First, sorry for the long post and billion questions (and hopefully it’s ok in this community? I saw a couple multiple-question posts without one in the title but I might have misunderstood the rule)
So, my PC is running W10 with ESU, and I’m very paranoid about… most things really, but the relevant one here is malware. I don’t just randomly download stuff from the internet, but I know you can get malware even without consciously doing that, and even though I have an AV (Bitdefender Free) I’m hesitant to just stay on W10 after the free ESU ends. But there’s no way in hell I’m switching to 11.
So, besides staying on regular W10, my main options would be Linux or W10 LTSC. And I have various questions regarding these three choices.
I consider myself relatively tech savvy compared to the average person, but definitely ignorant on the matter compared to the average Lemmy user. So it’s not exactly an ELI5, but definitely an ELI15 or something.
I also have access to a different, W11 PC that I could use as “testing environment”.
Option 1: Switching to Linux
Even regardless of security updates, Microsoft is getting on my nerves and I’ve been telling myself I need to switch to Linux or at least dual-boot for a while, but there’s various things making me question it:
(For most purposes, “Linux” here refers to Mint since that’s usually the one I see recommended for beginners, but if other distros work better for certain aspects I’d appreciate to know)
1a - Is there no file system that works perfectly on both Linux and Windows? I could technically dual-boot using two different drives, but what if I need to access/move files between two drives with different file systems? Which issues would I face if, say, one is NTFS and the other is ext4? I think all of my drives are currently in NTFS, would I have to reformat everything to safely access them from Linux without worrying about data/metadata loss?
1b - I read that to open an .exe on Linux I would have to do it through WINE, and that there’s a database to check compatibility of individual programs with it, but are the worst compatibility issues just “the program doesn’t open”, or can a compatibility issue result in data loss/corruption too?
1c - I’m currently using Firefox on Windows, is it possible to copy all my settings and data (browsing history included) from the Windows version to the Linux one?
1d - Other than specific .exe without WINE compatibility, are there any relatively common file types which can’t be opened with Linux that I should be aware of? (Mostly talking about picture/video/audio/text files, compressed archives or similar).
1e - What can I mess up by testing an USB live version? Are there any things I should be careful about? I’ve heard “changes aren’t saved”, but that’s referring only to OS configuration, right? And, going back to file systems, can I even access the data that’s on my NTFS drive from a live version or would I just be working with the stuff inside the USB?
1f - I read often that “you can’t get viruses on Linux”, but that’s mostly because they’re not developed specifically for it, so you might “get” them but they won’t work, right? If I dual boot, is there the chance that I get a malware while browsing with Linux and then it infects my pc when I boot Windows (even without consciously opening unknown .exe files)?
1g - Which Pc components should I pay attention to because they/their drivers might not work on Linux? Is there a site/tool that can check if my current hardware would have any issues? (For example, I have a Nvidia graphics card and I think I read that might be a problem?)
Option 2: Windows 10 LTSC
Linux would be the ideal, but if I get too paranoid or can’t invest enough time in it to figure how it works before October, my second choice would be W10 LTSC, since from what I understood, that one has much more extended security updates. I do have my share of doubts about it too, though:
2a - I heard there’s various different versions of W10 LTSC (IoT or not, RTM, 2021, I think there’s even an Enterprise version that isn’t LTSC?), but what are the actual differences? Is one version objectively better than the others?
2b - I know LTSC is meant to be used in a “company environment”, but are there any downsides to it compared to the Home version? Does it have some hard limitations on what can I do with it? (For example, can I play every Steam game currently supported by regular W10 on it?)
2c - The main place where I’m finding LTSC information is Massgrave, is the procedure to keep files on their page safe/advised or should I backup and format just in case? And after doing that, can I activate it with a Key bought from a third-party site? (I heard their Activation Script isn’t 100% perfect, and keys are not that expensive anyway)
Option 3: Regular Windows 10
If both Linux and LTSC end up being too overwhelming to trust myself with, the only choice left would be to stay on W10 with Bitdefender, at least for my main PC. Though I’m still pretty anxious about malware:
3 - I initially thought that you could get malware only by consciously downloading files, opening mail attachments, going on uncertified sites or plugging in infected devices, but apparently there’s some types of malware that can infect your PC without you consciously doing anything? (For example, I read the WannaCry attack affected even machines that did none of the above?) Is there nothing you can do to prevent this from happening on an unsupported OS besides “not connecting it to the internet at all”? Is this just not a viable choice if I don’t want to risk losing my files or having my data stolen?
Even getting some of these answered would be great, and of course, if you think I have some misconceptions that need to be corrected I’d love if you did so, thanks in advance!
(Skipping the Windows questions since that's no longer my area of expertise.)
NTFS works perfectly on both Linux and Windows.
In a typical dual boot system, you'd have Windows on an NTFS partition and Linux on an ext4 partition. Linux could see, open, and modify the Windows NTFS partition if you want, but Windows does not support ext4 and would not be able to see or open the Linux partition. (If you try, Windows will say 'there was a problem with this device' and offer to "fix" it for you. Don't let Windows do that -- it will wipe your Linux partition.)
If you really want Windows to be able to open and use your Linux partition, you could install Linux on an NTFS partition. That's generally not recommended and not ideal, but it is possible. If you do that, then both Windows and Linux will be able to access and use each other's partitions. However, running Linux on NTFS is non-standard and weird, which means you might possibly run into non-standard and weird bugs that will require nonstandard and weird help in order to fix.
