This isn’t just a Windows problem. You gotta be really careful with the Linux versions you install. I’m not sure how easy it is to sneak in malware, but on Windows, it can happen in two ways: either it comes pre-infected from Microsoft, or the user installs the malware themselves.

With Linux, since it’s open-source and you can compile your own version, it can also be pretty vulnerable. I don’t trust just any Linux version!