Re-installing FC5

[Timothy Murphy]

Tod Merley wrote:

> I like fresh installs for several reasons:
> 
> 1. They tend to be "about as stable as it gets" about one month after
> the release.  Do the install, do the updates, do the updates when
> things look kind of quiet and backup just in case.

There is something to be said for fresh installs,
and something to be said for upgrades.
(The main advantage of upgrades is that you do not have to re-enter
information about your system.)

In my experience, upgrades and installs of Fedora
are both completely "stable".

> 2. I just listened to part of a symposium on computer security.  It
> really is possible and occurs more often than we know (people who get
> hit tend not to talk) that computers are made into "bot" networks.  To
> completely "flush" a computer of it's operating system and all other
> areas and leave only the "data that I really need now" makes us a lot
> more of a "moving target" for those who would try to take our
> computers as theirs!  I like that idea!!

That verges on paranoia, in my view.
I'm not sure what a "bot network" is,
but I would have thought it was fairly easy to construct a firewall
which prevents your computer being taken over.

> 1. Grab the flash drive (if the computer has not a CD burner) and move
> the "data - usable) contents of my home and Desktop directories.  I
> tend to fill a CD so I may well include /etc (or part of it at least),
> by boot directory (grub backup - grub config files often useful).

How do you know which files in /etc to copy to your new system?

-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland