Hey folks:

a person i know really freaked me out when i was told my ip address has been compromised. in fact he mentioned hackers are attacking thru my ip address as they already have entered my computer system. i m quite lame in technology and he suggested me to have linux as OS than my window vista OS.

i had not noticed any problems excepts that my internet cable get disconnected from time to time as i am sharing the cable of the house owner.

please suggested me if i should have linux as an OS for like i mentioned i m not tech savvy person.

Thanks in advance.

As the user already suggested, If you are using your pc just to surf net  and multimedia thinks , you better stay in windows.  Your profblem is with internet I guess, if you are talking about wireless, try changing wireless router coz some of the routers has security feature as a result of which you will recieve intermittent transmission.
If your pc is connected thru cable, call your isp , they will guide you thru.
 

If your concern is about security then nothing is 100% secure not even government sites or any high end sites
denial of service attacks are common in any systems
internet is places for hackers crackers crawers worms trozen horses
but if you want to use Debian Ubuntu its more secure like users said its not known to many unlike Windows and viruses don't sell that much for Mac and Ubuntu as it does for Windows since they can make profit from them in those system.
If are open to use any system without any problems if you know what you are doing and and don't install or click the links that you are not sure.
But Debian Ubuntu is great since you get almost any software for free and from usability perspective its Window like interface for novice users and power shell scripts for veteran who want to try different things.So it really matters what you want to do.But most popup are blocked by defult from Firefox and OS defult setting that comes with Ubuntu.Give it a shot you will know the different you can always remove it easily by doing remove programs if you don't like it.But I prefer Ubuntu since its lot faster and has all I want and don't run any crap background process that are heavyweight and kill lot of processor time.
Hope that helps.

 bro yetro laamo story lekheko thiyee!!! post garda error aayoo!!! feri lekhna alchi lagyoo!!!! i just wanna know how did ur fren came to conclusion that someone was using ur ip to hack into systems!!!!lol higly unlikely!!somebody would just be using proxiesss or they would bounce their attacks so that they don't get caught and mostly use the power of *nix shell......timro ip address le hack gare nii u won't get caught!!aba next post feri mero saathi le hackers haru le mac spoofing garera mero internet chalenauu bhanne post chahi herna napaauu!!!!

in fact he mentioned hackers are attacking thru my ip address as they already have entered my computer system.?????????bro maile yo nii bujhenaaa ke ho they are attacking bhanekoo chahi?????is your system [Disallowed String for - bad word]ed up ??has your credit card being compromised!!!! or somebody updated ur fb status saying i doin't watch porn or anything like that!!!
anii switching to a linux re for what ???? secure huncha bhanera !!! lol hasayoo bro linux ma gaye nii je ma gaye niii timro isp le bro laii eutaii ip address diyeko huncha jaha samma malai lagcha!!!!! 

i had not noticed any problems excepts that my internet cable get disconnected from time to time as i am sharing the cable of the house owner.???? brooo arko possiblilty!! if u r using WEP yeah that shit can be cracked by script kiddies too!!! if ur wep has been hacked yeah n someone is downloading gb of torrent files yeah then your bandwith is [Disallowed String for - bad word]ed up... that would mean very very slow internet!!!!
anii bro check ur cables too!!! aru kehi problem chaina bhane time to get a new router n modem.... hahahah!11
anii bro even i use tools available to capture packets...sniff around...session hijack...i don't think some would just hack ur computer to disconnect ur internet time to  time!!!!
and yeah what's ur internet speed ?/ don't tell me it is 256 kbps per lol
la broo kehi kura naramro laage maafi paau!!!
aniii enjoy mahabhart!!! porn ta herdainau rahechauu!!! m off to youjizz lol!!!

