Stop Testing Software on Your PC: Use Virtual Machine Snapshots Instead

We’ve long railed against registry cleaners and system tuners as useless products that waste your money, but how do you go about cleaning up after uninstalling shady freeware? Answer: You don’t. You avoid installing nonsense on your PC to begin with by testing everything in a virtual machine first. Snapshots just make it easier.

Every other download site is either wrapping crapware-filled freeware with their own crapware, or they are just distributing installers full of crapware. Some of them will only bundle the crapware if you are using Internet Explorer — so you think you’re recommending a clean source to your family because you’re using Chrome, only to help them get infected because they are still on IE. Even open-source software isn’t safe from the awful — SourceForge now bundles some pretty terrible crapware with a lot of their downloads, and that’s just the “safe” sources.It’s been a long time since the days when you could just test out lots of freeware on your computer without worry — these days almost all freeware is bundled with spyware, crapware, adware, or the ninth circle of hell, which includes things like the awful Ask Toolbar or the terrible Trovi browser hijacker malware. That’s why we almost never recommend software downloads unless they are from a really reputable place like SysInternals (Microsoft), Ninite, or NirSoft.

But you can still get all of your freeware testing fun without worrying about malware problems. Just install it into a virtual machine instead. That’s what we do.

What You Should Know About Virtual Machine Software

When it comes to virtual machine software, there are a lot of choices, but not all of them provide a way to make it easy to test software and then roll back to a clean state in a couple of seconds. Sure, you could always reinstall Windows over and over, but who wants to do that?

If you’re running Windows, Virtualbox is probably your best bet. It’s free, open-source, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, the interface is easy to use, and it supports snapshots. There are other solutions, but VMware Player don’t support snapshots, Hyper-V supports a similar feature called “checkpoints” but has a really clunky interface, and while VMware Workstation has snapshots and is easy to use, it’s fairly expensive for what we’re trying to accomplish. We’d stick with Virtualbox.The answer is to use the snapshot feature provided in some virtual machine software — You simply create a snapshot after installing and configuring the virtual machine, and then you install anything you want, and then you can roll it back to the snapshot as if nothing ever happened.

Editor’s Note: If you’re running OS X and want to test out some Windows software, we’d recommend getting a copy of Parallels, which is our favorite virtual machine solution. It’s not free, but it’s a lot faster than Virtualbox, integrates really well into OS X, and it even supports Aero transparency in Windows. And, of course, it has really great support for snapshots.

Once you’ve selected your solution, there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind:

• Don’t Enable File Sharing: If you are testing out some shady software in a virtual machine and it ends up including malware, you don’t want to run the risk of the malware spreading to your host PC through a shared folder.
• Don’t Use Bridged Mode: Most of the time the default for a virtual machine is to hide it behind a virtual NAT (network address translation) network that keeps the virtual machine at least partially isolated from the rest of the network. What you don’t want to do is use bridge mode, where the virtual machine connects directly to your main network.
• Don’t Use Your Regular Accounts: It should go without saying, but if you are using Windows 8 you shouldn’t sign into the virtual machine using your regular Microsoft account. The same goes for Google or any other accounts. If the freeware contains some type of spyware, you don’t want it to be able to get access to your accounts.

You probably want to avoid running actual malware in a virtual machine unless you completely shut down the VM network connection, but for testing freeware that might have spyware or adware included, a virtual machine will be a very safe solution.

Acquiring an Operating System for Your Virtual Machine

Now that you’ve selected your virtual machine software, and you know what you need to properly virtualize without allowing a possible infection to spread, it’s time to go about installing an operating system inside of your virtual machine. There’s just one small problem… Windows isn’t free.

If you don’t have an extra license for Windows, you can still download Windows media and use Windows 7 in trial mode, or you can get a trial version of Windows 8.x Enterprise if you don’t mind signing up for it. Or again, you could use Windows 10 in a virtual machine and kill two birds with one stone by learning Windows 10 while testing interesting freeware.If you have an extra license for Windows, you can go ahead and install a copy into your VM, and if you don’t have access to the install media anymore, you can legally download Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, or you could join theWindows Insider program and use Windows 10 as your testbed for free until the final version is released.

Using Snapshots in Your VM to Test Software

For this example we’re going to show how to use snapshots in Parallels, because that’s what we use here at How-To Geek, but you can do the exact same thing in VirtualBox, as you can see in the screenshot above. You can also read our full guide to using snapshots in VirtualBox if you get lost.

