On our Windows laptops, we use an army of different software just to protect ourselves from all the different kinds of malware just hanging around the net, waiting for an opening to attack our system. Don’t give me the excuse that antivirus software is expensive, there are a lot of fully-functional antiviruses out there that are pretty good. But even though we have our system running fully-protected, there’s a good chance that one or two viruses might be able to slip in. I usually don’t worry that much, a simple scan with Malwarebytes usually does the job. But what if malware has overrun your computer so much that it’s practically unusable?

If your plethora of antimalware apps doesn’t work, along with *gasp* safe mode, then you might want to try a different approach – Linux. From gHacks, here’s a way to scan your hard drive for viruses using a Linux installation. gHacks recommends that you remove the infected drive and connect it via USB to the Linux machine. Then you can scan the drive via Linux as an external drive. The, install F-Prot on Linux. Scan away.

Lifehacker, on the other hand, suggests that you can make a Live USB and run it to scan your computer. Of course you might want to install the antivirus on your live USB first before doing anything. From Lifehacker:

After making the Live USB stick, boot into it (you may have to set your boot priority in your BIOS, directions for which can be found in step 2 of this post), and install antivirus on it—gHacks recommends F-Prot, but if you don’t want to buy a copy of F-Prot just for this, all of our Hive Five antivirus favorites have Linux versions, and open-source favorite ClamAV (pictured above) is available from Synaptic Package Manager (along with the Clamtk GUI for it—just search for clamav and clamtk in Synaptic [available under System > Administration] and install both packages). Start it up from Applications > System Tools, set it to scan your Windows drive and you’re good to go.

There we go, so I hope you figure out a way to clean your practically unusable drives with Linux, and you learn a bit of the operating system while you’re at it.

As much as I love Ubuntu Linux and all its open source glory, I really am not a fan of the current logo and the color scheme. Come on, brown. I understand that they took the current design inspiration from the word Ubuntu’s African roots, but that particular shade of brown they used isn’t exactly the most enticing thing to see.

Which is why I’m totally behind Canonical’s decision to change Ubuntu’s branding and the operating system’s color scheme into something more modern and sleeker. They believe that the new Ubuntu logo – which I love, by the way – will “reflect the precision and engineering that sits at the heart of the product. The new logo reflects this but not at the expense of the immediately recognisable circle of friends.”

They’re dropping the brown “Human” theme and introduced a new theme called Light:

The new style in Ubuntu is inspired by the idea of “Light”.

We’re drawn to Light because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that “light” is a good value in software. Good software is “light” in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed. Ubuntu represents a break with the bloatware of proprietary operating systems and an opportunity to delight to those who use computers for work and play. More and more of our communications are powered by light, and in future, our processing power will depend on our ability to work with light, too.

If you ask me, I say it’s about time. But I’m curious about what you guys think. Give me a piece of your mind via the comments!

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We’ve seen netbooks flourish for the last two years. These cheap and relatively underpowered mini-laptops have been super portable. Add the fact that they can do almost all the basic computer user’s needs at an affordable price, so it’s really no surprise that netbooks have been the number one product for many computer manufacturers.

But it looks like in 2010 we’ll be seeing the portable computing landscape changed yet again. Lots of talk about a new class of mini-laptops running ARM-based processors have been on the news a lot lately. Since they’re running ARM, they won’t be able to run Windows XP or Windows 7. They’re all going to be on Linux. However, they’ll be able to last for a long time on a single charge, and some will be featuring integrated 3G connectivity and HD video acceleration features.

You also get the ability to receive emails, instant messages, and other data even while the computer is in sleep mode. Basically, you are going to get the best of both worlds in terms of notebooks and smartphones, hence the name “smartbooks.”

From Liliputing:

The president of ARM Korea says that as many as 20 ARM-based smartbooks could hit the streets in the first quarter of 2010.

Most, but not all of these devices will likely be sold by mobile broadband providers at subsidized prices. That means you may be able to pick up a smartbook for less than $200 up front. Some might even be free. But you’ll probably end up paying up to $60 per month to actually use the 3G wireless capabilities, which means that over the course of a 2 year service contract you could end up paying between $1400 and $1600 for a device that looks like a laptop, but which has a slower processor and won’t run Windows.

Are you willing to put up with Linux if it means that you’ll be able to get more out of a single charge? Give me your thoughts!

Ok, so I guess you’re pretty excited for Google’s entry into the operating system market with Google Chrome OS. I don’t know how anyone could get pretty excited over an OS running a web browser and nothing else, but if you’re into cloud computing and you would want to have a feel of what Chrome OS might turn out, you should try BrowserLinux.

BrowserLinux is a fast and small linux distribution for surfing the web. In fact it’s so small that it claims that it eats up only 78Mb upon installation. It’s actually based on Puppy Linux, which is by itself one of the most lightweight Linux distros available.

Unlike Google Chrome though, BrowserLinux is not all browsers. It also has a few applications installed, and you have options to add extra software if you want to.

