Look y'all, I promise you that if you just be careful, and essentially don't be stupid, you can avoid pretty much any malware. Yes, there are going to be those one in a thousand chances where something may come up, but honestly, if you actually think about where you are going, and what you are downloading, you should be alright. Now as far as anti-virus software goes, I do believe it can come in handy, but I do not keep it installed. For example, I have the installer for malwarebites on my drive, but I do not keep it installed all the time. This is mainly because I have found that when it is installed, it takes up too many resources. This is the same for things like McAffee and Norton. So when I think I do have something fishy going on with my system, I quickly install malwarebites, let it do its thing, and then if everything is clear, then it gets uninstalled and waits for next time. To this day I have never had a problem. And the other problem I will point out with a lot of antivirus software I have used is that it will often try to claim certain safe files as viruses. I have this happen all the time. It is honestly really annoying. So if you do go and use antivirus software and it is your first time, just know that things like that can happen. Just because the program calls it a virus, it doesn't mean that it actually is. Again, that is where common sense can come into play.
It seems that common sense is a lost art. I am here as a special type of artist to bring that beauty back. If you don't like my work, prove that yours is better. Paint me a beautiful picture of life. Otherwise, I have no interest.