One word: Linux. If you have any valuable information on your PC then I really recommend you to use Linux. This is not a joke, malwares are spreading in the cryptocurrency world rapidly, and it's only a question of time or luck that you haven't been robbed yet. So if you want to avoid a very unpleasant malware that will steal all of your cryptocurrencies, then it's really imperative to switch to Linux asap.
And this is serious, I know that Linux promoters are pushy, but the threat is real. Take a look at these guys how easily they lost all their money:
- https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/malware-snatches-13btc-36000-bitcoin-user
- https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-stealing-malware-attacks-gamers
- https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/more-than-100-flavors-of-malware-are-stealing-bitcoins/d/d-id/1141396
So people have like 5,000-5,000,000$ balances on Steemit right now. It would be foolish to not secure those funds properly wouldn't it?
Even if you don't have a single dime on your PC you should still use Linux, because the hackers can still steal 1 thing from you: YOUR PRIVACY
- https://thehackernews.com/2016/10/macbook-camera-hacked.html
- https://thehackernews.com/2015/08/windows-spying-on-you.html
- https://www.cnet.com/news/many-ways-to-activate-webcams-sans-spy-software/
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/rat-breeders-meet-the-men-who-spy-on-women-through-their-webcams/
Now Linux itself is not an Operating System, it's just the core of the operating system, the kernel. When we refer to "Linux" we refer to the Linux based distributions or "Linux Distro" which are full Operating Systems, that usually come with all apps you need for basic computing (Office, Browser, Image & Video Software, and other essentials). The distros are like different packages that come with different apps and different user experience, but they all share 3 basic things in common:
- They are all based on Linux (so the core security is the same on all of them with more or less variation)
- They are all Open Source, hence transparent, trustworthy, and secure
- Most of them are free, as in both free in 0$ cost, and free in that you can use it both for personal and commercial use mostly under the GPL license
So without further due here are the Linux Distros that I would suggest, pick one that you like:
1) Linux Mint
If you are completely newbie to Linux, it's best to start here. It's a full Linux Distro, that contains pretty much all apps that you will ever need as a general user. It has all device drivers installed by default, no need to worry about any of that crap anymore. It has all essential softwares on it like office software, image audio and video editors and players with all codecs installed as well, comes with firefox but chrome can be installed too, and basically everything else that you would normally use.
It's extremely easy to transition to Linux OS with Mint, it's completely GUI based so even your grandma can use it, but the terminal is not that hard to learn either, it unlocks more management options though. But the GUI is full, you can customize the desktop which looks similar to Windows with taskbar, menu and all of that. But it can actually be customized much more, like adding plugins to the Desktop like a weather or even a newsfeed plugin.
Most apps are open-source as well, but not all of them Mint contains some proprietary apps, although this is not a problem since the access control of the Linux kernel locks out any malicious apps that don't have root privilege. So this means that Linux is a trillion times more safe that Windows or Mac since even a malware can't do anything unless it gains root access which you will never give to anything untrusted. By default no antivirus is needed, since a passive defense is more efficient than an active defense.
2) Debian
Debian is a 100% open source Linux Distro, that contains only free and open source software down to the device drivers I believe. It's technically more secure than Mint, so if you want full security then use only Debian or Debian based OS only. While Mint puts more work into the outlook and aesthetics, Debian focuses mostly on security and performance. That is not to say that Debian doesn't have a nice UI, it does, but that is really not due to Debian, the desktop software is usually independently managed.
Debian is a little bit harder to use though, especially if you are newbie. It doesn't contain certain things, so they need to be installed by the user and configured, which might be hard for a novice. So if you are a complete newbie then stick to Mint.
But Debian is secure by default, so if you dedicate an entire computer just for cryptocurrency stuff or banking, then it's definitely useful to use Debian only. In my experience Debian is very secure for handling financial stuff. You can have multiple layers of encryption in it and due to the way it's configured it provides good security for handing cryptocurrency or banking stuff.
Also Debian has the biggest repository of free apps in the entire world, over 51000 apps that are all free and open source.
- Website: https://www.debian.org
3) Qubes
If you want ultimate security then go for Qubes. Qubes has all the security advantages that Debian has, it's fully open source and fully audited, but it has more. Qubes is an entirely virtualized and compartimentalized OS. This means that there are 2 layers of operating systems running at the same time. There is the main OS which is very secure, hardened and very isolated, and on top of that you can run as many virtual OS-es that you like, each for a separate purpose.
So you can have 1 virtual OS for banking and 1 for surfing random websites that are insecure. So if the second OS gets compromized (which it shouldn’t because it is still a Linux Distro by itself) but if it does, then you can just throw it away and delete the compromized OS, meanwhile the other one that has your financial stuff on it is not affected.
So think of it like a branch of tree, if 1 branch gets infected by fungus, you cut it off and it won’t infect the other branch nor the entire tree. So the core OS is always shielded by the external virtualized ones which can be thrown away even after like 10 minutes of use if you think that 10 minutes of surfing could have compromized it.
It’s security by compartimentalization, which is really useful, since a lot of viruses rely on the staticness of your OS and of the potential vulnerabilities that it can have. If you rotate your activities through different compartments and only use 1 for the same activity then if 1 activity is blown, the other will still remain secure. The damage will be quarantined.
It is really the ultimate security that you can have in a Linux Distro, there is nothing better than it, but it’s still kind of new only a couple years old I think, so factor that in.
Website: https://www.qubes-os.org
Sources:
- Mint logo by Clement Lefebvre CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Qubes logo by Qubes OS, GPL, via Wikimedia Commons
- https://pixabay.com