Step 1: Take a snapshot.We’re also going to assume you can figure out how to install Windows into a VM. If you still aren’t sure of yourself, we’ve got a beginner’s guide to using virtual machines that should help you out.

Whether you are using Parallels or VirtualBox, get your virtual machine to the clean state that you want, and then take a snapshot to preserve things exactly the way they currently are. In this case, take note of the open Notepad window in my Windows 7 VM.

Step 2: Install Whatever You Want

Seriously, you can install whatever you want. Even something that you probably shouldn’t install… it’s a virtual machine, after all. We’re going to head straight for the worst download site and try something that sounds sketchy. And we’re going to click Accept on everything, because why not?

After just one download and clicking Accept twice, all of our browsers have been hijacked and some sketchy PC cleaner app is telling you that your PC has loads of errors. Never mind that it’s a fresh VM that hasn’t had anything installed on it except for Chrome — it just goes to illustratethat these apps are all scams.

It’s definitely time to roll back these changes.

Step 3: Roll the VM Back to the Clean Snapshot

In Parallels the Revert to Snapshot is on the Actions menu, but VirtualBox is just as simple: you can right-click on the VM in the list and use the revert option there.

Step 4: There is No Step 4

There’s nothing left to do. It only takes a few seconds (depending on your hardware) to roll back the VM to the previous state. As you can see in the screenshot below… that means the current state including all applications running in the same place that they were. It’s like the Windows Hibernate Mode on super steroids.

Both VirtualBox and Parallels actually let you make multiple snapshots and switch between them at will. It’s an amazing feature that you should really start using. For more amazing features, check out our guide to the 10 Virtualbox tricks you should know about.

And from now on, don’t load any sketchy software on your main PC, alright?

What You Need to Know About Upgrading Your Laptop’s Hardware

Laptops aren’t as easy to upgrade as desktop PCs. In fact, newer laptops are becoming harder to upgrade — but you still may be able to upgrade your laptop with more RAM or a solid-state drive.

It’s generally a bad idea to buy a laptop with plans to upgrade it later. Buy the hardware you need to avoid headaches later. Some laptops can be upgraded fairly easily, but do your research here.

Desktops vs. Laptops

Laptops are different. You don’t build your own laptop — instead, you buy a prebuilt laptop from a manufacturer. They build a custom chassis (case) for the laptop and choose components that will fit that case. Modern Intel Ultrabooks and Apple MacBooks are becoming increasingly thin and light, and they aren’t designed to be user-upgradable.When you build a desktop PC yourself, a typical case will come with plenty of room inside. You can open it by twisting a few screws and get easy access to all the hardware in the case. Components you install aren’t permanent, but can be removed and replaced later. Even if you buy a prebuilt desktop PC, its motherboard may come with empty RAM slots and empty PCI Express slots so you can install more RAM and expansion cards. Some manufacturers may try to make upgrading their prebuilt desktop PCs more difficult, but even those PCs aren’t as difficult to upgrade as the average laptop.

Barriers to Upgrading a Laptop

Design: Many laptops just aren’t designed to be opened. Take Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 for example — you need to use a blow dryer to melt the adhesive around the display and open it up. Once you get inside, you’ll find a tightly packed together mess of components — the battery is also adhered to the case, so you can’t easily replace that. Apple’s MacBooks can be opened with a screwdriver (theoretically — they use proprietary screws), but you’ll find a tight mess of components with the battery glued in place, too.Here’s what often stops you from upgrading a laptop:

• Opening It: Even if opening your laptop is possible, it may not be a pleasant experience. Laptops have many components tightly packed together, so you may have to remove many other components from your laptop before servicing a specific component. For example, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 has over 90 screws inside it!
• Soldered on Components: Some devices come with components soldered on. For example, MacBooks come with the CPU, GPU, and RAM soldered onto their logic board (or motherboard, as PC users call it). You can’t just remove any of these components and install a new one. (Soldering is the process of applying a melted metal material at high heat to two objects. The metal cools and the two objects — RAM and motherboard, in this case — become joined together by the metal. In other words, you can’t just remove a component because it’s fused to your motherboard.)
• Warranty: Even if you can open your laptop and replace some of the components, most laptop manufacturers argue that this will void your warranty. If your laptop can easily be opened, you may have to remove a warranty-voiding sticker to get inside. The manufacturer may look for evidence you’ve tampered inside your laptop if you ever send it back. They’ll want to deny your warranty claim if they find any evidence you could have caused the problem. In theory, the manufacturer should have to honor the warranty whether you’ve opened the laptop or not if the problem isn’t your fault. But many PC manufacturers provide notoriously bad customer service, so good luck arguing that point with them!

