Would Ubuntu be the best choice for this situation?

[Ironman273]

I have a friend that I help keep his computer "clean" although he insists to visit and download from certain sites.  Overall with a mixture of AV, Malwarebytes and adblockers it's been generally "better" over the past year (not perfect).  His hard drive just crashed and he got another one.  In order to get the information off the drive I booted into Ubuntu from a pendrive and saved it to an external.  I half joked with him that I should put Ubuntu on his system and he said "sure".  Would that help keep infections at bay or would it be more of a hassle in the long term?  He's a casual PC user that just needs a browser and VLC.

[Max Norris]

If he's just browsing and viewing videos, yea probably wouldn't be a bad idea if that's all he's doing, although you may want to throw a couple different options at him too, Unity is kind of a love/hate thing, maybe show him a few others.  Another option, if he's using the originally created account and if he prefers Windows is to take him out of administrators.. too many people gloss over that, set him up as a regular user and he can't break the system.. first account is to set the thing up, doesn't mean you're supposed to run with it 24/7.  (You don't run as root 24/7 either..)  That said, you really should train him on better computing habits too.. I've trained my clueless neighbors a year or so ago and haven't had to clean up their messes since.. basic rules.  This is bandaid of sorts as he's still the root of the problem.

[oldtimefighter]

 He's a casual PC user that just needs a browser and VLC.

If that is all he literally does then why not? Doubful you would have to worry about his PC getting infected anymore.

[Aergan]

Did this with a friend nearly 16 years ago (was Mandrake I believe). Certainly worked. Only issue at the time was Microsoft Office but your options these days are much, much better.

[oldtimefighter]

That said, you really should train him on better computing habits too.. I've trained my clueless neighbors a year or so ago and haven't had to clean up their messes since.. basic rules.  This is bandaid of sorts as he's still the root of the problem.

You need to train him on proper habits AND tell him you are not going to fix his computer again.

[Knife Party]

I have a friend that I help keep his computer "clean" although he insists to visit and download from certain sites.  Overall with a mixture of AV, Malwarebytes and adblockers it's been generally "better" over the past year (not perfect).  His hard drive just crashed and he got another one.  In order to get the information off the drive I booted into Ubuntu from a pendrive and saved it to an external.  I half joked with him that I should put Ubuntu on his system and he said "sure".  Would that help keep infections at bay or would it be more of a hassle in the long term?  He's a casual PC user that just needs a browser and VLC.

Mint Cinnamon has a windows 7 start menu, it has robust stability and would run well. It can also do steam, and vlc and the windows malware problem will also go away. he can also still use outlook and office online if he wants, otherwise WPS office is also good. I'd personally switch him over since windows offers him nothing but troubles and obviously headaches for the person "you" who has to clean that mess everytime and wait 5+hrs for a clean and up to date windows 7 as an example. On Cinnamon, he can do everything out of the box, looking good, auto updates and no worries. Be a bro and give him a taste of the linux love.

[gradient456]

I have a friend that I help keep his computer "clean" although he insists to visit and download from certain sites.  Overall with a mixture of AV, Malwarebytes and adblockers it's been generally "better" over the past year (not perfect).  His hard drive just crashed and he got another one.  In order to get the information off the drive I booted into Ubuntu from a pendrive and saved it to an external.  I half joked with him that I should put Ubuntu on his system and he said "sure".  Would that help keep infections at bay or would it be more of a hassle in the long term?  He's a casual PC user that just needs a browser and VLC.

yes, Ubuntu is the best choice here.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Best choice? Not sure. However, if he only uses his machine for browsing the net and watching videos then Ubuntu is perfectly fine. However, as I have learnt with my own recent experiences, Libre Office still isn't at a level where you can easily create professional documents compared to MS Office. Of course there are other options out there, but it's become quite a hassle for me in the past few months.

[icuhackn]

Ubuntu is fine; however, I like Linux Mint better ... Ubuntu, in my opinion, has taken the route of Windows 8 with the app-like buttons ... not a big fan.

[Ironman273]

Mint Cinnamon has a windows 7 start menu, it has robust stability and would run well. It can also do steam, and vlc and the windows malware problem will also go away. he can also still use outlook and office online if he wants, otherwise WPS office is also good. I'd personally switch him over since windows offers him nothing but troubles and obviously headaches for the person "you" who has to clean that mess everytime and wait 5+hrs for a clean and up to date windows 7 as an example. On Cinnamon, he can do everything out of the box, looking good, auto updates and no worries. Be a bro and give him a taste of the linux love.

