What the hell is a virtual machine?

 

LOL, I know that you are not a geek like me.  Basically a virtual machine is software able to emulate hardware.  I can run a virtual machine on my computer, install an operating system (in this case Windows) and "make the software think" that it's being installed on a separate computer.

 

As an example, I use Linux but need to use certain programs that only run on a Microsoft platform.  I run Windows 7 in a virtual machine on my Linux computer, and those programs "think" that they are running on a Windows machine.

 

This is what I use to analyze and study certain viruses that get spread.  I can run them in my virtual machine, and they will infect that virtual machine, but do nothing to my personal system.  I can then just simply delete the whole virtual machine, and it's all gone.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Firefox and Windows 10 do not get along. In fact, Mozilla sent a nice long letter to Microsoft about that issue. The only issue I'm having with Firefox is Flash keeps crashing.

 

Flash is horrible and a problem across all computer platforms.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

LOL, I know that you are not a geek like me.  Basically a virtual machine is software able to emulate hardware.  I can run a virtual machine on my computer, install an operating system (in this case Windows) and "make the software think" that it's being installed on a separate computer.

 

As an example, I use Linux but need to use certain programs that only run on a Microsoft platform.  I run Windows 7 in a virtual machine on my Linux computer, and those programs "think" that they are running on a Windows machine.

 

This is what I use to analyze and study certain viruses that get spread.  I can run them in my virtual machine, and they will infect that virtual machine, but do nothing to my personal system.  I can then just simply delete the whole virtual machine, and it's all gone.

 

 

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I would argue with you that Linux would probably work just fine on your current laptop.  I've been using Linux since the mid-to-late 90's and have installed it on several different platforms.  I would recommend attempting to install Mint on your current laptop (after backing up your current installation of course).  The "regular" Mint distro is based on Ubuntu, but gives you a choice regarding the interface.

 

One big difference between Linux and Windows to keep in mind.  The drivers for hardware in Linux is built into the operating system.  Windows on the other hand requires hardware vendors to provide their own drivers.  Contrary to popular belief, pretty much any modern Linux distribution is going to support pretty much any hardware.

 

I personally prefer Debian as my distro, but I am a bit more "advanced" when it comes to Linux.  Mint is good for anyone making the switch from say Windows XP or even Windows 7.  Ubuntu is more like Windows 8/8.1.

 

If you want some assistance with making the switch, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to give you some support.

 

I have different laptops, but the one i use the most at home is a cheap asus netbook (similar to hp stream/chromebooks).   I looked it up before and it would likely take more effort than makes sense for me to try to install Linux on it.  As far as Linux hardware compatability, I don't know much about that.  But I do know there is a list of "Ubuntu certified hardware" so I figured it was at least somewhat of an issue.      

 

I wouldn't mind Debian.  I'm already using "Raspbian".  But I really haven't thought much about Linux desktop environment.  I've used a few (whether in a virtual machine or not), but didn't play with the desktop environment enough to tell much of a difference.  I do want to maybe take advantage of multiple desktops but other than that I don't have a preference.   I just heard Mint was the best and it's Debian based so why not.

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Firefox and Windows 10 do not get along. In fact, Mozilla sent a nice long letter to Microsoft about that issue. The only issue I'm having with Firefox is Flash keeps crashing.

 

Firefox doesn't have an html 5 option?  

 

Been using win10 for almost a year now, personally I like it, then again I loved 8.1 (windows 8 on the other hand wasn't as great).  I'm not sure how it runs on a virtual box, but it like 8 are much more snappier than 7 from my experience.   

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I'm with you on that.

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Classic Shell makes windows 8.1 and 10 tolerable

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I'm skeptical that it's free.

 

Even at that "value," I haven't seen anything about 10 that's a compelling reason to "upgrade" over 7.

 

Chrome and Firefox have been very good forever, so IE finally dying off isn't news as many abandoned it long ago and aren't going to consider Edge for much more than a test drive.

 

I've seen it time and again from users... when will flash just go away?!

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"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

I'm skeptical that it's free.

 

Even at that "value," I haven't seen anything about 10 that's a compelling reason to "upgrade" over 7.

 

Chrome and Firefox have been very good forever, so IE finally dying off isn't news as many abandoned it long ago and aren't going to consider Edge for much more than a test drive.

 

I've seen it time and again from users... when will flash just go away?!

My husband has Win 7 and refuses to upgrade until Microsoft no longer supports it. My laptop came with Win 8 and I kicked myself up and down the street for not getting a Win 7 laptop. They were more expensive though, and at the time that was a problem. 

