Do you laugh at virus/malware ads?

[DoYouKubuntu]

I normally record anything I might want to watch and then zap through the ads, but I occasionally watch something in real time and come across ads for poor micro$oft users and the plethora of viruses, adware, malware, and so on that they deal with. I always laugh. I can't help myself. Do you react the same way?

[vinnywright]

,,,kind of ,,then I feel bad for them

VINNY

[Qqmike]

Not laughing. Cogitating. Fretting. I think of all the good guys trying to keep up with the mess, like
https://www.windowschimp.com/dont-need-adobe-reader/
And then I am reminded that the time is quickly coming to switch my wife's Win 10 laptop over to Kubuntu, and the work/prep that will take. Nope, it is no laughing matter.
...

[GreyGeek]

I recently saw an ad for the "FixItStick", or some name similar to that. They listed the threats that the stick "cured":
viruses
keyboard loggers
malware
Trojans
file lockers

Notice something unusual about that list?

[DoYouKubuntu]

,,,kind of ,,then I feel bad for them

VINNY

It's hard to feel badly for them when they're the ones making the choice to use an OS that is just so...wrong...in so many ways. Sure, I realize that they're probably unaware of Linux, but anyone with a little effort can find out about alternatives to window$ pretty easily.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Not laughing. Cogitating. Fretting. I think of all the good guys trying to keep up with the mess, like
https://www.windowschimp.com/dont-need-adobe-reader/
And then I am reminded that the time is quickly coming to switch my wife's Win 10 laptop over to Kubuntu, and the work/prep that will take. Nope, it is no laughing matter.
...

How bad will it be? It's been about twelve years since I last [physically] switched a window$ user to Kubuntu, my mom, and it was a cinch. I just saved her important files over the network, wiped the drive, and installed Kubuntu. I'll always remember that--after a while of using Linux--my mom, who was no computer geek by any stretch of the imagination, asked me why she no longer had to reboot all the time.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I recently saw an ad for the "FixItStick", or some name similar to that. They listed the threats that the stick "cured":
viruses
keyboard loggers
malware
Trojans
file lockers

Notice something unusual about that list?

Oh, yes, that stick thing--I've seen its ads, too. Offhand I don't know what's unusual about that list. Want to clue me in?!

[Qqmike]

DYK says, How bad will it be? It's been about twelve years since I last [physically] switched a window$ user to Kubuntu, my mom, and it was a cinch.

Yes, exactly what I expect, I do hope so. If it is a Desktop PC I built, I am totally familiar with the nuts and bolts to do it. My ONLY slow-down on this is that I have never messed with a laptop, this is an ASUS_Q501LA, circa 2013-2015, UEFI. I will assume I can simply treat its hard drive the way I would handle any HD; and that I can go live with a GParted CD/USB, and do the formatting/partitioning work required on the HD to set it up; then run the Kubuntu installer as usual. Any caveats there that you can see offhand?

[DoYouKubuntu]

Yes, exactly what I expect, I do hope so. If it is a Desktop PC I built, I am totally familiar with the nuts and bolts to do it. My ONLY slow-down on this is that I have never messed with a laptop, this is an ASUS_Q501LA, circa 2013-2015, UEFI. I will assume I can simply treat its hard drive the way I would handle any HD; and that I can go live with a GParted CD/USB, and do the formatting/partitioning work required on the HD to set it up; then run the Kubuntu installer as usual. Any caveats there that you can see offhand?

It should be very straightforward. Until buying my Chromebook and my System76 laptop, every laptop I'd ever had came with window$ preinstalled, and I went about correcting that just as I said earlier: wipe the drive, partition to my liking, then install Kubuntu via hardwired connection to my modem. It's been several years now so things may have changed, but at the time it was necessary to have a wired connection during installation in order to download updates and current versions, etc., prior to getting wireless up and running.

Even with the Chromebook and the System76 laptop, I installed Kubuntu to replace their preinstalled versions of Linux; as above, no issues to speak of.

[Snowhog]

Any caveats there that you can see offhand?

As you know, burn a LiveUSB of the flavor of your choice and boot from it. See what does and (maybe) does not work from the Live Session. If you have no issues booting, and are presented with a working Desktop, then the likelihood that it will install/run without issues is high. But, as DYK points out, ensure you are connected to the 'Net via a wired connection, and after you have the system installed and working/connected to the 'Net, get the wireless installed/configured/connected.

[Qqmike]

@ DoYouKubuntu and Snowhog: Thanks for the tips, good points, indeed, esp about the wireless and about trying it out live first. Now I just have to wait to pick a good Kubuntu version to start with, one w/o too many issues, and one I can test myself! I am still only familiar with 14.04, nothing more recent, but I'd like to pick a more recent LTS with more life left in it. Many thanks.

[GreyGeek]

Oh, yes, that stick thing--I've seen its ads, too. Offhand I don't know what's unusual about that list. Want to clue me in?!

Listing "malware", a generic term used as the name for all infective agents, is listed as an infective agent. It's like listing a bunch of planes but including the term "airplane" in the list.

[PhysicistSarah]

Honestly, Microsoft has done some really shady things with Windows. I can't stand its security model either. Microsoft should not be able to execute code on my machine whenever they want to (Windows 10 upgrade), even if I disable the thing!

[GreyGeek]

... I'd like to pick a more recent LTS with more life left in it. Many thanks.

Here's the EOL for Ubuntu derivatives:

As you can see, the 16.04 LTS will go to 2021, with the hardware maintenance parting ending in a couple months but the software maintenance continuing till April of 2021.

The 18.04LTS will be released in a little over two months and that will run till 2023.

I'm running KDE Neon User Edition, based on the 16.04 LTS. I'm planning on staying with it till 2021, unless 18.04 shows some really neat stuff AND my NVidia GT650M runs OK under it AND its Btrfs support is equal or better than 16.04. Actually, Btrfs is my "line in the sand".

[DoYouKubuntu]

Here's the EOL for Ubuntu derivatives:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]7363[/ATTACH]
As you can see, the 16.04 LTS will go to 2021, with the hardware maintenance parting ending in a couple months but the software maintenance continuing till April of 2021.

Ha ha, I'm SO FAR BEHIND!! I'm running 14.04 on my System76 laptop and even earlier versions on everything else; I believe I still have 6.10 cranking away on one of my desktops (that I only access via the network). The thing is, I don't have any problems or issues with the versions I'm running, so why bother upgrading? This is a serious question, BTW. I really don't know of any security enhancements or other tweaks that might make upgrading to something more recent look attractive. Anyone? Note that the only computer currently in physical use, i.e., where I sit down in front of it and use its display and keyboard to access it, is the S76 laptop; everything else is running but only being used for file storage and access over the network.