Best Anti-malware?

[ThisIsMeAndIAmHere]

I'm looking for an anti-malware program and I have some very specific requirements. Please read my requirements rather than just automatically recommending which one you personally like the best (as people often tend to do), because it may not necessarily be applicable. Here are my requirements - the first four being absolutely necessary:

- It must be free and require no registration of any kind.

- It must provide protection against viruses AND spyware.

- It must NOT collect data from me, even for analysis, because I consider that in itself to be spyware.

- It must be able to run on-access (in real time) to analyse anything as it happens, like if I download a file.

- I suppose open source might be best, but I don't know how big of a deal that is.

- I'd prefer something which is easy to set up and use (and hopefully has a GUI), but that's a somewhat secondary concern, because I'm hardly a novice with computers (though I'm new to Linux).

Anyway, I've looked into it a lot, and found some information, though some of it is ambiguous, so it would be great if you could clarify it, and provide any other advice that you may have. Particularly, it's hard to find information about whether something protects against spyware, because everything I see is specifically about antivirus software. Also, it's hard to tell sometimes whether some of this stuff is free or not. I suppose I could use multiple different programs, if that might be beneficial, and they don't interfere with each other. Here's what I've found so far:

- Sophos seems to have all of my requirements I think, except that it's not open source (for whatever that's worth) and I read that it may be a pain to get the GUI working, like it's through a website or something and it may be hard to synchronize it with the files on my computer. I don't know, because the thing that I read was vague.

- ClamAV/ClamTk seems to be very secure, constantly updated and open source. But it might be harder to use than Sophos, but easier to set up (I'm not sure). However, supposedly it doesn't have real time scanning constantly running in the background, does it?

- ESET NOD32 seems very user-friendly, and it might include antispyware but I'm not sure (does it?), though it may also collect data from users (does it?), and depending on what various websites say it may or may not require a subscription (does it?).

- F-Secure seems to have real time scanning and it looks like it's very secure (it even scans the kernel I think), but I can't tell whether it's free or not. Their pages for downloading stuff seem to imply that there are trial periods, or otherwise a subscription must be paid. However, from this page:

https://www.safetydetectives.com/best-antivirus/linux/

I got a link to this page:

https://www.f-secure.com/en/business/do ... x-security

I don't know how to navigate to that page from inside of the website, but in any case, it doesn't look like those downloads cost money, so I can't be sure whether it's actually free or not.

Other than that, it looks like Comodo and now F-Prot are defunct, and Bitdefender seems to require a subscription, and I think that's all of the good ones, that I know of, anyway. Does anyone know something that I don't?

Also, I read something about Chkrootkit and Rootkit Hunter. Is one of those better than the other or is there an even better alternative? I read somewhere that one of them was a pain to set up, but it implied that it has real time monitoring (though it sent e-mails rather than just direct notifications, and I don't know if it's possible to reconfigure that).

[Pjotr]

The best thing is to avoid all anti-malware like the plague. Because they make your Linux desktop system less secure (!). Read here why:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... urity.html

[cliffcoggin]

By far the best anti-malware you can use is the one between your ears.

[antikythera]

clamav is notorious for false positives. also, there's no such thing as a free to use antivirus that does not collect data for analytical purposes or at minimum require registration and therefore a licence tying it to your system.

moreover you don't really need antivirus for personal linux usage. If you were running a mail server then yes it's more appropriate. pjotr and cliff are spot on.

[Hoser Rob]

The best thing is to avoid all anti-malware like the plague. Because they make your Linux desktop system less secure (!). Read here why:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... urity.html

He's right.

[Hoser Rob]

By far the best anti-malware you can use is the one between your ears.

And so is he.

[Hoser Rob]

... there's no such thing as a free to use antivirus that does not collect data for analytical purposes or at minimum require registration and therefore a licence tying it to your system.....

As is he.

[Vladimir00]

Linux users don't need antivirus.Linux itself provides ample protection.If your security needs are very high.You can use Linux distribution specially focused on safety.
For example Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org/

[Schultz]

You don't need AV/M on Linux. This is coming from a former Windows user.

[ThisIsMeAndIAmHere]

Wow. I'm a bit surprised. I had heard before that one shouldn't use anti-virus software but I thought it might be a minority opinion, or that it only applied to browser plugins and stuff like that. I'm not saying that you're all wrong or even that I disagree - I just don't know, but I'm surprised. Because even though viruses are not as prevalent on Linux, I've read that they can still be pretty bad, such as Evil Gnome, and especially rootkits. So I thought it might be a good idea to get something to combat those.

But if I don't get anything at all, what can I do if I'm unlucky enough to get a virus or spyware or some kind of rootkit?

And as for the issue of registration, I suppose I could register something using a fake e-mail address, but there's no way I'm giving anyone my personal information.

[DAMIEN1307]

Absolutely Do Not Need A/V software with home use Linux...Only mail servers, or servers in general...Linux is NOT windows and is already secured through kernel updates with its bug and security fixes...Plus the fact that you have to use "sudo" for "root" privileges to do anything that reaches the LInux kernel...DAMIEN

[Vladimir00]

But if I don't get anything at all, what can I do if I'm unlucky enough to get a virus or spyware or some kind of rootkit?

This is unlikely to ever happen (If you ordinary user Linux ).
You can install antivirus https://www.tecmint.com/best-antivirus- ... for-linux/
But this is absolutely unnecessary

[Vladimir00]

I have been using Linux since 2014. I have used different Linux distributions.I had different problems. But I've never had a virus problem in Linux.

[Vladimir00]

The most important thing is to always install applications for Linux from official reliable sources.And don't install many unnecessary apps. In this case, the chances of getting a virus in Linux are practically zero.

[ThisIsMeAndIAmHere]

Well, one thing that nobody has addressed (I don't think) is the issue of spyware, which is something that's even more important to me to avoid than a virus! Does Linux do as good a job of preventing that?

[Larry78723]

YOU are responsible for researching the software you want to install. Only you can determine the spyware risk. After reading this thread from the beginning, your concerns about security and privacy lead me to believe that the best course for you is to load an operating system then NEVER connect to the internet.

Just my 2 cents.

[Pjotr]

YOU are responsible for researching the software you want to install. Only you can determine the spyware risk.

+1

Simply stick to what's in the official repo's (Software Manager), and you won't need to worry about that.

[ThisIsMeAndIAmHere]

Well, I do have a different computer which is air-gapped, but I just wanted this one to be as secure as possible for the Internet. Please understand that the reason why I installed Mint in the first place was to get away from Windows 10 telemetry (a fancy word they use which means horrendously atrocious spyware).

As for the official repos, what if I want to install other software that isn't available there, such as games from www.gog.com, for example?

[Schultz]

Well, I do have a different computer which is air-gapped, but I just wanted this one to be as secure as possible for the Internet.

Keep your web browser up-to-date then, as well as the OS (especially the kernel). You may also want to consider the app Firejail. It sandboxes your browser. I don't bother with it. Linux is very secure, and I also have half a brain and use it when browsing.

[Pjotr]

As for the official repos, what if I want to install other software that isn't available there, such as games from www.gog.com, for example?

Then you're on your own.

I recommend to read this article of mine as well:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... takes.html