Thanks for your answer and the information provided, beachboy 2. Just a couple of clarifications:

- I am looking for an everyday distro security- (strenghtened by default against external threats), privacy- (not sending data home), and stability-oriented (few bugs, crashes...). I am aware that those three concepts do not always go together hand by hand on the same distro, that's why I am asking for one that may 'balance' the three. Also, I explicitly mentioned that I was not talking about Tails, Quebs, etc. (which provides you tighter security, privacy, and anonymity), but are not for everyday use.

-I don't use Duck Duck Go. I use Startpage. DDG has a close partnership with Yahoo, which makes me very suspicious, considering that Yahoo sends data to the NSA. Besides, DDG is based on US, and can be 'forced' by law to start collecting users' data without any prior notice.

Thanks.

lisamint,

You will not go far wrong with Linux Mint.

Run some

Thank you all for your quick answers. I know that what I was asking for would be tricky and 'controversial', to some extent. I also think that I did not explain clearly enough what I was up to, so I will clarify it below to answer some of your doubts:

- The machine I am using is a regular laptop (Intel i7 1.8-2.2Ghz, 250GB SSD, 8GB RAM) for personal day-to-day use (nothing special): creating documents (LibreOffice), surfing the web (strenghtened Firefox) using a VPN (NordVPN, no logs audited), sending e-mails (Thunderbird or Tutanota desktop client). My documents are encrypted (Veracrypt, although I am not sure whether I should encrypt the whole disk) and I use a password manager (Keypass, although I am not sure whether I should switch to KeypassXC). The default Linux Mint Firewall is ON.

- I know that Linux itself is stable, but I learnt that there are distros that are more stable than others (e.g. Debian). Also, Linux is secure, but I guess that there are some distros more security-oriented than others to use on a daily basis for 'conventional' taks like mine. Equally, I assume that Linux distros respect your privacy and do not collect any information/data from users without their explicit consent.
Taking all of that into account, I can take the regular precautions as a user (encrypted documents and mails, VPN, password manager, Firefox...) when using Linux Mint (regularly updated). If you tell me that I will achieve a reasonable/decent level of stability, security, and privacy by doing all those things with Linux Mint, I am happy to stay with Linux Mint. If you think that one of those three criteria could be improved by switching to another distro (e.g., Parrot, Elementary, Debian, MX-Linux...), I will definitely try it out.

Hope this solves some of your doubts. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for your help.

Well, pretty much any mainstream distro should be able to run on your machine, and do what you specify above. The reason I ask you the questions I did in post #10 was because, without the above info, it's hard to offer any decent suggestions that are specific to YOUR use case. As I said before, the problem with these kinds of threads is that some members are more interested in promoting THEIR favorite distro rather than focusing on what the poster asking the question wants/needs. So not your fault for that at all lisamint. And you're very welcome by the way...

beachboy2,

I wasn't referring to your post #6 in particular, but perhaps I should have said "This is almost the only decent response so far...". But still, it would be nice if some members (not necessarily talking about yourself here to be clear) could consider what OTHERS might want/need, rather than just selfishly promoting THEIR favorite distros (no names mentioned)...

A word or two about desktops. The last time I looked at the Mint site, Clem was recommending beginners to choose Mate rather than Cinnamon as being more likely to be stable — and he wrote Cinnamon! What he meant was that he creates Cinnamon by modifying Gnome, so there's always the slight risk of a problem cause by a bit of the Gnome code which he hasn't noticed clashing with his code. The same argument could apply to Budgie. Independent GUIs like Mate, Xfce, KDE, or Gnome are better.

I would also advise beginners to stay away from the plain window managers, as used in distros like AntiX. There's nothing wrong with them and they aren't rocket science to use, but they are very different to the sort of environment that you've got used to with Windows.

At the risk of starting a flame war, I'd also advise against Debian. Why are so many distros built on it? Partly because they can take advantage of its huge repository, but also because their creators think that they can create something more suited to the PC rather than the server.

In other words, I think you'd find Mint just fine. And you'll notice I'm not just recommending what I've used for 20 years, or I'd say CentOS!

Encryption is always a good idea on a laptop — what happens if it gets stolen? Normally the simplest solution is to have /home on a separate partition and encrypt it when installing the operating system. Otherwise, as people have said, security is probably more about the user than the system.

2 members found this post helpful.

I'm sorry but this question makes no sense. Security is a process and a way of working.
An OS is as secure as the user makes it.
For example, in case you can't keep up, if you post to Facebook every three seconds using Kali or a ToR-based distribution you're still leaking.

The most secure OS is one used by somebody willing to think.

Your question suggets you may want to think...

4 members found this post helpful.

Another given, just like running a few...

I've been waiting for someone to say that!

Hi 273. Thanks for your comment, but I don't get it. What do you mean by '[I] may want to think'? Perhaps I should also mention that I don't waste my time on Facebook/Instagram/etc., since I am concerned about 'security, privacy, anonymity, and stability' (also because I don't like the so-called 'social networks').

All the replies I got from all of you (using different distros and with different experiences) have been very helpful, and your feedback is highly appreciated because I learnt more about linux distros. I also realised that, maybe, I was posing the wrong question. I will explain it with an example: Parrot OS, for instance, is a 'security- and privacy-oriented distro' (apart from the testing and hacking) because it comes with several tools installed to achieve those goals (e.g., Tor, encryption software, Anon, Firefox with HTTPS and Ublock Origin preinstalled. Anyone using a different distro can also install those pieces of software and achieve the same level of security, privacy, etc. So, maybe, what I was really asking for in my original post had to do more with the code of the software itself; I mean, regardeless of the software pre-installed in each Linux distribution, is there any distro(s) that provide more security, privacy, and stability than others based uniquely on how they are built (in terms of code)?

Hope I made myself clear this time. I am really looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks.

The larger distros may have more in their repos, readily available.

But, what I believe 273 was saying is that your headed towards Linux so you're thinking... but, security will constantly take a little more. First one off the top of my head is making sure that they are or learning to run security updates regularly.

The question(s) that you are asking is/are for your own personal taste in Linux really. Many distros of Linux are very secure indeed. Ease of use depends on your know how around Linux really. I use kali Linux myself, not everyones taste for everyday usage I might add, but I needed just a bit more of a testing software platform than other distros out there. I have been through and tested, nearly, all distros that are in the Linux distro website, the only best one, to me that is, is Kali Linux. I had used fedora for many years until I had got bored with it. Not everyone has the same taste in Linux distros, everone has their favorites as you will find out yourself. Download a VM and then you can test any Linux system in a few minutes instead of a long full install, IF you like a Linux distro then fully load it onto your system.

1 members found this post helpful.

If you want security Kali isn't it. It's like leaving the keys in your lamborghini, whith the doors unlocked and a big sign saying so on all the windows just waiting for someone to break in!

1 members found this post helpful.

And oh yeah, if they need a way to get through passwords for any fancy locks leave a black box on the passenger seat... with a tool kit and any instructions to alarms?

Kali's own developers say that it isn't meant to be used as an "everyday" system. It's only meant to be used by experienced Linux users, and even then only for network penetration testing, and not for general purposes. So why you would be encouraging people to use that distro out of all distros for general purposes is simply beyond me.

I suggest you read it's own website which will tell this.