So if I have this correct, install Ubuntu then install the Cinnamon shell?

 

Edit:  Never mind.  I guess install Mint instead of Ubuntu is the route.

 

Best choice? Not sure. However, if he only uses his machine for browsing the net and watching videos then Ubuntu is perfectly fine. However, as I have learnt with my own recent experiences, Libre Office still isn't at a level where you can easily create professional documents compared to MS Office. Of course there are other options out there, but it's become quite a hassle for me in the past few months.

Office was my concern with him also but he insists he would online need office on his laptop.  I spoke to him a little bit ago and he seems to be getting cold feet.  I may install Cinnamon just so the look and feel is more familiar to him.  Controlling an iPod is no problem nowadays, correct?

[Knife Party]

So if I have this correct, install Ubuntu then install the Cinnamon shell?

 

Office was my concern with him also but he insists he would online need office on his laptop.  I spoke to him a little bit ago and he seems to be getting cold feet.  I may install Cinnamon just so the look and feel is more familiar to him.  Controlling an iPod is no problem nowadays, correct?

No just get Mint Cinnamon Edition

 

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

 

its interface is similar to Windows 7 in many respects, so work flow is almost the same.

And yes, ipod management is easy peasy.

[firey]

So if I have this correct, install Ubuntu then install the Cinnamon shell?

 

Edit:  Never mind.  I guess install Mint instead of Ubuntu is the route.

 

Office was my concern with him also but he insists he would online need office on his laptop.  I spoke to him a little bit ago and he seems to be getting cold feet.  I may install Cinnamon just so the look and feel is more familiar to him.  Controlling an iPod is no problem nowadays, correct?

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=172

 

There ya go.  Linux mint (ubuntu based) with cinnamon pre-installed.

[insanelyapple]

It's good idea but I would recommend rather Xubuntu with ~28-32px panel on bottom setting for better feeling around. You may want also install TeamViewer for remote help ;]

[Ironman273]

It's good idea but I would recommend rather Xubuntu with ~28-32px panel on bottom setting for better feeling around. You may want also install TeamViewer for remote help ;]

Well, he owns a restaurant so every time I have to come over to fix something I get a nice meal

[Max Norris]

Well, he owns a restaurant so every time I have to come over to fix something I get a nice meal

If that's the case, I'd highly recommend Windows XP.

[fusi0n]

Linux can be a pain and a huge learning process.. If you are wanting to do this to cut down on working on his computer, I'd say stay clear from it.. I'm very well versed in Linux.. but, you have to know when it isn't a good fit.. He is running a business.. he doesn't have the time to learn a whole new OS.. he doesn't seem tech savvy if someone is having to come over regularly and clean his computer from malware.

 

Windows 8.1, FireFox with Adblock (A lot of viruses are pushed out through hacked ad servers), NOD32, and take him out of the Admin group.

[Ironman273]

Linux can be a pain and a huge learning process.. If you are wanting to do this to cut down on working on his computer, I'd say stay clear from it.. I'm very well versed in Linux.. but, you have to know when it isn't a good fit.. He is running a business.. he doesn't have the time to learn a whole new OS.. he doesn't seem tech savvy if someone is having to come over regularly and clean his computer from malware.

 

Windows 8.1, FireFox with Adblock (A lot of viruses are pushed out through hacked ad servers), NOD32, and take him out of the Admin group.

He's not running his business from that computer.  It's just at home.  He uses his laptop and another computer at the restaurant for business.

 

The Dell he has comes with a Win7 image, I already had him using Chrome with adblock, his AV was Norton (I know, I know, but he wanted to use it because it came with his Comcast package).  Actually, since making the change to Chrome with the adblock and Norton this is the first time I've had to go back and it was a hardware error.  If he insists on staying with Windows I would still do Chrome but install 360 as the AV.  I think removing him from Admin is what's really going to make a difference.

[firey]

I installed mint on virtualbox.  This is a more or less stock install.  I added the weather desklet, and changed the cinnamon theme. 

 

Comes with VLC and Firefox out of the box.  I installed chrome though.

[cork1958]

Personally,

Ubuntutu isn't a good choice for anything, IMO, as it's the most bloated Linux distro in existence which just makes that learning curve all that much harder.

 

Linux Mint, from what I've heard is a very good choice, although I've never used that one personally. I've been using Debian for over a year now and it's the first Linux distro that hasn't messed itself up so bad I had to reinstall, with something as simple as one of it's own updates, which Ubuntu did to me a few times.

[123456789A]

I would put him on Slackware Linux.