Linux and Anti-Virus Software
 

I have Mandrake 10.1 I've heard linux doesn't need anti-virus software is this right? If not whats the best?

You don't need anti-virus software.

Though you personally probably don't need antivirus software or have to worry about getting infected, if you're at all concerned about passing viruses on to your Windows-using friends then it might be a good idea to use antivirus software to scan attachments/files/etc. before you pass them on to others (if you don't mind the added hassle of course).

There are several virus scanners available for Linux. The virus scanner that I use is called Clam AV and has fairly good documentation and has a really nice set of utilities. Another one that comes to mind that's fairly popular is F-Prot Antivirus which is free for personal use on personal workstations (i.e. no free commercial use).

hi,

i agree for the most part with JoeUser11 - Linux itself is quite robust. However, you may have friends, family and colleagues who use Windows, and if you're exchanging files with others, it can be handy to screen them for viruses, for the benefilt of Windoze users. To that end, there are various antivirus software apps available for Linux - eg, Clamav.

The other point I'll make here, with rueful bitter experience, is that whilst Linux itself is indeed fairly secure and robust (and certainly much better than Windows), the user still needs to take responsibility for basic security - eg, firewalling. Using any computer, whatever the OS, on a fast internet connection with no firewall is asking for trouble - I know, because it happened to me, running Linux, and I was hacked... not the fault of the OS - I was just being stupid...