I have a couple machines that are completely linux. A netbook that is dual boot linux/win xp and a desktop that is win xp. I keep xp on the desktop for some software that I use.

One the netbook, Mepis with the full desktop load and KDE is still faster than XP.

I am really liking mint except for the scroll bars give me a fit with a trackpad. Mint even found my fancy Nvidia One video card and asked me if I wanted to load the best (proprietary) drivers or use the linux drivers.
On that little dual core atom box I can stream 1080p with only about 30% processor load, no dropped frames.

I am like a couple others out here and don't really care too much which OS I am using as long as it does what I need it to do. I am definitely not a fan of the Microsoft tax and think all systems should come blank as they did in the earlier days of PC's.  You buy and use the OS that is right for you without having to wipe out one that you paid for and don't want in some cases.

My son has an iMac and a pc laptop and has just come up with a desktop on which he wants me to load linux.

OF, I read just about all of your posts about the computer stuff. Sometimes I don't find it relevant at the time to my situation but it may be in the future and I will have already heard about it here.  It sure doesn't hurt to stay up on what's really happening without all the marketing hype.

JC, have you upgraded your Mint?  On the bottom bar at the bottom right of the screen there is a shield symbol next to the connected router plug symbol.   Click on the shield, then look up at the top of the Update Manager square insert for an Edit located between File and View.  

Click on Edit and see that you have any major upgrades pending.    The shield itself will tell you how many minor updates you have for this week, but since you are entire worlds and worlds behind the times them little shield notifications are pretty much moot for you at this point.

Actually, you should have several major world size upgrades pending, which may show up one at a time after you upgrade from one to the next.   You don't have to do this right away, but yes, you need to go do it periodically when a .rev comes available and YES you do need to get caught up.   Current .rev is 18.3 and I expect you are 3-4 world sized upgrades behind at this point in time.

Issue is that if you don't stay current, what we tell you to do to fix things may not work because you are running a different .rev from us and are seeing completely different menus.


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Next, finding AdBlock inside Chrome.   Look for the 3 stacked dots on the right upper part of the Chrome Browser screen.  Click once to open the Chrome system menu.

Look down the systems menu list 3/4 of the way and you will find More Tools.  Click on it and then pick Extensions.   AdBlock is one of the extensions you can choose from.


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Where is my stuff   ..... getting a Chome icon on to the Mint desktop.

Click on the Mint Menu at the very left bottom of your screen.

Look in the middle (center) section for Applications.  

Click on Internet and you will find your Chrome sitting there waiting for you.

Right click on Chrome and tell it to put a icon on your desktop (or you can do the bottom bar if you prefer that location for your action items)





Exploring all of this main Mint Menu can get frustrating to a new person because ALL of Linux Mint's functionality is right here clustered inside this one little nugget.   Software Manager all by itself is especially boggle prone as every software that there is --- is behind that one click.

You can't grasp it all, nobody can.  I still get all boggled by it as it is rather a lot to keep track of.   So, I took the track that I'd go into a section when I needed it, learn a little bit, get it done then go about my business normally.

Taking little bites as needed ..... you don't get stressed and you learn at an easy pace.

Rough results off of a rough poll


About 1/3 are pure Linux now

About 1/3 do dual booting between Linux and Windows

About 1/3 are Windows only

Only a couple do Android and only a couple do Apple

Only one person does Chrome (I was a bit surprised at that)

Justin forgot that he does FireOS  (or else mebbe he still has a PC stuck around someplace that he posts from)


I'd say Linux has moved from being the minority to the MAJORITY now here on the list, just about like it has done in Europe.

JC, it is saying that it wants to link to your appropriate gmail.com account.   This is so it can find your saved settings, call lists, favorite places, menu bar set-ups, preferences, etc. etc. etc.

You use a gmail.com account to start up any android phone, and yes you got one if you have an android phone.    Sales personnel at a phone store set it up most likely originally.   If you are able to use gmail.com it is that same account, or if you want to you can go create a new account at gmail.com if you can't get into your old one.  

I have 3 Android/Chrome devices and I have a brand new Gmail.account for each one of them separately (I hate it when it gets all confused together, so I learned to have a separate account for each Android or Chrome device).    I think this is the simplest and smartest way to use Gmail.com and Chrome so that is what I recommend people to do.

When I go into Chrome on a subsequent new Mickey induced crash install, I just tell it where the appropriate gmail.com account is and then Chrome asks me if I want to import all my old settings.   I tell it yes and whola !!!   I got my full Chrome set up back up on my screen, exactly as it was before whatever happened.   This works for Chrome on PC or Chrome on Android.

This saves hours and hours of fiddling, and it is a major advantage to Chrome.   Plus, each Gmail.com account comes with 5 gigs of web storage, which is very nice to have for keeping photos and stuff up in a cloud location where you can get them back at will.

