Does linux / freespire have and require maintanence like windows?
(defrag,etc.)

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-linux-331862/
Make sure to search google before asking.

As for other maintenance: ALL computers require maintenance, just like ALL cars require maintenance. That being said, most Linux filesystems are fairly resistant to fragmentation, so you shouldn't have too much trouble there. You will need to install updates from time to time, but that usually doesn't even require a reboot. Most distributions have a built-in update manager that will let you know when updates are available.

Sorry, I'm new here. Next time I will search first,but with something other than google. I haven't used google since I got stung with the google virus.

Google virus? Never heard of it...

Hmm, according to this: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...google_ad.html that's an MS specific virus, so you won't have to worry about that anymore (if you get Linux).

"You're new here," (of course you are...) but don't be afraid to post, and don't interpret comments like that one as "a reprimand."

Linux requires maintenance of the same sort, and for the same reasons, that Windows should ... that is, if people knew how to use Windows properly! (In other words: "not as 'all-powerful Administrators!'")

Specifically:

1. All operating-system software should be kept reasonably up-to-date, even though...
   Quote:

   "Software like fine wine... let it age."

   The software should always be updated only from known-reliable sources.
2. No one should ever run their system as "an 'all-powerful user,' or even something remotely similar to it." The computer does not know who 'you' are and will dutifully do whatever 'you' ask. Therefore, always run from a user-id that isn't allowed to "shoot the system in the foot!"
3. Modern file systems generally-speaking do not require 'defragmentation.' Linux systems (and Windows' "NTFS") are designed to run literally for months and years without rebooting, defragmentation, or repair. Linux, OS/X, and, yes, Windows... are all quite capable of it.

All file systems do fragment. The linux fs's are quite better than fat32, that helps, but they still fragment. If you don't have to worry about fragmentation is not only because of the quality of the filesystem, but because of the i/o schedulers, which properly manage all the i/o operations so the movement of the heads of your HD is reduced to a minimum, and all the read operations are done as sequentially as possible.

Note however that reiserfs (3.x) has some serious issues with fragmentation, overall if you use tail packing, which is enabled by default. So I advice you stay away from it if you are really worried about that.

@ sam23

Sorry if I came off strong about that. I just meant like it's best to look for stuff on a search engine before posting. But don't worry. I have posted without looking at google only to find out its like the first link on the keyword. It happens to all of us.

I named it that. What it was is I picked up something that would always change my homepage to google,no matter what I did.Only way I could get rid of it was to do a restore.