Quote from: Herbert2020 on January 15, 2019, 05:58:25 AM

Quote from: Artemis3 on January 15, 2019, 02:20:27 AM

Today is a good day to drop windows. There are plenty of nice alternatives, do not delay if you don't want nasty surprises, use Linux: https://distrowatch.com/

Of course, as I explained elsewhere, your leisure activities and your money should be separate. So if you insist in keeping a "windows gaming computer", at least install Linux in another one and keep your serious stuff there.

this is a very common misunderstanding that people think if they use Linux they will magically be safe. but that is not the case at all. the only difference between Windows and Linux that makes Linus safer is that Linux is open source and when security holes are found in it, they are patched fast while Windows security holes take a long time to be patched and Microsoft usually leaves some backdoors intentionally.

otherwise if you want to be safe to you have to use cold storage and it doesn't make much of a difference what OS you use for it then.

Its not a misunderstanding, but I didn't go into details in regards of the audience. The truth of the matter is that there are far less vectors for infection in Linux/BSDs. For starters windows binaries do nothing there, and people using Linux don't (usually) download binaries from web sites, they use their official repository packages or source compile. There are also several bad habits windows users have that are simply not done in Linux.

Yes, you are not totally safe, but its never on the same level. Some windows users like to pat themselves on that false premise: that the only reason Linux doesn't have as much malware as windows is because its not popular. But you are disregarding the infection vectors, which in Linux are very few and rare, but windows has been in all its history a never-ending security nightmare full of bugs and exploits and many don't even require user intervention.

If your malware ridden windows happens to have been infected with a keylogger or similar, the moment you activate your cold wallet you can kiss your money goodbye. A cold wallet should always be handled from a live iso, like Kakmakr suggests.

Quote from: dothebeats on January 15, 2019, 11:58:54 AM

And I'm running Windows, and you should understand that not all are familiar with the UI of Linux.

So? To each their own. The "UI" of "Linux" doesn't even exist, In Linux you can choose to use from many UIs (including several windows/osx clones) or none at all. You are just too lazy to learn new things, but that's your choice. Don't assume everyone is as lazy as you are. Its everyone's decision to take the advice or ignore it.

Quote from: The Pharmacist on January 15, 2019, 07:49:42 AM

Quote from: care2yak on January 15, 2019, 04:35:49 AM

or better yet, just don't pirate material. go to safe streaming sites if you want to keep malware away from your device.

That's the best advice to give, though I have no confidence whatsoever that people will follow it given how easy it is to pirate stuff. Me, I'm happy with old-school methods of entertainment--buying DVDs or just watching what's on Youtube.

In this case they used a "movie" as bait, but it could have been anything like "free game/video player/windows cleaner" whatever. Its something about habits and culture, cultivated by that OS that happens to be "popular" but is also the most dangerous.

For example this case: I GOT HACKED AND LOST 1 MILLION.