Serious Discussion Why do you feel you are Locked In to Windows ?

[Victor M]

Do you believe Linux to be more secure

I believe security in Linux is stronger due to the availability of built-in configurations for free. With Windows, you have to do add-on security. Even though there are free software like Andy Ful's WHH, and Configure-Defender, you have to first find them. But configurable security are already listed in the distro's security page. You don't have to go far and hunt the net for places like MT. And you have try out vendor offerings. The whole security eco-system is for pay. Finding good security for Windows becomes a chance thing.

 

[blackice]

What games specifically ? Steam and UnReal is available to Ubuntu.
What software do you use ? There is an abundance of productivity software available for Linux.

Gamepass for one. Epic games, better prices than Steam a lot of the time. Yes Steam is on other platforms, but not all games. I’m a very eclectic gamer. And I’m not going to mess with driver hoops and ladders to get a fraction of what I play working on Linux.

 

[Practical Response]

I believe security in Linux is stronger due to the availability of built-in configurations for free. With Windows, you have to do add-on security. Even though there are free software like Andy Ful's WHH, and Configure-Defender, you have to first find them. But configurable security are already listed in the distro's security page. You don't have to go far and hunt the net for places like MT. Finding good security for Windows becomes a chance thing.

You are correct finding documentation on Windows to learn it thoroughly is not as easy as it should be. Although those tools are built in to harden it. Andy fuls application does not "add" security to windows, it "configures" the security for you.

If you were to say just throw a standard Linux distro on your computer and install Lynis system auditing software on and run a vulnerability scan, you will find by default Linux is not hardened to the standard it can be as well. This is the same concept as windows especially in that it takes knowledge to do either.

 

[Oldie1950]

I came from CP/M via DR-DOS to Windows 3.1 and followed the entire development up to Windows 11 with a few jumps. So I know my way around Windows and can find the software I need without much effort. I can solve problems quickly. Why should I switch to another operating system if I'm happy with Windows? A quick trip to Linux ended in disaster. This stopped me from further experiments. In addition, at the age of 73, it would no longer be so easy for me to acquire the level of knowledge I have with Windows with a new operating system. I don't feel locked into Windows either. I would have this feeling more at Apple.

 

[Victor M]

it takes knowledge to do either.

You are correct finding documentation on Windows to learn it thoroughly is not as easy as it should be.

Yes it requires effort to learn security in both.

MS does not make strong configurable built-in security features like WDAC easy to find - they simply do not mention it.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Could I learn Linux, sure, but have no desire to do so. Can't see how it would benefit me in any way.

 

[Victor M]

Could I learn Linux, sure, but have no desire to do so. Can't see how it would benefit me in any way.

It benefits your purse.

 

[Practical Response]

Linux runs the entire internet, it's versatile, customizable, one can find many career opportunities upon learning. The list of benefits to learning Linux is quite extensive actually.

 

[Captain Holly]

I try my best not to preach about Linux here on MWT, I realize this is primarily a Windows help site. I still visit MWT because I am still very interested in computer security and I like to learn about what to watch out for. I will say this though, I tried several Linux distro's last year and Mint was by far the easiest one to use. There really was not much of a learning curve to it and it more closely resembles Windows than any other distro I have seen. I have only used the Terminal one time, to keep the number lock on the keyboard enabled all the time. Everything else I needed was in the Software Manager and there were multiple Mint equivalents for every Windows app I use. Mint has a very good help forum and I found everything I needed to know there.

I don't play modern video games so I don't need Steam or any of the high-powered gaming stuff. I do play old school Tetris and Chess online but those are on their respective websites. I also have a clone of Asteroids on the Neave games website. The few games I do play work fine on Mint, either in Firefox or Chromium, but there are a bunch of other more modern free games in the Software Manager if I ever get the urge. Pandora works fine for listening to music in its web player. I play my own music library in Mint with their Strawberry music player, it works great, it's a lot like old school iTunes.

I am no expert but everything I read from people much smarter than I am says Linux and Mint are very secure, and that is good enough for me. The main thing I like about Mint is it is just an OS. They don't hassle me to create an account so they can serve me targeted ads or try to monetize my computer usage or collect and sell my data to some unknown broker. Mint has never tried to push AI or any other agenda on me. It also respects my preferences and settings, doesn't go behind my back and turn stuff on or off without my permission. I don't think I will ever go back to Windows.

Thus endeth my Linux sermon.

C.H.

