Microsoft Windows:

Microsoft Windows is a family of operating systems marketed by the Microsoft corporation. The main advantage of windows is its widespread distribution: it is easy to find people to provide services and support for Windows. Disadvantages are its closed nature, poor security, and Microsoft's anti-competetive practices.

Official Recommendations:

Cazort.net recommends Microsoft Windows only as a "necessary evil"; when possible, one is advised to use Linux, MacOS, or other operating systems. Among the different versions of Windows, Cazort.net recommends Windows 2000 for most cases: Windows 95, 98, and ME are generally unstable, and Windows XP is too bloated and has many undesireable "features" as well as a poor history of security exploits.

Windows should be enhanced with Open-Source Software:

When using Windows, Cazort.net recommends using a variety of free and open source software to augment. An essential package of free tools is Mozilla Firefox as Web-Browser, Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mail, 7-Zip for Compression, and PDFCreator for PDF-creation. The OSSwin Project maintains a comprehensive source of open source programs available for Windows. Also, because of its inherent security flaws, Windows should never be used without virus protection. To this end, we recommend Grisoft's AVG Anti-Virus, which is commercial software, but for which there is a free version for home users.

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