Warning about HP Laptops - incompatibility with Win 10 Creators Update

[Mouse]

Oh thanks, Azelor

That's just the kind of list I was looking for, instead of trying to adapt one that was designed primarily for Windows....

[Azélor]

I don't know what features are essential. I got Bit defender internet security and it covers every features but one.
For Linux, Panda security has the most features. I have no idea if it's good.

[Redrobes]

I think if we focus on the word "need" then no, you dont need antivirus on linux. Is it a good thing if you have it running - probably. A firewall is not antivirus and I think some form of firewall is a good thing, probably not a need, but certainly more advisable than antivirus. But its no bad thing to have the firewall and antivirus running. I use a dedicated firewall external to my linux machine and I switch off javascript on the browser by default (and selectively enable it) which is by far and away the most notable vector for attack.

In general, linux users tend to be more savy about what is happening on the networking front than windows users. Its possible I could have a virus and not know about it but it would be impossible for me to have a bitcoin miner running sucking up >20% of the cpu or something logging a lot of data and sending it over the network without me noticing. Also, with the number of distros of Linux out there then if your writing a virus it would have to be very clever to navigate them all - not impossible but very hard indeed. The monoculture of windows versions is the reason why viruses propagate.

I have not knowingly had a linux virus and of the many people I know who use it I dont think I can recall anyone I know having one either.

[Mouse]

I've only encountered 3 virus in 10 years of daily use, 2 of which were just ad-ware. I believe they were all piggy-backed on free apps I downloaded.

Ad-ware can be a B to get rid of once its there, and it guzzles metered broadband like crazy and makes the machine really slow, but its nowhere near as bad as the one and only actual malicious virus I ever encountered, which was Seespiro.A (I think that was what it was called anyway). Defender woke up (despite having been relegated to periodic background scanning while Avast was live) and savaged it so quickly that I barely saw the information in a flurry of red and yellow alert pop-ups.

I think it might have been a bit overzealous, since there's no sign of the app that I think it came with!

So, beyond my chatter about things in the past, and bearing in mind that I am a very long term Windows user (ie probably not very savvy), would it be true to say that I should be relatively ok just over Christmas with just the firewall for a couple of weeks - bearing in mind that I'm so clueless about Linux apps that I have only dared to download and use apps that I can see through the software manager - the ones that are already part of Mint and other distros?

[Mark Oliva]

I've only encountered 3 virus in 10 years of daily use, 2 of which were just ad-ware. I believe they were all piggy-backed on free apps I downloaded.

Viruses are no problem whatsoever ... until you get one.

I don't know what features are essential. I got Bit defender internet security and it covers every features but one.
For Linux, Panda security has the most features. I have no idea if it's good.

I haven't used Panda myself, but I do know several Windows and Linux users who swear by it, including some who were surprised by the slowly growing number of viruses that it was catching in a Linux environment.

[Mouse]

Funnily enough, Panda was the one I picked out from the list Azelor linked to above

Don't worry, I'll get AV for the Mint partition on the basis of better safe than sorry

[Ilanthar]

I have downloaded Sophos, thanks to Azelor's list. It's free and seems to have all the necessary features, but I haven't installed it yet.
Does someone knows it?

[Mouse]

I've discovered one really major drawback to Linux (more accurately to having AV on Linux)

My metered broadband is being eaten alive for no apparent reason. It started when I downloaded Sophos....

Now I need to keep my Windows partition just so that I can use it to be online, which makes it really awkward, but there you go.

No longer online from Linux



EDIT: ok booted Sophos off the system entirely with a stinging kick! Now I'm ok again

Will seriously have to consider whether AV is worth the excess BB charges I will very obviously incur.

[Non Serviam]

Only install software from the software manager -- never download files from anywhere else. And if you follow this advice then I do solemnly swear that you won't need antivirus on Linux.

[Mouse]

Would you count Windows apps like CC3+ and Genetica as risks?

I already own them, and want to be able to use them in Mint, through Wine (when I figure out how the heck to use Wine, that is)