This is a general question. Back when I was on windows I used Adaware to scan my computer for malicious programs, etc. Is there anything similiar for Linux?

How can I check to see if any mal-ware is on my computer? Is there any program that will check what type of cookies are on my computer, and allow me to easily clean out unwanted cookies?

I am very ignorant on this aspect of Linux.

Thanks in advance.

not to my knowledge... having said that, the malware threat to linux stemming from activities such as web surfing is very low with a decent, properly configured browser... as for viruses and trojans and stuff like that, there's always clamav... also, you can check your box for rootkits with something like rootkit hunter...

see above...

any decent web brwser will allow you to look at your cookies and delete/block the ones you don't want... you could even disable cookies entirely, and allow them only for the sites you want...

just my ...

Thanks for the quick reply.

My present concern wasn't viruses. I know 99.9% of windows viruses don't work on linux but . . .

Perhaps I am only displaying my ignorance, but my concern about malware was because I figured any tracking software that could be installed via web browsing would work on both windows firefox and linux firefox. Thus my concern.

Obviously this is true concerning cookies. I'm not sure about malware. If malware (tracking software, etc) doesn't work on both windows and linux versions of firefox, I figure my exposure isn't too much. If malware is more browser dependant than OS dependant I'd start getting a little concerned . . .

I'm not a cookie freak who can't stand having any cookies. I just seem to remember Adaware removed the most obviously "unnecessary" ones and wondered if there was a Linux equiv.

Well it depends. Because Windows and Linux use different binary formats it is VERY hard to write software that works reliably on both of them. This is true for any kind of software - programs, viruses, spyware and adware. So if you run Firefox on Linux you are safe from any malware that is based on the Windows binary format, which is the overwhelming majority of them.

The only exception would be if they use technologies which are designed to be platform independent such as Java.

After quick googling I found this: http://downloadjunction.com/product/...128/index.html

It seems to be Antivirus - Spyware - Adware removal for Win / Unix. I haven't tested this but will try when I get my linux systems up and running.

Thanks Zeistler. Your answer got to the heart of my question.

Rundi

If you install the "noscript" extension in firefox then you will completely strip untrusted websites of their ability to run any scripts at all. Not that I've ever heard of a website forcing linux spyware on you, but you'll have your butt covered if you use this.

i second the noscript extension suggestion... been using it for a few months and it's been great... http://www.noscript.net/ ... it's better to prevent malware from getting into your box in the first place, rather than try and google for scanners that will get rid of it (especially considering that currently the risk is SO LOW if you properly configure your browser and use something like noscript)... personally, if i had to use a malware scanner (which i don't) i would make sure it's an open-source one with a lot of peer review, to keep on the safe side... i wouldn't want to hurt my privacy even further by installing dubious binaries which i had no real need for in the first place...

I'll throw in my 2 cents here:

I have yet to see or even hear of a confirmed case of adware (like pop-ups etc) native for linux. There are XSS vulns in linux browsers but I have yet to hear of an case where one was exploited. As far as I'm aware, "tracking cookies" are platform independent and would work as long as your browser is configured to accept them.

To really improve security, I'd recommend making sure that your system is kept updated, you have a good firewall configuration, and you do some general hardening to go along with good security practices (like use good passwords, don't install binaries from untrusted sources, check md5sums, etc).

What exactly is the extent of a tracking cookie's power? I mean, I go to so few sites I never much care, and since I've been to those same sites with Adaware and McAfee VirusScan active in Win2k, neither of which ever noticed any of my cookies. So I keep mine set for Always Accept out of laziness.
Lately though I'm noticing more and more mention of this kind of cookie so I'm wondering now if perhaps "trusted" sites like online stores and such might make a use of them that I'd rather block just for spite.

well, i did a quick google and came-up with this:http://www.stopzilla.com/glossary/Tracking_Cookie.aspx

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05195/537851.stm


for more info: http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22tracking+cookies%22


i also saw some stuff about microsoft having some kinda patent on these cookies or something but i'm not sure... like i said, it was a quick google...

just my ...

Cool thanks. So they don't do much of anything on a system with a popup blocker and there being no spyware/adware that runs on Linux that woulnd't be fully visible to anyone who happens to get bored and run ps -e just to see what's running.

Groovy. I tend not to google for anything I don't expect to find in google.com/linux due to Google hating me. I have a power: I can run a search, and get many useless results... my wife runs the same bloody search and gets a full page of answers .

OMG! you mean to tell me (i'm new remember) that firefox would allow this!

you can set firefox's preferences to only accept cookies from the originating website. that helps cut down on a lot of 3rd party trackers, theoretically eliminating them, i guess.

There is one trick to reduce the possibility of getting exploited by some "bad" site that uses browser/os specific exploits and depending on those uses different ones.

Add ..
.. to /root/.mozilla/firefox/../prefs.js

and it looks to that "bad" site like you are win9x user with netscape.
http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html

UserAgent "test":
http://www.rootsecure.net/?p=your_ip

I dont know how effective this is but in theory it should work :P