[NTLUG:Discuss] The New User Experience; a Novell'a

[lonny.dahl@verizon.com]

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|         |           "Andrew Brown"   |
|         |           <dutch_fedora at ear|
|         |           thlink.net>      |
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|         |           discuss-bounces at n|
|         |           tlug.org         |
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|         |           01/11/2005 06:58 |
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|         |           "NTLUG Discussion|
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  |       To:       "NTLUG" <discuss at ntlug.org>                                                                           |
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  |       Subject:  [NTLUG:Discuss] The New User Experience; a Novell'a                                                   |
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>1). The whole security issue is mitigated a great deal. I keep an eye
>out for virus and spyware soup de jour security breach in Linux and it
>is so minute compared to the latest Trojan/Worm/Whatchamajiggy rolling
>in and out of Outlooks and IE in America today. Lord knows who is in my
>system and stealing what from me under MS. The "fear factor" alone makes
>Linux such a worthy endeavor. Sure the attention is on MS and as things
>move elsewhere, so does the effort for axe wielding hackers, but in the
>mean time Linux just makes me feel safer as an everyday user.

My wife is driving me crazy with her Win98 box.  So much so, I laid down
the law yesterday when I came home from work and found that almost all the
applications in the Start --> Programs menu was gone.  The apps are still
there, the menu is messed up.  And the icons for AdAware and Spybot were
gone from the desktop.  Netscape also no longer recognizes 2
users...doesn't ask which user to start up as...it's lost my profile...only
has hers.  So, I told her that if I have to reload her box (this would be
the 4th time in the last 18 months or so) again, we were going to Fry's and
get her one of their $200 specials, I'll load whatever OS she wants on it,
but if she wants a M$ OS and she screws it up again, she's on her own.
I've been trying to wean her over to Linux to no avail, although after
giving her that ultimatum she actually was thinking about using the Linux
account I have set up for her

At this point, I'm beginning to suspect a virus.  I've never heard of
Adware/spyware that did those sorts of things.  I do have Norton Antivirus
loaded on another computer, but I don't leave that computer on (I have no
UPS's yet), so I'm going to have to scan the network when I get home this
evening.

So this brings me to my question.  Her computer has gotten loaded down with
Ad/spyware several times...is that an issue with Linux?  I know you can
restrict cookies that might be considered spyware tracking your
movements...but what about data miners, etc?  Is Linux currently (I say
currently because as Linux gets more press and wide use, I'm sure they'll
find ways to exploit it too) protected from that sore of thing?  Is there
any issue with that I should be aware of?

Thanks,

L. Wayne Dahl
Fiber Network Technician
FTTP Fiber Solutions Center