I installed Linux Mint 8 64 bit as a dual boot on my desktop that came preinstalled with Windows 7. I'm very pleased with the speed of Mint over Windows (I have 4GB RAM), Mint leaves Windows in a dust cloud when it comes to overall performance. The reason I installed Linux was I wanted more security. I was tired of having to scan everything that I do, and doing multiple scans weekly to rid my system of spyware and malware. About all I do with my PC is browse, email, shop online and pay bills. Do I need to install any extra protection to protect myself? I do use Firefox's extra security measures, such as adblock plus, no script and I'm going to install WOT, if it supports Linux. Thanks in advance for any suggestions to my inquiry. P.S. I have installed WOT sucessfully.

Using Adblock plus and WOT is a good idea .
As you are running a dual boot it might be a good idea to run CLAMAV not to protect Mint but to prevent that when you open a email that it infected you're windows.
There are linux virus scanner like AVAST the change that you're linux get infected is rather low I myself I do not used it .
As a advice never login as root.

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Thanks for your reply, I did run Avast in a Linux distro at one time, but it didn't run the same as with Windows. It didn't scan all of the files, so I quit using it. I finally got clamav installed, it showed in the package manager as klamav.