Bitcoin Forum

Hello Everyone,

Now that I am getting more into the crypto world I have a bunch of different desktop wallets, I was wondering what some of the best security practices and/or a good security program to have on my laptop to make sure that my computer does not get infected with a virus or malware or anything of the sort?

Thanks in advance.

Everybody these days should be running some antivirus software with malware protection. For malware, I have trusted malwarebytes for years. You also need to use long passwords that are only ever used once. A password manager like 1password or LastPass are highly recommended. They store/generate passwords for you making it easy to change them up per site/account.

-Don't click on shortened links (such as goo.gl links) unless you definitely trust the sender.

-Download a decent antivirus.  Personally I use AVG plus Malwarebytes for extra scans.

-Try and protect your privacy when sending crypto if you have large amounts.  You don't want people to target you.

-Use long and strong passwords which are completely different for each service.  Ideally you could store them offline.  Personally I think paper in multiple locations is best.

-When you download anything from a website, be very careful to make sure that it's the correct domain.  There are a lot of phishing domains in crypto.  Also, some crypto products will have a signed message to verify that the binaries are legitimate - use that.

even if you used a 'decent' or 'the best' anti virus in the world,it will not prevent you get infected by viruses.
no matter what,as long as you conected to internat you will get infected by the viruses.you can not prevent it and noone can
1.The best way to protect it is do not use an internet and an external hardware (but this is impossible because we need a lot of thing to do) [Excluded].

Doing this a few thing to lessen the risk and protect your assets :
1.Use an icognito mode when you're surfing to lessen your risk get infected by viruses,
2.Set up 2FA and use your phone as a place to get the code,
3.Use a long passwords.
4.Download Malware protection (Use premium software to get it more usefull,sometimes it can help you deleting a malicious program,but every software
                                            have their own weakness)

Do not ever trust a link or whatever that you don't know,because it can be a viruses or phising

Have a decent antivirus software and always update it for a new version. Make a regular backup of your Data. To lessen the contamination, have another set of computer to be used for non related digital currency transactions.

Always surf the net by starting your browser in a sandboxed mode so nothing can ever be downloaded from the web. Install Comodo and then they will add all your browsers to be abled to be started in a sandbox mode.

If you really want to be safe:

Virus scanners are mostly useless.
Always keep your OS patched
Browse websites in a virtual machine
Don't download and run any programs unless they are 100% trustworthy and signed.

If you have enough money, have a dedicated inexpensive computer that you only use for banking and bitcoin, don't visit any other websites with it. No games, no apps, no programs. Turn off the computer when you're not using it and always keep it patched. Set LAN to public/untrusted mode, use hardline ethernet connection (no wifi). Keep firewall in router on. You should be pretty safe then.

Thanks for the advice I will most likely do exactly what you said when I get the money I will buy a computer and set it up just for my coinz. Also I was reading about virtual machines there are some free ones available to set up do you suggest I use those or is there a specific app for a virtual machine you suggest?

If you are using Windows or Mac then you can download Oracle VM Virtual Box. You can install free linux distro on it (like ubuntu or arch) unless you have access to Windows copy.