 

So far I am liking 10 much more than 8 and am glad I upgraded. The only issue I seem to have is lag time on both Chrome and IE/Edge. But it's not enough for me to throw the laptop out the window. Just a minor annoyance. One thing I'm SO glad is gone is the stupid charms menu on the right side of the screen that comes up if your pointer happens to stray too close. That was annoying as all get out. Actually there are a lot of things I'm glad to be rid of regarding Win 8.

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I have different laptops, but the one i use the most at home is a cheap asus netbook (similar to hp stream/chromebooks).   I looked it up before and it would likely take more effort than makes sense for me to try to install Linux on it.  As far as Linux hardware compatability, I don't know much about that.  But I do know there is a list of "Ubuntu certified hardware" so I figured it was at least somewhat of an issue.      

 

I wouldn't mind Debian.  I'm already using "Raspbian".  But I really haven't thought much about Linux desktop environment.  I've used a few (whether in a virtual machine or not), but didn't play with the desktop environment enough to tell much of a difference.  I do want to maybe take advantage of multiple desktops but other than that I don't have a preference.   I just heard Mint was the best and it's Debian based so why not.

 

Mint is a very good choice in my opinion.  You have several options regarding the desktop environment.  I personally prefer Mate.

 

My advice to you would be to download a "live" image and either burn it to DVD, or better yet, install it on a thumb drive and test it on your target hardware.  If everything works like it should (sound, video, network, etc.) and you like it, installation is pretty straight forward.

 

As I said before, feel free to PM me if you have any questions or problems.  I'll be happy to help you out as much as I can.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

 

 

I'm with you on that.

 

LOL, I know, I'm quite the geek.  I'm fortunate that part of my job allows me to do what I love to do, that being working with electronics and computers.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Liking it so far. Boots up much faster on both my Vaio laptop and my gaming PC. Granted I have SSD's in both so that surely helps. It seems faster and less glitchy than the annoying dual environment of Win8. 

 

I actually use the touch screen on my laptop now when I never did with win8. 

 

Edge is good looking but it's not Chrome. 

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Edge won't be so bad once they allow extensions, no adblock means it'll still only be used to download chrome lol.  

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Edge won't be so bad once they allow extensions, no adblock means it'll still only be used to download chrome lol.  

That's all IE has been for years likely hood of Edge being the new Chrome Download App? High IMO

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That's all IE has been for years likely hood of Edge being the new Chrome Download App? High IMO

 

lol the homepage should just be chrome's download page.  Though to it's credit, from my experience it seems to be faster than firefox. 

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lol the homepage should just be chrome's download page.  Though to it's credit, from my experience it seems to be faster than firefox. 

 

However, keep in mind.  Faster is not always better.  I personally want "safer" and "stable" over "faster.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

However, keep in mind.  Faster is not always better.  I personally want "safer" and "stable" over "faster.

Fair enough. 

 

On the safe account I have no idea. I assume Chrome is safe outside of the google watching everything, which I am totally fine with for the value I get from it. 

 

I have not used Firefox in years. I remember it being slow and glitchy. Chrome has always been perfectly stable for me. 

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Fair enough. 

 

On the safe account I have no idea. I assume Chrome is safe outside of the google watching everything, which I am totally fine with for the value I get from it. 

 

I have not used Firefox in years. I remember it being slow and glitchy. Chrome has always been perfectly stable for me. 

 

The difference is, Firefox and to some extent Chrome are open source.  Microsoft IE (or Edge) is completely closed source.  What this means is that the source code (open source) for the software is available to anyone that wants to download it and look at it (Chrome not entirely).  This tends to make the software more safe because you don't have say 10 programmers working on a program, you have perhaps thousands looking at the code that can find and fix problems with it.

 

However, it is a double edged sword.  Not only can people that want to fix or improve the software look at the source code, so can the bad guys who find and exploit the flaws.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

The difference is, Firefox and to some extent Chrome are open source.  Microsoft IE (or Edge) is completely closed source.  What this means is that the source code (open source) for the software is available to anyone that wants to download it and look at it (Chrome not entirely).  This tends to make the software more safe because you don't have say 10 programmers working on a program, you have perhaps thousands looking at the code that can find and fix problems with it.

 

However, it is a double edged sword.  Not only can people that want to fix or improve the software look at the source code, so can the bad guys who find and exploit the flaws.

Unfortunately, open source web browsers aren't like open source operating systems; they can't rely on small user bases as a form of inherent virus protection.

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Unfortunately, open source web browsers aren't like open source operating systems; they can't rely on small user bases as a form of inherent virus protection.

 

Virus protection as it relates to computers is a huge joke.  Go get any "free" anti-virus software (bloatware) or be stupid naive enough to pay for it.  I also don't think that users of open source browsers or operating systems is a "small" community.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.