 

[Shadowra]

I love Linux and have it on a secondary partition. (Manjaro)
But I won't be switching completely to Linux because I do a lot of gaming in my spare time and I've got my bearings on the software I use.
If you put me in front of a program I don't know, I'll quickly get lost... (and also out of laziness)

 

[blackice]

I love Linux and have it on a secondary partition. (Manjaro)
But I won't be switching completely to Linux because I do a lot of gaming in my spare time and I've got my bearings on the software I use.
If you put me in front of a program I don't know, I'll quickly get lost... (and also out of laziness)

The ol' Linux is free if your time is worth nothing.

 

[Shadowra]

The ol' Linux is free if your time is worth nothing.

I know (I have it on a 2nd partition on a dedicated disk)

 

[blackice]

I know (I have it on a 2nd partition on a dedicated disk)

I don't think that old adage is entirely wrong. The older I get the less time I have to deal with things.

 

[Practical Response]

I love Linux and have it on a secondary partition. (Manjaro)
But I won't be switching completely to Linux because I do a lot of gaming in my spare time and I've got my bearings on the software I use.
If you put me in front of a program I don't know, I'll quickly get lost... (and also out of laziness)

Arch based rolling release is a bit for one to cut their teeth on.

As others have stated Mint is a good starting point, with its Ubuntu base you have a large community and repository. "Especially if one is lazy"

 

[Shadowra]

Arch based rolling release is a bit for one to cut their teeth on.

As others have stated Mint is a good starting point, with its Ubuntu base you have a large community and repository. "Especially if one is lazy"

Of course, but I prefer Arch

 

[LennyFox]

I like Linux Mint it resembles windows a lot, like @Captain Holly said, but the devil is in details. It took me two weeks of fiddling to get Evolution and Libre Office looking like Microsoft Office. Downloading the office icon pack and installing Windows fonts helps a lot, but there are small differences, which can be very annoying because it nearly is the same but different (e.g. going back an indent after an unordered list or continuing an ordered list with the next number after a break, e.g. because you put in an image). And as @Oldie1950 says when you know your way around, why change (don't fix what ain't broken).

Security wise it (Linux Mint) is very strong with flatpak sandboxes and the ability to AppArmor services which are allowed (e.g. printing) to be touched by the programs inside the (flatseal hardened) flatpak sandboxes. I run all applications in flatpaks and only what was installed with the distro as system. So my next Linix project would be to switch to an immutable version.

That said I have to agree with @Victor M security wise Windows may be worse than Linux but it can be easlily improved with free utilities (e.g. SAC or WDAC-ISG and blocking risky file extensions with SRP or using Defender's cloud whitelist). Also (as my dear friend @UltimateVision often states), when home users would run standard user, there would be less infections on Windows.

 

[Practical Response]

Flatpaks... Most of the apps have full access to the system even though users believe they are sandboxed, this has to do with permissions required (like full access to your home directory). If a flatpak is an EOL version the runtimes and apps do not get security updates. Flatpaks also break many aspects of desktop integration. Flatpak apps and runtimes still contain many long time known vulnerabilities. Another issue is with security updates to bundled libraries where as with bundled libraries its much harder to upgrade a single library, as you need to find and upgrade each app that uses it.

Just as misconfiguring apparmor profiles can cause all sorts of issues. While Apparmor is easier to use, it does not offer the level of control SElinux does.

Shall I go on Max aka @LennyFox , its more then just running applications like this to secure Linux, just as windows takes more effort as well.

Mint is great for new comers to Linux, take your time and learn it well, the last thing you need to do is grab an ego and think your bullet proof.

 

[Antimalware18]

I'm not, I have a windows desktop I use for gaming and a few other things, and then a Mac Mini for video production and a old laptop with linux mint on it
I even went for a period of a year when i completely uninstalled windows from this machine and ran only Kubuntu. But I did ultimaely reinstall windows for the gaming.

 

[SpiderWeb]

I used to feel that way but then I woke up and realized 99% of what I was doing was in a browser so I switched to ChromeOS and didn't miss a thing. Then from there I switched to macOS. I don't miss a single thing. In fact macOS attracts quality developers. Bugs are far and few between.

 

[Captain Holly]

That was one of the things I learned very early on with Mint, to avoid Flatpaks if at all possible and to only install software packages from the official Mint repo. And not to download or install anything from the Internet/non-Linux software. Too much potential for trouble otherwise, same as how you have to watch what you download in Windows. The only things I added to Mint were the Stacer monitor, Strawberry music player and the Chromium browser as a backup browser. My system is pretty much bare-bones and I do not venture out of the Mint repo OS environment. I run this same Mint config on two laptops and am very happy with both, they work very well.

C.H.