@voxel @linux 👋 Hi. I’ve been using Linux for about five years now and can share some of my experience.
For security, I don’t use an antivirus on my personal computers, and haven’t had any issues. I set a strong password and don’t log in as root except when necessary, and that has covered my security concerns. At work, I’ve used ClamAV, which is a good idea if you’re running a web server accessible over the open internet. But I feel it’s overkill for a desktop.
Hope this helps.
@voxel @linux Customization wise, I’ve tried a handful of desktop environments. KDE Plasma looks sleek and modern to me, but it also is a bit heavier on resources. I’ve gone back to using the Cinnamon desktop environment that ships with Linux Mint. I’ve found it to be reliable, fairly lightweight, and does what I need.
For privacy, I think choosing a privacy respecting browser and installing basic adblocking plugins meets most needs. I use Firefox with Adblock Pro.