Linux "Do I Need" Questions..

Linix Mint

Older 208ghz Athlon
Onboard Video (Slow too)

Also

Acer Laptop that is a little faster

"Do I Need"?

Antivirus
Firewall
Some Kind Of Cleaner

Or any other software?

Thanks for all the help

I LOVE my Mint and may change all my PCs over to it

Semper

Hello????

Anyone out there?

Originally posted by semperfortis
"Do I Need"?

Antivirus
Firewall
Some Kind Of Cleaner

Or any other software?

Linux does not require antivirus. The ones that run under linux are purely to stop Windows viruses in case you share files.

Everybody needs a firewall, but check first to see if there's one in your router. Not sure whether that distro has a default firewall but it won't be hard to check.

Linux doesn't accumulate much crap, unlike Windows.

I highly recommend you create a separate HOME partition. All of your docs will be there so you won't have to overwrite them during upgrade/reinstall. Also add Medibuntu repositories.

I'm partial to Xubuntu but that's just me. It requires very little horsepower, which makes it run even faster on current hardware.

Some of my favorite software:
brasero - quick burner
K3b - serious burner
devede - converts .AVI to .ISO and others for burning to DVD
mousepad - tiny notepad
Thunderbird - cross platform email
RSS Owl - cross platform RSS reader
utorrent works but I like Deluge better
Opera,Firefox,Iron,Arora-browsers
VLC - cross platform multimedia player
XFE - very usable file manager, can do dual pane
htop - text-based system resource meter
Abiword - word processor
Gnumeric - spreadsheet
or Open Office - full office suite, MS compatible
Filezilla - ftp, sftp
Audacious/XMMS - like Winamp
linux Studio - tons of music production programs
tilda - terminal that pops up via hotkey

and they're all FREE.

reply to post by leftystrat


Thank you so much

I'll be adding all of that

Keep a watch here though if I have any problems if your available to help..

Semper

Wrong thread

[edit on 6-1-2010 by LadySkadi]

Originally posted by semperfortis

Keep a watch here though if I have any problems if your available to help..

Absolutely. I'm around nightly or so.

Odds are there's also a linux user group (LUG) in your area with an online presence. They're incredibly helpful (mine is).

Here is a pretty good Mint-specific FAQ about that sort of thing.

Also, you might consider installing ClamAV. Odds are, you'll never need it, but it doesn't hurt to have it around.

TA

[edit on 6-1-2010 by TheAssociate]

Originally posted by leftystrat
Linux does not require antivirus. The ones that run under linux are purely to stop Windows viruses in case you share files.

I love it when people say things like this!

Sure 99.9999% of viruses are windows, but Linux would still be susceptible - maybe from 'drive by malware' attacks via something like your flash player?.

The open source nature and the basic architecture does help a whole lot, but it's not like they build Linux out of Unobtainium

Originally posted by Now_Then

Originally posted by leftystrat
Linux does not require antivirus. The ones that run under linux are purely to stop Windows viruses in case you share files.

I love it when people say things like this!

Sure 99.9999% of viruses are windows, but Linux would still be susceptible - maybe from 'drive by malware' attacks via something like your flash player?.

I saw things like that because they're facts. You can install ClamAV or Symantec, but they're not *for* linux.

One of my coworkers watched as a malicious web page attempted to give his linux box a virus. We were in hysterics.

Besides - real men don't need Flash.