Linux vs. Windows: Which is Most Secure?
I’m more secure on Linux than I am on Windows. My primary desktop is on a Macbook Pro – the best computer I’ve ever owned, without any doubt. I consider myself very open-minded and will always give credit where it’s due. Heck, some of my best friends use Windows.
• True to UNIX. It’s tough to be entirely fair here, since Windows isn’t UNIX in any sense. But my point here is that Linux does follow the security features and capabilities it inherited from UNIX quite closely. In particular, the notion of an administrative (root) user that maintains and operates the system, and desktop users who only run the software on the system, is completely ingrained in most Linux distributions.
Now it’s true that many Linux users ignore these features and run all their software from a root-level account anyway, but that’s a choice that they’ve made. The system defaults to protecting the operating system components from its user’s actions (intentional or otherwise). That feature alone must account in large degree for the dearth of viruses and other malicious vermin on Linux and UNIX platforms.
Windows, on the other hand, started life as a single user system, with that single
user being all-powerful. Although that’s no longer the case, the general attitude can still be found in many Windows-based software products – many of which just can’t be installed and/or run properly without desktop administrator privileges. This is all changing for the better, but it took Microsoft far too long to adopt this default-secure configuration practice.
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