another newbie

[cpt.kirk at 1tree.net]

I remember seeing what the root password starts as, but can't help you
with that one. But I would not so much worry about destroying data. Linux
is actually less likely to let you wipe out the system or destroy data
then is Winblows. The thing is that if you spend your time in a
non-privledged account, you can't destroy any more then data local to that
account.

As for keeping Winblows, there are two things that I can think of for you
to do so. The first is OCR software (if you have it). I have not found
that in Linux yet. The other is if you have a need to use M$ Office or
similar programs for interchangability reasons. For those using X, that is
less an issue. But since your using speech, then I don't know of any
method of reading the screen inside X. (Though shell scripts can let you
use some X programs.)

As for the formatting every year, you are another victim of M$ outsourcing
program. Having been a contractor at a M$ facility I can assure you that
M$ does not endorse its support personel passing on a regular format
recomendation to its customers. The thing is that most of their support
comes from people who work with no direct M$ contact. Further, the average
tenure at said company is less then 6 months. And the first month is
spent in a class that blows over the top of 80% of the people's heads.
Such leads to people telling customer's that things such as a disk utility
(scandisk) can actually solve program errors (other then those dealing
with disk access).

Kirk Wood
Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net
------------------

Your fly might be open (but don't check it just now).