1. red hat linux 9 is an operating system all to itself, and Red hat is not the most secure of Linux distributions.

   Linux is a more secure operating system though over windows in that the TCP/IP stack is more secure, and the applications are all independent of each other (whereas most "m$ products all rely on either explorer.exe or some other internal app w/in windows) thus if you get a virus that impacts explorer.exe then you've pretty much rendered your computer useless until you either reformat/reimage the computer, or youc an find a way to cleans the virus via some external boot disk.
   the users on a Linux/Unix system are not "super user" for the most part, so if you DO get a virus or do something stupid, the most you'll do is wipe out your user, and not the entire computer..

2. Consider Linux like a constantly purring engine, ready to listen to requests coming in from daemons. Nothing and nobody can write to the sensitive files that Linux uses except for the owner of the root password. Requests from daemons receive a portion of RAM. That's why Linux can upgrade without a reboot.

   Windows, on the other hand, boots and takes an inventory of all the hardware, whether it changed from the prior boot or not, and links together all the software modules in RAM. XP shows something called HAL for this process. The whole OS is exposed and requires a reboot to change something. Security is compromised by knowing the internal processing of WIN before that reboot.

Tags: linux tip, linux shell

1. red hat linux 9 is an operating system all to itself, and Red hat is not the most secure of Linux distributions.

   Linux is a more secure operating system though over windows in that the TCP/IP stack is more secure, and the applications are all independent of each other (whereas most "m$ products all rely on either explorer.exe or some other internal app w/in windows) thus if you get a virus that impacts explorer.exe then you've pretty much rendered your computer useless until you either reformat/reimage the computer, or youc an find a way to cleans the virus via some external boot disk.
   the users on a Linux/Unix system are not "super user" for the most part, so if you DO get a virus or do something stupid, the most you'll do is wipe out your user, and not the entire computer..

2. Consider Linux like a constantly purring engine, ready to listen to requests coming in from daemons. Nothing and nobody can write to the sensitive files that Linux uses except for the owner of the root password. Requests from daemons receive a portion of RAM. That's why Linux can upgrade without a reboot.

   Windows, on the other hand, boots and takes an inventory of all the hardware, whether it changed from the prior boot or not, and links together all the software modules in RAM. XP shows something called HAL for this process. The whole OS is exposed and requires a reboot to change something. Security is compromised by knowing the internal processing of WIN before that reboot.