The way I describe it is Linux is instantly configurable as exactly the knife you need. Windows is a Swiss Army Knife.
Don’t like what it is doing? Reconfigure and Recompile. You want a fillet knife. You get a perfect fillet knife. On Windows you flip out the blade closest to a fillet knife out of the Swiss Army Knife and hack away at the fish.
Both have their uses and their strong & weak points. I like Windows 7 - it’ll be safe for awhile as long as a person has anti-malware, keeps programs up to date, doesn’t go off to any strange/new sites or install crap.
Foe Linux, I like Xubuntu.
If a person wants a good anti-malware program for Ubuntu-based distros, Eset Nod32 is pretty good as a paid solution. I think it’s gives a free test drive for a month.