Windows users do your self a favour

Post Reply New Topic

If you insist on using windows (henceforth to be known as shutters) do yourselves or those that help keep this horrible OS working a favour and install a version of linux on a few gigs at the end of your HD. This way when the inevitable happens and shutters crashes you or your shutters enabler can retrieve your data safely and easily, by booting into linux and accessing your shutters partition. To aid you in this there are even some very effective anti virus programs that will clean your ntfs partition from within linux. Likely your frequent use of linux as a rescue OS will bring you away from the dark side and reveal an enlightened way to run a computer.

Seriously although the above might sound just a little smug, as a shutters enabler I have found this to be a really good way to protect against data loss, and a very easy way to sort out viruses and malware

You taking the piss?

^ yes and no.

I have just rescued a heap of important University files from a very freaked out friend of mine, shutters had crashed but because i persuaded her to install ubuntu as a second boot I was able to rescue all the files really easily. IO know this can be done from a live cd but it is really easy to grab large amounts of data if you have a linux partition with a few gigs on it

Or they could just partition their hard-drive and keep all their important information away from the system partition. They could also just as easily use a linux LIVE CD. Also, if someone has enough knowledge to install linux and windows as a dual-boot, there's no excuse for their windows to keep crashing or failing. The only reason a windows or linux installation should go down, would be for hard-ware reasons, and having a second-boot option doesn't really help in such circumstances.

Really? so you have never had to rescue lost data from a corrupted shutters, lucky you. Funny thing about linux virtually no viruses.

Also I installed the dual boot, not the user.

It can't hurt to install a little dual boot/partition drives for a less knowledgable user. My point was, if the user is knowledgable, pretty much all the negatives of windows dissapear, and hence for a knowledgable user, this really isn't needed.

I'm quite knowledgeable about computers and for me all the negatives of windows make it so that I can't stand to use any version* of Windows.

*with the exception of Windows 7 ultimate (beta) which is barely useable, no doubt that any version less then ultimate will still be crap.

Your innocence and naivete is almost cute. From everything I've seen, Windows can and does just fail unexpectedly for no apparent reason, even for relatively experienced users.


There are plenty of other reasons besides hardware problems why either Linux or Windows would have trouble. An option I enabled in my grub.conf in Fedora was meant to change the behaviour of a few function keys, instead it made the monitor unusable. I've crashed Ubuntu by enabling what turned out to be incompatible options in Compiz Fusion. Windows of course has rampant viruses/spyware/malware along with just being a crappy system that will crash unexpectedly. I've seen Windows machines do some interesting things after basic maintenance tasks like running CCleaner. But at least when Linux breaks, it's relatively easy to find out why it broke, and then fix it.

There hasn't been a time in the last 12 years when i haven't had a computer with a windows installation on it, at one point i also had a linux dual-boot set-up working. Everytime my OS has gone down, has been due to a piece of hard-ware going down. Windows doesn't fail unexpectedly if you look after it. Noone with computing knowledge should end up with a virus on there computer.

Perhaps my opinion of windows is skewed by the versions of windows i have used. I have only used WinNT, Win2k pro and am currently using the windows7 beta.

I don't worry about data loss. I have 2 computers, and I multi-boot instead of dual boot. I find that for games, a native Windows installation is the better way. Although I would prefer my games to work natively in Linux. The only games that will work effortlessly are the ones that are openGL driven, such as Quake 3 Arena (and a couple others)

Windows Seven is now in RC form and you can't submit feedback as easily.

I got rid of my linux partition and save my important data on an external HD. I have to anyway since the files are absolutely huge.

I've Vista on this PC for over a year now and not once I had any problems. Any issue that did arise were fixed easily. And even if it completely f***s up, I still have my data.

I backup early and often... It's worked 99% of the time (except about 18 years ago, when I left a backukp floppy on top of a Hard drive; can you say magnetic fields? Instant coaster?....I knew you could...

Couldn't you just use a live CD?

I just use my trusty Knoppix Live CD.

I did what you said...now I have to scroll with page up and down.. hey, no one said progress was easy...

On the other hand, a dual boot is the fastest way to resolve if a problem is hardware or software.