Slashdot Mirror
4 Tips For Your New Laptop
Yes, a lot of this will be obvious stuff to techies, but I've found that if a human asks a techie "I just got a new laptop, can you give me any advice?", the answer frequently will (a) not cover these crucial bases, and/or (b) include a lot of unhelpful stuff to impress the listener. The following is a baseline for what I think a useful answer should consist of. (And if you're the techie, you may want to walk the laptop owner through following these directions, since I'm not actually spelling out what icons you have to click on, etc.)
(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, at least install a free one.
Your PC probably came with a trial version of an anti-virus program that will stop working after a month unless you upgrade to the paid version. Of course you can do that if you want. Especially if you ever think you might want phone tech support for your anti-virus software, I expect it's better for a product that you've paid money for.
On the other hand, I know people who thought that if they didn't want to pay for the upgrade to their PC's default anti-virus program, their only option was to let it expire and let their computer run unprotected. If you don't want to pay for a non-free program, install a free one -- Wikipedia has a list of 15 different free or freemium anti-virus products for Windows. PC Magazine gave their "Editor's Choice" award for best free Windows anti-virus to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.70 in 2013 and AVG Anti-Virus Free in 2012, so either of those will work.
(Yes, I know you guys know this. But pass the word on to your Mom or kid brother with the new laptop.)
(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups.
The era in which everybody talks about backing up, but nobody actually does it, should have ended completely in 2013. Old-style backups, even the incredibly easy options, still mostly required you stop what you were doing for a minute, connect to a remote server or connect a piece of hardware to your computer, and twiddle your thumbs while waiting for some copy process to execute. So nobody bothered.
With cloud-mirrored folders, there's no excuse any more. I found out about Dropbox by asking a mailing list, "I would really like it if there were an online backup service that let me open and close files from a local folder so that there was no delay, but as soon as I made any changes, would automatically be queued to be backed up over the network to a remote host," and my listmates said, "That already exists." Windows 8 comes with the similar SkyDrive service already built in.
You can read a detailed comparison of Dropbox vs. SkyDrive vs. Google Drive, but the key point is to use one of them to mirror one of your local folders to the cloud, and get into the habit of saving stuff to that folder. Obviously this may not apply to you if you have something special going on (if you're creating large multimedia files that won't fit within the several-gigabyte limit imposed by these services, or if your privacy concerns are great enough that you don't want to back up files online), but it's good enough for most people. The horror stories about people saving months or years of writing, and then losing it all in a hard drive crash, should never happen to anyone again.
(3) Create a non-administrator guest account, in case a friend needs to borrow the computer.
Some of my friends and relatives have no problem telling people, "No, I don't care if you need to check the weather, you can't touch my computer!" But if you can't resist the urge to be helpful if someone needs to borrow your laptop for a few minutes, then eventually one of those people will mess it up somehow -- either by installing a game, or visiting a website that installed malware on your computer, or just changing a system setting that you can't figure out how to change back.
When the day comes when someone needs to borrow your computer, you may be too rushed or might not know how to create an unprivileged non-administrator account that they can log in under. So go ahead and do it when your computer is brand new, while the thought is still fresh in your mind. Then if people who borrow your computer sign in under that account, in almost all cases, nothing that they do while logged in should interfere with your user experience when you log them off and log back in as yourself.
That's not a completely secure solution to stop someone from accessing private files on your computer. (There are many pages describing how to boot up a Windows machine from a Linux CD, in order to access files on the computer -- they are usually described as "disaster recovery" options, but they can also be used to access files on a PC without the password.) However, it will stop most casual users from messing up your computer while they borrow it.
(4) Be aware of your computer's System Restore option as a way of fixing mysterious problems that arose recently.
I say "be aware" because, unlike the other three tips, this may not ever be something that you have to actually do. However, intermediate-level computer users just need to understand what it means: to restore your computer's settings and installed programs to a recently saved snapshot, while leaving your saved files untouched. This means if your computer has started acting funny in the last couple of days, you may be able to fix the problem by restoring to a snapshot that was saved before the problems started.
Intermediate users sometimes confuse this with either (a) restoring files from backup, or (b) doing a system recovery (which generally refers to restoring your computer to the state in which it left the factory). So if you're the techie doing the explaining, make sure they understand the difference. (A system recovery will often fix problems, too, but then of course you'll have to re-install all your software; a system restore is more convenient since it only undoes the most recent system changes.)
So these are the first four things I would tell people who were the recipient of a new laptop. What would you tell them?
News for noobs,
Stuff that doesn't matter.
and you are going to have to support it, buy them either an iPad or a Chromebook.
ERROR: Null
ZOMG! Thank you so much! I had no idea how to use a Windows computer at the most basic level. Thank God I found this computer n000b beginner site called Slashdot that posts insightful stories about how to do it.
I'm going to tell everyone on AOL and MySpace about this article.
"(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups."
Anyone with experience in ransomware know if they encrypt the files in, say, the user folder (where all of these mirrored cloud services live by default) does that echo to the cloud host, ransoming everything there too? If thats the case then it might be a good idea to at least stay one step ahead of the bad guys and put the folder somewhere else in the system.
