during installation it doesn't give it a password, so by default you can't login as root. The user you run under is in (IIRC) admin (as is in sudoers, etc) group though.
So if you really want to be safe, you create user which isn't in any of the privileged groups.

Anyway, you can open terminal and type "id" it'll show you user and group ID. If UID is 0, then you're root.

Mine does the same thing....how do u set compatibility mode?

Older versions would display broken page icon in address bar, you'd click on it and set it in compatibility mode. In newer versions it's under "Tools -> Compatibility View settings"

[Bizman]

Mine does the same thing....how do u set compatibility mode?

If a page doesn't show correctly, there should appear an icon like a ripped paper in the right end of the address field. If not, or if you want to add more pages to the compatibility mode list, choose Tools->Compatibility settings and add any address. But as has been said, you'd be more safe not to use IE8.

[715]

...Regular users have usually (depending on the type of terminal used) the symbol $ in the beginning of each line and root has #.

A couple of Ubuntu hints:

Unless you already did (as ubuntu offers them automatically after the first couple minutes of use), go to the 'system' settings and locate a button called 'additional drivers'. ...
From there you can install the same kind of graphics etc. drivers to your linux that your Windows used. It will automatically detect your hardware and suggest a driver for you. The closed source drivers can have 2x performance in 3D applications, but the open source drivers are usually smoother on desktop. So only install the proprietary driver if you plan to play 3D games. Also note that if you have an AMD graphics card, their linux drivers are problematic. AMD has (now) excellent open source drivers so try even gaming first with the default drivers if you have AMD: On NVidia the linux drivers are excellent and usually problem free.

Yes my prompt is $ and my User ID is not 0, so I'm not su.  And unfortunately I've already installed AMDs drivers from the additional drivers and I'm sorry I did- it's already failed on the desktop once.

Go to the software center and search and install 'ubuntu restricted extras'. That will add many closed source things such as windows fonts, dvd and flash play etc.

I think I need Flash because all video content either doesn't play or is limited to 360p but I read Adobe either no longer supports Flash on Linux or makes security updates only?

You can also play many windows games on linux if you install 'playonlinux' from the software center. I'm playing world of tanks with my linux for example.

Is that like Wine?  Will AH run?

Thanks.   -715