As for me, what I do is use Linux.
Linux's software installation model prevents you from getting infected by malware and viruses.
This almost true.
It is more accurate to say that Linux' software installation model
insulates you from infections. It doesn't prevent it, and a poor decision by a computer's user will always bypass even the most strict security model.
There is no automated system capable of preventing a user from being tricked.
I've been wondering about this. I've tried both, Ubuntu and Windows, and Ubuntu would take getting used to for beginners, but it is
pretty easy. People had to get used to Windows 8, same deal.
If 75% of people decided to switch to Ubuntu (if they weren't already using it), would there be a way for hackers to start targeting them, as they always target the majority of users to get the most bang for their buck, so to speak.
How hard would it be, for the hackers to start targeting Ubuntu users if a bunch of newbies to Linux started to use it (Because they heard it was fool-proof)?
If you say this then you don't understand the difference between opensource and propietary software, basically.
There are 2 ways in which one person can be infected by malware/viruses:
a) By a vulnerability of the operating system. In this case, Linux is superior to proprietary operating systems because the code is open, then anyone can develop a fix, and as a consequence of this, the updates to fix vulnerabilities are normally provided faster in Linux or other opensource operating systems. However, with Windows or Mac, you rely on how fast Microsoft and Apple want to provide you with an update. Not to mention that, as Mac&Windows are not opensource, there could be easily backdoors that these companies know about, and we don't, because they are the only ones that have access to the code.
b) By installing infected software. In proprietary operating systems, it's easier that these happens because normally when you install Mac or Windows you need to look for software that you manually download and install. Users are not good at differentiating who they can trust (in terms of providers of software) so they end up installing programs that contain Malware or viruses. In opensource operating systems, however, this is not usually the case, because the operating system (i.e. Ubuntu) includes ways to install software that comes from trusted sources (i.e. Ubuntu package repositories), which are compiled from opensource software. The possibility of an opensource program to be infected by virus or malware routines is next to zero, because being opensource, all programmers have access to the code and could detect this before the software gets packaged.
So my point is, of course there have been viruses and malware that affect Linux, but as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware already states, most of them are not dangerous anymore (because they were only risky at the moment that a vulnerability was found and not yet patched), or only affected brave/ignorant users that went ahead and tried to install software in their Linux OS outside of the network of trusted repositories (which, is, BTW, hard to do, so it's not very likely that it happens).
