Linux Mint Forums

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

My mother's laptop is running mint 12 lisa. I am considering upgrading her but what would be the point if her system i still secure (well putting my steam account on it :p). On the website i see it is obsolete since april 2013. What to believe not long ago i uinstalled updates. Should i upgrade her system ? (She doesnt like the idea of reformatting the machine and moving her stuff to install an OS thus i would put a LTS: either xubuntu 12.04 or mint 13 XFCE so she would be safe for a long time)

What are your opinions ?

Linux Mint 12 uses Ubuntu 11.10 as a package base, with most packages that could have security issues coming from the Ubuntu repository. Like the Linux kernel. With Ubuntu 11.10 having been obsoleted, the Ubuntu security team no longer manages the packages on your mother's system. So indeed, moving to the LTS release sounds like a good plan for your mother; letting here use her computer worry free till April 2017.

That said, the most insecure part of any computer is still the human operating it. Regardless of the operating system you are using, browsing the Internet and making unwise decisions as to what websites to visit, being too gullible trusting emails, downloading random binaries from the Internet, and so on--that is the biggest security risk IMO. Regardless of most security issues that are being fixed by the security team not affecting average desktop users, I wouldn't run Linux Mint 12 at this stage and would upgrade. But it's good to keep sharp on the fact that security updates are but part of what makes you safe on the Internet...

Bedankt xenopeek

It was my impression mint 12 was somehow still maintained because i had no alerts and could still install software. I will update her system next week then. She doesn't do a lot of dengerous stuff. Email and facebook mainly. She doesn't install programs.