Common Upgrades That Can Work

Install More RAM: If your laptop’s motherboard has available RAM slots, it may be easy to buy another stick of RAM and pop it in. If your laptop’s RAM slots are full, it may be possible to remove the current sticks of RAM and install new sticks of RAM with more capacity. Some laptops (generally older, bulkier laptops) actually came with a special memory panel located on the bottom of the laptop, which you could easily open up to access the RAM slots on your motherboard. Be sure to buy the correct type of RAM for your laptop if you’re going this route.Many laptops can be upgraded in a few common ways. These upgrades will be easiest on older laptops, which are bulkier and often more upgrade-friendly.

• Upgrade to an SSD: If you have a laptop that came with a slower mechanical hard drive, you may be able to upgrade it to a faster solid-state drive fairly easily. This process will involve opening up your laptop, removing the current hard drive, and installing the solid-state drive in its place. You’ll either need to create a copy of your operating system drive first or reinstall Windows afterward. Some larger laptops may have multiple hard drive bays, but don’t count on that.
• Replace an Optical Drive With an SSD: If you want to keep your laptop’s internal drive and install a solid-state drive, you may be able to replace the laptop’s optical (CD, DVD, or Blu-ray) drive with a solid-state drive. You’ll need the appropriate enclosure that allows the SSD to fit into the optical drive bay for this.

CPU and GPU upgrades may be possible on some laptops, but these will be harder. You’ll need to make extra sure to buy compatible components that will fit your laptop and be supported by its BIOS. Different CPUs and GPUs generate different amounts of heat, so your new components may generate too much heat for the fans and cooling solutions that came with your laptop to handle. These are all problems you’ll need to think about.

Do Your Research

So, can you upgrade your laptop’s RAM or install a fast solid-state drive? Do your research! Look around online to see if your model of laptop is easily upgradable and if other people have upgraded its components successfully. Check exactly what type of RAM, solid-state drive, or other components your laptop supports.

Some laptop manufacturers provide service manuals that will walk you through the process of opening up your laptop and removing various components. Do a search to see if your laptop has an official service manual you can use. If not, you may find an unofficial guide for opening up your laptop and installing components written by another user.

Be sure to check the process ahead of time and see whether you’d feel comfortable following the instructions. Some upgrades will be much more difficult than others.

You shouldn’t buy a laptop with plans on upgrading it. Ideas like, “Well, the RAM is a bit on the low side but I can always add more later,” or, “I’ll install a solid-state drive to speed it up,” can’t be taken for granted like they can with a desktop PC. Do your research ahead of time to see if this is even possible. Even if it is possible later, you may want to seek out  a laptop with your desired amount of RAM or a good solid-state drive and buy that instead, as it will save you a headache later.

Many laptops are still upgradable, but we’re moving toward a future where most computers won’t be user-serviceable.

How to Update Your Graphics Drivers for Maximum Gaming Performance

A graphics driver is the software that allow your operating system and programs to use your computer’s graphics hardware. If you play PC games, you should keep your computer’s graphics drivers updated to get the best performance out of your hardware.

We have previously advised you to not compulsively update your drivers – most hardware drivers that come with your computer or through Windows Update are fine. However, graphics drivers for your NVIDIA, AMD, or even Intel graphics hardware are a big exception.

Why You Should Update Your Graphics Drivers

Updates to your computer’s motherboard, sound card, and network drivers don’t generally give speed improvements. They will often fix rare bugs – and maybe even introduce new bugs.

However, this is not the case with updated drivers for your graphics card, also known as a GPU or video card. NVIDIA and AMD both frequently release new graphics drivers that often give major performance improvements, particularly for newer games. With Intel getting serious about integrated graphics performance with their upcoming Haswell graphics architecture, they are now starting to release more frequent video driver updates, too.

Here is a snapshot of the changelog from NVIDIA’s most recent graphics driver package, released on January 5, 2013:

These sorts of performance increases in updated graphics drivers are not uncommon. While newer games like Far Cry 3 saw significant improvements (up to 38% on some hardware), even older games like Skyrim and Starcraft II saw a significant increase in performance.

NVIDIA may be overstating the performance increases you will get, and it probably won’t be as pronounced on older graphics cards. Even so, these are still significant improvements. Some newer games may refuse to run with old, unoptimized graphics drivers installed.

