6.2. Beginning And Ending Your Session

It is important to understand the terms "to log in" and "to log out" since it is unlikely you will find these terms in a typical dictionary, although you might find them in a cyber dictionary. To log in means: to identify yourself to the computer. Think of it as a security officer validating who you are before letting you in. After logging in, the system takes a number of actions in order to give you access to the system's resources. By logging in, you start a so-called "session".

To log out means you are telling the system you no longer need to use it. It closes your personal session and, the resources (CPU, bandwidth, etc.) you were using are made available for someone else.

Note

Although these definitions are valid within the scope of this chapter, they are oversimplified. As you read the following chapters, you will better understand these concepts, their advantages and options.

6.2.1. Identifying Yourself

At this point, you need to fully comprehend both login and password notions. The former identifies you (it is generally your name or nickname) while the latter is your secret so no one accesses your computer and grossly fools your "hacking companion". If you carefully conducted your installation, you already have your login and password. If not, you must ask the people whom installed your computer to help you out urgently!

You are currently in front of the following display (figure 6-1). Of course, it appears slightly different as the user names displayed under the penguin icons are probably different.

Figure 6-1. The Login Window

The login procedure takes place in four simple steps:

  1. Place the mouse pointer on the icon corresponding to your login name and press the left button of your mouse. [1].

  2. Verify that your login name correctly appears in the login field just below and now type your secret password.

    Warning

    You will notice that the letters do not appear while you type them in the password field. They are replaced by little stars (*), in order to avoid anyone from seeing your secret password. This is a common computer behavior whenever you enter a password. Because of this, make sure you type the correct keys since you can not check them visually. Remember: passwords under Linux are case sensitive, which means that if your password is Very_Secret and you type Very_secret, access will be denied!

  3. This step is optional and allows you to choose a specific graphical environment. Basically, the latter defines the appearance of your screen and the way you interact with the system. We encourage you to try various graphical environments so you can choose the one you prefer.

    As you can see in the Session Type field, the default environment is KDE. You can change it by simply choosing another one from the pull-down menu. However, we strongly suggest you start with either KDE or GNOME.

    Figure 6-2. The Pull-Down Session Type List

  4. Finally, simply click on the Go! button to begin your session. Be patient! It may take a few seconds before your desktop is ready to be used.

Note

If it is the first time you log onto a freshly installed machine, you will see the Mandrake First Time wizard. Please refer to the Mandrake First Time Wizard for more information.

6.2.2. Closing Your Session

If all went well, you are now in front of your real working environment. In this section, we will not describe the various components any further since this will be done later in the following chapters. Depending on the environment you previously chose, you will see of one of the following screens:

Figure 6-3. First Time KDE

Figure 6-4. First Time GNOME

You may now explore your brand new toy: enjoy!

When you are finally done, do not forget to tell the system you are leaving, that is to log out.

Logging out can be carried out in many ways in both KDE and GNOME. You can use the K menu, log-out icons, and right-clicking pop-up menus (only in KDE). Let's see the different procedures:

Under KDE

  • Using The K Menu

    Click on the K menu and select the Logout item. A window like the one shown below will appear, asking you for confirmation.

    Figure 6-5. KDE Logout Confirmation

    Tip

    If you want the applications you were using to open automatically the next time you log in, just check the Restore session when logging in next time box. Please note that not all applications support this feature.

  • Right-Clicking on The Desktop

    You can right-click on the desktop in an "empty" place and a pop-up menu, like the one shown below, will be displayed.

    Figure 6-6. Logging Out Using The Pop-Up Menu Under KDE

    Just click Logout and the confirmation window will appear.

  • Using The Log-out Icon

    Simply click on the icon shown below to log out as well. As always, the confirmation window will appear.

    Figure 6-7. KDE's Log-out Icon

Under GNOME

  • Using GNOME's Main Menu

    Click on the GNOME foot menu and select Log out. A window will pop up asking you for confirmation before logging out.

    Figure 6-8. GNOME's Log-Out Menu

  • Using The Log-Out Icon

    Click on the log-out icon shown in figure 6-9. As usual, a window will pop up asking you to confirm.

    Figure 6-9. GNOME's Log-Out Icon

    After clicking on the icon, the screen will shade and a little box will pop up with options. Simply ignore the messages and options for now and click the Yes button.

6.2.3. Some Notes About Security

It is important to assimilate a few security notions in regards with your Mandrake Linux box. Some of them might seem a little bit obvious to some people. Anyhow, here they are:

The list above is not extensive at all. There are many things you can think of in order to make your system more secure. A more detailed analysis of security under Mandrake Linux is done in the Reference Manual's msec – Mandrake Security Tools chapter.

Notes

[1]

This action will be abbreviated as "click" from now on. If you need to click on the mouse's right button, we will refer to a "right-click" and so on.


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