motel security

[Peter2]

beginning

The whole idea of this VM with Linux is to become safe while on the internet.
This may sound very rudimentary but before I proceed I have a question; when I boot up, I assume I am online via my ISP whether or not I click a browser.
if my VM icon is on the desktop , isn't my machine vulnerable before I even open this VM?

Once the VM is opened and I access my Ubuntu or Mint OS, I assume I have protection.
Is there a way to synch my docs or do I copy and paste from Mint to Win 8 so my doc folder is up to date with new information I wish to enter.

If my lack of skill indicates I should not be working with VMs now, please let me know. I would not want to wear you down with features one should know intuitively or by experience.
I have no older machine to experiment with so I would not want to place this pc is a condition of disrepair. I think many skilled users have an older one to tinker with.
Peter

 

[whs]

1. You are not wearing me down. You have valid questions.

2. As long as you do not go on the internet and/or establish a connection to the hotspot/router, nobody can snoop at your system. Once you launched the virtual Linux and operate the internet from there, you are pretty safe.

The safest though is to operate from the Flash drive. There your normal system does not even get booted and nobody can ever access it. Why don't you make yourself a Mint Flash drive and work with that in the very critical environments.

3. Regarding the data sharing, I have explained it in the video of Chapter 3. In VMware you have the additional facility of drag and drop for folders and files between the 2 systems and copy/paste for text and URLs. You do, however, need to install the VMware tools for that facility. That is explaines in Chapter 2.2.2.

4. There is nothing you can do to jeopordize your current system by exoperimenting with those 2 solutions. The worst that can happen is that they do not work and you have to go back to square 1.

 

[Peter2]

I can assume that the flash drive does not have the data sharing ability.
I will study further to see how/if one moves new data into Win 8 Docs from the flash environment.

 

[whs]

I can assume that the flash drive does not have the data sharing ability.
I will study further to see how/if one moves new data into Win 8 Docs from the flash environment.

You can get to all your partitions with the flash drive installation. Have a look at this video - it was made for a different purpose though, for data recovery.

And you can read the files from your system and write things to your system's folders. Just make sure you scanned the files that you downloaded with Virus Total - unless you are 100% certain that they are safe.

Rescue files with a Mint Mate flash drive - YouTube

 

[Peter2]

safe network

Thank you, sir.

 

[whs]

Let me know how it is going and how you are coming along. You will see, once you are into it, that is a lot of fun.

 

[Peter2]

Documents

I was watching the tutorial about files with the stick.

I did not see how one can be working in the VM environment then make an addition/change to Documents in the Windows environment by copying/pasting, or any method.
I keep my data in Docs and am always referencing to it so as I am working, how do I write the new information from the VM to Windows. I saw you paste music but that seemed to be al within the VM.

 

[whs]

I was watching the tutorial about files with the stick.

I did not see how one can be working in the VM environment then make an addition/change to Documents in the Windows environment by copying/pasting, or any method.
I keep my data in Docs and am always referencing to it so as I am working, how do I write the new information from the VM to Windows. I saw you paste music but that seemed to be al within the VM.

In Mint Mate, you can do the following if you have the VMware tools installed.

Drag and drop for files and folders
Copy/paste for text and URLs

I will make you a little video to show. Give me about 30 minutes. I have to first make it and then upload it.

 

[whs]

Here is the little video. It is obvious that I did not rehearse that. At the end when I finally got it to drag and drop to the Windows 7 folder, make sure you hold on to the dragged item whilst you are moving down to the Windows 7 taskbar to make the folder reappear - do not let loose of it until you dropped it into the folder. I hope you get the idea of all of that.


[video=youtube;5I6Zlr0O318]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I6Zlr0O318[/video]

 

[Peter2]

VM

Dear whs
I have one last question before I take time to study all and decide what to do.

Would you do banking and other sensitive transactions within the Mint VM environment more safely than with Windows?

You must be a professor because you have a talent for conveying information.

Whether the student can grasp it is another issue!

Thank you so much for your kind patience and work. Many people will come here and benefit from your tutorials.

Regards,
Peter

 

[whs]

Any internet operation will be safer in Linux than in Windows. For every million pieces of malware for Windows there is maybe 1 or 2 for Linux. But I would not do any internet banking at all - but that may be just me.

And thanks for the kind words. I was no professor - I spent my professional life developing and marketing operating systems for big host systems. But I have been long retired.

And do not hesitate to ask questions whever they come up.

 

[Peter2]

A/V etc

Any internet operation will be safer in Linux than in Windows. For every million pieces of malware for Windows there is maybe 1 or 2 for Linux. But I would not do any internet banking at all - but that may be just me.

And thanks for the kind words. I was no professor - I spent my professional life developing and marketing operating systems for big host systems. But I have been long retired.

And do not hesitate to ask questions whever they come up.

>>>Your background certainly reflects in your ability to maneuver the pc now.

I wondered if Linux, as you suggest, uses any software firewall or a/v programs.
I have both for Windows. and did not know if they covered Linux or if it needed it own malware programs.
Kudos for having the patience to help less skilled on forums. I know as a retired person that this consumes empty time but it still is a generous thing to do.

 

[whs]

There are AV programs for Linux - I think e.g. Avast has a Linux version. I have never used them yet but it cannot be a mistake to look into that.

List of Free Antivirus Software for Ubuntu / linux mint | ubuntumisr

 

[Peter2]

A/V etc

The A/V and firewall in Win 8 I use, does not cover Linux if used within the VM, I assume.

Windows(Swiss cheese)users are prone to think of these defenses.

The following link is not news to you I am sure but I found the inherent firewall with newer Linux systems to be interesting.
It is in the kernel section of the article.

Free Agent: Linux Firewalls and Antivirus--Needed or Not? | PCWorld

 

[whs]

The Windows firewall does not really help, only the firewall in the router.

Yes I had seen this PC World article. The recommended ClamAV is very popular and you can install it from the Software Center.

 

[Peter2]

drivers

Hello
In further studying of VMs I saw a feature that had to do with drivers.
The time I tried a VM I could not get drivers for my AIO printer - HP 6500A.
Ordinarily I have to perform a 32 MB download to get drivers from HP as they have the set up bundled.

Once your VM is done do you still have to attend to drivers such as those that run the printer?


Thank you

 

[Peter2]

Beginning

It took me a long time to watch the videos but I am done.
In a nutshell, I think I go to page 2, install mint then the installer then view the tutorial for the stick but do not go as far as the elegant explanation -correct?

The upside is that I can use this with either pc. The downside is that I won't have a VM to add other systems to.
At the end of the stick video you mentioned another video - where is that on? If I follow the directions on page 2 for the usb stick ,it is created but I do not know what to do after that whereas the VM video seems to have complete steps.

I noticed the more elegant choice which included the VM.

Can either or both allow me to use my email programs?