I'm still not getting this.

I have four computers which are NOT linked to each other locally; only to the outside world via the internet and even then only one or two at a time.

There are FAR too many misleading terms in computing for my liking:

An 'argument' is something I have regularly with my wife.

A 'socket' is where I plug the TV in.

An 'address' is where someone lives.

A 'mirror' is something I shave in front of.

A 'mouse' is a social rodent which has a faster breeding cycle than a rat.

A 'port' is where ships dock, or a fortified wine from the Iberian Peninsula.

'Memory' is what I have less and less of as the years go by.

A 'library' is where you go to be surrounded by screaming kids playing video games and renting CDs.

A 'client' comes to bankers or lawyers for advice on how best to get screwed.

A 'pipe' is either something you smoke or something that enables you to get water or gas or oil.

A 'shell' is something you find washed up on the beach.

A 'root' is a tap vegetable.

An 'image' is something you can *see*.

An 'executable' is a bank chief or a bent politician.

I could go on and on and on. But presumably by now you get the jpeg.

Yours in despair,

CC.

The Internet is a network, once you connect a machine to any network it can no longer be considered a standalone.


Ah. Despair. Cool:
"Aeneas was our prince: a juster lord,
Or nobler warrior, never drew a sword;
Observant of the right, religious of his word.
If yet he lives, and draws this vital air,
Nor we, his friends, of safety shall despair;"
(Virgil, y'know, one of them dead poets.)

I used the term 'stand alone' to mean an individual pc which isn't part of a LAN, but is sometimes connected to the Internet. I think it was the Red Queen who said, "Words mean what I want them to mean; no more, no less."

Lets get this thread back on track. After all this the Linux Security forum and not General or Newbie, OK?

its humpty dumpty who said it

You're the boss. Thanks for the explanation.
As to the other guy, you may be right about Humpty Dumpty, but I'm sure the Red Queen said something very similar.