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Recently my daughter's elderly Pentium III Compaq laptop completely died. This happened nearing Christmas so her gift list was an easy one. The problem was that I did not want to spend a assortment of money. The other problem was that I hated her having a computer.

I hated it because I constantly had to go to work on it. She used the notebook for homework, instantaneous messaging, and browsing. Every couple of months, I initiate myself removing spyware and other debris from the computer. Occasionally it was easier just to re-build the workstation by re-installing each and every one the software, including the operating system. I track her internet usage through my router so I know to she has not been to "questionable" sites but these things continue to work their mode into her computer.

I decided to care about something that I had never ahead of considered. LINUX! I picked up one more Pentium III (this one was a bit more persuasive than her ancient laptop) desktop for under $100.00. I added some former memory that I had sitting on a shelf. I downloaded SUSE Linux and went to work.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the installation was! There was very little interaction and my choices were very simple. In about 30 minutes, I had a working computer connected to the internet.

There are a few things in the midst of which I was very pleased. It was running incredibly well with the old hardware. If I had second-hand Windows XP I would have been forced to catch a newer mainframe and spend hundreds of dollars. The operating system came with a browser (Firefox) and inclusive office software (OpenOffice - which is compatible with Microsoft Office products). near was also a very nice split second messaging tool with the aim of allows her to use many out of the ordinary IM clients in one piece of software. It had CD ripping and burning software as well as numerous audio programs. On top of that, the operating order and all the software were FREE!

Now I know mainly of the fill with reading this are thinking, "Ok, we have another unwilling Microsoft guy here". That is very not true. I am a Windows and web developer by trade and use Microsoft products exclusively (except for using Firefox as a browser whilst testing). I am a huge believer in the harvest that Microsoft produces simply because they work and in most cases creation VERY well together.

The best thing nearly this change of operating system is that my daughter's computer is without hesitation free of spyware and is not targeted by nearly everyone viruses. The detail is that nearly all viruses and spyware target Microsoft Windows only. Now I can rest easy knowing that I won't be rebuilding a computer each few months.

Aaron Davis is a Sr. Software Developer. He has been a web/application developer for more than 12 years and has served the IT industry for additional than 14 years. His specialty is .NET development amid C# and SQL Server.