Of course, if you never play PC games on your computer and don’t care about 3D graphics performance, you don’t really need to update your graphics drivers at all.

Identifying Your Graphics Card

There is a variety of ways to identify your computer’s graphics hardware, including third-partysystem information utilities like Speccy. However, you can get this information right from the Windows Device Manager.

To open the Device Manager, press the Windows key to open your Start menu, type Device Manager into the Start menu, and click the Device Manager shortcut. (If you are using Windows 8, press the Windows key, type Device Manager at the Start screen, select the Settings category, and click the Device Manager shortcut.)

Expand the Display adapters section to see the manufacturer and model of your computer’s graphics card.

If you see both Intel and NVIDIA hardware on a laptop, your laptop is using NVIDIA’s Optimus technology to intelligently switch between its better-for-battery-life Intel graphics and better-for-gaming-performance NVIDIA graphics. In this case, you will want to update your NVIDIA drivers to boost your gaming performance.

Getting the Latest Updates

For some types of graphics hardware integrated into laptops (also known as notebook GPUs), you may not be able to get drivers straight from the manufacturer. You may have to get updated drivers from your laptop manufacturer, and they may not regularly release updates.

You will have to select the exact model of your computer’s graphics card, which is displayed in the Device Manager window.

Some manufacturers may have update-checking utilities that automatically check for new graphics driver versions and alert you to them, such as the NVIDIA Update utility, which you can access from the NVIDIA Control Panel application (select Help > Updates) if you have NVIDIA graphics hardware.

If you have older graphics hardware, bear in mind that it won’t be supported forever. Manufacturers eventually move older hardware to a stable driver release that they stop optimizing and updating. If your graphics hardware is five years old, it’s very likely that optimized drivers for it are not longer being released. How long your hardware is supported is up to its manufacturer.

How to Record Your Desktop and Create a Screencast on Windows

Screencasting can seem a bit daunting at first. Open Broadcaster Software is a powerful, free program that will do everything you need, but you’ll need a few minutes to learn its interface.

Screencasts are often used to demonstrate how software works, but they can also be used to give presentations or do many other things. Creating your own screencast is easy, but Windows doesn’t include software to help.

Screencasting 101: Using Open Broadcaster Software

We recommend using Open Broadcaster Software for screencasts. It’s completely free and open-source and allows you to both stream live and record a screencast to a video file. It won’t work on Windows XP, but you shouldn’t be using Windows XP anymore , anyway.

If you hit Preview Stream after firing up OBS, you’ll just see a black screen. That’s because you haven’t added a source. First, right-click inside the Sources box, point to Add, and select either Window Capture or Monitor Capture. Window Capture will capture a single window, whiel Monitor Capture will capture your entire desktop.

You’ll be prompted to configure the settings for your capture source after you add it. For Monitor Capture, the defaults will work fine for us.

Click Preview Stream after configuring the settings and you’ll see a live preview of your desktop in the OBS window.

On Windows 7, right-click your desktop, select  Personalize, and choose one of the themes under Basic and High Contrast Themes to disable Aero.OBS does warn us that we’ll see poor performance when capturing our desktop while Aero is enabled, so we’ll want to disable Aero while we screencast. The fancy graphical effects just create more work for OBS and aren’t necessary.

To save your screencast to a local file instead of stream it over the Internet, you’ll need to change a setting. Click the Settings menu in OBS and select Settings. Select the Broadcast Settings category and switch the mode from Live Stream to File Output Only. Choose where OBS will output your stream to and configure any hotkeys you want to use here.

You’ll now need to restart OBS — don’t worry, any settings you already configured will be saved.

You can now click the Start Recording button and start your screencast. When you’re done, you can click Stop Recording and you’ll find your screencast at the file you selected. Speak into your microphone as you record the screencast and OBS will add your voice to the video file.

If you configured any hotkeys above, you can use them to start and stop recording instead.

Webcam Overlays, Watermarks, and Other TricksThe video file OBS creates is an H.264 MP4 file at the resolution of your desktop. If you’d like to edit your screencast and remove any unnecessary bits, use Avidemux to edit the video file. It’s a simple, free, and easy-to-use tool for doing some basic video editing.

You may want to record a screencast with your face in picture-to-picture mode, so you can talk to your viewers directly. This is simple as long as you have a webcam. To do this, right-click inside the Sources box, point to Add, and select Video Capture Device. Configure the video capture device and ensure your webcam is selected. Next, click Preview Stream and you’ll see the video from your webcam appear in the preview window. Click the Edit Scene button, and then drag and drop and resize the output from your webcam until you’ve arranged the scene how you like it. When you’re done, you can click Stop Preview. When you start recording, the output from your webcam will be captured in the area you put it.

