[H-GEN] Linuxs separated from Win. 10

[Russell Stuart]

On Tue, 2015-09-08 at 09:42 +0000, gyfdrdedscf at sigaint.org wrote:
> >> Recently I installed a DVD burning software and all a sudden my
> personal
> >> email is shown in the following screen, which asks me to register my
> account in the software's system.
> >> Definitely I did not register it because this software works with or
> without an account but it made me nut that how come my email was shown?
> > Sorry, I'm lost.  To have a hope I need to know what operating system,
> what DVD burning software, and what email client you are using.
> 
> I was using Win. 8.1; the software was Power2go CyberLink and my personal
> email is with yahoo.com.au.
> This is strange because I didn't type in my email and it just shown up in
> the next step - 'registration' after the software was installed.

Oh, that all.  Your email is stored in the Windows Registry.

> > I googled CCleaner.  It seems to be a propriety, Windows program?  Both
> those things create issues.  Since it is propriety, you are prevented by
> the licence from knowing what it does.  It may well claim it is
> > optimising your PC while it is really installing spyware to steal your
> banking details.  There is no way to tell.
> > As for Windows - it is a very good operating system (well 10 is anyway,
> apart from the propriety bit) - but I don't use it so I'm no expert.
> 
> Could you let me know in what way can I find alternative FOSS software to
> replace CCleaner?

No.  It's the Windows thing - I haven't personally used it in over a
decade.  Back when I did use it I was both wrote computer programs for
it, and was a sysadmin.   I avoided programs like CCleaner like the
plague - as far as I could tell their sole purpose was was to extract
money from customers.  I certainly didn't notice any improvement after
running them.  But maybe times have changed.

> I am aware of sourceforge.net and there are thousands of recommended
> software for most keywords searching. It would be great if I could narrow
> the list to a few to choose from.

If they still don't do anything useful there won't be a open source
version.  Nobody wastes their spare time writing programs that do
nothing.

> With the around-212GB hard drive, it is very tight because I am going to
> have two separete Linux platforms apart from Windows 10.
> 
> The hard drive is actually 256GB, not 212GB. It shows around 212GB because
> the other space is full of a large sums of system backup files. You
> mentioned about 15GB is tight then I say 256-20GB (WIN 10 system backup
> files) = 236GB; 236GB -20GB (Linux)-20GB (virtual box Linux within the
> fist Linux) =196GB left; If I wanted
> to have the third Linux (as a virtual box)within Windows then 176GB (the
> first Linux 20GB
> is log-on separated from Windows when starting the computer) then 156GB is
> left for Windows.
> 
> Do you think this is a good partition plan?

Sounds like it would work.  

> Some websites say either iptables or comodo firewall is considerable for
> Linux (maybe you will pick up one of them or both as proprietary) but when
> it cvomes to anti-virus, software, like Malwarebytes or HitmanPro, is
> presumably not open-source.

Iptables isn't a firewall.  It's a mechanism the Linux kernel provides
to construct firewalls.  Comodo is a closed source program that uses
iptables to construct a firewall.

There are free open source programs that do the same job.  Debian
provides a list of them.  They will be available on most Debian derived
distributions, such as Ubuntu:

    https://wiki.debian.org/DebianFirewall#Graphic_applications_and_frontends

That said, you don't need a firewall.  They only protect you against
bugs in network servers you run.  In all likely hood you won't be
running any.

> To prevent being hacked and put privacy-leak into consideration, which
> software, including firewall, anti-virus and something else, is better
> installed before start browsing the Internet and using net-banking?

I personally don't use those things.  Malware is a money making
operation, and to make money you need a lot of idiots behind keyboards,
idiots who will run stuff they find in an email or download from the
internet.  Bearing that in mind Linux creates two problems for malware
producers.  Firstly the number of people who run Linux on the desktop is
tiny compared the number of people who run Windows, which means there is
proportionally less idiots.  Less idiots means less opportunity to make
money, and in the Linux desktop case there few it's simply not worth
their while to target them.  Worse, most Linux users are open source
nuts - meaning while they often do run programs they find on the
internet (virtualenv, gem and npm users - I'm looking at you), they only
run open source.  I am not aware of any malware producer that publishes
their code as open source.

> It is time to upgrade my phone but I am a bit disappointed that the latest
> Samsung phones cannot remove the battery in an easy way.
> I found a Nokia phone (with good technology and look like an Android)
> which allows people to remove battery easily but it is with a Win.
> platform.

The software industry has learnt since the desktop days.  Mobile Phones
are so locked down only the government can spy on them without getting
your agreement first, so worrying about viruses on them is about as
productive as worrying about getting struck by lightening.  As for open
source - only Android release _part_ of its code as open source, and
that part is becoming less as time goes on.  Or to put it another way -
if you like WinPhone use it, as even to a open source zealot there isn't
a huge pile of difference between it and Android.

> In order to learn and utilize more Android and Linux functions on a new
> phone with the latest technology, which brand and which model will members
> from your organization sugguest?
> Is it a battery-removable model?

A removable battery is nice, but there are other solutions that work
almost as well:

  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111668547142

So far I have stuck with Nexus phones, mostly for reasons you won't care
about.