I don't do anything in terms of security.
Linux is a lot more robust than Windows.
Keep the installation to a minimum. Don't install and remove what you don't need (email client, games, etc...).
Disable services you don't need (screen saver, bluetooth, desktop background, themes, ....).

I do have a router in place, that provides some primary protection.

Your Intel CPU based folding machine won't be safe, as it has that intel bug, that is only fixed with Linux Kernel 5, which does not support Python 2, and thus FAH won't run on it.
If you want to remain safe in Linux, get a cheap $15-25 SSD (16-64GB or more), and install Linux on that.
Dual boot in Linux, and don't mount your Windows SSD/HDD when folding, or keeping the system online for 24/7.
 
So far I don't think I've ever ran into safety issues. I don't run any AV/firewall, as my SSD doesn't contain any valuable information other than FAH, which is public domain info anyway.
Just don't sync your browser, and don't use your pc for any online banking or shopping; and chances they can use that system for malicious purposes other than to just turn off the PC, or mess up some drivers or software, is nihil.
 
Even if they succeed to mess up my system, it takes about 30 minutes to put it back up again.

*points* IF you have the option, like with cable, REPLACE THE DEFAULT MODEM!!! I'm using an off the shelf cable modem that they can get into to configure, sure, but beyond that modem? They are BLIND as hell. My NAT router, which is running a custom firmware based on dd-wrt, is totally out of their control. 

It SCARES me, the amount of control they just assume everyone is fine with.
 
Conversely, it terrifies me what we as a collective will put up with because of the 'tyranny of the defaults'. We assume, by and large, that because the company SAYS it's that way that it IS that way. That's dangerous thought and it leaves us FAR too vulnerable. 
 
d

It's also the 'Secure vs Convenient' trade off. If it's REALLY Secure, it's not convenient or easy for us to do. If it's really Convenient, it's not at all secure.  We need to accept that secure means a bit of difficulty.
 
d

Exactly what he said - Unless you're folding in a VM environment, which would be HIGHLY detrimental to your PPD, it's simply not a worry. 

d

Unless you have something to protect, no need for special safety features.

do note that the python requirement is just for the FAHControl and not for the FAHClient, which actually does the work. which means you can have it run in the background and use terminal commands to control the client but no fancy GUI. i havent used the GUI in a very long time as i have just been using SSH into all my machines to control them.

you manually setup/configure your config.xml file and your log is still written to your log file located at "/var/lib/fahclient/log.txt"

I am trying to install mint and have it up and running but folding isn’t going... at all. Trying to load the Nvidia drivers and it takes absolutely forever, then fails... I have been sitting for almost 4 hours twiddling my thumbs and trying to get a direct answer.
Motherwell has to be something super easy to get this going and I have just missed it.

I am trying to install the Nvidia driver and run folding. I won’t be doing anything else on this pc at all.. I keep getting the error: opencl could not find the device in slot #, the manual opencl-index. I can not figure out what I am missing here.

Did you perform step 3-5?
Step 3: once installation is complete go to Menu->Administration->Software Sources and then under the PPAs tab add "ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa"
 
Step 4: go to Menu->Administration->Driver Manager and install the nvidia-XXX drivers.
 
Step 5: from the terminal type the following commands to allow F@H Control to be installed.
I copied and pasted both lines below into the terminal in one shot.

wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/109052632/python-support_1.0.15_all.deb
 
 
 
sudo dpkg -i python-support_1.0.15_all.deb

Don't forget to reboot.
 
Switching to a different mirror can help at times as well.

Alright, got up to running on the 2070, and I haven’t been able to tune much else.

the fist time on linux can be frustrating. but every time you use it you will learn more about how it works and it will get easier the 2nd time you use it. ;)

I had similar black screen issue - WHat happened to me is it started with a driver that only picked up the 1070s properly first, so I had to move my monitor to the 2nd card to work in linux for the setup. Then, when I got the new version of the driver installed and rebooted, I had to move the plug back to the 2070.  So, try plugging into the cards to figure out which one is getting the focus for output.  Also, this is a wonderful pointer to ensure TeamViewer is installed and setup before you finish.  Being able to run the machine headless is a wonderful thing.
 
d

Back to windows for now. Not wasting any more time sitting staring at command lines when windows at least functions.

I will give it another shot this weekend when I have far more time.

In the end, I updated the Nvidia driver and the entire SSD was wiped clean. Linux didn’t exist anymore... I have no idea what caused that, but I will figure it out this weekend.

I have kind of a silly question. Are the commands the same for each version/flavor of linux? I ran it when the 4P's were hot stuff, with A LOT of help from Bowlinra.