Software Firewall question for Geeks?

[mro]

Synergy (from the Greek syn-ergo, óõíåñãüò meaning working together) refers to the phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents.

Think it has something to do with SEX


mro

[Incubus]

Only in as far as Windows Firewall screws, Mike. Synergy is a program that allows one computer to control a second computer. It allows me to operate the computer hooked up to my big screen through my wireless network from my laptop. The cursor rolls off the top of my laptop screen and appears on my TV, which serves as a monitor for my TV computer. It allows me to control that computer as if it were an extension of my laptop.

It's actually pretty cool. And it plays well with COMODO.

Patrick

[olebiker]

Your setup sounds very much like mine.

[eroellig]

Linux Distrobutions

Originally posted by nubee
Hey eroellig,

I have a mini-itx running Xandros. I do all of my secure stuff(banking, shopping,etc) on it. I was told Xandros was the easiest Linux to install for complete novice such as myself. My other computer is an off the shelf HP running Windows du jour. It's my play toy (backed up often).

I have a friend who tired of Windows insecurities. What flavor of Linux would you recommend for him, or me for that matter

Nubee,

I have no easy answer for you.

In many ways, all the Linux distros are very much the same. In other ways, they are very different (else, why have a different distro....)

For instance, I (a self admitted FOSS zelot) am comfortable with most aspects of rooting around in my own computers to administer them. I can also find and install the software to allow me to view different video formats & listen to different audio streaming formats. That allows me to be more of a FOSS purist and use the distributions that don't distribute propriatary programs (like Adobe Acrobat & Flash) that, while free to the user, don't allow them to be included in a distribution without an agreement. So, I am fine using Fedora (the free version of Red Hat stuff). Others will have a totally free (and FOSS pure) version, but will include some of the propriatary stuff in a pay-for disto.

Then, there are the distributions that make pacts with the devil (Microsoft). Xandros is one of them. Microsoft is braying about Linux violating a bunch of Microsoft patents, but will NOT tell anyone what they are!!! (Makes you wonder if there really are patents in violation... ) Xandros and Novell's SUSE have signed an agreement with Microsoft where Microsoft will not sue these distributions users.... but there is no guarantee that they won't after the term of the agreement. The lawyers that have commented on this agreement are rather puzzled from what I can gather. My fear is that Micosoft is on their (in)famous path of EEE (Embrace, Extend, Extinguish) for Linux, and I will personally not have anything to do with the distros that sign deals with Microsoft.

A number of people note that this agreement is with the corporate version of SUSE and not the community supported OpenSUSE (OpenSUSE to Novel is much like Fedora is to Red Hat, where Red Hat Linux is the corporate version).

The trouble is, like you mention with Xandros, there are some propriatery things included that make these distributions "feel" more like the Windows that most users are used to. The feel for the comon user is that distro's like Xandros "just work". So they have a lot of "curb apeal" for people.

Another distro you might look at is Mandriva (used to be Mandrake, but got sued for the name). I had used Mandrake some years ago, but switched to Fedora to try it out.

A short word about the desktop managers. The two main ones are KDE and GNOME. Two different points of vew - KDE is easily customizable, GNOME takes the view that there is The-One-Way and you typically have to look harder to figure out how to customize it. Xandros is a distro that used KDE by default (but slightly modified), so that is the desktop manager that you are used to.

A very popular distro is Ubuntu. It is GNOME by default. There is a KDE flavor, called Kubuntu. It does seem to be a little more back seat to Ubuntu in terms of support. Most distributions include both desktop managers so that, regardless of which one you are actually using, you can run programs that are indended for both. Which is good, since I am partial to KDE, but there are some pretty cool GNOME utilities.

Last I saw, there are something like a couple hundred distributions, most of them pretty obscure.

Bottom line, I really can't suggest any one distro for you. Only you can decide which is best for you in terms of what it can supply for you and how easy it is (or not) to administer a system. The update managers in most distros is getting pretty good, so as long as the program is suppored by the distro, keeping it up-to-date is usually as easy, OR EASIER, than Windows.

Like I noted earlier, most distros have a live CD or DVD that you can download and burn so you can try out diffent systems without disturbing your computer. Mandriva even has a "distribution on a stick". You buy the distro on a USB memory stick and boot that!! That way, you have a portable Linux system you can take with you. And unlike a live CD, you can store your own files on the stick!!

Look around, try things out & see what you like & don't like. Companies like Microsoft are trying to confuse people by using the word "Open" with some of their stuff, but it is really buisiness as usual. So you will have to decide how much of the propriatary world you need to have included on your distribution vs how comfortable you are setting things up vs how much of a FOSS zelot you are (or could be).

Look around & have fun! Here is a list of some distros for you. There is even a list of the ones with live CD/DVD...

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/..._distributions

BTW: If you haven't seen it, here is one site with a list of typical Windows software and the free & open source programs that provide the same type of function. Enjoy!

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...ndows_software

Eric

[7911special]

I know I'm late to the game, but Vista firewall is hugely improved over XP and also allows more granular securtiy controls.

It is more than enough to keep most people out unless she is atttracting someone that really wants her PC.

With XP and Vista there is no need for an additional software Firewall beside the builtin ones, not to mention the router more than likley has a firewall built in.