Augh! A mirrored folder to the cloud is _not_ backup! If you delete a file from the folder, that gets mirrored into the cloud so it's gone there too. If you overwrite a file in the mirrored folder, that gets mirrored to the cloud and it's changed there too. This is the same story as RAID drives. That's adding redundancy/resiliency. In the event of a failure of your local drive, yes, there's a second copy elsewhere. But in the event of "oops, I accidentally deleted a file I wanted to keep" you're out of luck.
If they may need Office... a Windows RT machine is pretty good too and requires the same low level of support as iPad or Chromebook.
This space for rent.
Create a non-administrative account for yourself, not just your guests. You are a security problem too.
All four tips boil down to "don't be an idiot", and not one of them is specific to a "new laptop". Here are my equally-insightful tips:
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Umm. Malwarebytes is a *removal* tool that doesn't offer real-time virus scanning. It's only useful after the machine is infected. It scares me when a "how-to" post has only 4 points, and one of them is so blisteringly wrong that it makes you suspect the OP doesn't actually know how to drive a computer.
1) If you buy a new Win 8 laptop, immediately replace with your favorite Linux flavor. Don't even bother with dual boot.
2) If you are unfamiliar with Linux or how to install it, then buy a Mac.
3) Don't ask me for Win 8 support. I don't know. I don't want to know. Windows 8 is dead to me :)
Unencypted personal data should never be stored in the cloud. If you need a revision control system use one, If you need backups use one. Neither is particularly hard, hell windows built in backup works pretty well. But encrypt anything leaving your possession (not a bad idea for stuff not leaving your possession either) but basic bits like bios HD passwords work pretty well without any performance penalty.
No sir I dont like it.
Or, if you don't want to use an anit-virus program, at least use a Netbook/Chromebook/GNU Linux/OS X?
This isn't even a thorough article. Slashdot has jumped the shark so bad since the last time I was here.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
EncFS or BoxCryptor are your friend.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
This reminds me of a computer tip that a non-computer savvy person will tell their non-computer savvy friends, who then end up calling tech support for a product that doesn't support their home setup, and then the person on the other end has to explain how real-life works (me). 1. Don't rely on an anti-virus program. Your primary defense is a. not being stupid (which is doing things like visiting pron sites, sites with tons of popups, etc), install noscript, and if you must, periodically install anti-virus and run a full scan. 2. Cloud isn't a backup. If you want a backup, spend a little bit of effort. If your stuff is important, back it up yourself. Use your brain and use redundancy if it's actually important to you. 3. Don't let pesky friends use your computer, especially unsupervised. You don't know what kind of sites they are going to visit and what malware they are going to install. 4. Never use system restore. Just backup your stuff, don't install malware (or "Free" programs that want to install themselves with your real programs) and don't follow horrible tips on slashdot (which I would have expected more of)
First, syncing to cloud is not backup. Second, being at the mercy of a provider doesn't strike me as a good idea in long-term.
Better invest in a NAS. A 2-bay Synology would suffice. 2 4TB drives in Mirrored Raid work great. WD has the "red" line of drives specifically made and tested for NAS storage. They are not as fast but run cool, silent, no vibrations.
Most NAS units run on linux so you can easily add syncing, versioning, "personal cloud", maybe use to play movies on smart TVs via DLNA and so on.
Finally, from time to time do proper backups. For home use, proper backup means burning data on DVD/BD - on 2 separate discs.
Or just start out with SpiderOak to start with.
"Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
If you're buying a laptop for anyone competent, they won't be running Windows on it (or if the do, it's their problem). If you're buying a laptop for anyone incompetent, they shouldn't be running Windows on it. Patching a hopelessly insecure operating system with anti-virus and other bloatware is so twentieth century. Chrome OS is a far better solution for non-technical users.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Fixing that on your PC will take me a couple of hours. The bottom of my garden needs a couple of hours digging. Do we have a deal ?
If your mom is that much of an evil person, just stay away, you will be happier.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"The Cloud", frankly, sucks.
The bandwidth of your Internet connection is a fraction of the bandwidth of a local storage device will be.
"The Cloud", in spite of any encryption used, still puts your data at risk of snooping and theft even from the company providing the service.
"Cloud" service providers aren't forever. Enjoy having one go out of business and take you data with it, or fall prey to hackers that trash your data.
The NSA loves "The Cloud" because it makes their job of snooping that much easier for them.
Just buy a USB hard drive and back up your important stuff to that then put it away in a safe place (safe deposit box at your bank if it's that important), or if it's small enough to burn to a DVD or Bluray disc, do that and store the disc(s) somewhere safe. Even USB flash drives come in sizes of hundreds of gigabytes and are not anywhere near as expensive as they used to be.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
If you don't have antivirus, you shouldn't have a computer.
Someone above said:
Editors, please stop pandering to the lowest common denominator end user who will never read Slashdot anyhow
Now here's living proof that there /are/ such people on slashdot after all, seeing this one even thinks Windows and computers are someone the same.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
I have just one tip: Install Linux. Then you don't have to worry about tips 1 through 4. (Well, I guess you could still consider 2, rsync is your friend).
