re: Energizer, Inc. installs a trojan along with its battery charger software
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(4444 messages posted)
Arminius wrote:
|Linux certainly sounds as though it has less tar and nicotine than Windows.
|
Until someone can point to a widespread exploit on a non-Windoze platform,
M$'s junk will stand alone in its ease of infection.
Linux users aren't conditioned to click everything that appears on their screens
and are wary about software from non-vetted repositories
e.g. a *Software for a battery charger? WTF??* kind of skepticism from that lot.
|I wonder what would happen if Windows use were to decline
|and linux develops critical mass on the internet
|
First, Linux already has a critical mass on the Internet.
If you are connected to a server, there is a >65% chance it is running Linux.
Second, you've seen all the advisories to stop using M$ software online.
OK, most of that is about IE, OE, M$'s MSN client, and Windoze Media Player
--but the OS isn't any better WRT its security model (think: e.g. scripting).
The problem with M$'s junk
is the notion that you can make software secure by pasting stuff on the OUTSIDE.
What Windoze requires is a bottom-up rewrite. More below.
|to the point where it becomes an attractive tarket
|for hackers and other mischief makers.
|
This has been covered here before:
http://annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1257977038
|And I guess the Energizer people are blameless too.
|
It's getting to the point where I'm having a hard time
trying to find a corporation that doesn't just suck.
{sheepish look on the face of a Free(dom) Software advocate}
HTC's Android phones were being shipped with malware pre-installed;
it goes to show you that with physical access to the hardware, the game's over.
|This weekend I played around with a Pentium 4 box I recently acquired for nought.
|[...]2.66GHz
|98SE really flies with 256MB of DDR RAM.
|
8-) The last box ever built to still have W98 drivers perhaps?
|I have never seen 98 so fast and responsive when compared to my old P3 boxes.
|
The usual gotchas are the *too much RAM* thing or the *HDD too big* thing.
Once you know to stay within the limitations (or how work around them),
yeah, Speed City.
|Gewg mentioned how "awesome" Linux Mint was a while back
|I thought to myself.
|I was able to get ISOs of Mint 6.0 and Mint 7.0 off of magazine cover discs
|and saved myself the download.
|
Smarter than the average bear.
I don't even know if that strikes a chord with anyone any more.
|I replaced the single 256MB stick of DDR RAM with two 512MB sticks.
|
Now we're cooking.
|Next I inserted the freshly burned Mint 6.0 CD and when the CD fully loaded
|I had a black screen with a white mouse pointer in the center of it.[...]
|It was an "awesome" bad first impression of Linux Mint.
|
Bummer.
http://google.com/search?q=site:forums.linuxmint.com+VESA+drivers
|The Mint 6.0 CD worked on another computer
|but why it didn't work with the IBM is surprising.
|
http://google.com/search?q=Linux+"Intel.845"+sucks
If you had tried to get XP, Vista, or Vista 7
working on a box without checking the Approved Hardware List for those,
you would have had just as great a chance of failure.
|It wasn't as though I had an exotic combination of hardware.
|
They may have a highly recognizable name, but FOSS guys know Intel mostly sucks
(with regard to openness and device drivers).
|I tried the Mint 7.0 CD next and this time it worked like a charm.
|
Newer Linux kernel; bigger driver collection compiled in; better debugged drivers.
|[...]It comes bundled with a nice collection of apps.
|
You can tell folks that, but until they try it for themselves there's still doubt.
8-)
|The annoying thing was that [every time] I [clicked] "help"
|to get more info on this or that Linux Mint wanted to connect to the internet
|
Sounds like the Package Manager trying to be your best friend forever.
Windoze guys are used to fighting their OS and distrusting it
so we shouldn't be too surprized at your reaction.
Windoze has **nothing even close** to a Linux package manager;
it's a HUGE deficit in the Windoze ecosystem.
|I also felt that despite the specs[,] the performance was quite sluggish
|as though it had to think about whether it wanted to let me do this or that
|before it actually let me.
|
Now, this I find surprizing.
|I put the sluggishness down to the measely 8MB of graphics memory of the mobo
|and figured Linux Mint is better suited to the lastest hardware.
|
You can turn off some of the eye candy and see if that improves things
but the system specs sound like more than enough to give a pleasant experience.
|By contrast, WinXP ran faster
|on a box with only half the specs of the one I installed Linux Mint on.
|
Perhaps putting it on an even footing with XP...
http://google.com/search?q=Linux+"Without.Compiz"
There are also a lot of editions of Mint of varying requirements/abilities:
cache
of http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=12#content
The Xfce Edition for Mint 8 isn't ready yet 8-(
but Xfce is what I recommend for folks with old boxes or performance problems.
Mint 7 does have an Xfce spin.
cache
of http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=11#content
(...and you may note that Mint 7 didn't get out a Fluxbox Edition;
Fluxbox is even lighter than Xfce and there a Fluxbox Edition of Mint 8 available.)
|Another annoyance with Mint 7.0 was that after the computer booted,
|the CPU fan would shut off and the CPU would begin to overheat.
|
Now, that doesn't sound fit and proper. 8-(
|I had the same problem while running DOS based Killdisk.
|That didn't happen with 98SE.
|
Hmmm. An edge case with the hardware??
http://google.com/search?q=site:forum.linuxmint.com+fan+"Mint.7"
I note here that *ThinkPad* appears in both of the top 2 hits.
...and just as Mint 7 runs better than Mint 6,
Mint 8 (very recently released) is better than its predecessor.
Maybe it picked up the spare in this later try.
(Mint does get a new chance every 6 months.)
|In the end I decided to wipe the hard drive clean and install Win2000.
|It also boots and runs nice and fast, and the CPU fan keeps running too.
|
Horses for courses. Having choices is nice.
Having security updates beyond this June would be even better.
Keep the boot-to-a-desktop Linux disk for emergencies.
...and if you get your hands on e.g. a Mint 8 CD,
remember that you DON'T have to install it to take it for a test drive.
The out-of-the-box state of Slackware-based Zenwalk
or (yeech) Redhat-based PCLOS might be a better fit for that box.
Again: Lots of choices--and you don't even have to install to find out.
Dual-boot is also an option (especially since Windoze got installed *first*).
|
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 | |  | re: Energizer, Inc. installs a trojan along with its battery charger software (gewg_: Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 10:03 pm) |
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