Hi,

I want keep my online financial transactions completely separate from the rest of my web browsing. Obviously the absolute safest way is to simply use separate computers, but that's not particularly convenient. If I were to setup a second X11 login, how much risk would this less sheltered account pose to the other one? And what would be the preferred way to implement this? Perhaps xnest? I'm not new to Linux, but I'm also not exactly fluent, so please go easy on me

Thanks!

You mention separation, "the absolute safest way" and risk but talking about convenience kind of neutralizes all that... I'm not going to talk about using read-only media (see here and there) and I'm also not going to talk about virtualization (as I know of your requirements mentioned only elsewhere) but I'll ask you this:
are you trying to apply your fears, uncertainties and doubts regarding the Other Operating System to Linux?
If not then what are the top three risks you think you are protecting against?
And how would these attacks commonly occur?

Just trying to make you think.

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There isn't really any OS I know well enough to be able to make a properly informed judgment about the risk of, say, having an account hacked. What I do know is that in the right hands, all of them can be made into a fortress, and all of them -- including Linux -- can be fatally compromised by someone who doesn't understand what they're doing. What I'm looking for are common practices, and perhaps some description that would allow me to improve my understanding of Linux's account management. For instance, one respondent in that thread you mentioned points out that x11's keylogging facility is shared, which I think is probably worth noting.

[EDIT -- I just looked more carefully at your links, and there's a lot of very useful advice there; thanks.]

Use a virtual machine (Virtualbox will do the job)

A VM would probably run too slowly; it's an old computer. Would xnest be a reasonable substitute?

Another firefox but in "privacy mode"?

You could try a separate heavily locked-down install (ie dual boot on the same box), used ONLY for banking.
Add such things as noscript, ghostery, https-everywhere to FF.
Disallow images and cookies and only allow manually for each specific bank site.
Type in each web address manually (do not copy/paste something may have invisible ctrl chars/nulls) and bookmark those. Only use bookmarks.
Set default/'home'/startup site to one of those.
NEVER store accts details/passwds/pins on the computer.

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