I just started to read about beos today,becasue im looking for safer alternative to windows.I want to do online banking,and business transactions,and I need something that is safer.I read that you can install beos right in windows?and all you have to do is click the beos icon,and then you are suing beos?If i use beos along side windows,and only use beos to surf the net,is it safer?is there a firewall to configure?are what is the safest way to congiure beos for the safest internet?

There is no spyware , trojans, or viruses,
and probably will never be...
as long as you use mozilla , or a variant
such as firefox, (versions exist of most of
these for BeOS...) along with *good*
passwords, your banking couldn't be
safer, frankly...
the version of Beos your thinking of
installs a 'virtual' harddrive; (a 500 MB file
that looks like a harddrive to the
system)..but it's really only the installer
that uses windows..as for the rest you
can choose to boot into beos from
windows, or just boot directly, with a boot
disk.
You have the option, if you decide you like
using beos, to install it to a permanent
partition, and you would no longer need a
boot floppy orboot off windows.
The virtual drive is only so it's easy to
remove if you no longer want it..but it is
somewhat slower....

If your quest is for safe then you should not use online banking at all. Most banks do not allow long enough passwords. Further they allow other companies to have access to vital data.

As for firewall beos R5.0 had ports open. You would need to get the update to R5.03.

My suggestion would be to use a live CD and never mount the hard drives. A live cd runs the OS from a CD. The CD can not be changed, therefor, it can't get any spyware,virus'.

You might not be able to use beos as your bank might be a windows only sort of deal. I can't use Suse at my bank. Never tried BeOS.

Thank-you for good advice.I tried beos on 2 pc`s I have,but beos just kept booting,over and over.I found out 1 of my pc`s it doesnt support because I have Sata.My second pc is a little older,but it doesnt work because I have an athlon 1800 xp and the sse instructions dont work,but I cant disable it in bios becasue I dont have the option to.So this deal wont work for me.

I asked same question in linux forum,and they told me to do a hardrive intall,and properly configure it,or download these live cd`s which I did.1 was anonym which I download and tried it,but it was so slow and it wouldnt connect to the net.I have my pc`s set up with a
dlink router with built in firewall if that helps any.

Here is the link below with other helpfull advice.

http://www.computing.net/linux/wwwboard/forum/28620.html

There is a simple way to fix the athlon deal. Just get a copy of Beos online's "Developer Edition" at Bebits. You could also look for any of the boot floppies made for the athlonxp duron 7 chips. There is even a live newer version of BeOS from the Yellowtab folks. They offered a live cd of their Zeta (updated BeOS) OS.

As for the I disagree with the live CD deal. I personally feel that you are safer with a live cd. I always turn off my computer so each time the cd is booted to a known state. I agree with a comment that the known state might be less than secure.

Beos is secure by the fact that so little attention is paid to hacking it. That doesn't mean it is secure from all attacks. In fact there is one known virus written for beos.

Security is a combination of many best practices. The way to be secure is to study on what all needs to be done. The way you use software applications, OS's, hardware all affect your security. BeOS may be as safe as any OS out there if set up correctly. If you look at Symantec's Norton firewall they don't even suggest that you should consider their home based product a use for online banking.

My opinion is that a live CD that doesn't have any hard drives mounted is a good place to start. Consider other best practices. Use strong passwords. Change passwords often. Test system for breaks. Close all unused ports. Disable Upnp in router. Use firewall rated for online banking.

Other than that you would need AIX or other industrial unix to compete with any amount of security.

Whew. Let us know.