Which desktop OS suitable for non-techncial cryptocurrency owner?

[ABCbits]

Yes, it was initially designed to be run by server. But I think it's not for everyone that's why we have Windows OS. I used them, actually I have switch from Windows to Mac from time to time.

But currently, I'm into Windows as my Macbook is broken already and the new one that I bought, I gifted it to my daughter. So I guess for non technical person Windows might be a good start. Although you really need to be at least know the basics, like AV and how to practice safety hygiene so that you will not be affected by malwares.

I start from the principle that antivirus doesn’t help much. Most trojans go unnoticed by paid AVs, and the ones they do detect are often false positives, unnecessarily putting the user on high alert. I've been using Windows without an antivirus for almost 6 years. Just Microsoft Defender, which is enabled by default and works very well.

If you follow good security habits, as I mentioned in my previous post, you don’t even need to pay an AV.

I agree, Microsoft Defender usually is good enough. Besides, some anti-virus/anti-malware have shady reputation or even caught stealing and selling user data. For example, Avast and AVG collect and sell your browsing history: What you need to know.

[bitmover]

I'm not a hacker and I don't practice hacking so I'm not interested in using Linux in that case.

I'm not blaming or insulting you, but i'm sure it's not common reason to use Linux. Usually it's used to run server, heavy computation, scientific work, programming or playing video game (Steam Deck start this trend).

I use Linux a lot for programming

It is much more complicated in windows,  and I just gave up programming in windows ..

I have an Ubuntu in the same machine which I use to run all works

[joniboini]

playing video game (Steam Deck start this trend).

I'm really interested in buying one as a portable computer. Sadly, some of my games don't support Proton/Linux and will activate the anti-cheat based on the latest updates. It's not really a big deal since I'm not planning to manage crypto with it, but it would be awesome if I could ditch Windows completely and run all my devices in one ecosystem. I guess I can try to dual-boot Windows on it, but it feels like a hassle. Hopefully, it will get even more widespread adoption in the future, so there will be no need for that.

[ABCbits]

playing video game (Steam Deck start this trend).

I'm really interested in buying one as a portable computer. Sadly, some of my games don't support Proton/Linux and will activate the anti-cheat based on the latest updates. It's not really a big deal since I'm not planning to manage crypto with it, but it would be awesome if I could ditch Windows completely and run all my devices in one ecosystem. I guess I can try to dual-boot Windows on it, but it feels like a hassle. Hopefully, it will get even more widespread adoption in the future, so there will be no need for that.

Arent those anti-cheat very invasive, since it have full access to your computer with serious privacy and security implication? Anyone who take privacy and security seriously should avoid such game anyway.

[Forsyth Jones]

Nowadays, I don't trust installing a wallet like Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow, etc. with a reasonable amount of funds on a Windows device, unless I'm using a hardware wallet where the keys are isolated on the device. I don't like the idea of ​​having a wallet on a system that constantly collects user metadata, even if the Windows system is good for all other tasks.

In the end, Linux is a good environment for holding reasonable amounts of BTC, as there is still a risk of malware or human error. The ideal environment to keep BTC is in a hardware wallet with an air-gapped approach or an offline computer for this purpose only.

Since I don't install games on my PC, nor pirated software, the risk is even lower, I usually only play on the console.

[rdluffy]

Nowadays, I don't trust installing a wallet like Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow, etc. with a reasonable amount of funds on a Windows device, unless I'm using a hardware wallet where the keys are isolated on the device. I don't like the idea of ​​having a wallet on a system that constantly collects user metadata, even if the Windows system is good for all other tasks.

In the end, Linux is a good environment for holding reasonable amounts of BTC, as there is still a risk of malware or human error. The ideal environment to keep BTC is in a hardware wallet with an air-gapped approach or an offline computer for this purpose only.

Since I don't install games on my PC, nor pirated software, the risk is even lower, I usually only play on the console.

A few years ago I used to install a lot of things on my PC, I loved trying out new software, I always had a lot of games, media converters, download managers etc, but after I got to know cryptos I became paranoid about it
Nowadays I'm very selective when it comes to installing something, I do a lot of research to see if it's safe or not, I test any installable software on virustotal.com and even anti-virus software that I didn't use, I started using a paid one
You can't be too careful

[Freemind]

A few years ago I used to install a lot of things on my PC, I loved trying out new software, I always had a lot of games, media converters, download managers etc, but after I got to know cryptos I became paranoid about it
Nowadays I'm very selective when it comes to installing something, I do a lot of research to see if it's safe or not, I test any installable software on virustotal.com and even anti-virus software that I didn't use, I started using a paid one
You can't be too careful

To achieve this, it is best to use separate computers, and most importantly, to do so on separate networks, otherwise we would only temporarily avoid a potential catastrophe. I only have two machines at home now, and I've had Linux installed on both for several years (I don't have time for Quake or Doom anymore ), but they're on the same network. It's safer not to have different operating systems on the same network.

I understand what you're saying about paranoia when it comes to security, but even if we become paranoid, we can make a mistake at any time that could cost us dearly.

[rdluffy]

A few years ago I used to install a lot of things on my PC, I loved trying out new software, I always had a lot of games, media converters, download managers etc, but after I got to know cryptos I became paranoid about it
Nowadays I'm very selective when it comes to installing something, I do a lot of research to see if it's safe or not, I test any installable software on virustotal.com and even anti-virus software that I didn't use, I started using a paid one
You can't be too careful

To achieve this, it is best to use separate computers, and most importantly, to do so on separate networks, otherwise we would only temporarily avoid a potential catastrophe. I only have two machines at home now, and I've had Linux installed on both for several years (I don't have time for Quake or Doom anymore ), but they're on the same network. It's safer not to have different operating systems on the same network.

