Even Windows doesn’t really even need a 3rd party anti-virus anymore. The built in windows defender has gotten so good as to really be all you need for active protection unless you’re insanely stupid and keep bypassing it. Use Malwarebytes for deep file scans once in a blue moon, and you’re golden.
Hate to tell you this, but Linux nor MacOS are safe without AV
It’s just Windows, by far, has the largest share of active systems so everyone targets it. Both MacOS and Linux have their own share of bonafide viruses though
Hate to tell you this, but nuh-uh! My Linux server is just going through a phase where it likes to collect porn ads and share credit card info with Russia!
It’s still not actually needed for experienced users though, I haven’t had a virus in over 10 years, so it hasn’t had anything to catch.
Boy oh boy did it freak the fuck out about the exe I compiled myself from a python script I wrote myself, though. Had to specifically exclude it from defender to stop it from quarantining it every time it ran. All it does is check to see if a link on a website has been updated since last look…
This is the main takeaway that people seem to be missing: follow good computer hygiene, and you’ll be fine.
Keep your shit updated, and don’t download/run things you don’t trust. Keep an unintrusive anti-virus running in the background as a backup just in case there’s a supply chain attack, but don’t rely on it to make your decisions on whether to open a file or not.
Windows 11. It’s not that hard to completely remove. I have also removed Bluetooth and lots of other non essential functions. There are plenty of tools on GitHub that can do it. You can also just use a custom ISO.
Nobody is immune to it, but it’s a lot less common for sketchy websites to provide malware downloads specifically targeting Linux PCs. The market share is nonexistent, the average user is more technically inclined, and the desktop environment ecosystem is full of variations that make it difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all solution.
It simply isn’t worth it for most malware creators to focus on Linux desktops. Servers are a different story, but that malware is planted by humans or automated intrustion tools.
That being said, none of this precludes stupidity. If somebody downloads Oppenheimer-1080p.mkv.exe and opens it in WINE, you can bet your ass that the ransomware malware will do its job just fine.
IIRC, that was more about auditing the “supply chain” of apps and Linux. Some college kids were purposefully trying to get malware on the mainline Linux repo and obviously got themselves banned from touching Linux.
Otherwise it’s just been normal security vulnerability type stuff? There was also a long-existing bug found in a very common library recently, but that’s very solidly in the normal flow of security research, the bug just happened to be sitting there a while.
Linux of course is a target and has malware. It’d be completely stupid of attackers to ignore Linux because the vast majority of servers run it. It’s a readily available target with lots of goodies on those servers.
I don’t think it was just some college kids, I could have sworn their professor was specifically getting his students to perform as bad actors to support some super-biased research papers he was trying to publish.
Yeah but this wasn’t recent, this one was like 4 or 5 years ago unless it happened again. If I remember correctly it got the entire University’s email address banned from contributing to the kernel
Oh yeah, I get what you’re saying. Yeah, two completely separate instances. Although, from the sound of it, there are a surprising number of people who seem to think that sabotaging Linux and hacking Linux are the same thing. I mean, I guess a pirate can sail on any ship, right?
CCleaner also hasn’t been necessary since at least Windows 7. I remember working in a PC repair shop when people would just arbitrarily run CCleaner on its most aggressive settings whether it was needed or not and it would always break more things than it fixed.
Oh I know, but still they couldn’t find some other software to get paid by? Like damn diversify already, find something fresh and interesting you can get paid to install lol
Like WebTangent or whatever it was called, it was bloatware, but it was bloatware games that were kinda fun. I would always play a few games before I purged that one, but I haven’t seen it in years now
I almost felt the same way about MalwareBytes. I know it’s actually useful but it hassled me so much about upgrading to premium that it was more annoying than having actual malware.
McAfee is actual malware at this point anyway
Imagine needing an antivirus
This comment was made by Linux gang
Even Windows doesn’t really even need a 3rd party anti-virus anymore. The built in windows defender has gotten so good as to really be all you need for active protection unless you’re insanely stupid and keep bypassing it. Use Malwarebytes for deep file scans once in a blue moon, and you’re golden.
first party antivirus is still antivirus
Hate to tell you this, but Linux nor MacOS are safe without AV
It’s just Windows, by far, has the largest share of active systems so everyone targets it. Both MacOS and Linux have their own share of bonafide viruses though
Hate to tell you this, but nuh-uh! My Linux server is just going through a phase where it likes to collect porn ads and share credit card info with Russia!
