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I started commuting by bike last year because of Covid and have kept it up all year around ever since - even though I live in bike-unfriendly Sweden where cold, snow, ice and compact darkness is to be expected.

Always use a helmet, obviously. In any weather. Apart from the obvious, here are misc tips & tricks from my personal experience of winter biking last year:

- The safest and best solution is to get studded winter tires and change to them when temperatures are getting close to freezing. 

  Depending on how handy you are what bike you've got, changing them yourself might be easy or complex - you might need help from a bike mechanic. I have an e-bike myself with lots of gears, so changing tires isn't trivial. A tip I got from someone was to only change the front tire to studded, since that's the one easiest to change and also it is harder to dodge a slip of the front tire than the back tire to prevent crashing.

  This is pretty much the only option if you wish to keep going no matter the amount of snow and ice. If you aren't using the bike for commuting but just for the occasional trip, it might be overkill.

- Lower the saddle so that you can reach down with your feet against the ground quickly, in case the bike is slipping. For this to work, you need double hand brakes and good shoes. I did this last year and it saved me from crashing plenty of times, so it's my best advise. I'm not sure how feasible this is on a mountain bike though, since the pedals sit higher above the ground there.

- A good front light is pretty much mandatory (and required by law in many countries). 

- Water on asphalt isn't much of a concern. Sand and pebbles are however just as dangerous as ice. Always take it slow when going through sections with pebbles. Generally, always go very slow downhill or when turning. That's where you are by far the most likely to slip.

- Always brake with both wheels and not just one of them. And keep your hands on the brakes pretty much always, it improves your reaction time a lot. 

  I'm not sure how much of an impact tire pressure really is, but I'm not pumping the tires that hard during winter. Obviously having the broad tires of a mountain bike will be a big boost - my own bike is more of a racer so it's far from ideal for winter roads.

I haven't crashed yet and I'm reading for winter #2 - fingers crossed.