You can also add text or image overlays to your screencast by adding other types of sources and positioning them in a similar way. These overlays can function as watermarks, preventing other people from claiming credit for your screencast or just reminding people of your brand.

You’ll find more options for controlling the video and audio encoding, resolution, and microphone settings in the Settings dialog. For example, you can enable push-to-talk mode with a hotkey for the microphone and configure other microphone settings.

You can also record or even stream your desktop with VLC, but you’re probably better off using a dedicated screencasting program like Open Broadcaster Software.

Why Linux Doesn’t Need Defragmenting

If you’re a Linux user, you’ve probably heard that you don’t need to defragment your Linux file systems. You’ll also notice that Linux distributions don’t come with disk-defragmenting utilities. But why is that?

To understand why Linux file systems don’t need defragmenting in normal use – and Windows ones do – you’ll need to understand why fragmentation occurs and how Linux and Windows file systems work differently from each other.

What Fragmentation Is

Many Windows users, even inexperienced ones, believe that regularly defragmenting their file systems will speed up their computer. What many people don’t know is why this is.

In short, a hard disk drive has a number of sectors on it, each of which can contain a small piece of data. Files, particularly large ones, must be stored across a number of different sectors. Let’s say you save a number of different files to your file system. Each of these files will be stored in a contiguous cluster of sectors. Later, you update one of the files you originally saved, increasing the file’s size. The file system will attempt to store the new parts of the file right next to the original parts. Unfortunately, if there’s not enough uninterrupted room, the file must be split into multiple pieces – this all happens transparently to you. When your hard disk reads the file, its heads must skip around between different physical locations on the hard drive to read each chunk of sectors — this slows things down.

Defragmenting is an intensive process that moves the bits of files around to reduce fragmentation, ensuring each file is contiguous on the drive.

Of course, this is different for solid state drives, which don’t have moving parts and shouldn’t be defragmented – defragmenting an SSD will actually reduce its life. And, on the latest versions of Windows, you don’t really need to worry about defragmenting your file systems – Windows does this automatically for you. For more information on best practices for defragmenting, read this article:

How Windows File Systems Work

Microsoft’s old FAT file system – last seen by default on Windows 98 and ME, although it’s still in use on USB flash drives today – doesn’t attempt to arrange files intelligently. When you save a file to a FAT file system, it saves it as close to the start of the disk as possible. When you save a second file, it saves it right after the first file – and so on. When the original files grow in size, they will always become fragmented. There’s no nearby room for them to grow into.

Microsoft’s newer NTFS file system, which made its way onto consumer PCs with Windows XP and 2000, tries to be a bit smarter. It allocates more “buffer” free space around files on the drive, although, as any Windows user can tell you, NTFS file systems still become fragmented over time.

Because of the way these file systems work, they need to be defragmented to stay at peak performance. Microsoft has alleviated this problem by running the defragmentation process in the background on the latest versions of Windows.

How Linux File Systems Work

Linux’s ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems – ext4 being the file system used by Ubuntu and most other current Linux distributions – allocates files in a more intelligent way. Instead of placing multiple files near each other on the hard disk, Linux file systems scatter different files all over the disk, leaving a large amount of free space between them. When a file is edited and needs to grow, there’s usually plenty of free space for the file to grow into. If fragmentation does occur, the file system will attempt to move the files around to reduce fragmentation in normal use, without the need for a defragmentation utility.

Because of the way this approach works, you will start to see fragmentation if your file system fills up. If it’s 95% (or even 80%) full, you’ll start to see some fragmentation. However, the file system is designed to avoid fragmentation in normal use.

If you do have problems with fragmentation on Linux, you probably need a larger hard disk. If you actually need to defragment a file system, the simplest way is probably the most reliable: Copy all the files off the partition, erase the files from the partition, then copy the files back onto the partition. The file system will intelligently allocate the files as you copy them back onto the disk.

You can measure the fragmentation of a Linux file system with the fsck command — look for “non-contiguous inodes” in the output.

How to Scan Your Computer With Multiple Antivirus Programs

You should only run a single antivirus application at a time, but none of them are perfect. Some antiviruses may catch malware that other antiviruses miss. Luckily, you don’t just have to rely on a single antivirus program.

The key to using multiple antivirus programs is running a single antivirus as your main background protection and running another scanner occasionally – say, once a week – for a second opinion.