It’s still not actually needed for experienced users though, I haven’t had a virus in over 10 years, so it hasn’t had anything to catch.
Boy oh boy did it freak the fuck out about the exe I compiled myself from a python script I wrote myself, though. Had to specifically exclude it from defender to stop it from quarantining it every time it ran. All it does is check to see if a link on a website has been updated since last look…
This is the main takeaway that people seem to be missing: follow good computer hygiene, and you’ll be fine.
Keep your shit updated, and don’t download/run things you don’t trust. Keep an unintrusive anti-virus running in the background as a backup just in case there’s a supply chain attack, but don’t rely on it to make your decisions on whether to open a file or not.
golden rules of PC hygine:
don’t use an admin account as your main account
if you haven’t directly triggered it yourself, the answer to that pop-up is “no”
It’s only good at detecting windows&office activation tools. I have never ever seen it detect anything other than those.
I don’t even use windows defender. Never had any issues. (My windows PC is primarily for gaming)
Do you have windows 8, 10 or 11?
Defender has been on in the background this entire time and you don’t even know it. It is on by default and incredibly hard to truly disable.
Windows 11. It’s not that hard to completely remove. I have also removed Bluetooth and lots of other non essential functions. There are plenty of tools on GitHub that can do it. You can also just use a custom ISO.
XP is best!
It’s been good since Windows 7. The reason Windows has so many updates is for security.
Imagine thinking you’re immune to malware
Nobody is immune to it, but it’s a lot less common for sketchy websites to provide malware downloads specifically targeting Linux PCs. The market share is nonexistent, the average user is more technically inclined, and the desktop environment ecosystem is full of variations that make it difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all solution.
It simply isn’t worth it for most malware creators to focus on Linux desktops. Servers are a different story, but that malware is planted by humans or automated intrustion tools.
That being said, none of this precludes stupidity. If somebody downloads
Oppenheimer-1080p.mkv.exeand opens it in WINE, you can bet your ass that the ransomware malware will do its job just fine.Hasn’t a bunch of malware spyware and other malicious shit been found all over decades old Linux stuff the last couple months?
IIRC, that was more about auditing the “supply chain” of apps and Linux. Some college kids were purposefully trying to get malware on the mainline Linux repo and obviously got themselves banned from touching Linux.
Otherwise it’s just been normal security vulnerability type stuff? There was also a long-existing bug found in a very common library recently, but that’s very solidly in the normal flow of security research, the bug just happened to be sitting there a while.
Linux of course is a target and has malware. It’d be completely stupid of attackers to ignore Linux because the vast majority of servers run it. It’s a readily available target with lots of goodies on those servers.
I don’t think it was just some college kids, I could have sworn their professor was specifically getting his students to perform as bad actors to support some super-biased research papers he was trying to publish.
Yeah but this wasn’t recent, this one was like 4 or 5 years ago unless it happened again. If I remember correctly it got the entire University’s email address banned from contributing to the kernel
Oh yeah, I get what you’re saying. Yeah, two completely separate instances. Although, from the sound of it, there are a surprising number of people who seem to think that sabotaging Linux and hacking Linux are the same thing. I mean, I guess a pirate can sail on any ship, right?
CCleaner is too nowadays. How far it it has fallen…
CCleaner also hasn’t been necessary since at least Windows 7. I remember working in a PC repair shop when people would just arbitrarily run CCleaner on its most aggressive settings whether it was needed or not and it would always break more things than it fixed.
And even if it was, why tf have it open on startup? It should be run like, manually once a month at most.
And almost Every. Fucking. Manufacturer. Installs it as bloatware :/
They get paid to do so. It’s not like they just install McAfee at random.
Oh I know, but still they couldn’t find some other software to get paid by? Like damn diversify already, find something fresh and interesting you can get paid to install lol
Like WebTangent or whatever it was called, it was bloatware, but it was bloatware games that were kinda fun. I would always play a few games before I purged that one, but I haven’t seen it in years now
I almost felt the same way about MalwareBytes. I know it’s actually useful but it hassled me so much about upgrading to premium that it was more annoying than having actual malware.
What do you mean at this point?! It’s been malware for almost two decades!