Warning - this is an anti M$oft rant, so if you are offended by anti microsoft talk, please go else where.
I have been infected for the last time by some fu=ki*ng spyware thingys and I've had it. Somethings or other have gotten on to my system and I can't get rid of them using my usual choice of tools (Ad-Aware, Spybot, manual edit of the Registry [even in safe mode]) and I've come to the realization that as long as I use m$soft (and there are co=ksu#ki%g morons out there who create these things [side note:these guys/gals are talented no doubt, just use these talents for good please!]), I'll have problems.
Any time I am asked to 'look at my pc, it's acting funny' by a friend or relative, it is almost always so heavily infected it'd almost be quicker to burn all their important data to tape/cd/backup media and format/reinstall, except that they have prog x for this, prog y for that, etc - I am do NOT wanna spend my free hours re-installing all these thingys for you no matter how important they as a person are to me. (Hmm, is there a prog to create an install media for a program that is alreay installed? Something that captures all the files needed for a proggy like a backup up archive so you can re-install it without going through the hassle of actually running the install executable?)
And if there is a grain of truth to the story of m$oft trying to patent smileys, I am truly pissed; it could be a hoax, but I wouldn't put it past them trying something like this...
Of course, I still have a trusty Amiga 4000, and WINUAE is fun to diddle with. (Anyone get respectable speed when using an Amiga formatted drive through emulation? It works for me, but is slower than a hardfile or even Windows folders)
That said...
I am planning a move to Linux - am testing Mandriva from a magazine dvd (damn that Frozen Bubble game!)
I want to move as quickly as possible away from anything microsoft, and much as I love the Amiga, I need/want an OS I can count on and run on a powerful modern machine (have no fear, as long as my hardware survives, I will use the Amiga 4k).
I do what we all do - Browse, email, music, videos, games.
I'd like to create network shares as well, a real home network.
Any suggestions as to the best distro and apps?
Specifically, I'd like any pointers to material/manuals that would help me set things up QUICKLY - e.g. how do I share a directory so others on my LAN can see it? I can learn the stuff, but I tend to snooze when reading a lot(is there a name for that condition?)
What I'm looking for a light weight manual that succintly states "Issue this command to share directory x" followed by the appropriate command string to type at the console.
There, not so bad, not a whole lot of m$oft bashing, eh?
p.s. the spyware thingys are ISTBar, Optimize, CPU Control (wuitgard), PSecure and a couple others that magically appear after a reboot and connect to the internet.