The applications that come preinstalled on BrowserLinux are:

• Web-browser (Firefox 3.5.5)
• Flash 10
• PDF-reader
• Music Player (Alsaplayer)

To install BrowserLinux, you need to download the ISO and run Unetbootin.

Okay, if you’re looking to install this on your main computer, I really wouldn’t advise doing that. Having a lightweight operating system is well and good, but to run a system as stripped-down as this, you’re going to run into something that’ll need an application not available for your OS. Better stick with a bootable flash drive if I were you.

I’ve been totally excited about Chrome OS for some time now, and I was eagerly looking forward to the big yesterday. But the screenshots that came out left me with a feeling of “that’s it?!”

Okay, I knew all along that Chrome OS will be cloud-based and that you won’t be able to do much with it without an internet connection. Fair enough. I just wasn’t expecting that they’d turn out this uninspired design that looks no different from Chrome, the browser.

It’s just basically the Chrome browser slapped on top of a Linux base. So those expecting to go crazy on multimedia with it are going to be mightily disappointed. It’s just something you put on your netbook and boot up really quickly when you need to browse and/or do some Google Docs work on the go. It’s not even going to try to wean you off Windows (well, not until we all start to work on the cloud alone).

Just in case you’re curious to see how Chrome OS runs, you better check out the video below.

So now I’m wondering why install Android in the first place if Windows is still going to be running alongside it. I’d rather wait for the Google Chrome OS netbook, mind you.

Intel Open Source Technology Centre Imad Sousou says that vendors will begin announcing netbooks running Moblin 2.0 within the next week or two. The news came out of an interview with ZDNet UK, where Sousou discussed the current state of Moblin Linux. The operating system is optimized for use on netbooks, particularly those with low power processors like the Intel Atom, and small screens with resolutions of 1024 x 600 pixels or lower.

Intel was originally the driving force behind Moblin, and still kind of is. But management of the project has been handed over to the Linux Foundation. But the custom Linux distribution is designed to play well with netbooks by introducing power saving features, quick boot optimizations for Atom and other processors, and a custom user interface that makes it easy to treat a netbook almost more as a web-centric consumer electronics device than a computer.

Moblin Linux is one of my favorite distros so far and I’m pretty excited to see it available in a netbook in the future.

If you’re looking for another netbook-specific Linux OS that isn’t based on Ubuntu, look no further. Fedora Mini is being developed behind the scenes as I write.

The Fedora Mini SIG is a group of Fedora contributors that are interested in Fedora on small devices. Initially aimed at ensuring that the hardware used in devices such as Netbooks and Mobile Inter Devices (MIDs) work out of the box with Fedora. Eventually, we may also include and build a spin which is targeted at these devices through the use of another user interface experience. It could also be used to produce various spins for Gnome Mobile development, Intel’s Moblin project, Hildon etc

Currently, Fedora Mini currently supports most Intel Atom processors as well as Intel Celeron M (Dothan), Via C7-M, and AMD Geode LX processors. Unfortunately, while Intel GMA 900 and 950 graphics are supported, GMA 500 graphics are not. You can find a complete list of supported hardware including screen resolutions, wireless controllers, and Bluetooth modules at the wiki.

Oh look, it’s something from Sharp. I wasn’t being sarcastic about that folks, but it’s been a pretty long time since I heard something, anything, from them.

But they’ve come up with the NetWalker, and they have my attention. It’s powered by an 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 processor (ARM Cortex A8 core), has 4GB of internal memory, and runs Ubuntu 9.04. In addition, the 14.4-ounce unit measures 6.35″ x 4.28″ x 0.78″ and features a 10-hour battery life (JEITA estimate; expect about 7 hours of real-world usage), 5″ LED-backlit screen, standard USB ports, optical mouse, and mouse buttons.

I’ll let the video below explain:

Will you just look at it. It’s… um, cute.

Personally, I’m not into MIDs. I’d rather bring a netbook around, or if that’s still too big for me, I’ll just use my handy Nokia E63 to use to browse during those boring lulls, or to work when I’m away.

But this Netwalker looks pretty good if you prefer MIDs.

But darn, I fell in love with the N900 the moment I saw it. I mean, just look at it:

I’ve never lusted after a Nokia device so badly. Not only does it look good, but the specs on this baby are also top-notch.

Imagine: 3.5-inch 800×480 pixel (resistive) touchscreen, sliding QWERTY, 32GB of on-board storage expandable to 48GB via microSD, GPS/A-GPS, FM transmitter, TV-out, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, 1320mAh battery, and 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash. Also, this MID brings the power of the ARM Cortex-A8, up to 1GB of application memory, and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration to make quick work of polygons and what Nokia promises will be a “PC-like experience on a handset-sized device.”

Better yet, it’ll run a Linux-based OS, called Maemo, instead of Nokia’s tried-and-tested Symbian software. If you’re too busy drooling, I don’t blame you.

Suddenly, the E63 that I’m holding in my hands right now isn’t too awesome anymore. Seriously, what could be a better travel companion than this?