There's also another even crazier solution: it's possible to install Linux and Windows on the same NTFS partition. This is more of a 'Look at the crazy thing I did!' stunt, though, and nobody would recommend that for daily use. I definitely wouldn't recommend that for a beginner!
But, in general, it's best to go with the default approach of having Windows on NTFS and Linux on ext4. Any data you want to share between the two can be saved on the Windows partition, or on a separate third NTFS partition/thumb drive/online storage. If you really need to move data from Windows to Linux while running Windows, your best bet is to install some cloud storage/sync application in both, so you can easily send things from one to the other over the internet. I would recommend Dropbox or Mega, both of which work very well on Linux with native Linux clients available.
Yes: https://appdb.winehq.org/
But always take those ratings with a grain of salt. Getting Windows applications to run on Linux is often a tricky business, and what works in one person's setup might not work in another person's slightly different setup. The good news is that this has been a very active area of development lately and is improving quickly. And a shocking number of Windows programs already do work quite well. But being able to run a Windows application in Linux still isn't a sure thing, and it may often require some tweaking and messing around with various settings to get something to work well.
Generally, yes, it's quite safe to try. 90% of the time, if the program isn't working through Wine, that will express itself as "I try to launch the program and nothing happens." Another 10% will be "The program launches, but often crashes when I try to do xyz in it."
It's very unlikely that attempting to run Windows software through Wine will mess up anything else in your system or damage any of your data. (Though if you're opening and working with data in a Windows program through wine and then the program suddenly crashes, the data that the program was working with could possibly get corrupted that way.)
Also, when running Windows software through Wine, you do have to be careful of malware. Generally, Linux is extremely resistant to malware, even in this case, but if the Windows program you're trying to run includes malware, there is a chance that it could end up doing undesirable things to your Linux system, or at least that it could infect or mess up your Wine installation.
Very possible.
Easy way: In your current Windows system, make a Firefox account (if you don't have one already), and enable online synchronization of everything that's important to you. Wait for it to fully synchronize (this could take a while if you have a lot of data in it). Then boot into Linux and sign into your Firefox account in Linux. Everything you synchronized should automatically transfer to the new system. (And as an extra bonus, any new changes in Linux will also transfer back to Windows if you're dual booting and go back to Windows.) This might not be the best approach if you're paranoid about your privacy, though, since all your browser's information will then be stored online, where it could potentially be hacked/leaked.
Hard way: It's also possible to transfer the data over manually: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles -- Doing it that way is likely to be much more involved and difficult, but you keep local control over all your data, so there's no privacy risk.
Generally, no. Way back in the day, maybe. But today, you're not likely to run into any file compatibility issues at all.
Two things you might actually encounter, though:
A file type that can only be opened in a specific Windows application, and that application isn't available on Linux and doesn't run well in Wine. This is generally quite rare, but if you're working with some very specific and niche Windows software, it could be a problem you encounter.
Some files require proprietary, closed-source codecs to open and work with them. (Especially certain kinds of video files.) Most beginner-friendly Linux distros will come with those proprietary codecs already installed and you won't have any issues opening those files. However, some Linux distros are very purist about it and will not include any closed-source code ... so they don't include the codecs to open those proprietary file formats. Even in that case, though, it's usually pretty easy to manually install those codecs if you need them, and that will solve the problem ... at the cost of your system no longer being purely open source. Some distros present this as an option during installation -- if your distro's installer asks you if you want to install proprietary packages/3rd party packages/closed source packages/etc ... as a beginner, you should probably say yes.
Essentially nothing. When booting a live USB version for testing, it will not make any permanent changes to your system at all.
It's possible to make permanent changes, but only if you do so on purpose. Most live USB versions will be able to see your NTFS partition, but they will see it in read-only mode and they won't make any changes to it. You'd have to manually and deliberately re-mount the partition in read-write mode to be able to make any changes to it. Some live USB images also come with an 'install' option, often as a desktop icon. Don't run that if you don't want to make any changes to your system. (But even in that case, it will probably warn you that you're about to make permanent changes and give you an option to cancel.)
Data that's on your NTFS drive would typically be visible, but read-only, so you can't change it.
Many USB live versions don't (by default) include any writable storage. Any change you make will be undone and reverted every time you reboot it, and every boot takes you into the default version, exactly how it was the first time. Some live USB versions will give you an option to create writable storage either on your hard drive or on the USB itself, but that's usually something you have to deliberately set up (because you want changes you make to stay after rebooting).
Pretty much, yes. Though with the increasing popularity of Linux, that may begin to change.
But, also, Linux is at its core a more secure operating system with fewer weaknesses for a virus to exploit. But you definitely should still be careful what software you download and run. Get your Linux software from trusted sources, not from third party sources that may have edited the code.
It's possible, sure. But extremely unlikely.
The most likely way this could happen is if you download an infected file in Linux, then boot into Windows and open the infected file.
You could spend hours researching, but the easiest way to find out would be to just boot a live USB version to test it.
Thanks for the answers!
In both of these cases though, I would have to consciously run a program/open a new file though, correct? Is running it through Bitdefender first good enough to ensure it's safe?
Yes.
While there could always be exceptions and unknown security flaws, it's extremely unlikely that you'll get any kind of virus/malware in Linux without consciously choosing to run a sketchy program. (As in, so unlikely that if it actually happens, tech journalists will want to be able to examine your PC and find out what happened. It would be a newsworthy event.)
It certainly would help, and you could then be pretty sure it's safe. Nothing is ever entirely 100% safe, but it's as close to safe as you can reasonably get.