Use Windows but surf with Ubuntu

cinderfella

Been using Linux on & off for many years.
Just updated Linux to a later version. There are so many problems with security & viruses using Windows I am surprised that peeps don't just abandon Windows for surfing & use Ubuntu instead.
Nowadays it is idiot proof to install & use. The free software that Ubuntu offers is pretty staggering too.
You can run Ubuntu alongside Windows & a 5 year old could install it.
Give it a go, it is too good to miss.:beer:

Bollotom

Good post. I did it with Linux Mint 17.2 and easy to install and update where necessary. I have a laptop with windows 8.1 and still can't find a way to run them dual booting, purely so I can use MS Office. The free office suites aren't good for me as sometimes the formatting isn't carried over, but just about everything else runs okay on Wine.I am surprised the MS don't port a version of Office over to Linux. They'd make fortunes.:D

bod1467

Dual boot can be enabled by setting up a GRUB menu in Linux. I believe there are some Linux apps/utilities that make this quite easy.

prowla

You don't even need to dual boot - you can use VMware Player and run one OS from within the other; I have a Windows PC with Ubuntu in a VM and I also have an Ubuntu PC with Windows in a VM. (I also have a Mac with Ubuntu and Windows in VMs!)

wongataa

cinderfella wrote: »

Been using Linux on & off for many years.
Just updated Linux to a later version. There are so many problems with security & viruses using Windows I am surprised that peeps don't just abandon Windows for surfing & use Ubuntu instead.
Nowadays it is idiot proof to install & use. The free software that Ubuntu offers is pretty staggering too.
You can run Ubuntu alongside Windows & a 5 year old could install it.
Give it a go, it is too good to miss.:beer:

Well I run software that is not available on Linux so I'll stick with Windows for that. I also don't have any issues with security/viruses with Windows so that is no reason to move. Yes there are security issues with most software but if you are halfway sensible the risk is pretty low.

JJ_Egan

Used VM in the past and its an ideal solution but Linux no thanks .
As i have most stuff locked down and secure windows has never been a problem to me .

esuhl

I found Ubuntu really bloated and over-complicated, making it hard to configure. I much prefer Arch Linux which is simple, logical, highly configurable and fast. But each to their own.

If the goal is just to be able to browse the web without being susceptible to malware, you could run the web browser in a sandbox.
http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie

SnowTiger

cinderfella wrote: »

Been using Linux on & off for many years.
Just updated Linux to a later version. There are so many problems with security & viruses using Windows I am surprised that peeps don't just abandon Windows for surfing & use Ubuntu instead.

I do lots of things on my computer simultaneously.

It would be too fiddly to to switch to Linux every time I wanted to fire up a web page.

The "problems with security & viruses" that affected you when you surfed using Windows haven't affected me. I think some people are more, shall we say, susceptible to these things than others.

forgotmyname

You think Ubuntu's safe from hackers and other nasties?

Oh dear...

Buy a Mac instead? (not)

prowla

forgotmyname wrote: »

You think Ubuntu's safe from hackers and other nasties?

Oh dear...

Buy a Mac instead? (not)

Do you have any evidence to back that up?

cinderfella

In theory it is possible to infect the Linux kernel with a Windows nasty, but as of yet I do not recall any recorded practical scenarios where this has happened.
There are security tools available for Linux through the relevant repositories, namely anti virus & firewall, although Linux does not have any ports for infection that way.
The Sandbox method mentioned above sounds a good idea & there is a flavour of Linux available which utilises this method of isolation as security.
https://www.qubes-os.org

Ubuntu is also a useful way of accessing Windows should the Windows o/s become corrupt.
I rather liked Crunch Bang Linux but the grub menu has to be written for dual booting as I am unaware of any utilities that will do that job automatically.
As I said before Ubuntu is Idiot proof & a useful addition to Windows.