Hello Elixxer - and welcome to the Forum.
The exact sequence of events is not clear from your description, but it does seem that you are leaving yourself open to problems by:
a) using Windows to access the internet, which is generally felt not to be the most secure of operating systems, and
b) accessing anti-China activism videos and blogs via Youtube.
It's not clear either if you are running Windows and Mint on the same computer as a dual boot, or you have separate computers.
In my limited experience, files are only locked by the application that creates them, and not a "
google bullying hack thing". Youtube is owned by Google so might well object to users copying files.
"
Is it exclusive to Windows OS's?" - Probably not, but I haven't had such problems with Linux, except when pulling out a USB sick before un-mounting it.
You ask:
"If I had transferred those locked files to an external hard drive would they have infected locked-up all that hard drive's files?". I don't think so, but copying files from the internet with Windows does expose one to viruses - although they won't actually infect your Linux system.
With the limited information that you have provided, I can suggest only that you stick to using Linux - on a separate computer!
Keith
