Apple OS via bootable USB drive

What to be able to restore Apple OS for patrons (from Ars Technica):

Apple has actually included a terminal command that can create an install disk for you. Assuming that you have the OS X El Capitan installer in your Applications folder and you have a Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)-formatted USB drive named "Untitled" mounted on the system, you can create an El Capitan install drive by typing the following command into the Terminal.

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app --nointeraction

The command will erase the disk and copy the install files over. Give it some time, and your volume will soon be loaded up with not just the OS X installer but also an external recovery partition that may come in handy if your hard drive dies and you're away from an Internet connection.

Microsoft Forefront definitions file

Have a number of PCs that were not updating the virus definitions file, so need to manually install it:

To download the Microsoft Forefront Client Security, the Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, or the Microsoft System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection antimalware definition update file (Mpam-fe.exe) for 32-bit (x86-based) versions of Windows, click the following link:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87342&clcid=0x409

To download the Microsoft Forefront Client Security, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 or Microsoft System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection antimalware definition update file for 64-bit versions of Windows, click the following link: 

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=87341&clcid=0x409

Note: You must be running a 64-bit version of Windows to run a 64-bit version of Microsoft Forefront Client Security, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 or Microsoft System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection. The 64-bit versions of Windows include x64-based versions.

After you click the appropriate link, click Run to install the definition update file immediately. Or, click Save to save the file to the computer. If you click Save, remember the folder where you save the file.

To install the saved file, click Start, click Run, locate the folder where you saved the file, double-click the file, and then click OK.

From Microsoft support

Linux OS reviews

Looking at different Linux versions, here are some reviews


http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/operating-systems/best-linux-distro-five-we-recommend-1090058

http://www.howtogeek.com/191207/10-of-the-most-popular-linux-distributions-compared/