 bro laii yettiaki rag gareko mind garyo jasto cha hahah!! i know i am funny!!!anii bro if u could tell me how r u getting connected to internet....or routers being used ...cables and things like that!! try resetting your router too !!1 u might be having problems on wireless driver tooo!!! maybe ur driver is old anii!!!! run ipconfig/all in command prompt that will give u idea of how many computers are being connected in your network!!!! and stuffs like that could help me to figure out what is the solution....la brooo swtich to linux aniiii enjoy

@ alece bro why wud i mind ur insights n wisdom? i count u as my well wisher at least in terms of my tech wellbeing hey hey hey

u enjoy ur day bro

Dude

Do you have a wireless router? My guess is that you have it either open or on WEP. Check the router. Change to WPA or WPA2 if available for wireless security. WEP can be hacked in less than a minute. So no matter how many times you change the security key, does not matter. Change to WPA!!!

Also if they suspect your system is already compromised, that could mean that you are infected with some rootkits or viruses which might not be detected by normal AVs. So I would even format the windows and do a clean install. Invest in some good antivirus. If you can't afford it, at least have Microsoft's security essentials.

Most important thing, use firefox or chrome with adblock. Other than the normal plugins, if any website wants you to install anything to be able to watch something, it could be bull. So try n avoid such websites. There are always others that are real.

 Linux learning curve ain't easy for noobs. So, I would say stay with windows. If you can update your OS to windows 7. It is way faster and snappy than vista. Use firefox for all internet browsing with Noscript and addblock installed. You don't really have to use NoScript but definitely use adblock.  IE9 RC build is pretty decent browser but I won't recommend it because of no adblock support. Lastly, use Microsoft Security Essentials as your antivirus program. It is awesome, developed by Microsoft and FREE. Don't install everything that pops at you. Just use your head and you will be fine.

As an update folks I have installed ubuntu OS. M learning to understand its system. The browser is firefox, however, I am having heck of a problem listening to online radio's as I often listen live radio sagarmatha and ujjyalo 90 network. Wud it be possible to listen live radios @ ubuntu???Bro's do share ur wisdom

thanx dekchi bro m learning to go beyond my tech ignorance and will go through the link for reading, hope it will help me to listen live radios.

I also has three major issues
1)Wireless connection
corrected it  using  turning all flages on this file
open termal from drop down or (ALT+F2)
then type cd /var/lib/NetworkManager
sudo nano NetworkManager.state
turn all flags ture
then restart machine it will work
2)You tube and other graphics related update
download for 32/64 bit Adobe flash plugin and install
Alternatevely u can use Ubuntu Software Updater and select the plugin from list
3)For sound i tried some options but didn't work
So tried removing Ubuntu form Add remove programs from Windows
and again downloaded Wubi installer for 10.10 and reinstalled then started working
This might not be the best soultion since u have to analyze best on your drivers and other system config but it works for me for the time being
Hope it helps to you too
Also if you don't mind sending links for the radio links you are trying to listen I can try it on my machine and share you
if I find anything useful to solve your problem

@ Gohtalo bro thanx 4 willing 2 go an extra mile

i usually get them thru the nepalnews website, here are the links 2 online radio

http://entertainment.nepalnews.com/livefm/sagarmathafm.html

http://entertainment.nepalnews.com/livefm/ujyaalofm.html

please let me know ur thoughts!

I think these sites work only on IE.
I have tried them before but ran through this issue  alreay.
I was able to install IE on Ubuntu using IE4Linux I think u can use Wine too.
I did it along one year back for my cross browser testing really didn't try these site
If I am able to made it working will do another post to guide you.

http://weblog.scanyours.com/2010/05/30/howto-run-internet-explorer-7-within-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx/
This is how i made IR working on 32 bit machine but today i tried the same process but it freezes seems there is issue with 64 bit machine as discussed here
http://www.start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4981:playonlinux-64-bit-linux-user-we-need-you&catid=35:64bit-linux&Itemid=83

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1636935

bro's need ur insights again :)

how can i download songs from youtube in ubuntu. while i was using windows vista as OS i used freecorder to download. anu suggestion for ubuntu?

thanks