9th - Kaipara Konnection Weekly Newsletter - Dargaville.BIZ
9th - Kaipara Konnection Weekly Newsletter - Dargaville.BIZ
9th - Kaipara Konnection Weekly Newsletter - Dargaville.BIZ
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“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes<br />
that can be made in a very narrow field.” -- Niels Bohr<br />
Our answer<br />
Hi Carol. Yes there are dozens of distributions (AKA “flavors”, “distros”) and they are all based on Linus Torvalds’ Linux<br />
kernel; some “distros” can be very different from others. Saying all “distros” of Linux are basically the same is like saying<br />
all versions of Windows are basically the same. For example: Linux Red Hat is very different from Linux Mint or Linux<br />
Ubuntu. Additionally, I don’t particularly want to encourage people to use Linux, but we do want them to know they have<br />
more options than using an unsafe, unpatched version of Windows. If someone does not have the money for a new<br />
computer, Linux (Ubuntu) would be much safer than using an old, unpatched version of Windows XP. We’re advising<br />
people not to play Russian roulette with their computers and their privacy - therefore nothing we will be writing will in any<br />
way be encouraging people to hang on to Windows XP. We remember the mess when people using kept using Windows<br />
98 after support ended. Many of those machines were compromised and became zombies distributing spam and worms<br />
all across the Internet.<br />
Anyone who switches to Linux from Windows is certainly going be disappointed with the number and quality of free<br />
software available for it (a few thousand programs versus hundreds of thousands for Windows) -- that’s why I made<br />
a point in the article of saying that if all you do is update your social networking sites, send and receive email, shop<br />
online and browse the Web, Ubuntu would work well -- but if you do graphics, play resource-intensive games, or have<br />
fun installing and trying free programs, or use your computer for many different projects, you probably won’t find Linux<br />
- regardless of “distro” - to your liking.<br />
As far as running Windows XP in a virtual machine, users could do the same with Windows 7 or Windows 8. Virtual<br />
machines are great for testing and trying new things, but to use a virtual machine as your main computer is something<br />
we’d never recommend.<br />
We’re writing a newsletter for Windows users, and we’re not encouraging anyone to use Ubuntu or Linux. However, it is<br />
an option if someone does not have the money to buy a new computer, or who cannot afford to upgrade their version of<br />
Windows.<br />
Eric can’t remember his wireless security key<br />
I can’t remember my security key for my wireless network is. Now I have a new tablet computer and I can’t connect to<br />
my network. Is there a way to find out what this key is? My brother told me I have to reset the router but I don’t want to<br />
do that. Thanks for all your help!<br />
Our answer<br />
Hi Eric. You’re in luck. You won’t have to reset your router. There is an easy way to recover your wireless router security<br />
key, and it works well most of the time. It’s called “Wireless Key View” by Nirsoft. It’s a very small download – zip file –<br />
that you simple extract to a folder and click on the exe file to use it. In the main view you’ll see the key in both HEX and<br />
Ascii. You’ll be most interested in Ascii – that’s your wireless key. You can download WirelessKeyView from http://www.<br />
nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_key.html .<br />
Northern Wairoa Memorial RSA<br />
Hokianga Road <strong>Dargaville</strong>. Phone (09) 439 8164<br />
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