Warning about HP Laptops - incompatibility with Win 10 Creators Update

[selden]

There are other free anti-malware software suites. Many of them are arguably better than what MS provides.

FWIW, I use Comodo Security Premium 10. It's not as easy to use as Defender is, though.
https://antivirus.comodo.com/free-internet-security.php

[Mouse]

Thanks Selden - I'll have a look at that

I have Avast (cheapest purchase version), but I uninstalled it because it was being a pain in the B with constant 'buy the more expensive version of me' advert popups!

It also never saw something that Defender caught trying to get onto my system a couple of weeks ago

I've done the update. Everything seems to be fine on the Windows partition atm (I'm on it now), but I don't generally use my machine for games an awful lot, which is what I understand is causing the problems? Not entirely sure.

I can breathe again for now - until the next update.

Windows is merely storing my data and running the apps I can't move over to Mint for now, but it would still be a pretty big blow if I lost Win 10 functionality any more than it already is at this early stage of crossing over to the 'dark side'

EDIT: spoke too soon. The newest update to Win 10 does something disastrous to the browser. Edge isn't working at all, and Firefox is very slow, so I'm back on Mint again now.

[Ilanthar]

One Windows, I have Avira antivirus. Don't know if it's a necessary thing for Mint.

[Non Serviam]

You don't need antivirus on Linux. It is a good idea to enable the firewall (which you do by opening the terminal, typing "sudo ufw enable" without the quotation marks, and pressing "enter" -- type in your administrator password when you see the prompt).

[Mark Oliva]

You don't need antivirus on Linux.

I don't want to get into a fight with anyone, but I would urge y'all to ignore this advice. I know a few LINUX wishers who went naked and later wished very much that they hadn't.

[Straf]

I don't want to get into a fight with anyone, but I would urge y'all to ignore this advice. I know a few LINUX wishers who went naked and later wished very much that they hadn't.

I agree and I don't. I agree that nobody should go online or install anything if they aren't entirely sure about it. I disagree because Linux viruses are far less probably than Windows ones. That said improbable is still a long way away from impossible.

[Mouse]

Firewall has been active since the first half hour of Mint being installed. Its on Mint's list of apps when you open the main menu, so of course I clicked it to see what it was all about.

*note aside - the way this distro is designed its so easy for Windows users to find their way about its almost as if it was designed for Windows defectors!*

Does anyone make AV apps specifically for Linux?

I would at least like to have a read before I make a final decision about whether I need more than the firewall.

Also, if I have a virus in my Linux partition it would find its way onto the Windows partition wouldn't it, and be detected by Windows Defender? I know that's too late, and Defender won't be able to clean it because it can't see the partition, but I would at least know that I had to do something about it really fast if that ever happened.

[Azélor]

Windows defender can't see it.
Anyway, is defender really doing something?
I just buy an anti virus. It looks more effective but maybe I'm wrong.

[Mouse]

Defender is better than the cheapest version of Avast. That's all I actually know for sure, and that's only because Defender caught something that tried to get onto my Windows partition, while Avast sat there doing nothing (in the days shortly before I installed Mint)

[Azélor]

Well the cheapest version of Avast is the free one? It does the job if you have nothing else.

There is a list of software here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...virus_software