One of the biggest reasons for many people to switch to a UNIX desktop, away from Windows, is security. It is fairly common knowledge that UNIX-like systems are more secure than Windows. Whether this is true or not will not be up for debate in this short editorial; I will simply assume UNIX-like systems are more secure, for the sake of argument. However, how much is that increased security really worth for an average home user, when you break it down? According to me, fairly little. Here's why.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-11-11
"Err, all those things are for experts only... This editorial was clearly talking about normal users.
Is it really that hard to understand?"
Err, is it really hard to understand that so far you have identified no way at all for a malicious black hat to get around the following two policies:
(1) /home partion with 'noexec' attribute set, and
(2) a simple policy of 'install ONLY from the distribution repository'.
Here is an example of a Linux distribution designed for 'normal users' where such policies are not only easy, they are the default:
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/QuickStartSynaptic
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/PcSecurity
http://www.pclinuxos.com/
"No spyware, Virus Free, Adware Free" - with a full suite of desktop **APPLICATIONS** already installed (not just the bare OS) out-of-the-box, minimising the need for "normal users" to want to install anything extra anyway!
Edited 2006-02-06 13:17
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-11-11
Member since:
2005-06-29
What else can you want?
Err, all those things are for experts only... This editorial was clearly talking about normal users.
Is it really that hard to understand?