Antivirus program

[Husse]

I know that the need for an antivirus program in Linux is considered almost nonpresent. But I think that one should have a defence against all the evil that pervails out there.
And mind you, the viruses/malware today wants your money, or your internet connection to send spam, or a bit of your hard drive to store child p0rn, that's the sad story.
Any suggestion for a good one?
Fprot is in Synaptic and I like Avira/Antivir which is one of the best for Windows at least. I tried to install both in an Ubuntu Edgy testinstall I had up and running a few days but that screwed up most everything I've learnt since then, though...

[scorp123]

And mind you, the viruses/malware today wants your money, or your internet connection to send spam, or a bit of your hard drive to store child p0rn, that's the sad story.

Such things are typical Windows problems ... but not Linux problems. Linux does have its share of security problems (e.g. needlessly opened services, unsecure default passwords when running server software, etc.) but none of the typical Windows problems.

Any suggestion for a good one?

I use Linux since 1996 and I have never used an AntiVirus ... totally unnecessary in my opinion. You better make sure you don't run any unneeded service ... or if you run any services: make sure your firewall is up! If you really insist on having Anti-Virus software, consider Avast: http://www.avast.com ... It is my understanding that their software can be had for free for private use. And they produce a Linux version too which can be found here:
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-for-linux-edition.html

[Husse]

Scorp 123 wrote:
Such things are typical Windows problems ... but not Linux problems.

OK, so you mean that (and specifically in Ubuntu based distros) you are safe because you don't run as root, unlike in Windows where everyone has administrator privileges.

I'm a bit "paranoid" given that I had my entire company on my XP system (bookkeeping, customer database, price list creation an much more). But after I closed down I don't have much of interest there any more.
Your answer indicates to me that to get Firestarter up and running is essential, and there seems to be a bit of a problem with that.

[mumbo719]

A good Firewall like Guard Dog or Firestarter is essential and both are available through Synaptic.

If it makes you feel better having an AV try Clam AV also available in Synaptic.

[scorp123]

OK, so you mean that (and specifically in Ubuntu based distros) you are safe because you don't run as root, unlike in Windows where everyone has administrator privileges.

To some degree and up to a certain part, yes. But there are many architectural differences too that make it way harder for any malware to infect a Linux machine in any way. Not that it is "impossible" ... I have read about people manipulating Linux kernels and installing key loggers ... but that's daft. Why? In order to install such a manipulated kernel you have to be root. To become root you have to hack your way into the machine. BUT: Once you're already root ... what's the point of installing a manipulated kernel which would spy on the other users when you are already blessed with God-like priviledges and can wreak havoc whatever way you wish and install backdoors galore, manipulate whatever you want whenever you want ... You see what I want to say? Under Linux you're rather at danger of getting your machine hacked by a knowledgable human with possibly (but not necessarily) evil intentions (there are "ethic" hackers too!) rather than some stupid VBscript a 15-year old bored teenager came up with because Windows has so many security flaws inherent to the way it was designed ...

I'm a bit "paranoid"

Welcome to the club

Your answer indicates to me that to get Firestarter up and running is essential

If you're running services a firewall (not necessarily "Firestarter" ... there are many more options!) definitely helps. But it's just part of the process, a firewall is not the answer to all problems. A firewall doesn't help if you leave port 80 for HTTP traffic to your web server open and a knowledgable hacker finds ways to exploit stuff you have on your web page (that's a typical attack route! e.g. badly secured PHP or PERL / CGI scripts that are accessible from outside and can be manipulated to do things they were not meant to do ... !)

Besides: At the same time this is valid too: No serves = in most cases no need for a Firewall! Why? Because if you don't run any services then there is nothing a potential intruder could try to exploit, and therefore there is nothing that would require this form of protection. This is another difference from Windows which is always running some stupid network service in the background even if you tell it not to! -- hence the need even for Windows home users to always keep the firewall running or else they are in for a really bad surprise ...

[Husse]

Evening Scorp123
Ok - it's probably hard to let go of your long Windows experience....
Well, I installed Avast antivir which is an On demand scanner only. This way I can check on my system at (ir)regular intervals. I dont have any servers running but (as we discuss elsewhere) I still want a firewall. (In my case Firestarter). I'll probably learn something from trying to fing out if it's running or not.

[scorp123]

Well, I installed Avast antivir which is an On demand scanner only. This way I can check on my system at (ir)regular intervals.

You could program a "cron" job ... Please Google this. There are some good tutorials and even GUI tools around for this. It's a UNIX "task planner", e.g. with "cron" you can force your system to do certain things in certain times and/or intervals ... e.g. scan for viruses if you feel you have to. Also I'd like to point your attention onto this article:
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/13/1637251
Please read it, yes?

Another Anti-Virus software you might want to look at is "ClamAV" maybe? http://clamav.net/

Regards,
scorp123