Reinstallation, Coffee, and Cigarettes

[lala_rawraw]

I am sure you will all remember my little email fiasco of last week. I just wanted to let you guys know that after partitioning the hard-drive (not me, husband) and reinstalling Windows; I am finally able to fully cyber function again. Something I noticed while having NO Internet access for almost 3 days: the world is askew!

What I mean is, not having watched television (aside from Sci-Fi channel, HBO, Sundance, and other non-crap generators); I did not fully appreciate just the type of vacuum the wingnut community lives in. Having now watched some of this “most trusted name in propaganda” coverage of our world and times; I can safely say that reality is much worse than we imagined. It is not simply that people are lied to, manipulated and the truth distorted; it is far more insidious than that. What I witnessed was a false sense of security that could, if I were less rational, becoming addicting.

So what I am saying is: THANK GOD I’M RECONNECTED!!! I missed you guys!

[skids]

1. Welcome back to DU :-)

:hi:

[Tux]

2. "reinstalling Windows"

Next time, try Linux. Viruses for that aren't reliable and not as many. Last year, there were 4 Linux viruses and 100,000 for Windows.

[Warpy]

3. And when Linux becomes more popular

the code kiddies will target it as fully as they now target Windows.

Seriously, Linux isn't quite ready for the non techie home user. I keep thinking it's just a couple of years away from being ready, and they keep concentrating on corporate rather than home use. Oh well.

Keeping it just a little too difficult for the average home user to master is the one thing keeping it from becoming popular enough to attract malware writers.

[rman]

8. Since you touched upon the topic,

With as many eyes looking at the Lunix code base as there are (thanks to it being Open Source), there's less of a chance of any loopholes that can be exploited by hackers, to exist for very long. Also security holes are typically disclosed and fixed sooner then is the case with MS software.

Recent Linux distributions are as easy to install as Windows, with automatic hardware detection even on older PCs. Also there are many so called "live" CDs that don't need to be installed; you just boot off of the CD and you're up and running within minutes, including a graphical user interface much like Windows and common applications such as web browser and an MS compatible office-suit. All you need to do is configure you internet connection.
The main downside of Linux is that there are very few Linux versions of popular PC games. Though there are many common games such as cards, chess etc for Linux.

I can recommend Mandrake, Suze and Linspire for full distro's, and Knoppix for live-CD.
Suze and Linspire in particular are suitable for the non technical home user.

[Tux]

14. "Linux isn't quite ready for the non techie home user"

Actually, outside of installation, it is. If they purchase it with tech-support, they will be able to run it. Without spyware and viruses (thanks to the modern multiuser system) to screw up the whole system, just a user account, they can run their PCs as long as they want and don't have to worry about it.

As for code kiddies, if a virus couldn't get to root, how could it mess up the PC? It'd effect one account. It would need passwords to do system wide damage.

[Dr.Phool]

4. I tried to install Linux a couple of years ago

And it just wouldn't work.

[rman]

9. A lot can happen in a few years time

see my post #8

[Bluebear]

5. Just for you!............

[lala_rawraw]

6. a bear?

for me?:):) thank you!!

[Bluebear]

11. Well you can have the bear too

But I meant the photo :)

[paineinthearse]

7. Welcome back, we missed you.

:hug:

[lala_rawraw]

10. not as much...

as i missed you

:grouphug:

[rman]

12. "We live entangled in webs of endless deceit."

- Noam Chomsky

I'd say your observations support mr Chomsky's claim.


Got myself curious and googled the quote;

"We live entangled in webs of endless deceit, often self-deceit, but with a little honest effort, it is possible to extricate ourselves from them. If we do, we will see a world that is rather different from the one presented to us by a remarkably effective ideological system, a world that is much uglier, often horrifying. We will also learn that our own actions, or passive acquiescence, contribute quite substantially to misery and oppression, and perhaps eventual global destruction.

But there is a brighter side. We are fortunate to live in a society that is not only rich and powerful--and hence, as any student of history would expect, dangerous and destructive--but also relatively free and open, perhaps more so than any other, though this may change if the reactionary jingoists who have misappropriated the term "conservative" succeed in their current project of diminishing civil liberties, strengthening the power of the state, and protecting it from public scrutiny.

<more>

from "Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace". South End Press. 1985.

http://www.truthtree.com/sound-chomsky.shtml

[housewolf]

13. Yay!!! You are back!

I've missed you, always look forward to your posts.

So glad you got your computer straightened out. Funny how our computers have become our life-lines to the real world, isn't it?