this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024

13 points (71.0% liked)

Linux

4994 readers

274 users here now

A community for everything relating to the linux operating system

Also check out !linux_memes@programming.dev

Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Ategon@programming.dev

anzo@programming.dev

dwraf_of_ignorance@programming.dev

13

What if somebody wrote a virus that infected windows computers to replace the OS with linux? (programming.dev)

submitted 3 days ago by onlinepersona@programming.dev to c/linux@programming.dev

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Would their owners even notice?

Inspired by Kaspersky deletes itself, installs UltraAV antivirus without warning

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That would be a hell of a virus!

But people would notice, and pretty quickly. Even if this megavirus could somehow manage to do it without data loss, mimicking every aspect of windows perfectly, making file structure work the same, etc; it couldn't do anything about the programs that simply don't work on linux yet.

Once the first person noticed, it would be a huge deal

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 7 points 3 days ago

It could be a "clever" one that only installed linux if linux compatible applications were installed. That might lower the risk of being noticed.

Anti Commercial-AI license