If you have a suspicious file, you can also quickly scan it with in 46 different antivirus programs at once using a website.

Why You Shouldn’t Run Multiple Antivirus Programs At Once

Most antivirus programs are designed to be the single security solution for your computer. The antivirus has a background, always-on scanning feature that’s enabled by default. When you download a file, load a program, or access a website, the antivirus keeps an eye on everything and ensures it doesn’t match a known threat.

This works fine as long as you only have a single antivirus running at a time. These programs hook deep into your Windows operating system and are not designed to work together. In a best case scenario, running multiple antivirus programs at once could result in degraded performance. In a worst case scenario, the programs could interfere with each other and cause system crashes.

Read More: HTG Explains: How Antivirus Software Works

How You Can Scan Your Computer With Multiple Antivirus Programs

However, no antivirus program is perfect. Some antivirus programs may miss problems other antivirus programs will detect. To get more complete detection coverage, you may want to scan your computer with additional antivirus programs while leaving a single antivirus program – such as Microsoft Security Essentials (known as Windows Defender in Windows 8) — running in the background.

The additional antivirus programs you’ll use won’t stay running in the background. They’ll scan your computer once and give you a second opinion. You can load up the additional programs and scan your computer once a week with them. While running the manual scanner, you should consider disabling real-time protection in your primary antivirus program – if only to speed things up.

When you select an additional antivirus program, look for one that doesn’t stay running in the background – this feature is referred to by many names, such as real-time protection, on-access scanning, background protection, or resident shield.

There are several options for second-opinion scanning, including:

• Malwarebytes: The free version must be started for a manual scan and can’t run in the background, which is perfect for this use case.
• ESET Online Scanner: A quick, one-time scanner from the creators of NOD32. Unlike many online-scanning products from antivirus companies, ESET Online Scanner includes the ability to remove malware it finds.

When looking for a second-opinion antivirus, try to avoid the more lightweight options. Some products, such as Bitdefender QuickScan, may do a very quick scan that won’t necessarily find some malware. Bitdefender QuickScan and other products like it don’t remove malware they find, either – they exist to point you towards the company’s paid product.

Scanning a File With Many Antivirus Programs

If you have a suspicious file – perhaps you just downloaded it and are a bit worried or your antivirus says it’s malicious but the creator insists that your antivirus is offering up a false positive and the file is actually completely safe – you may want to scan that specific file with a variety of different antivirus programs.

Unfortunately, this can be difficult when you don’t have twenty different antivirus engines on your computer. Even if you did, updating each with the latest virus definitions would be way too much work.

When you need to scan a suspicious file in multiple antivirus programs, use the VirusTotal website – now owned by Google. You can upload files up to 32MB in size or even point VirusTotal at a URL online where it can download a file to analyze. The file will be scanned by 46 different antivirus programs on VirusTotal’s servers and you’ll see a report.

As with all antivirus programs, there’s no guarantee that the results are perfect. A file could be considered clean by every antivirus program but still be malicious. It’s also theoretically possible (although very unlikely) that a false positive could be marked as such by many different antiviruses. However, in practice, VirusTotal will tell you what a wide variety of antivirus programs think of a file, which can help you make a more informed decision about it.

What’s the Difference Between Ubuntu & Linux Mint?

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are two of the most popular desktop Linux distributions at the moment. If you’re looking to take the dive into Linux – or you’ve already used Ubuntu or Mint – you wonder how they’re different.

Linux Mint and Ubuntu are closely related — Mint is based on Ubuntu. Although they were very similar at first, Ubuntu and Linux Mint have become increasingly different Linux distributions with different philosophies over time.

History

Ubuntu and other Linux distributions contain open-source software, so anyone can modify it, remix, and roll their own versions. Linux Mint’s first stable version, “Barbara,” was released in 2006. Barbara was a lightly customized Ubuntu system with a different theme and slightly different default software. Its major differentiating feature was its inclusion of proprietary software like Flash and Java, in addition to patent-encumbered codecs for playing MP3s and other types of multimedia. This software is included in Ubuntu’s repositories, but isn’t included on the Ubuntu disc. Many users liked Mint for the convenience installing the stuff by default, in contrast to Ubuntu’s more idealistic approach.

Over time, Mint differentiated itself from Ubuntu further, customizing the desktop and including a custom main menu and their own configuration tools. Mint is still based on Ubuntu – with the exception of Mint’s Debian Edition, which is based on Debian (Ubuntu itself is actually based on Debian).

