Hello, This is a follow up email in the hope that someone as confused as me might find it useful. I have solved my computer security issues for now using the following script. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #!/bin/sh sudo apt install -y apparmor sudo apt install -y apparmor-profiles sudo apt install -y apparmor-profiles-extra sudo apt install -y apparmor-utils sudo aa-enforce /etc/apparmor.d/* fireholpath="/usr/sbin/firehol" sudo apt remove -y ufw sudo apt install -y firehol sudo crontab -u root -l > temp.txt if grep 'firehol' temp.txt; then echo "no need to update crontab" else echo "updating crontab" echo "@reboot $fireholpath start" >> temp.txt sudo crontab -u root temp.txt fi sudo firehol start --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't know how smart the above script is , but it works for me.I found that the default firewall with linux mint (ufw) was not working effectively.At least with the default settings it comes with.My computers were getting hacked through using firefox with attackers gaining root access in about 20 minutes no matter how strong the password was.In such times, changing the hostname and password helped things temporarily. Enjoy your linux. regards Peter