Response to “101 reasons why Linux is better than Windows” – Part 1
This is a response (Part 1) to the web blog entitled “101 reasons why Linux is better than Windows”(http://cityblogger.com/archives/2007/01/24/101-reasons-why-linux-is-better-than-windows/)”. The author tries to discredit Windows by giving many reasons why Linux is “better”.
I will do my best to show how this is not the case. Operating systems are just tools. If you try to make one OS look “better” than another, you could possibly lead people into the wrong direction. Please note that the author has not written all 101 reasons on his blog. It appears he stopped writing it a while back. I will respond to everything he has currently written.
Direct quotes from the author are in red and my responses are in black. Please note that I mean no disrespect to the author in anything I say.
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1) It works 
Its not a vaporware and is available today.
Windows is also not vaporware and is most certainly available today as well.
2) Linux doesn’t have the virus problems: Even Microsoft’s CEO Steve Balmer couldn’t clean Windows Viruses. Still not convinced? Read more on Why Linux isn’t affected by Viruses. Its not that there aren’t any viruses for Linux but Linux is more secure and less virus prone.
While Linux is often perceived as being immune to malware, it’s not entirely true. Malware can exist on Linux, but it’s relatively rare. Similarly, a properly configured Windows computer can also be resistant to malware. The likelihood of getting malware on either platform largely depends on user behavior. By exercising common sense, users can significantly reduce the risk of malware infection, with over 97% of malware threats being avoidable.
It’s also worth noting that simply being connected to the internet does not significantly increase the risk of catching a virus, regardless of whether you’re using Windows or Linux.
3) No Spyware: Not just spyware but none of those funny applications that keep doing things in the background.
This is definitely false. Look here: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do
4) Linux Doesn’t need defragging: The Linux file systems work very efficiently such that it arranges data in a way that it doesn’t require defragging. to know more, read earlier post.
It’s a common misconception that a file system can be completely free of fragmentation. In reality, every file system, regardless of its type (such as NTFS, ext4, or FAT32), is susceptible to fragmentation. This occurs when files are deleted, leaving behind gaps in the file system that are later filled by other files. As a result, files can become scattered throughout the file system, forcing the computer to search through multiple locations on the drive.
5) Linux doesn’t crash without any apparent reasons. In Linux the core operating system (kernel) is separate from the GUl (X-Window) from the applications (OpenOffice.org, etc). So even if the application crashes, the core operating system is not affected. In Windows (Microsoft prefers to call this tight integration) if the Browser crashes, it can take down the entire operating system.
The Windows and Linux kernels operate independently of the primary applications and processes that run on top of them, such as explorer.exe on Windows or the X11 windowing system on Linux.
6) Linux doesn’t crash if you accidentally pulled out your USB key/pen drive. Try this a 100 times if you don’t believe me but don’t blame me if your pen drive data gets corrupt.
Who pulls in and out their USB stick 100 times anyway? Also, I doubt that will cause Windows to crash.
7) Linux doesn’t require frequent re-installation: In Windows if the OS crashes, there is no easy way to recover this. Many IT support staff don’t know what to do and all they can do is re-install Windows. Which means that users applications and preferences are lost, and needs to be installed again. I haven’t seen anyone using Linux, requiring to re-install unless there is a hard drive failure. Most things in Linux can be fixed without requiring re-installation.
Just because a Windows system crashes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that recovery is impossible. In fact, it’s often possible to recover from a crash without having to reinstall the entire operating system.
The fact that you may not have heard of Linux users reinstalling their operating system doesn’t mean it never happens. If you were to ask on a popular Linux forum, you would likely find that some users have indeed had to reinstall their Linux OS at some point.
8) You can keep your operating system from your data, its designed to actually do that very easily. The benefit of this is all the users preferences can be preserved even if the OS needs to be re-installed. This can be handled by creating a separate partition for the home directory, read more.
While it’s impossible to completely isolate an operating system from user data, both Windows and Linux offer various methods to achieve a high level of separation, effectively minimizing the OS’s access to sensitive information.
On Windows 7, you can move user profiles (their account data) to another drive (Look here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/124198-user-profiles-create-move-during-windows-7-installation.html).
9) Linux also doesn’t require rebooting when a new hardware device is added configured.
Unless you have a computer that supports hot-swapable hardware, you would have to shut down your computer to add the new hardware anyway. Configuring new devices on Windows usually do not require restarts anymore.
10) Linux doesn’t require rebooting when you change any setting or re-configure your Network.
The only times I can recall having to reboot Windows from making a network change is when either I 1) changed the work-group the computer is in and 2) When I add a static IPv6 address to a network device. Not really a big deal.
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Well this is the end of Part 1! Click here for Part 2!
