Regarding your question about running a stripped down default boot, you can achieve this partially by running a non-default window manager that isn't so heavy as Gnome or KDE's defaults. I personally run Debian on my systems (from which Ubuntu is derived) and use fluxbox as my window manager. It is possible to have multiple window managers installed and to switch between them even at runtime, though it can be tricky to get everything working right.
> > Question 2a. > > I didn't spot any reference to firewalls or ant-virus tools. Is > > that accomplished in a different manner in the Linux world? > > > > IPTables is the firewall, it's part of the kernel. You can download a > GUI to configure it easier if you like. A/V can be handled by Clam AV > and I'm sure there are others. Yes, iptables for firewalling. However, for a desktop I start by running 'lsof -i -n', make sure nothing is listening externally that shouldn't be, and then only bother with a firewall if you can't shut something off that you don't trust. Antivirus under Linux is pretty pointless, unless your goal is to run a Linux mail/file server and protect your windows users. The kinds of evil code that will nail your Linux box (and yes, Linux is a big target) won't be caught by A/V. And don't run ClamAV. It's had a horrible history of vulnerbilities in its own code. (Not that commercial A/V hasn't as well...) > > Suggestions? > > Am I on the appropriate list? > > Recommended sites other than www.pdxlinux.org? > > What are productive Google search terms? This is a good list for you to be on. We are happy to help. Good luck, tim _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