With Ubuntu’s launch of the Unity desktop, Mint picked up additional steam. Instead of rolling the Unity desktop into Mint, Mint’s developers listened to their users and saw an opportunity to provide a different desktop experience from Ubuntu.

The Desktop

Ubuntu includes the Unity desktop by default, although you can install a wide variety of additional desktop environments from Ubuntu’s repositories and third-party personal package archives (PPAs).

Mint’s latest release comes in two versions, each with a different desktop: Cinnamon and MATE. Cinnamon is a more forward-looking desktop that builds on new technologies without throwing out standard desktop elements – for example, Cinnamon actually has a taskbar and an applications menu that doesn’t take over your entire screen. For a more in-depth tour, check out our guide to installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu.

MATE is a fork of the old GNOME 2 desktop that Ubuntu and Linux Mint previously used, and it works similarly. It uses MATE’s custom menu. For a more in-depth look, check out our guide to installing MATE on Ubuntu.

You’ll also notice that Mint has a more toned down and lighter color scheme Its window buttons are also on the right side of the window title bar instead of the left.

Which desktop environment you prefer ultimately comes down to personal choice. Ubuntu’s Unity is more jarring for users of the older Linux desktop environments, while Mint’s desktop environments are less of a drastic change. However, some people do prefer Unity, and Unity has improved somewhat in recent versions.

Proprietary Software & Codecs

Mint still includes proprietary software (like Flash) and codecs out-of-the-box, but this has become less of a differentiating feature. The latest versions of Ubuntu allow you to enable a single check box during installation and Ubuntu will automatically grab the proprietary software and codecs you need, without any additional work required.

Configurability

These days, Mint seems to offer more configurability than Ubuntu out-of-the-box. Whereas Ubuntu’s Unity only includes a few options in the latest version of Ubuntu, there’s an entire settings application for configuring the Cinnamon desktop.

The latest version of Mint, “Maya,” also includes the MDM display manager, which is based on the old GNOME Display Manager. Whereas Ubuntu doesn’t ship with any graphical configuration tools for tweaking its login screen, Mint ships with an administration panel that can customize the Login Screen.

While Ubuntu is still based on Linux and is configurable under-the-hood, many pieces of Ubuntu software aren’t very configurable. For example, Ubuntu’s Unity desktop has very few options.

Ubuntu’s latest versions are more of a break from the past, dispensing with the more traditional desktop environment and large amount of configuration options. Mint retains these, and feels more familiar.

Which do you prefer, Ubuntu or Linux Mint? Leave a comment and let us know.

10 of the Most Popular Linux Distributions Compared

Linux isn’t a complete operating system — it’s just a kernel. Linux distributions take the Linux kernel and combine it with other free software to create complete packages. There are many different Linux distributions out there.

If you want to “install Linux,” you’ll need to choose a distribution. You could also use Linux From Scratch to compile and assemble your own Linux system from the ground up, but that’s a huge amount of work.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is probably the most well-known Linux distribution. Ubuntu is based on Debian, but it has its own software repositories. Much of the software in these repositories is synced from Debian’s repositories.

The Ubuntu project has a focus on providing a solid desktop (and server) experience, and it isn’t afraid to build its own custom technology to do it. Ubuntu used to use the GNOME 2 desktop environment, but it now uses its own Unity desktop environment. Ubuntu is even building its own Mir graphical server while other distributions are working on the Wayland.

Ubuntu is modern without being too bleeding edge. It offers releases every six months, with a more stable LTS (long term support) release every two years. Ubuntu is currently working on expanding the Ubuntu distribution to run on smartphones and tablets.

Linux Mint

This distribution now has its own identity. You won’t find Ubuntu’s own Unity desktop here — instead, you get a more traditional Cinnamon or MATE desktop. Mint takes a more relaxed approach to software updates and won’t automatically install critical software updates. Controversially, this has led some Ubuntu developers to label it insecure.Mint is a Linux distribution built on top of Ubuntu. It uses Ubuntu’s software repositories, so the same packages are available on both. Originally, Mint was an alternative distribution loved mainly because it included media codecs and proprietary software that Ubuntu didn’t include by default.

Debian

Debian is an operating system composed only of free, open-source software. The Debian project has been operating since 1993 — over 20 years ago! This widely respected project is still releasing new versions of Debian, but it’s known for moving much more slowly than distributions like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. This can make it more stable and conservative, which is ideal for some systems.

Ubuntu was originally founded to take the core bits of stable Debian and improve on them more quickly, packaging the software together into a user-friendly system that’s more frequently updated.

