When I have had malware on the computer, whether running Linux or Windows, I would reinstall the operating system. This can take maybe an hour when running Ubuntu or Mint, depending what you do. With Windows, it can take a lot longer, as you install Windows, then Office, then other programs.
Because I had so many problems at that time, I considered the possibility that the malware may be hiding on the hard drive, and still be there when I reinstalled (It can, but it is rare). So I began to completely erase the hard drive before reinstalling each time. This meant it took longer.
I got fed up with wasting so much time constantly reinstalling.
For quite some time, I used a firewall, and this was effective.
However, I figured the answer would be to run Linux from a Live CD. But most live CDs take too long to boot. In many cases, you also waste too much time changing settings.
The end of the story is that now I use Tiny Core. I have had no problems with malware since using Tiny Core.
There are many things which make Tiny Core inherently more secure. As you mentioned, the read only operating system is one.
Another factor: Popular operating systems are targeted by those writing malware, such as Windows and Ubuntu. As relatively few people use Tiny Core, I suspect that nobody has bothered writing malware for it. Most of the malware that affects other Linux distros would not affect Tiny Core.
In years to come, as Tiny Core becomes more popular, there is a possibility that someone may attempt to write malware for it. For this reason, I recommend using the firewall.
Don't save anything of value to hackers, such as credit card and bank account details, on your computer.
There is no such thing as a computer connected to the internet that can be guaranteed to be totally secure.
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