I have been computer free for probably 15ish years until I recently bought and set up a RPi4 with Linux. It’s been fun but I’m not really a super user so I’m looking to back to Windows as my main OS.

  1. is antivirus a necessity? I will be gaming and streaming on my new setup.

If yes then

  1. what are some ideal options? Paid or free.

Thanks for your responses in advance.

  • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Can you please help me understand why antivirus is not needed on linux? Are there no viruses for linuxor what?

    • treadful@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Generally speaking, in reverse order of strength of argument:

      • Linux is built a little more securely. There’s a ton of caveats here but it is generally harder to privilege escalate. (inb4 someone sends me a list of escalation attacks)
      • The user base is generally more security conscious (i.e. doesn’t just run random executables)
      • Doesn’t have the same attack surface (like default exploitable services)
      • The ecosystem isn’t a monoculture so it’s harder to build one-size-fits-all malware
      • The market share is so low that it’s rarely ever a target of malware

      Mostly it just doesn’t make sense for attackers looking for low hanging fruit to attack Linux machines.

      • uranibaba@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 year ago

        The last point is probably biggest point today. A hacker wants your money, and you as an individual do not have that much money. A company on the other hand, they can pay up big.

        Since a lot of companies use Windows, they target that, because that is where the money is.