Re: Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's?

From	Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.misc
Subject	Re: Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's?
Date	2015-04-11 16:11 -0400
Organization	albasani.net
Message-ID	<87k2xio26k.fsf@usenet.ankman.de> (permalink)
References	<5aaf8397-d957-4eff-8bed-6ae5d427c563@googlegroups.com>

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pureheart@pacbell.net wrote on 10. April 2015:
>
> The recent "boot from USB" thread has reminded me of the USB drives available on eBay for one, that purport to contain a bunch of distros to play with.
>
> Here's one:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-USB-Multiboot-Flash-Drive-15-bootable-Systems-repair-Windows-enjoy-Linux-/231504153657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e6b90c39
>
> I want to get one of these things just to play around.
>
> My question to the group is:
> Should I trust it?
>
> I am low skill level and don't have a mentor nearby to guide me through MD5 checksums and things like that. 
>
> To rephrase: Can I buy and play with one of these things or is it likely to be 'infected' with malware et. al. that will make me regret being born?

I wouldn't trust any installation I didn't install myself.

I even think it's quite possible some one is making a buck selling these
USB sticks and having some remote software installed on this stick. Then
selling "your computer" to somebody else.

I would say, go to your local computer store and buy a new (blank) USB
stick there (4GB is more than enough for a Linux installation, even 2GB
will work). And install a "Live-Linux" image (Ubuntu and any other you
want to try out) on it.
-- 
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often as I
have to reboot my computer.

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Thread

Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's? pureheart@pacbell.net - 2015-04-10 18:19 -0700
  Re: Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's? Tim Watts <tw_usenet@dionic.net> - 2015-04-11 09:48 +0100
    Re: Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's? Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2015-04-11 08:09 -0700
  Re: Would you trust eBay multi-boot USB's? Andreas Kohlbach <apr15.7.ankman@spamgourmet.net> - 2015-04-11 16:11 -0400

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