Computersight -

We all know the very popular Microsoft Windows operating system. Most of you are reading this in Windows, probably using Internet Explorer. But because it is so popular, a lot of people write viruses and spyware targeting Windows. Every year millions of new viruses appear and Windows isn’t making much progress fighting them. But there ARE alternatives.

Besides Windows there are two popular operating systems – Mac OSX and Linux. There are little to no viruses for both of them. You don’t need an anti-virus, anti-spyware software and to defrag your hard-drive. But OSX only supports Mac hardware, so you can’t use any other hardware (but Mac hardware is a lot more expensive). The only choice left is Linux.

Linux seems like a perfect operating systems. There are no viruses in the wild, you can surf the most dangerous web sites and not get infected and it doesn’t slow down over time (like Windows does). There are a lot of “tastes” of Linux called distributions (they have different default programs, different looks etc.), some are beginner-friendly, some are for experts. I suggest the most popular distribution – Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com).

Installing Ubuntu is really simple – you pop in the CD and follow the instructions. Ubuntu also has Live CD mode, which means you can try it out without making any changes to your hard-drive. Linux has good hardware support, that means everything should work right away after the installation, no need to install drivers.

By default, Ubuntu has installed a web browser called Firefox, a Microsoft Office alternative OpenOffice, MSN alternative Pidgin, Totem Movie Player for watching movies and listening music, GIMP for editing photos and so on… But Ubuntu has a drawback (for some people): it can’t run Windows programs. What is means is that if you need special Windows software for your job or you are fond of your graphics-heavy games, Ubuntu is probably not for you. There is a program called WINE, which can run some of Windows’ programs, but it doesn’t work for everything.

Ubuntu has a big software repository which can be accessed by a program called Synaptic Package Manager. In that repository are tens of thousands of programs ready to be installed. Just type in the programs name, check it and install. No need to search the internet for it.

So… if you are bored on a Saturday afternoon, pop in an Ubuntu CD (which can be ordered for free by the way) and install it, maybe you’ll even like it and remove Windows altogether.