Linux Mint 9, codename Isadora

I was in Best Buy today and saw win7 upgrades on the self. To up grade 3 computers from xp to 7 was nearly $400. In this tight economy, it's more important than ever to make sure every dollar spent counts. As we all know running older releases of Windows can be dangerous. Because older releases of Windows are often no longer supported with needed security patches among other fixes. In other words you are putting yourself at risk of malware issues. Soon Xp will not be supported. Would it be really be necessary to upgrade all 3 systems to Windows7?

One could try something called Linux Mint. It dose not cost anything. No its not one of those internet scams. The best thing about Linux Mint is its out of the box capabilities. This version comes with GNOME 2.30. It's similar to SUSE's Slab menu by offering access to all entries from main interface and features a filter/search. Some may say having something like Linux Mint could put your system more at risk. The reality is quite the reverse: Linux Mint is much more secure than either Windows or Macs, as countless examples and security researchers have confirmed over the years. One of the Linux Mint many advantages is that it's designed not to hog resources, meaning it doesn't require the latest and greatest hardware to work really well.

Firefox is preinstalled, with is latest version, 3.6.3. I have been a Firefox advocate for a long time. Thunderbird is also preinstalled in its latest version. Adobe Flash plugin, MP3, DVD playback along with most popular video codecs are bake in as well. Since Mint 9 is based on an Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release, you have support for the desktop through 2013.

So if you have 3 computers with WinXp maybe only one them should get the windows 7 upgrade. The other two would be just fine with Linux Mint installed on them. You could save yourself a lot of money.

No matter what O.S. you use always update your web browser to the latest version. An out of date web browser is often riddled with holes worms can crawl through. Trust me you don't need that kind of trouble. In fact keep all programs you run patched and up-to-date. Never click on links in emails if you can't verify the sender. Don't enter credit card numbers or other personal information into sites you don't trust. Legitimate business and organizations will never ask you to enter your username or password via email. Just some things to think about.