Fedora

Fedora is a project with a strong focus on free software — you won’t find an easy way to install proprietary graphics drivers here, although third-party repositories are available. Fedora is bleeding edge and contains the latest versions of software.

Unlike Ubuntu, Fedora doesn’t make its own desktop environment or other software. Instead, the Fedora project uses “upstream” software, providing a platform that integrates all this upstream software without adding their own custom tools or patching it too much. Fedora comes with the GNOME 3 desktop environment by default, although you can also get “spins” that come with other desktop environments.

Fedora is sponsored by Red Hat, and is the foundation for the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux project. Unlike RHEL, Fedora is bleeding edge and not supported for long. If you want a more stable release that’s supported for longer, Red Hat would prefer you use their Enterprise product.

CentOS / Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial Linux distribution intended for servers and workstations. It’s based on the open-source Fedora project, but is designed to be a stable platform with long-term support.

Red Hat uses trademark law to prevent their official Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from being redistributed. However, the core software is free and open-source. CentOS is a community project that takes the Red Hat Enterprise Linux code, removes all Red Hat’s trademarks, and makes it available for free use and distribution. It’s a free version of RHEL, so it’s good if you want a stable platform that will be supported for a long time. CentOS and Red Hat recently announced they’re collaborating, so CentOS is now part of Red Hat itself.

openSUSE / SUSE Linux Enterprise

openSUSE is a community-created Linux distribution sponsored by Novell. Novell purchased SuSE Linux in 2003, and they still create an enterprise Linux project known as SUSE Linux Enterprise. Where Red Hat has the Fedora project that feeds into Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell has the openSUSE project that feeds into SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Like Fedora, openSUSE is a more bleeding edge version of Linux. SUSE was once one of the great user-friendly desktop Linux distributions, but Ubuntu eventually took that crown.

Mageia / Mandriva

Mageia is a fork of Mandriva Linux created in 2011. Mandriva — known as Mandrake before that — was once one of the great user-friendly Linux distributions.

Like Fedora and openSUSE, this is a community-created project to create an open-source Linux distribution. Mandriva SA no longer creates a consumer Linux distribution for desktop PCs, but their business Linux server projects are based on Mageia code — just like how Fedora and openSUSE provide code to their enterprise equivalents.

Arch Linux

Arch Linux is more old school than many of the other Linux distributions here. It’s designed to be flexible, lightweight, minimal, and to “Keep it Simple.” Keeping it simple doesn’t mean Arch provides tons of graphical utilities and automatic configuration scripts to help you set up your system. Instead, it means Arch dispenses with that stuff and gets out of your way.

You’re in charge of configuring your system properly and installing the software you like. Arch doesn’t provide an official graphical interface for its package manager or complex graphical configuration tools. Instead, it provides clean configuration files designed for easy editing. The installation disc dumps you at a terminal, where you’ll need to enter the appropriate commands to configure your system, partition your disks, and install the operating system yourself.

Arch uses a “rolling release” model, which means any installation image is just a snapshot of the current software. Every bit of software will be updated over time without you needing to upgrade to a new “release” of Arch.

This distribution has a bit in common with Gentoo, which was popular at one time. Both Linux distributions are designed for users who know how their systems work or who are at least willing to learn. However, Arch uses binary packages while Gentoo had an (unnecessary) focus on compiling every bit of software from source — this means it’s quick to install software on Arch as you don’t have to spend CPU cycles and time waiting for software to compile.

Slackware Linux

Slackware is another institution. Founded in 1993, Slackware is the oldest Linux distribution that’s still maintained and putting out new releases today.

Its pedigree shows — like Arch, Slackware dispenses with all those unnecessary graphical tools and automatic configuration scripts. There’s no graphical installation procedure — you’ll have to partition your disk manually and then run the setup program. Slackware boots to a command-line environment by default. It’s a very conservative Linux distribution.

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is another fairly well-known Linux distribution. Previous versions have been built on Ubuntu, but the latest is built on Slackware. Puppy is designed to be a small, lightweight operating system that can run well on very old computers. The puppy ISO file is 161 MB, and Puppy can boot from that disc in a live environment. Puppy can run on PCs with 256 MB or RAM, although it does recommend 512 MB for the best experience.

Puppy isn’t the most modern and doesn’t have all the flashiest bells and whistles, but it can help you revive an old PC.

These aren’t the only Linux distributions out there. Distrowatch lists many and tries to rank them by popularity.