Help. I'm a non-techie person who works in Windows environ. Got a laptop which has Ubuntu - trying to set it up for my mom. Just want it to be something she can use to browse online - stream some videos - email. . . pretty basic stuff. It had Firefox installed and LibreOffice. Need to update Firefox, install an anti-virus, and I'm completely confused. Is there a kind and patient soul out there who can please, please help me?
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5Arguably there´s no need for AV and Firefox is updated along all the other packages in the system. – Apr 15 '17 at 19:30
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4Normally you could just use the Ubuntu installation as it comes out of the box. Automatic updates are enabled by default and usually you don't need special antivirus software on a normal user's computer either. – Byte Commander Apr 15 '17 at 19:47
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2Possible duplicate of How do I update Ubuntu? – Andrea Lazzarotto Apr 17 '17 at 11:08
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Great, the laptop is ready. You don't need to do anything else at all. Systems sold with Ubuntu or other Linux distributions don't ship with an antivirus (AV) program because you don't need AV software on Linux. A lot of users coming from the Windows world automatically try to install an AV program on Linux but it is really unnecessary.
I won't go into details here (you can search for "linux virus" or similar thing on Google if you want to learn more) but the basic issue is that:
Linux is inherently more secure than Windows since it was always designed as a multi-user system, limiting the ability of normal users to change system files.
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Because it has a small share of the desktop computer market and little effort has been spent on trying top develop viruses for it.
The result is that you simply have no need for an antivirus tool on Linux. While there are some viruses that can affect Linux they are exceedingly rare and mostly harmless.
As for upgrading firefox, just update it like any other piece of software on your system: click on the dash (top left of the buttons on the left hand side of your screen) and then search for "update", select "Software Updater" and follow the onscreen instructions.
The take home message here is that the laptop is ready. You don't need to do anything at all, just give it to your mother.
