Do you need antivirus software to participate in the seas?
Im always scaredd, but my antivirus software is expiring tomorrow and i wanted to know!
My rules that haven’t led me astray yet:
- Use Linux
- Use Firefox with uBlock Origin with all/most of the built-in block lists enabled
- Stick to reputable sources listed on FMHY and the r/piracy megathread
- Prefer open source emulators and source ports for gaming
- Have an automatic backup system that does off-site backups
- Use network-wide or system-wide host blocking using custom DNS servers for your router or operating system (such as Pi-hole or NextDNS) with aggressive block lists
I mean I assume most of us use Linux, but there can still be malware and viruses. Just gotta be careful. I stay away from most games since those are ripe for malware. Video and audio ive never had an issue
If you’re downloading video or audio files the risk of malware and viruses is pretty low. Usually the worst thing you’ll find is intentionally sabotaged files that have audio or visual glitches. It’s very hard to create malicious media files because they are viewed by other programs and not executed directly. There is a trick they use sometimes where they will try to trick someone by naming a file “popular song.flac.exe” just check the file extensions before opening them and open them from your media player rather than double clicking the file and you’ll be fine.
The real danger is programs. Any executable file could be dangerous, which includes things like roms too. I personally won’t go near executables because the risk is so high. Having an anti-virus software helps, but some of them like Norton and McAfee are hot garbage that don’t work as advertised. Strangely Micro$oft’s Bitdefender is really good though and free. There is a paid version but if you practice the opsec some of the other posters suggested, you should be fine.
You don’t need an antivirus on linux.
and even if you stay on
you shouldn’t be paying for av, the built in defender is just as adequate as any of the paid stuff.You still have to be careful on Linux. Some windows malware can run on Wine. Don’t open any .exe, .com, .bat, .lnk or .reg files.
Watch out for files with two extensions. Some_movie.mkv.exe is guaranteed to be malware. That’s done to trick windows users since the file extension is hidden by default for some stupid reason.
i haven’t used an antivirus since 2019, as long as you have good online habits you should be okay. Also if you use windows defender works perfectly fine.
Use Linux, do not use Microslop. If you are still using Microslop that is your first issue, there are many different flavours of Linux you can use, some that look like Windows if you need it.
Use the *arr set of apps; like radarr, sonarr, prowlarr, etc.
The built in windows defender is very good, no reason to pay for or install anything else.
is there a linux equal to it
Not really, there are some AV scanners for Linux but they are more an on-demand thing to scan specific files when needed.
seems good enough for me
IMO on-demand isn’t going to protect you much. Malware these days typically runs and does what it needs to do so quickly that only a system with solid real-time protection is going to have any chance at stopping things.