You will be asked by Chrome on the PC (if this isn't set up already) if you want Chrome to back itself up to your G.mail account and that is what it is asking to do, to keep a copy of all your set-ups, etc up in the cloud so you can get your stuff back effortlessly when you switch cell phone devices or reload your PC.

Iphone and Macbook Air here since Microsoft quit supporting the security patches on XP during tax season a few years back  

Zip,

Mozilla Firefox is an old, old, very odd beastie which originated in the original Netscape Browser back when 300 baud phone modems were state of the art.   Way way back before MS stole their way into the browser industry, in other words.

It is pure old school FOSS which means it meanders along year to year according to the wishes of the people who are working on it this year.

Firefox made an abortive attempt 3-4 years ago to be an Android phone OS competitor, then when that failed they tried to be a free FOSS appliance based OS system (was fairly successful in refrigerators for a while and is still being used by LG last I heard).

During this period of time Mozilla let the PC space go pretty much, and they are just now trying to stage a return to their original roots.

I keep Firefox on my machine for the times when Chrome messes up (and this happens less and less frequently as time goes on).   My wife uses a lot it as the anti-Google liberals at her University have it installed on all PCs as the default so it is on my machine for her to use as well.

In my opinion. Firefox is a better browser than Edge or the other MS products but not nearly as good as Chrome.

Let's see --- last time it messed up was when DRM (Digital Rights Management) was being pushed against the industry by Microsoft and company for a profit motive while the Linux distros held firm to the original open standards.

Proprietary video playback, streaming and this and that simply quit working in Linux because of "pay for it" proprietary software key requirements being used by the commercial suppliers and the Linux guys wouldn't cave in on paying for the DRM key subject any at all.  

Firefox caved first and actually paid Daneguild to the DRM people for a formal key license, and as such this got FF used by me for most of a year before the Open Software Foundation reached an agreement with the DRM people.  

Agreement was that the two groups simply quit cutting each other's fingers off in MAD nuclear fashion (each had points of control that could not be gotten around and each could hurt the other about equally and had been doing so for several months before they reached an agreement).  

Funny thing was that Google bought a license early on too (wanting to be completely legal) but wouldn't use the license until the unfairness to all the little players was completely stopped.

Apart from taking some firm stances against some very unfair commercial laws, Linux in general has kept on trucking flawlessly for a decade now.    We used to have issues with MS drivers, back when MS was a major innovator and did new stuff -- nowadays the new stuff comes from FOSS and MS uses our drivers and stuff, not vice versa.

Face it, Linux used to be small and weak compared to Mickey, but not any longer.

https://liliputing.com/2018/04/intels-leverages-gpu-for-security-scanning.html

Noting that Mickey is sincerely distancing itself from Intel more and more and more -- jest what is poor ol' Intel doing to try to recover from being considered the Typhoid Mary of Computing?






Ah well, it seems that Intel really CANNOT REALLY FIX the root problem with their current processor designs, especially not on any hardware designs that first shipped 5 years or longer ago.  

So what can Intel do with what they have, to at least offer the public a Vague Appearance of having fixed something?

Why heck, Intel can go teach their old built in Intel GPU (yeah, the one Intel doesn't use at all any more in preference to the much better, separate AMD GPUs that they just bought this spring so they could be competitive on graphics) yep, go teach that old useless built-in integrated Intel GPU to go scan the Intel boot, memory and HD systems CONSTANTLY, CEASELESSLY, UNENDINGLY in rotation for any already known attack vectors.  

This might be kinda sorta almost as good as fixing the real problem, and Intel can make a FEATURE out of this kludge type system that might fool a few teenager gamer type people (Intel's largest dedicated customer base at the moment).  

Intel might go rename it "Intel Security Module" and charge more money for it.

Issue is that it takes a varying ~ 2% to 20% ~ of total system resources to support this endless forever running constant head up your arse butt check .....   and it will only look for known issues, not any newly developing attacks.  

It is totally blind to anything new, anything just made up fresh just to fool it.   All the old traditional security holes are still there jest a waiting to be used in new and novel ways.

Intel deserves to die.    I bet they start selling expensive plug in cards to "retrofit" this new feature on to the older Intel based machines.

How is it that Linux can go ahead and fix this mess on all the old hardware and Wintel (who made it originally) needs to sell you something expensive to kinda sorta look like they are fixing it?


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LATE BREAKING NEWS ---- this fix will only be available on processor systems designed starting like next quarter, going out into the future (trick has to be built into the new hardware, in other words).  

This is beginning to smell quite a lot like jest some more just "announced" stinky brown PR vapor, doesn't it?    Actually, it only constitutes a little more added pressure on you to go buy a brand new super expensive PC .....