[Request] LM17 Maintenance tutorial

[SJLPHI]

hey guys, I've been dealing with LM17 for a few months now and I have written in my notepad some of the maintenance commands to run in the terminal.

Everyday, I simply run
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y && sudo freshclam && sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get autoremove -y && sudo apt-get autoclean

and every other day or so I use the ClamAV GUI to do virus scan and as for RKhunter and CHKrootkit I am still unsure how to use them properly. I did save up the commands I require for them but I can't think of the commands without looking at it.

I have installed:
ClamAV (Several False-Positives on secured/encrypted .pdf documents)
RKhunter
Chkrootkit
and I used to have Bleachbit (It nearly broke the system after crashing the computer during "free space" clean. Also I've read online that it's not recommended for the most part)

I was wondering if someone could consolidate a maintenance tutorial for LM17 equivalent to my maintenance for Windows7Pro:

-Auto Lenovo and Windows Upgrades
-Once a week, Kaspersky Internet Security Full scan.
-Spybot 2 Search & destroy, every other month

-CCleaner after something has been installed/removed
-Defraggler once a month unless if I am installing/removing softwares in large scale
-chkdisk once a year or less

My Linux computer is currently the work-horse and it is almost never left "idle" and I always keep something running in the background but I'm running out of ideas and unsure if I am doing it properly.

Thank you for your help
-SJL

[nomko]

Everyday, I simply run
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y && sudo freshclam && sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get autoremove -y && sudo apt-get autoclean

There's absolutely no reason at all to run those commands every day! Linux doesn't clutter up or choke up like Windows does. The first 2 commands to get updates is also somewhat ridiculous to do, you get all updates through the Update Manager and believe me, you won't miss any update.

and every other day or so I use the ClamAV GUI to do virus scan and as for RKhunter and CHKrootkit I am still unsure how to use them properly. I did save up the commands I require for them but I can't think of the commands without looking at it.

Why being so paranoid??? Why using those tools every 2 days??? Linux isn't that vulnerable for malicious software like Windows. Are you a Windows refugee???

I have installed:
ClamAV (Several False-Positives on secured/encrypted .pdf documents)
RKhunter
Chkrootkit

ClamAV is know for giving false positives, but in a Windows-based network it's a good choice to have it instaleld on a Linux system. Read this topic: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 40#p884536.

RKHunter and CKrootkit are pretty good tools to check for any rootkit's, but then again, why running it every 2 days??? It does sound like you're very paranoid....

and I used to have Bleachbit (It nearly broke the system after crashing the computer during "free space" clean. Also I've read online that it's not recommended for the most part)

Bleachbit comes with 2 settings:

• Regular user mode cleaning up /home/{username} folder
• Root-mode cleaning up root folder (/)

The first mode is quit safe to use, beside cleaning up coockies, browser history, backup files it won't do pretty much else. Unlike the normal user-mode, the root-mode cleans out thee whole / partition: beside backup files, logfiles, cookies, browser history it also cleans some system files. And checking options with are stil experimental (you gte a warning!) is at own risk! Under normal cinditions, Bleachbit won't break your system (not in normal-mode and not in root-mode). But if you're not quit sure how to use a tool like Bleachbit, don't use it.

I was wondering if someone could consolidate a maintenance tutorial for LM17 equivalent to my maintenance for Windows7Pro:

Ahh...This answers my question regarding you being a Windows refugee..... That's why you're so paranoid, standard Windows behaviour. Linux is not Windows and windows is not Linux. Unlike windows, Linux does not require high maintenance. Linux does not clutter up or choke up like Windows does, Linux does not defrag your harddrive like Windows does. Linux has a low maintenance profile. Clean out the repository database is only handy when you add or remove lot's of prgrams. Otherwise it does have any use to clean it up on daily basis, it even doesn't slow down Linux. Checking for updates on daily basis is also a bit paranoid, the Update Manager itself is set to check each 30 minutes for updates automatically (which in my opinion is ridiculous too, checking for updates automatically once a day is more than enough). If there are updates, you will see that the icon of the Update Manager on the taskbar/panel will change it's appearance.

You really should relax and not being so paranoid! You're using Linux now, not Windows!

-Auto Lenovo and Windows Upgrades
-Once a week, Kaspersky Internet Security Full scan.
-Spybot 2 Search & destroy, every other month

-CCleaner after something has been installed/removed
-Defraggler once a month unless if I am installing/removing softwares in large scale
-chkdisk once a year or less

Forget all that you know about Windows. Linux is not vulnerable for malicious software like Windows! You don;t above applications for Linux at all.

My Linux computer is currently the work-horse and it is almost never left "idle" and I always keep something running in the background but I'm running out of ideas and unsure if I am doing it properly.

My desktyop system i running for 2 weeks now without even being shut down after a clean/fresh install of Mint 17 MATE. Before that when i was using Mint 16, it was up and running for weeks without shutting it down. Maybe a reboot due to some package updates or driver updates, but it was never shut down completly. And i never encountered any issue or problem regarding malicious software.

So my advice: stop being such a paranoid Windows control freak and relax!!!

