My Switch from Windows: So Far So Good

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JF007

My Switch from Windows: So Far So Good

Post by JF007 »

SO I installed windows xp today, installed the main drivers and then before I installed any software I decided to just go with installing Linux Mint, as a dual boot and have spent this morning setting that up, checking all works and showing family members how to use.

The system looks and feels so clean, and every piece of software I need is there, and my two printers installed in under a minute (used to take over 30 minutes on windows), my wifi dongle just worked (on windows it took me ages to find and download the driver from a crappy server).

I can read/write between partitions, and my ntfs external harddrive also which I thought would be an issue.

I just need a few questions answered as I have been doing some googling but can't decide on the following:

A - Is it safe for me to run without a firewall/anti-virus and just rely on the iptables and natural linux security?

B - Which is the best program that is similar to synback for doing automated syncing of files between drives?

C - Is there a decent spam program for pop3 email as the junk filter on thunderbird isn't that great.

Also, there are two odd problems I am getting, the first one is that when using firefox if I do a google search, click a link and then press the back button, after 1-2 seconds the page will automatically go forward a page without me clicking anything, anyone have any idea why this is?

The other problem is that often the on screen buttons, like menu, close, install will be unclickable but if i shake my mouse about then the buttons become active again, is this a possible a problem with my mouse or just one of these odd quirks you get?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
lagagnon

Re: My Switch from Windows: So Far So Good

Post by lagagnon »

JF007 wrote:Is it safe for me to run without a firewall/anti-virus and just rely on the iptables and natural linux security?
Yes.
Which is the best program that is similar to synback for doing automated syncing of files between drives?
I've heard Unison is quite good: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7712
It is available in the Package Manager.
Is there a decent spam program for pop3 email as the junk filter on thunderbird isn't that great.
The filter on Thunderbird is Baysian and learns. Give it time. Keep telling TBird what is spam and what is not and soon enough it will be pretty darn good.
The other problem is that often the on screen buttons, like menu, close, install will be unclickable but if i shake my mouse about then the buttons become active again, is this a possible a problem with my mouse or just one of these odd quirks you get?
That sounds like a mouse hardware fault to me as it has never been reported before and the fact that you have to shake your mouse is quite telling.
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