[Lincs] Security, viruses etc.

[J Simpson V21]

Hi Pete Cooper,

I have to put my hand on heart and admit to being a newbie. However I can't
be that new anymore as I have actually managed to dual boot my machine with
windows 98 and Redhat 9.

Spent months trying to get my modem to work, then sussed it was a winmodem
and was only meant to work with Redhat 7.  I have since been given an
external modem which works fine.  I was already to change over to Linux when
I got into a cold sweat about people hacking into my machine and stealing
personal information, passwords, crashing my machine etc.

So I just connect to the internet through an external modem.  I'm very
comfortable with using the graphical interface.  I can use the command
prompt if given very specific instructions as to what to do.

For beginners, I couldn't really recommend anything, I believe most
> consumer-friendly distros come with their own easy-to-use firewall

Does anyone know if there is a firewall with Redhat9?

>FTP, SSH, and telnet, SMB

I have no idea what the above are, but can anyone direct me on how to turn
these off in Redhat9?
I always use my everyday username, unless I am doing something specific and
it asks me for root.

Hi Pete Hunt,

I will go to Redhat website and see what it says about firewalls.  If I
can't work out how to use the one that's in it or I have to use the command
prompt, I will try

> Firestarter is GUI (Gnome) based, simple and user friendly
> http://firestarter.sourceforge.net/

I investigated Linux several years ago and was told to wait as it was not
user friendly.  When I looked again at it last November, I was told to go
for it.  I was hoping to be using a linux operating system by
February/March.  I feel a bit sad that its August and I'm still not there,
but I am hanging in there as I do believe it is the way of the future.

I know have two other machines that have been given to my children.  My
initial idea was to change over to linux and as my children have so many
educational games that run on Windows to purchase win4lin so they weren't
wasted, but now they well have their own machines.

One is very ancient and the other is as slow as I have now.  At some point I
will have to discuss how to put them to best use.  I don't really understand
about servers or networks etc,  but I think I will have to look at that to
get the best from what I have.

Thanks for your time.

Regards

Janet