Topic: Good bitcoin security starts with strong PC and mobile device security (Read 452 times)

Imho this in insufficient if you want to ensure your coins are safe. Of course, it's always a balance between how much the safety costs and how much money you protect.
Imho if you don't want to pay for a hardware wallet and you know a bit of this and that on computers, making a Tails OS stick and use it as a cold storage (with internet always disabled from start) is already way better than relying on Windows (which btw I also prefer).


Well, never say never. A 0-day vulnerability is always possible (imho even for Linux!). And better get the correct protection before feeling sorry you didn't.
It's like insurance: you tend to see it as money thrown out of the window... until you need it, if ever.

Honestly, I have been using windows since 90's and unless you get attacked personally, like someone actually aims at you, or you do not use your computer in a silly way downloading whatever you find, then it should be fine. Most of the hacks happen either because hacker aims at a single source, or it is because some bad computer user who downloads some virus to their computer when they are trying to download something else.

This should be very scary because you have no idea which one you are. To prevent that, have a very good anti-virus program in your computer that way you wouldn't have to worry about what's going on, it should be very normal and you could just continue your life without worrying about what's happening in the end.

Yeah it is one of the popular brands when it comes to anti-virus and I think some devices are already pre-installed with it if not McAfee. On my Laptop I see that it has a McAfee but I uninstall it because like you, I also considered it as a bloatware.

I still have a default antivirus anyway which is also called as Microsoft defender because my OS is Windows. Maybe some people are just paranoid but I think they won't be like that if they have valuables in their machines and then their machine is also high-end. For us, we might care less because our devices are already old and we can replace it easily if in case it got destroyed, be it by a virus or from natural causes.

You forgot to add the part that they shouldn't download any kind of media online, mainly porn, anime, and movies being the biggest of them all, they contain the most likely malwares that would infect that computer or device, and as much as I like to do pirate stuff on the Internet, it's probably best to just buy the medias that you're watching rather than download it in some illegal website, you know that you'd be safer although there's a small price to pay for it.

Some more tips: Whenever possible, use an authenticator app or physical passkey for 2FA verification on your phone instead of text messages.
Text messages are vulnerable to sim swapping where scammers can take control of your phone by convincing your cell phone company that they are you
in order to receive a new replacement SIM card under your name, which they use to drain your accounts.  


AT&T (one of the largest telecom companies in the US) just had a massive data breach where private information of up to 70 million customers was compromised including phone numbers and emails. Two days ago I received a notification from Microsoft Defender that my email and phone number were found on the dark web. It identified the cause for this as the AT&T data breach.

Luckily for me I no longer use the email and phone number that was reported from the AT&T data breach because I moved last year to an area that is not served by AT&T and
have since changed my email and phone number. But this is an example why you should use an authenticator app (or physical passkey) for 2FA instead of text messaging whenever possible.

Also have at least one separate email that is used strictly for banking and financial purposes, that you never give out to anyone but your bank, crypto exchange, etc.
Then you have another email for personal purposes.

Some tech savvy people think that Windows is a virus. I guess that I'm not that paranoid and I don't want to deal with Linux distros.
I have Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, but I don't use VPNs. I just don't trust the VPN providers that much.
I also would never use Bitcoin/crypto wallets on my smartphone(I have an Android device). I think that the mobile devices are a little bit more vulnerable than PC/laptops. Just don't click suspicious links, don't download suspicious files and don't use free public Wi-Fi. You will be fine just by following those tips, even if you don't have anti-virus software and VPN.

I'm talking of computer and laptops that has Linux as default OS (Linux based OS in the market)  that's why i said they are on higher specs and only rare produced based on the link i provided if you may read. I'm not talking of the minimum requirements of Linux to be installed because you're indeed right of those info, no doubts about it

I haven't used one myself yet, but many people I know do. Mac OS or Macbook is the most secure way to use Bitcoin in this case. I don't know of any other case where security is as strong as the MacBook. But many people say that viruses attack here too. But it is comparatively less. But because MacBooks are expensive, not everyone uses them or can afford them.

Seeing this phrase, I had a desire to categorically disagree with you. I won’t even read the links you provided, since I know from my own experience that using Linux systems most often requires minimum requirements. Having more than 4 gigabytes of RAM is extremely rare; generally, for the average user, 2 gigabytes or even less is enough, since the styles are all minimalistic. Yes, I know that there are a lot of servers running on Linux, and they probably require great requirements, but not for the average user. But what are we talking about? So that the user can surf the Internet and use a wallet. Windows is popular because it is used by gamers, designers, and those who require large amounts of RAM. And here you are confusing Linux with Windows.
I once provided data on the amount of Linux usage, and I would advise you to also read it.

https://truelist.co/blog/linux-statistics/
https://ik4.es/en/system-requirements-of-different-linux-distributions/
https://likegeeks.com/how-to-install-linux/

Linux is not completely bullet proof but you need to understand that it’s market share is very small compared to the huge amounts of people who are using Windows.

Also it’s much easier to trick a novice Windows users than it is to trick an advanced computer user who uses Linux. Hence why most malware is found on Windows.

