You might be supprised as to how easy the transition might be to a modern
(recent) Linux distribution.

At Sun, 18 Jan 2026 20:10:58 +0000 Deb Boyce <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> I've considered going over to Linux for many reasons, but I haven't touched 
> that O/S in thirty years and about the only command I remember is "kill" and 
> the fact that slashes go the other way in the file paths. After fifty years 
> working in a DOS/Wintel environment, I'm afraid my brain may be too old to 
> make the switch at this point. 😄
>
> Deb
>
> Sent from Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
> ________________________________
> From: Stephen Wiley <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2026 12:05:22 PM
> To: Deb B <[email protected]>
> Cc: Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) <[email protected]>; 
> [email protected] <[email protected]>; Deb Boyce 
> <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Spam] Re: [GNC] Possible malware in GnuCash 3.14 for Windows
>
> You are, at the end of the day, trusting these antivirus vendors to come
> up with *patterns* to identify binary artifacts as clean or malicious.
>
> If your system is so important that you need this the appropriate thing
> to do is to have people read *the source* and build the binaries from
> that. This is how Linux distributions work. If your standards are low
> enough that you're unwilling to demand that level of scrutiny then the
> practical path forward is to disable your antivirus software which is
> almost certainly going to get hung up on particulars output from
> compilers and not intent.
>
> --Stephen
>
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 06:59:23PM +0000, Deb B wrote:
> > So it does make sense to depend on Windows Defender, but I'm still left 
> > with Android and iOs devices to protect.
> >
> > Deb
> >
> > Sent from Outlook for 
> > Android<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faka.ms%2FAAb9ysg&data%7C02%7C%7Cc14ced37c9564d7eaaf808de56cceb34%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639043635270304890%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LG%2B16Bnwitlp0Dir9S32wyR318Nz%2FSMajI%2FPxPc01j0%3D&reserved=0<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>>
> > ________________________________
> > From: gnucash-user <[email protected]> 
> > on behalf of Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2026 10:50:26 AM
> > To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
> > Cc: Deb Boyce <[email protected]>
> > Subject: Re: [GNC] Possible malware in GnuCash 3.14 for Windows
> >
> >
> > Stan Brown
> > Tehachapi, CA, USA
> > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrownmath.com%2F&data%7C02%7C%7Cc14ced37c9564d7eaaf808de56cceb34%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639043635270322806%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=R%2BTtX%2Bw%2FQb7scWzuilrgkNYzuuwu2Dkcvj%2FY1O6d5bI%3D&reserved=0<https://brownmath.com/>
> >
> > On 2026-01-18 09:47, Robert Heller wrote:
> > > I don't (and never have) used MS-Windows, but videos I've seen on YouTube
> > > suggest that most add-on antivirus software for *recent* versions of
> > > MS-Windows are a waste of money.  "Windows Defender" (which is build in to
> > > revent versions of MS-Windows) does everything any MS-Windows user needs.
> > > Almost all malware these days are phishing E-Mail and depend on esentially
> > > socially engineering to get the user to visit some website to trick the 
> > > user
> > > into revealing login credintials.  Malware writers generally don't bother 
> > > much
> > > with the clasic forms of malware these days.  And yes, Windows Defender 
> > > will
> > > probably flag legit versions of GnuCash, since GnuCash is not "signed" by 
> > > a
> > > Microsoft supplied certificate.  You will have to "whitelist" (whatever 
> > > that
> > > entails) GnuCash.
> >
> > Both in Windows 10 and Windows 11 on my machines, the popup complaint
> > about "unknown publisher" or similar has a "More info" link which is,
> > let's say, quite poorly named. Actually, "More info" is what you must
> > select to get to the "run anyway" or "install anyway" option.
> >
> > Here's how I know. The email program Betterbird, a fork of Mozilla
> > Thunderbird, has much more frequent updates than GnuCash. As with
> > GnuCash, it has no signing certificate. Every time, I get the prompt,
> > click "More info" and then "install anyway," and I have no issues.
> >
> > I second what Robert Heller says about third-party antimalware being a
> > waste of money on Windows 10 and 11 systems.(*) (Malwarebytes is an
> > exception, but the free version is sufficient; you just have to remember
> > to run it manually.) Windows Defender seems to do a fine job. We have
> > had extensions about malware protection on the Windows 10 and Windows 11
> > Usenet newsgroups, and the consensus matches what Robert said. At this
> > point, I agree, social engineering is a bigger threat than traditional
> > malware, at least for people who stay away from sketchy websites and use
> > common sense with email. Never open an  attachment you weren't
> > expecting, even if it purports to come from someone you know.
> >
> > (*) Avast is arguably malware, in a small way, since it inserts an
> > advertisement for itself in the emails you send. This happens without
> > your permission, and to stop it you must follow a procedure that is far
> > from obvious.
> >
> > Stan Brown
> > Tehachapi, CA, USA
> > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrownmath.com%2F&data%7C02%7C%7Cc14ced37c9564d7eaaf808de56cceb34%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639043635270332805%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=t6qv6B4D%2F38b4suBcQ1uYnTWrBBWaq23PCAooosOTrI%3D&reserved=0<https://brownmath.com/>
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnucash-user mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.gnucash.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fgnucash-user&data%7C02%7C%7Cc14ced37c9564d7eaaf808de56cceb34%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639043635270342345%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6X9aSU5Ha1%2BlbOZ7sWRuT6LUmtCF7hUTw3IrucIUylo%3D&reserved=0<https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user>
> > -----
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnucash-user mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.gnucash.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fgnucash-user&data%7C02%7C%7Cc14ced37c9564d7eaaf808de56cceb34%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639043635270352101%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=X9zLD8gO1CC0yidrWWNYMGFceZ69HDtd%2F5AIBvGwBMQ%3D&reserved=0<https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user>
> > -----
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> [email protected]
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
>

--
Robert Heller             -- Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
[email protected]       -- Webhosting Services

_______________________________________________
gnucash-user mailing list
[email protected]
To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
-----
Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

Reply via email to