[funsec] Daughter's computer

[Dan Renner]

funsec-request at linuxbox.org wrote:

>Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:08:24 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Jeff Rosowski <rosowskij at ie.ymp.gov>
>Subject: Re: [funsec] Daughter's computer
>To: funsec at linuxbox.org
>Message-ID: <20060427100255.A55132 at infeng.ymp.gov>
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
>  
>
>>In my experince of a driveby, cleaners didn't and I had to reinstall. And
>>Microsoft says the same. I rather like the idea of following the Microsoft
>>recommendation and reinstall Windows, even though in this case, it means
>>I'll be installing Linux (if I can talk her into it).
>>    
>>
>
>If she's just using office applications, web browsing, and IM.  It's a 
>viable solution.  You might start her out with one of the many live CD 
>distributions, which will save you some time, and let her find something 
>she likes.  My boss's wife swears by damn small linux, but there are a lot 
>of choices out there.  In any case you want to as a minumum if you go 
>with windows or linux, get her using Firefox.  Also once you have the 
>machine setup, it'd be a good idea to create an image of it, so if it gets 
>corrupted again, you have a quick way to go back to a known point.
>  
>
I offer a couple of tips:

1) In the efforts of a cleanup - DON'T cleanup such systems by booting 
up from the infrected system. Pull the drive and attach to a clean 
machine running a known GOOD AV and anti-spy/adware proggies and scan 
from that first - THEN return drive and re-scan. (I highly suggest NOT 
using Norton or McAfee as they both use IE code, thus are themselves 
vulnerable.)

2) In the areas of a Linux Live CD, the following are known to be very 
good for end users:
Ubuntu/Kubuntu - http://ubuntu.com (very good)
Kanotix - http://kanotix.org (very good, tightly based on Knopppix - 
scroll down, on left 'choose language')
Mepis - http://mepis.org (very good for desktop use, but a bit proprietary)
Linspire - http://linspire.com (very easy for newbies - coming out with 
a free version soon at http://freespire.org)

----------------------------------

Sincerely,

Dan Renner
President
Los Angeles Computerhelp
http://losangelescomputerhelp.com
818.352.8700