Linux: Gottaloveit

It’s been a little over four months since I move nearly all my Windows use over to virtual machines running on an Ubuntu 8.04 box, and despite numerous big and little “gotchas” along the way, it’s been a Good Thing. In fact, now that more and more WINE issues seem to clear up with every recent WINE update, I rarely need to start any of the Windows VMs, apart from checking “CLICK paths” for other users I’m walking through Windows issues over the phone or via email (I still prefer to simply log onto a remote session on someone’s computer to walk through issues, instead of phone/email).

One of the nicest things about the all-Linux, all the time experience has been the security aspect. The built in firewall has performed as well at online security-probing sites as highly intrusive, third party Windows firewall powerhouses have performed, and although I installed ClamAV (not active protection like most Windows AVs), neither its on-demand scanner nor such places as Trendmicro’s Housecall have found any infections.

Get that: no active defense, as is recommended for Windows computers, but also no infestations of malware.

I attribute that to several things. First, Ubuntu is designed to NOT run in admin (or root privileges) mode, as most Windows computers are by default. Installing software, changing system parameters, etc., all require the user to specifically, manually input the root password, so if I were to have malware installed, it’d almost surely have been installed with my witting participation, and that’s not likely at all, at all.

Then there’s the fact that few malware authors want to invade such an admittedly small target population. (That’s one of the security advantages of the Mac platform, BTW: small target.)

Then there’s my choice of browser. (note: Opera recently had a security issue that affected all OS platforms, but was corrected in a 24-hour period. Compare that to security issues that’ve been outstanding for YEAS in Internet Exploder.) No kudos to Ubuntu for that, of course, but I do like the more secure (than IE or even Firefox, AFAIK) browsing experience. (For even more security enhancement, I’ll sometimes run OperaTOR from a flash drive. The Windows version runs Just Fine in Linux using WINE.)

And, of course, I can’t ascribe merit to Ubuntu for avoiding infections I’d not succomb to in any OS–I do not, for example, invoke email attachments from ANYONE unless I expect the attachment AND I manually scan it with an up-to-date anti-virus.

So, if you’d like to ditch your power-sucking vampire of a security suite, Ubuntu–or Linux in general–seems to be the ticket. (And yes, I know BSD offers even more security, as reported by many, but right now, its GUI options and software selection, even though it can run most ‘nix apps, is just slightly south of what I find in Ubuntu Linux–just slightly.)

For y’all who’re still wearing the Me$$y$oft ball and chain, why not give Wubi a try? It’s an easy-peasy way to install Ubuntu in a Windows folder. I’ve not had any problems installing/uninstalling Ubuntu using Wubi on any of a number of computers here at twc central, but do read the FAQ at the Wubi site. Heck, it even uses the Windows bootloader to boot into Ubuntu and is uninstallable using Windows’ Add/Remove Programs.

Or install VMWare Server and try running Ubuntu in a VM in Windows. You might just like it enough to ditch Windows entirely on your next computer build/purchase.

Update: savvy users are already aware of such things as “Clickjacking”–a type of browser hijacking allowing “an attacker to use one or more of several new attack scenarios to literally steal your mouse clicks.” It’s a set of malware techniques that all browsers in all OSes can be vulnerable to, although Linux still is more difficult to attack via clickjackig methods. Still, by disabling javascript and a few other lil content goodies, along with iFrames, Opera is safer than most, and still allows one to use javascript, et al, for any trusted site by simply setting Site Preferences to allow ’em for any one given “trusted site”. Granular controls: a Very Good Thing.