With Freespire installed, with the exception of the few special Freespire applications (mostly associated
with playing multimedia content and getting help), Freespire behaves like most KDE desktop
systems, so you can learn how to get around the Freespire desktop using descriptions from
Chapter 3.
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Choosing and Installing a Linux Distribution Part III
FIGURE 15-5
The Settings window
Securing Linspire and Freespire
When you install Linspire, or if you run Linspire or Freespire with the live CD option, you are
given the choice of creating a user account. If you skip this step, you will be running the system as
the root or superuser account. Every application you run will also have the privileges of the root
account.
As you learned in Chapter 4, the root account has complete power over the entire Linux system.
It should be used sparingly, only for the tasks that truly need it. Running common applications such
as a Web browser or instant-messaging client as root will raise the hackles of any Linux security
expert, because you are essentially giving anyone who can exploit those applications the keys to
your entire system. Linspire probably allowed this to cater to the type of users coming from non-
Linux systems who run everything as Administrator.
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