Computer Help Needed...again

[daveesl77]

+1 to what Ray said...get Linux.

It is free.
It will take an old, slow computer and bring new life to it.
You don't have to worry a heck of a lot about viruses, they are there, but not much.
You can make it look and act like almost any operating system.
Installs quickly, with very, very few hassles. - This is a biggie. Install Linux and it just recognizes and activates almost everything you have without you having to spend hours pulling out your hair.
Did I mention, It is Free.
Fantastic user support communities.

If you use MS Office, instead use LibreOffice (free)
Do photography work? use darktable and GIMP (free)
Do video work? multiple okay video editors (free) or two high-end, oscar winning systems (Lightworks and DaVinci Resolve) which are expensive.
Watch videos? I can watch anything, from any site and also cast to my chromecast.
Surf the net? Same browsers and better (free)
Do advanced math calculations, equations and formulas? It is all there, free.
Play video games on your computer? Ok, here it isn't so great, but it is moving up and will probably rival other opsys in the next few years.

If you really like the way your Windoze system works, and are concerned about learning a new operating system, not to worry - the Zorin version of Linux was specifically designed to closely emulate Win
http://zorin-os.com/

Finally, you don't have to install Linux to try it. You can run it from a DVD. It will take a long time to start up if doing this way, but once running it at least gives you the idea on how it works.

dave

[jstrubberg]

Switching to Linux is like shooting mosquitos with a howitzer.

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux. I use it daily. I'm in the process of a home automation project using a raspberry pi as the brain, running a stripped down Debian Linux core. I retro-game on a Linux box. My media ceter on my TV is XBMC running on Debian Linux. Linux is great.

It's also about as far as you can get from user friendly. Mint and Ubuntu have improved that, but the fact is that if something goes wrong with a Linux install for the average user, it's game over. The skill set to fix things is much more difficult to obtain and maintain, and it just isn't that common.

The lady needs help getting things cleaned up and running again. I sincerely doubt she wants to tear her house down and rebuild it just to have a working faucet again.

[Dalorin]

My wife, two boys, and myself have two laptops running mint and hashbang. One Mac in the bedroom, and a Windows laptop collecting dust under the couch. I think if my nine year old can handle Linux it's fairly accessible. It's an easy recipe. Get a laptop full of spyware and a dead battery off craigslist for thirty bucks. Install some variant of debian and slap a new battery in it. I haven't purchased a new computer in a long long time. Don't suspect I ever will. My wife would say Windows is more difficult and provides an inferior user experience.

Just another quick thought. All pictures, documents, and other user specific information is stored in the cloud. So, even if you torch all my laptops, my house still stands. A computer should ideally exist as a portal to your content. Then you don't mind re-imaging a machine.

[daveesl77]

Before he passed away, my 89 year old father, who could wreck a computer in minutes, allowed me to put ubuntu on his laptop. He did not have problems after that.
My wife loves having Kubuntu on her old Toshiba. My ancient netbook runs Lubuntu.
Today I did a new install of Ubuntu Gnome on my main system - it took a total of 35 minutes, start to finish. I'm in the process of also doing a new install of Win7 on the exact same system, it has now been 4.5 hours and still counting.

Linux is not perfect and there are some areas where you want to pull your hair out, but it is far, far better than it was 10 years ago (or 20 years ago when I first started using it). I have installed it on every weirdo combination of computer I can think of. I have it running in a virtualbox environment on my neighbor's new Mac, she prefers it over the Mac OS. The only reason I even have Win7 is because Linux does not support Vegas Pro, Resolve Lite or Fusion (all for video editing).

Remember, Mac OS came from Unix, as did Linux.

dave

[rebapuck]

Lot of different opinions here. The one I'm going with is my tech guy's. He thinks it's Google. Google requires an "accept" in order to download their stuff. If you read the document it gives Google complete access to your computer. And they sell that access to others.

So, I haven't reloaded Google Earth, which I love, and I've had no problems for 4 months.