[JohnBobSmith]

I also think your over doing it by quite a lot... Linux, by design, does not have those Windows problems. Linux is not vulnerable to viruses (there are maybe 50 known Linux viruses), Linux does not fragment your hard drive, nor does it store loads of temporary files. Linux does require some temporary files, but not nearly as much as Windows. If anything, doing what you are doing right now may (only slight chance) actually damage your system. It would be minor damage, but its possible. Honestly, my recommended once a month maintanence is simple: Check for rootkits, and cleanup temporary files/unsued programs and packages. Thats it. Really, you don't need to do much more than that. And on a once a year basis, do a full hardware integrity scan (RAM and hard drive mostly). This is just to make sure your hardware is up to par and not breaking down. All in all, you are *really* over doing it. I recommend you take a step back, breath, and remember you are free from the Windows treachery.

[SJLPHI]

I was just hoping for someone to compile a maintenance tutorial equivalent to Windows maintenance sequence for someone who is inexperienced at using for example Rkhunter

[nomko]

I was just hoping for someone to compile a maintenance tutorial equivalent to Windows maintenance sequence for someone who is inexperienced at using for example Rkhunter

First of all, Google (or DuckDuckGo) is your best friend!
Secondly:
This is a wiki you could read: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RKhunter
Or this man page: http://linux.die.net/man/8/rkhunter

Just keep in mind, Linux is much mor secure than Windows. The chance of getting hit by a meteorite is much higher than getting malicious software installed under Linux.

[SJLPHI]

I'm a little uncertain of the cause but Lately I am finding my Cinnamon quite unstable.

I have multiple windows in 4 workspaces, far below 20% of RAM and first thing I notice is that google chrome partially crashes then I can't use the terminal or anything then I get a blank screen then I have to log in. It does NOT log me in when I try and I have to reboot the whole computer using the power button...

Any idea what the cause is for this?

[MartyMint]

...equivalent to Windows maintenance...

Linux isn't a "version" of Windows.

The best way to have a productive life under Linux is not to follow the "Windows Way" of doing things. I understand old habits die hard.

[baptiste]

I'm a little uncertain of the cause but Lately I am finding my Cinnamon quite unstable.

I have multiple windows in 4 workspaces, far below 20% of RAM and first thing I notice is that google chrome partially crashes then I can't use the terminal or anything then I get a blank screen then I have to log in. It does NOT log me in when I try and I have to reboot the whole computer using the power button...

Any idea what the cause is for this?

Not sure, but on linux you can often have driver instability and some hard to understand bugs.
Upgrading to Mint 17.1 when it comes out might fix some graphics driver bugs and Cinnamon bugs.
Enabling proprietary graphics driver if applicable might help (or it might be helpful to do it once on 17.1 kernel and Xorg versions).

In the mean time, maybe you can restart the whole graphics subsystem and user session management instead of rebooting the computer.. that'd be hitting ctrl-alt-backspace, or go to a VT console (hit ctrl-alt-f1), login and do a sudo service mdm restart
Disabling use of hardware acceleration in Google Chrome may be a working short term fix (maybe that's in 'advanced options', 'even more advanced options' also some clickable buttons look like text labels.. I'm saying that because these buttons tricked me once and I couldn't find a quite banal option)

As minimal hardware maintenance : check that your memory is good, by running memtest86 for a couple hours? (no need to do it every week). That's perhaps the most important diagnostic/maintenance tool to run. If it's fine you can have a bit of peace of mind, if there's even one error that makes your PC behaviour non-deterministic.

[baptiste]

The first 2 commands to get updates is also somewhat ridiculous to do, you get all updates through the Update Manager and believe me, you won't miss any update.

It seems even best to use the Update Manager sometimes, when the Update Manager shows only one update - for updating itself, then more updates come along the way. Whatever is happening, it is robust.

[SJLPHI]

I have upgraded my kernel to 3.13.0-37 from -35 and -36, it seems relatively stable at least for now.

I am discovering minor issues here and there, so far I am hoping that 17.1 fixes my keyboard/mouse issue and random crashes...

[reddot]

.

[SJLPHI]

Although, malwares seem to be able to attack the browsers at least.

Unfortunately, I've concluded that this laptop isn't too happy with LM17 and moved to OpenSuse13.1, and now facing some issues with 13,2

[reddot]

.

[SJLPHI]

well, at least it isn't as bad as how my colleague faced Ubuntu 14.10 dist-upgrade.

In our lab he said "stop $#@!ing with your OS", because I make many customization and small fixes which I make to make the system a little better. An hour later his laptop finished dist-upgrade to 14.10 the day it came out. He wasn't able to boot his laptop, then I had the chance to say "Well --hisname--, stop $#@!ing with YOUR OS."

I admit that I learned a lot from Linux Mint 16 and 17, with LM16 and my netbook, I ran into ZERO problems. I bought a laptop dedicated for LM17, along with the HDD failing, the laptop was allergic to LM17, Ubuntu 14.04 and Debian.

It seemed to be very happy with OpenSUSE 13.1(I had to spend 2 days to make things to work the way it is now. I use KDE version and the default settings for hot key and "activities" make me shiver), and now 13.2 says I can't play games anymore.

As for Browsers, I strongly recommend Opera, I remember on Win7, I kept on getting virus attacks with ransomwares and Opera itself acted as an OS, so malware/virus locked up the Browser and All I needed to do was wipe out history and good to go. Google does the same, but it is somewhat more integrated with the host OS and I consider it more vulnerable. The downside of Opera is that it is not very well integrated with the OS and not entirely most compatible with everything until you make adjustments.