I'm not knocking your choice, but I'm a little surprised by it. Was the problem of the failed Win 7 update not worth solving? Did you consider a dual-boot instead of the emulator (which I assume is WINE)? KDE is the graphic desktop environment (as opposed to GNOME or other options). We still don't know which distro you are using. I've used ClamAV but can't say of my own knowledge if its useful or not. Its never found anything noteworthy but I wouldn't expect it to since I make every effort to avoid virus-malware problems. It is slow and reviews I have read on it were mediocre at best. I tried Avast for Linux for a few weeks but then uninstalled it. After a few scans it failed to update and I decided not to bother with it. I think it may have had a conflict with Ubuntu, but not sure of that. I suppose I would try it again if there was a need to.

Claims to have had his Linux gateway hacked by someone using an "SSH over an unusual port number". It's like shooting yourself in the butt ... hard to do and you have to do several foolish things in a row. He would have to have had an ssh server installed, which most Linux distros don't do by default unless you select "set me up a server" from your install options. I just checked, and I have a client, but not the server. He would have had to have deliberately configured to answer requests on unusual port numbers instead of silently ignoring them. The default ports are what you get on a vanilla install. It would have to be answering SSH requests over the Internet, not sitting behind a router, unless that router was also deliberately configured to allow unusual port numbers. ========= To check, open your Software manager or Synaptic and look for openssh ... if it's not installed it can't be hacked.

I also did not want to mess too much with my windows so when I boot my machine I immediately hit the Esc key which takes me to the boot order screen and there I select the one I want to boot too, if I don't do that it will default to windows and boot right up to windows. So I only have to access that menu if I am booting into the linux drive. May be weird to some but it works fine for me just one little extra step to take in the bootup for linux. When I select the drive with linux then it begins that boot process, says loading grub and then up comes my Mepis. My linux guru was here visiting last year and that is when we tackled installing the new hard drive, I was glad he was here! I am not very good at that kind of stuff so he handled most of the process. for those considering linux you might check your area to see if there are any Linux user groups or LUGs around that is an excellent way to meet linux users and get hands on help. You can look them up online using google. Mint is a good choice for new users, not sure if openSUSE would be. if you go to distro watch they list all the flavors and you can click on each and get some info on them. I also love the coding studio site, you can click on each distro and see it in pictures, they have changed the site and it is not as good as it used to be but still ok. The Coding Studio OS Screenshots Here is a link that might be useful: distrowatch

Mwheel, they have the those devices in many states. They have it in Wisconsin at the 2nd & 3rd OWI or DUI (whatever you call it where you are from). While the devices sound like a great idea (and they are) there are a few problems with them and the main one is that the device can be started by anyone that is sober. It is not hard for a drunk to talk someone into blowing into the device for them. The other problem is that they often borrow vehicles from their friends and families that do not have the devices. In Wisconsin, the person has to have all vehicles that they have in their possession. That doesn't stop them from borrowing a vehicle from someone else and hiding it on their property. While I'm with you about giving someone heavy jail time, I know that there are more dangerous people out there and I also know that we can't really afford to put even more people in prison. It really does cost a lot of money to house a criminal. Maybe instead they could institute the device on the vehicles and another device that is hooked to their telephones that is set up so that when the device calls, they have to prove their sobriety and progressive discipline for those that decide not to follow the rules.