[RAYVILLIAN]

I know what you mean about google just do one search and you start getting pop up ads for what you search for every where. I've started using Ixquick it's google like but is suppose to be non tracking so you don't get as much advertising from it.

I like Linux but I also like Sketch-up and a couple other cad programs which won't run there so I have windows 7 box too and just put up with the junk.
Gary

[Dalorin]

I do cad work in Linux all the time. Usually to manufacture parts on my 3d printer. Openscad, allycad, and blender all run natively. Those are a bit advanced. However, there are many cad programs that exist solely within the browser and compete directly with sketch up. Many people on thingiverse have started using tinkercad.

[jstrubberg]

Google requires an "accept" in order to download their stuff. If you read the document it gives Google complete access to your computer. And they sell that access to others.

Your tech guy is wrong. Google can sell your search data, they don't have ANY access to your computer. Anything you do on their site belongs to them, the rest is tin-foil hat stuff.

[rebapuck]

Read the document.

[MtnDon]

Well, if Google is to blame I must be one of the luckiest guys around. I have used Google search since they operated pout of a garage. Gmail since you needed a Gmail user to refer you. Google Earth from way back. Google Analytics, Adsense and other related things for websites I run. Sketchup. HelloFax. An Android phone. Google Books, Movies, the Google Play store, .... Semms the list is endless. Our computers should be over run with adware crap if Googleis at fault. I've given them opportunity enough. Or maybe that is the solution! They don't bother me it seems. Maybe that is the secret, run lots of Google stuff and they leave you alone?

[MtnDon]

Google terms of service

The only thing I see about accessing a person's computer is this....
"When a Service requires or includes downloadable software, this software may update automatically on your device once a new version or feature is available. Some Services may let you adjust your automatic update settings." Most Windows users already give this away for their whole operating system. I don't know about Apple. Windows 10 is supposed to not have any opt out on updates at all.



Probably the most common ways spyware and adware gets on a PC is by......
..... clicking on advertisements that popup...
..... clicking on a fake anti virus warning message...
..... downloading and installing freeware and not being certain of the source...
..... leaving ActiveX turned on in your browser...
..... installing software in a hurry and not checking what the popup is really asking for...
..... and of course not being suspicious enough about any emails that arrive with links and/or attachments, no matter if the email appears to be from someone you might know...

[jstrubberg]

Google tracks your search and browsing patterns and sells those to advertisers in order to offer advertising in your browser that is relevant to you. They do this because targeted advertising is many times more effective than a shotgun approach. Your home videos and pictures aren't worth anything to Google. There is no business advantage to them trying to invade your home PC. Not to mention the lawsuits it would spawn.

The best thing you can do to avoid malware infections is be aware of the emails you are opening. If you don't know the sender, delete it. If it sounds too good to be true, delete it. If there are a hundred email addresses attached to the email, delete it.

The second best way to avoid infection is DON'T CLICK ON SPECIAL OFFERS WHEN YOU ARE ONLINE! If it says free, run the other way as fast as your browser will carry you. Remember, everything you see online costs money to offer. You can bet that whoever put that "offer" online is getting their money back in some way. All too often it's by throwing you or your computer equipment under the bus.

[Graniterich]

And any computer security person will tell you once infected there is only one one to be completely 100 percent sure your safe is to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Obviously after you back up all your data and pictures, etc. The key word is 100 percent, I have cleaned up dozens of computers but still understand the possibilities.

[bdosborn]

I know what you mean about google just do one search and you start getting pop up ads for what you search for every where. I've started using Ixquick it's google like but is suppose to be non tracking so you don't get as much advertising from it.

You can turn a lot of the Google tracking off, all though I wonder how much good it does:

http://geekbeat.tv/tutorial-how-to-disable-all-google-tracking/

I use Duck Duck Go as my primary search engine as it's supposedly doesn't track you. Unfortunately, Google still has the best engine so I still us it when Duck Duck Go doesn't find what I want.

Bruce

[GerryS]

If I want to hide from Google, I use TOR and don't post any private information while I'm tunneled....I use duckduckgo for my daily activities as well.