Neither Linux, Windows nor Mac are completely immune to viruses and hackers, and that's why I say that how we use them is much more important than our choice of operating system. Let's use whichever operating system we find most comfortable and easy to use, let's focus on how we use it to bring the most security, then we will be safe from cyber attacks hacker. The fact that we force ourselves to use Linux to improve security but get into trouble while using it is even more dangerous, so don't think that Linux is safer, it doesn't mean we will be safe from hackers. I have been using windows for many years with Electrum, I have never had any problems.

“Stop watching porn” indeed
You sound fully security loaded though. I know about the phone feature you speak of. Just make sure that when you switch to that profile, you never download any apps, and there is only one user downloaded app which is your wallet app. You don’t need to browse the internet, so stay off it. When you switch back, you can keep browsing.

What about Kaspersky? I think it is also a top choice anti-virus software, but in my opinion, if our computer is only used for basic operations and office work, we do not need to use anti-virus software third party viruses. Microsoft's Defender is more than enough to protect us from most viruses and common attacks.

I use a fairly old and slow computer so I don't want to install too many 3rd party applications. But fortunately so far, I'm still safe from everything online and I think everything is not as scary as we imagine.

Do you know what computer or laptop brands or models has default Linux OS on it? Of course, there is, computer brands has models with Linux based OS, but only a few. Most sold or selling computers and laptops are in windows only because it's the default OS (as the market trend^[1] since then) that can you buy in the market, 60-70% of them are in Windows then next is Mac because of Apple laptops and Mac books, etc.
On the other hand Linux based OS in the market is just rare^[2], mostly are high specs that only techy people can use, and mostly personally installed from techy peeps.

Regardless of the computer OS, if the user doesn't know and has bad practice of doing things while online, you will get attacked, lost funds, scammed, phished, etc. But talking about malware, most malware are for windows system since there are a lot of them to target in the first place, Linux based are "very well-protected" against malware but it doesn't mean it's immune.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/218089/global-market-share-of-windows-7/
[2] https://itsfoss.com/get-linux-laptops/

The greatest antivirus out there's your common sense, other than that and it's all up to Microsoft's Defender. I seem to notice a lot of people here talking about the best antivirus software out there and other than McAfee and Malwarebytes I can't really vouch for any other else, and I have used a couple of antivirus softwares in my life, including Avast (And I should say, you should NOT download nor even think of using Avast, it's a shit bloatware which will cause you more problems than benefits, trust me), and apart from the ones that I've stated here I wouldn't give you any other antivirus software to depend upon other than the in-built windows antivirus and your common sense. Cause for me the more you depend upon these applications the more neglectful and belligerent you become when surfing the internet and the more unsafe you make yourself against these threats.

So in that regard actually depending on less antivirus is a better thing than downloading every single anti-virus software app on the market just so you would feel safe and secure against bitcoin hackers, which aren't easily deterred by antimalwares and antivirus software anyway.

Let's look at reality and evaluate what's going on. If Linux is really so easy to use and so good, why do the majority of computers in the world use Windows and Mac? We even have to spend money to buy the other two operating systems, while Linux is completely free.

Also, if we use Linux, is there a guarantee that our bitcoins will never be stolen or attacked by hackers? What percentage is guaranteed that using Linux will never be attacked by hackers? Don't worry too much about the computer factors we use, what operating system, what brand of computer, the most important thing is how we use it.

Good basic security is much to ask for, this is something that many people don't know about, in my family alone I am the only one who knows how to keep a PC safe from malicious traps and all my family members do ask me for guidance, I meant every one of them.

This was how I knew that not everyone will have time to learn this things to keep themselves safe when using a PC, the only advice I give them was to never run a crypto wallet on their PC, because I won't always be available to solve their problems, since hackers are getting smarter every day, they might find a better way to steal data from PC at any time.

To be safe with a PC do not keep any information on it, onlg use it to solve the web and do some work that has no connection with money or a bank account because at this rate we can't outsmart getting hacked or getting viruses or other, we can only limit the chances.

I think Linux has the reputation of something that is used only by developers and hard-core tech geeks. That is why few non-tech people will touch it or even know what it is.

To learn a whole new operating system that is not very well known to the mainstream is daunting for most people. That is because everyone grew up learning computers on Mac and Windows since  those are the only two operating systems that are widely used in the education system. For better or worse Windows and Mac have a suffocating monopoly in the education system. Since virtually every child learned to use a computer through Mac or Windows it is just easier to keep using what you are familiar with as you grow older. They also have a monopoly in retail because 99% of computers sold are preloaded with Mac or Windows so you would have to go out of your way to even find a Linux computer to buy.

When you walk into any computer retailer all you see are Windows and Mac products on display for you to see and try out.
It is hard for Linux to be competitive when no one can even see or touch your product before buying it.

This is true. And that's one of the misconception of having linux as there desktop main OS. The pros of mac and windows are only because of its UI and looks, while most linux distros are more in simplicity and speed but some of them already good UI. And some of these OS are beginner friendly like Linux, MX Mint, Ubunto, Zorin, many to mention.

There is not really much to learn, installing one of the many Linux distributions is more simple than installing Windows these days, as all the drivers and most common applications are installed by default when you install the OS, and even if it was true that decades ago you needed to use the terminal for almost everything, this is not true anymore, and you can install, remove and use the majority of the software through a GUI, which most users should be extremely familiar with already.