Well there are plenty user-level malware programs out there - typycally ransomware run with user level privileges (admin is a bonus, but to screw up the current user, its not necessary). For example, cryptolocker can work without administrative permissions too since it messes up your personal files.

You mean you can decrypt the encrypted files without the decryption key?

Well its very true. Nowadays there are many user-level malicious programs, mostly various ransomware types which can inflict various levels of annoyances on the users.
Just imagine opening a document and "catching" cryptolocker...

I devised a quick support remote server-client. Based on a simple batch script, 7zip self-extractor, stunnel and tightvnc (personal choice, any remote app that uses 1 port and has reverse connection option works). The server is plain stunnel running on my Linux desktop which listens to an external port and forwards it to a localhost port. The client is a 7zip self-extract .exe package, you double-click on it and it connects to my computer (via a dyndns hostname) by launching a tightvnc server, uses its reverse connect feature via the localhost port that is opened by stunnel then connects that port to my computer. It uses 2 way certificate-based authentication and AES 256 bit encryption. So i just send the .exe to my customer who launches it and voila im connected (actually he is connected to my listening vnc client). When im not home, i forward the port via vpn+ssh to my laptop.

You can get a cheat quad core AMD - the Athlon series of the FM2 socket come with disabled gpu and low price (70 euros or maybe lower for a quad).

I have a A8-5500 and its just perfect for my needs. I run Linux on it and so far its flawless (even the maligned fglrx driver runs perfectly). The GPU in it handles everything i need and its runs cool&quiet with its DEFAULT heatsink (which is small).

Anyway, i find all this benchmark wars a bit like pissing contests since, as PC sales too suggest, the current gen anything (hell, even core 2 duo/quads) is good enough for just about everything most people do on computers (even tablets are enough for some) . Interesting is that Intel, after touting their superior CPUs and dismissing AMD's GPU-centric solutions, have come to follow their lead with not so much of CPU, but graphics and power management improvements. Also, those high GPU improvements will most likely end up in the top tier i7s that nobody buys for their GPU.

Go to the plugins page? There you have the plugins and disable what you want. This works probably in any browser. Better yet, use click-to-play. Every worthwile browser has it.

Go in the UEFI/BIOS, select disable secure boot/use bios compatibility mode or whatever this is labeled on that particular firmware.

Lol. Just disable "Secure Boot". Thats your choice right there (AFAIK the disable option is in the Microsoft secure boot spec).
The issue is to run Linux WITH SECURE BOOT ENABLED.

Performance on Intel video? On Linux??

Also, look out for the audio codecs. Some dont work well with older kernels and ALSA. I have a Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H mobo with A8-5500 APU and i run Debian Testing on it. The stock 3.2 kernel gives an oops at startup and i have no sound. The 3.6 kernel however works just fine. And check the video drivers availability and stability if the board/CPU/APU has built in graphics. For example. Intel has the "best" open source driver support in theory. In practice, for the moment the latest Intel video card drivers are not good (the good stuff is in the latest dev versions and takes quite a bit of time until they trickle down in the stable kernels used by distributions).

I use XFCE 4.10 + lightdm now (i used it in the past along with gnome 2). It is very good and has pretty much everything you need including network mounts. Its more stable than Gnome 2 ever was plus its not that heavy on dependencies and desktop services. Its also noticeably faster (on nvidia cards with the proprietary driver with core2duo/Athlon II level CPUs) than Gnome even on basic window drawing. Granted it doesnt have the Gnome's OOtB bazillion of services and integration, but i regard this as a plus. I did try Gnome 3 and Unity and wasnt pleased at all - Unity seems to be ok for touchscreens, but Gnome 3 doesnt seem to be - both are crap for desktop usage, either you have to learn entirely new skills for basic stuff, either you accomplish a previously-point-and-click operation with multiple maneuvers. Well done Gnome devs - you have accomplished the task of neuthering your own DE with unprecedented effectiveness - it was THE de-facto Linux DE, you probably thought you could pull a Microsoft/Vista/8 and still have the backing of most users? Well, seems didnt work like that not in this world (Linux/Open Source, that is). Would have been that hard to make changes gradually or do a fork, as previously mentioned? Or just tweak the hell out of Gnome 2 with the many hours of work that went into this crapfest...

"Users were entirely dependent upon Dell to pay PowerVR to constantly update the driver for new Kernel releases, which they did not." Well, that isnt Dell's fault, is it? Being Dell a big company like nvidia? PS. AFAIK that the ABI's that break are in fact the x server's, not the kernels.

I was under the impression that counting browser share is done by taking a sites visitors and identifying the ACTUAL number of users of each browser. But then i read that page hits are counted and hidden tabs are skewing results. Ok , so i use browser X and i have tons of tabs open, HIDDEN OR NOT, does that mean that i somewhat contribute to artificial inflation of my browsers share? Because as i understand it browser share should indicate the usage of a browser by actual people and NOT the amount of VISIBLE tabs opened by them. By this metric, people like my wife are essentially skewing the results (she has the habit of opening 50 or more tabs)? Additionally netstat uses weighting that takes this whole counting thing into a more "controllable" area - just downgrade country x, upgrade country y and voila you have a few percent +/- (well not that simple, but anyway). I am no expert in statistics but i know that when different stuff are factored in, the greater the chance of adjusting the results. Personally i see that fewer people use IE - mostly company execs/workers who are under the impression that it is actually good because its made by Microsoft or because the computer came with it and they dont "have the time" to "learn to use" something safer and faster - most users actually use Firefox or Chrome.

Actually i think gnome/nautilus has a right-click option for that or something similar. Also, no root access required if you use fuseiso. This fuseiso thingie can be used with thunar too (ex. "fuseiso -p %n ./contents-of-%n" as a custom right click option).