I understand what you're saying about paranoia when it comes to security, but even if we become paranoid, we can make a mistake at any time that could cost us dearly.

I have two PCs, and the ideal would be to have one with nothing related to crypto, and the other just to deal with crypto, but I can't be that organized and besides I still use a lot of protocols, DeFi etc, so on the 2 PCs I have something related to crypto, wallets etc.

The idea of having 2 networks would also be more secure, but I can't at the moment, there are few people who have 2 networks at home

Just having a hardwallet is much more safe, at least your wallet is safe, as long as you didn't interact with malicious contract

[libert19]

A few years ago I used to install a lot of things on my PC, I loved trying out new software, I always had a lot of games, media converters, download managers etc, but after I got to know cryptos I became paranoid about it
Nowadays I'm very selective when it comes to installing something, I do a lot of research to see if it's safe or not, I test any installable software on virustotal.com and even anti-virus software that I didn't use, I started using a paid one
You can't be too careful

I also used to be fanatic about softwares and games back in the day, if something goes haywire you just format the pc, but I don't have same passion anymore. I also purchase apps/videos games these days which I would have found absurd back in the day.

[Freemind]

I have two PCs, and the ideal would be to have one with nothing related to crypto, and the other just to deal with crypto, but I can't be that organized and besides I still use a lot of protocols, DeFi etc, so on the 2 PCs I have something related to crypto, wallets etc.

The idea of having 2 networks would also be more secure, but I can't at the moment, there are few people who have 2 networks at home

Just having a hardwallet is much more safe, at least your wallet is safe, as long as you didn't interact with malicious contract

Well, having two networks isn't that complicated either, although it depends a lot on the internet provider. But it's ideal for keeping everything separate and avoiding the risk of sniffers and hacking attempts on routers.

Regarding what you said about hardware wallets, I partially agree. What can happen if we connect our hardware wallet to a device?. The consequences could be disastrous, which is why I say that differentiating traffic between different networks can help us improve security a little more.

[rdluffy]

Well, having two networks isn't that complicated either, although it depends a lot on the internet provider. But it's ideal for keeping everything separate and avoiding the risk of sniffers and hacking attempts on routers.

Regarding what you said about hardware wallets, I partially agree. What can happen if we connect our hardware wallet to a device?. The consequences could be disastrous, which is why I say that differentiating traffic between different networks can help us improve security a little more.

This is the best feature of hardwallets
Even if you connect it to an infected device, seed and private key will not be compromised, because it will be offline, without the device or the virus being able to access it
That's why having a hardwallet is so recommended

But you still have to be careful because there are viruses that make you copy an address from a wallet, and when you paste it, the hacker's address appears
Or you could sign a malicious contract that could drain your funds.

[bitmover]

In the end, Linux is a good environment for holding reasonable amounts of BTC, as there is still a risk of malware or human error. The ideal environment to keep BTC is in a hardware wallet with an air-gapped approach or an offline computer for this purpose only.

I understand that this makes sense theoretically.

But there are so many attacks targeting crypto nowadays... I just wouldn't feel safe holding my coins in a computer.

And hardware wallets are so cheap nowadays
Not having one is not worth the risk

[Forsyth Jones]

But there are so many attacks targeting crypto nowadays... I just wouldn't feel safe holding my coins in a computer.

And hardware wallets are so cheap nowadays
Not having one is not worth the risk

True, no matter how careful we are with our desktop OS environment, there will always be that doubt, wondering if there was some carelessness. My biggest fear is having spyware on my computer.

A hardware wallet mitigates this. The only thing that could leak is the public keys, but attackers won't be able to get anything from that, except perhaps associating it with our IP and targeting more personalized attacks. However, the private key will always remain isolated inside the signing device.

But you still have to be careful because there are viruses that make you copy an address from a wallet, and when you paste it, the hacker's address appears
Or you could sign a malicious contract that could drain your funds.

That's true, I was forgetting this very important detail, even if malware can't access the private keys/seed from a hardware wallet, it still has access to the clipboard and can change the destination address, resulting in losses. The victim doesn’t even notice. That's why it's important to at least double-check the first and last 4 characters of a crypto address.

[bitmover]

But you still have to be careful because there are viruses that make you copy an address from a wallet, and when you paste it, the hacker's address appears
Or you could sign a malicious contract that could drain your funds.

That's true, I was forgetting this very important detail, even if malware can't access the private keys/seed from a hardware wallet, it still has access to the clipboard and can change the destination address, resulting in losses. The victim doesn’t even notice. That's why it's important to at least double-check the first and last 4 characters of a crypto address.

Yeah, but it is possible to protect yourself in such situations just by double checking the address in your ledger/trezor device before confirming.

Sadly, this kind of attack was the one responsible for stealing billions of ETH from bybit hack. More details here

https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/3wI26AFKF1UtSDjJEXNEDM-bybit-incident-technical-analysis

[Stuart]

Answering based on the topic created anyone who is non-technically inclined in cryptocurrency will want to use an operating system that is completely user friendly (that is not also technical). I haven't used other operating system much, because it is not too valuable in my area, though, in field of specialization is quite okay to get hands into other OS, so that one will not be a novice when other OS are called upon. For my crypto related activities, I make use of Windows OS, while when it comes to trading, buying and selling, I make use of my mobile device, as it is handy and it has been my mostly used in the crypto community.