I have read an article when i was looking for antiverus software saying that for the moment it is not really necessary since there are not may of them around and also because linux is not windows compatible the windows virus are inoffensive for linux.

I am knew to Linux and so far i like it. I also like the root protection mechanism built in to it.

Antiverus for windows is indispensable so i have tried to have the same thing for linux but i am not getting anywhere. I did not bookmarks the page i have read so that i could give it to you all to see what you all have to say about it.

My question is:
1-is there any antiverus software for linux?
2-is it necessary to have it or do we believe that article?

by the way i have installed SuSE 8.2

Thank you all

Frank

There is Anti-Virus around ...... havent tried it but its suppossed 2 be of some use ..... : F-Prot Antivirus

Prop easy to find in places like freshmeat.net or rpmfind.net or similiar ....
& of course just surf through all the threads in LQ.org .....

Neccessary ? .....I still haven´t caught anything ....

Da Wini G.

1) yes it exists
2) no you don't need it
unless 3) you want a virus check for mail server to prevent viruses from going through you e-mail server

Well I heard that there were also some viruses for LINUX but I thought that was a joke!

why aren't there any viruses for linux ?

surely it's not impossible for someone to write malicious code for linux ?

oh well... i've never seen anything suspicious on my linux box though...

Doug.

1) few people write any, they want to effect lots of people, thus windows

@) it is possible, but if you set it up right all the vulnerabilities int eh world would only allow a user to be effected, not hole system, there are obvious exceptions, but if you know what you are doing and do it correctly you are gonna have little to worry about.

Because.. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/33226.html sums it up very well.

So I still believe this is a better practice:
* don't run unnecessary services that hackers could use to gain root permissions at your system
* never login as root. (use "su" in a console, and "exit" to leave root privs)
* perhaps run a scanner to protect your neighbor. (ie Windows)