Rat Trojans etc
 

Hi everyone,
I have just bought a computer for 100quid from a registered company, and i asked to have linux ubuntu put on it, because it works faster.
my father who is like you and the tech man(is also an extraordinarily informed individual when it comes to computers)organised the sale, and very kindly picked it up for me,

what i want to know is how can i find out that neither the tech man or my father put a trojan on my laptop before giving it to me?

my last computer had one, and i ignored it till i n got anti spyware, and 2 friends have done it to me in the past as well.
thankyou in advance for any replies
i dont know much about computers i just want to be secure in my privacy.
thanks

With 'friends' like that .... & you don't trust your Father either???

The simple soln if you are worried is to go to eg www.distrowatch.com or Ubuntu's home site, download+burn the iso(s) and do your own install; just say yes to all the defaults.
Should be simple enough.

Thankyou, i'll have a go. yeah, its not i dont trust my father, trojans can be used for good also, a bit like a 'father figure' in the back ground making sure everything runs smooth for me, its just im old enough now to learn to do it on my own, and i want to be secure in my privacy now.
thanks

I'm afraid if you were not really familiar with the OS you would have no chance to detect [all kind of] trojans.

well i finally found the command line on this thing...!
so my plan is to ask my father if i get stuck, had a quick read up on wiki, i can remember a bit from using unix and linux in mech eng, so im hoping not to, but if not, i'll learn to trust people...
thanks for all your help patrons, ill just accept that 100%privacy is going to be difficult to achieve, if no files or anything are ever altered then you wouldnt know i guess, unless i run it everyday to be sure...
i dont understand why an anti spyware package isn't included with the os as standard?

A lot of this has to do with the fact that Linux, even out of the box, is a lot less susceptible to this type of malware than the main commercial OS. A reasonable degree of paranoia can be a healthy thing with regards to the security of your computers. If you are concerned about files getting changed on you, download a clean copy of your choice of distribution, verify the signature and/or the sums, install it and then take steps like putting a HIDS on your system to notify you of system changes.

As a father, I must ask, exactly what are you doing that you don't want your father to know about?

That is quite true. The only way to have 100% privacy with a computer is to turn it off, put it in a box, pour concrete around it, and drop it off a boat, and even then you can't be sure . . . .

Joking aside, run a firewall, and, if you are really paranoid like me, an anti-virus program (yeah, I know about Linux and viruses, but I run an AV anyway because, when a Linux virus hits, I plan to read about it, not live it), install a hosts file, choose a secure browser, and be careful not to visit the type of sites known to spread viruses, such as XXXX websites.

Also, try using proper spelling. It helps others to understand your posts.