Posted in Internet and Servers, Operating Systems
The Warning Signs of Online Scams and how to Avoid Them
Have you ever gone to a website that promised to show you how to strike it rich? Showed you how much money he is making in his PayPal account using his “special system”? Told you that he would show you how to do it yourself? Then once you are “in the system”, you quickly find out that most (if not all) of what he told you was hype?
That has happened to me before. People lying through their teeth, preying on unsuspecting people – many who probably do not have a lot of money.
I’ll give you some things to be cautious of when looking at services found online (e.g., like how to make money every day). Please note that just because a business falls into one or more of these categories, does not mean they are a scam. You will just have to use common sense.
1) Watch out for long, drawn-out webpages
If someone is advertising their product, and their webpage seems like it has no end what-so-ever (the page seems like a small book), then this is a very good sign that this service is a scam.
No one who is professional is going to go on and on taking up 30-45 minutes of your time to show you something that can be shown in 10 minutes or less.
2) Watch out for repetitive words
Scammers love to restate things over and over again. Like “you will make money in no time!”, “my special system…”, “this unique system…”, “…spend less time…”, etc.
If you get the same words, basic ideas, maybe even whole phrases repeated to you over and over again, mark it down that it looks like a scam.
3) Watch out for “testimonial” videos
Several scammers use “testimonial” videos to try to convince you that real people have tried out his service, system, whatever, and it actually works. Problem is, there is no way to know if these testimonials are in fact 100% true, and not just some actors being payed to say certain things for money.
4) Watch out for “No Cost” services
These scammers will typically try to get you to think that you do not have to spend ANY money with them to get these “services” or learn about his “system” of doing things.
Problem is, how does he make money if he does not charge anything? Something is wrong with that. Why would someone spend their time and money showing you how to make money (or whatever) and not get anything in return?
5) Watch out for “make money with Google Ad-sense” type of services
Google Ad-sense is a service from Google that allows webmasters to put Google ads on their websites. Basically if someone comes to your website and clicks on one (or more) of the Google Ad-sense ads, then you make a little bit of money. This really is not the way to make serious money online, but it can be a start for some people.
In my experience, every single “make money with Google Ad-sense” type of services I have come across has been a scam. No kidding! If the person wants to sell you Google Ad-sense “services”, be very cautious. There is a 99% chance that he is a scammer.
6) Watch out for “website building” scams
There are scammers that will promise to build you a website (for money) that will make you money. Well these “services” will more than likely turn out to be a scam.
I know because I had two people scam me before with this type of scam. A little over 6 years ago, I trusted two people to make me a website that would make money. Well I found out that these people were scammers (they built a one page website that made them money 😆). Thankfully PayPal gave the money back.
7) Watch out for web-hosting scams
A lot of people are duped by web-hosting companies telling them that they are getting unlimited disk-space and unlimited bandwidth. Folks, these hosting companies that advertise such things are lying to you (I should know, since I do web-hosting myself!)
Even the word “unmetered” (a term a few web-hosts use) while technically is different from “unlimited” is still riding on the edge as being dishonest.
Have you ever heard of an unlimited hard drive before? How about unlimited bandwidth on an Internet router? Nope! No web-hosting company in the world can give anyone true, honest-to-goodness unlimited disk-space and bandwidth. It just will not happen.
It would be much better to find a host that does not offer any kind of unlimited hosting and has reasonable web-hosting packages available for purchase. Of course, that is your business whether or not you go with an unlimited web-host.
8) Watch out for “just run my software program, and it WILL make you money” type of scams
I have seen one such scam that if someone would use this “specially written” software, you will make money. I think you were to set it up a certain way and then “turn it on”, then it would make you money. I am sure everybody would like to have a money making solution like that. What a bunch of hogwash!
9) Watch out for “article website building software” (wow, that was a mouthful)
This type of scam is rare, but non-the-less real. I came across a software that built you a website full of articles at no cost.
Basically the idea is to have a bunch of unique content on the Internet for Google to index. Then when people find your article websites on Google, they have an opportunity to click on Google Ad-sense (or whatever money making ads you have) and make you money.
Well what the program was doing was taking other people’s articles (without their permission) and putting them onto your website (at least, the software put the name of the author for each article it copied). Google might ban your domain name if you put on duplicate content that was originally found on other websites. So much for unique content! 🙂
So basically there was a very small chance of making money (dishonestly), and you were risking Google banning your domain name that you used for the article website. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
10) Watch out for “I am tired of scammers too” sales pitches
I watched a video of this guy claiming that he was “tired of all the people who would scam you”. Basically he was trying to get people to believe that he was not a scammer. Well 2/3 into the video, it was real evident that he was promoting a “pyramid scheme” scam. So much for that.
Posted in Shopping