Well ...nearly there
 

A few final silly questions and I can no longer be considered a newbie ;-))

a) I have set up email, WiFi using an Orinoco and a Buffalo card, and WEB browsing.
I am posting using linux.

b) I have even found a download manager (downloader for X 2.5.0 final) that performs as well as anything in windoze.. I have managed to compile and install the downloader and a SSH client (PuTTy) even - to my amazement!!

c) SO I can nearly (after a few days) achieve everything in Linux I can in 'doze.

NOW the silly questions - Linux is less susceptible to viruses etc they say, but that is surely because ppl do not try to attack it so much - not because it is 'natively' more secure ??
Or am I totally wrong.

SO do I need a firewall and a virus guard...
My network is a WiFi ISP I help run, and there are several inbuilt layers of NAT, but even so if someone sent me an attachment it may still be a virus (ATM) written to execute in windoze, not Linux - but that could change..

Comments please??

Cheers and thanks all for the help.

You can configure a "native" firewall in linux using ip_tables. Learning this certainly won't hurt you, though there is a learning curve.

And, yes, there are linux viruses out there. But the entire linux OS is less likely to be seriously affected by a virus. That is, unless you are doing everything as root (bad, bad, bad move).

there are also many GUI/newbie-friendly firewall apps available, such as firestarter:

http://firestarter.sourceforge.net/

Thanks again for the advice...

Re learning curve... in the past 5 days, I have found linux a 'learning precipice' as opposed to a curve .... but fun ;-))