Don't backup to the cloud anything of a personal nature such as itineraries, credit card and purchase receipts, anything with your identity in it or your address, anything of a business sensitive nature or related to sensitive health issues the list goes on and on, just anything that could be used by criminals to harm you or identify you or anyone you have documents concerning.
The problem is, there's no reason to believe that the cloud storage corporations will be any more effective at guarding against intrusion and theft than Target or any of the other thousands of credit card data breaches that are occurring on a rolling basis.
As soon as you outsource your disk drive to the cloud, you are giving thieves a view into something that would have no hope of viewing otherwise- everything on your computer.
It's far too burdensome for most people to divide their hard drive folders into "potentially sensitive" and otherwise. It's not how people think or organize their drives and what's potentially sensitive is not well defined.
A better way to achieve security is through a couple common external hard drives, (make a back up of your back up with the second one). Using very modestly priced or even free backup software that's scheduled to wake the computer and run (Seagate gives free backup software with some their external disk drives) will give you all the data redundancy you need and if you use a back up once a week to an encrypted drive (Samsungs SDD are both hardy to drops and shocks- no moving parts and come automatically encrypted) that spends the rest of its time *somewhere else* (work, a friends or relative's house house) then you've safeguarded against fire and natural disaster with at most a week's lost data.
I made a chart that details all the different ways that you can lose data or have it compromised and effective responses to them. unfortunately I can't post it here but I can list the threats . The ones in bold have actually happened to me and resulted in significant data loss. The arrows point to countermeasures. They are
multiple physical external drives, multiple storage locations for drives, versioned backups on all backup drives , different power lines (internal cables) for each internal drive, surge protection , encryption.
Maybe no one is likely to do all these, OTOH with just two external and one internal drives you could and if it's automated there is no hassle. It's looks more complicated than it is. Also for small valuable files, you could use multiple cheap USB drives and keep them at different locations, encrypting each.
Backup plan:
accidental overwrite during backup --> versioned backups, multiple disk backups
accidental overwrite during editing --> backups generally
drive failure --> multiple disk backups
lost drive --> encryption
virus / spying --> encryption
power surge / misbehaving power supply lines --> different power lines for internal backup drives, surge protection for external backup drives
lightening,--> surge protections, multiple physical locations
fire, natural disaster--> multiple physical locations
break in, theft--> multiple physical locations, encryption
HTH
Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Sabayon .. link
I always get them to buy good quality computer protection software like Norton 360
You lost all credibility with this sentence...
Please stop approving Bennet "stories." He's a Roland Junior that everyone loves to hate. You're tech savvy, aren't you? Surely you know this submission is some pretty rank tripe.
TYVM HAHNY
Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
About creating that guest account - I have NEVER let anyone 'borrow' my laptop. It is mine, passworded, encrypted and the whole nine yards.
MacOS X has a nice feature - even with full-disk encryption turned on, you can log in as a guest with Safari as the only application. Hard drive is still encrypted except for a small partition.
Suggesting people use off site backups is a bad thing now?
Yes. This is an excellent point. The Chinese brands are known for their superior reliability, high standards of quality control and strongly-enforced privacy policies, after all.
(The real point: Know what you're buying and how to secure it.)
Last time I remember seeing a piece on here, lots of people screamed at you: USE THE JOURNAL. Stop putting blog posts on /.'s front page. Link to your goddamn journal if you want to use Slashdot as hosting. Furthermore, this entire thing is Winbloze-centric, on a site populated by huge amount of people who use other OSes. Back to CNET or whichever hellhole you came from. Would someone please delete his account?
Symantec's corporate antivirus is atrocious (Ghost is fine, if a bit expensive). Not only is it a resource hog, it can cause problems for months after it's been removed. The consumer version is even worse, the thing is like a virus. For a free antivirus, AVG is pretty damn good as a set and forget bit. However, if you're already recommending they pay for it, Kaspersky, NOD32, and Malwarebytes are all better options than Norton.
Make a backup. The cloud is not a backup. The cloud is a way for Microsoft, Google, or Amazon to look at your pictures too before passing them on to the NSA. Thumb drives are much cheaper and do not require a high end internet connection.
The best tip for novice users is to ignore anything Timothy says.
(sorry about the title, silly beta slashdot requires one it seems)
I would like something like Apple's Time Machine. It's simple to use, automatic, doesn't suck up resources, convenient to browse and restore from. Nothing for Windows is that useful and also free, and Microsoft keeps changing their default backup application every release.
The drawback is lack of dual drives for backing up to, in case the user is hyper paranoid about fire. But seriously, if your computer is the only repository of you incredibly valuable baby photos, there are more problems to deal with than backups. Start printing those things out and putting them in an album. Things you really really don't want to lose tend to be few in number so put them on a thumb drive.
Saving to the cloud is silly. It's just wasting bandwidth so that you can save your drafts of Christmas letters, or all twenty of your Thanksgiving photos even though you'll delete 19 of them a week later after reviewing them.