Linux has heaps of viruses I am told by so called expert! What!
 

Hi all

It went down like this. My daughter got a Sandisk MP3 player for Christmas from one of our local retail chains here in New Zealand called Harvey Normans. For whatever reason after a month it would not play songs all the way through, you could not delete music or add music and something was going strange with the screen when bringing it out of stand-by mode.

This MP3 player worked straight away for her after changing the usb setting to MSC from the default of MTP on Fedora and my Ubuntu laptopp no problems at all. She has been using it mainly on the Desktop FC6 64bit just like a normal usb removable device and happily copying music to and from it with no problems.

We decided to take it back to the shop and see if it was covered under warranty as it was only a month old. I gave the lady at the counter the Sansa and warranty documentation and daughter told her symptons at which the lady said she would have to talk to the shop expert. I said I will go look at geek stuff and come get me if I was needed for anything.

10 minutes later my daughter walks upto me tears in her eyes and said you have to go speak to the guy.

She had beent passed onto another guy about 50 and he took her to his little office and plugged the mp3 player into his computer for a look then berated her about the mp3 player having a virus on it and she had better not have infected his computer.

Anyways I went in the backroom and this guy starts telling me its a virus, and I better not have infected his computer with it and what software do we use blah, blah, blah. I said we only use linux at hom
e, that the mp3 player is only been hooked up too linux so I can gaurentee it is not a virus and he hasn't got it as well.

He said he had worked as an administrator on linux for 4 years and had come across heaps of viruses and removed heaps of viruses from linux.

I'm not in the computer industry but have worked with computers and electronics for 20years so can usually hold my own when it comes to knowing how much someone knows on the actual subject and if they are covering their lack of knowledge but my 7-8 months on linux cant match someone who says they have been an adminstrator for 4 years and removed plenty of viruses.

Anyways he told me there are some good anti-virus programs for linux and i should go and install them and check my computer.

I said I suppose i could run clamav and check but I am pretty sure I dont have a virus.

He then muttered his coffee was now cold and I said he works in a department store, he must have 1000 microwaves in the shop and he could heat it up in one of those. Dont think that went down to well.

In the end he just did a reformat and still is adamant it was virus trouble.

Look forward to your thoughts on this issue?

Cheers

Gimmee :):))

Ooooookkkk.Afaik, the only current virus you could have given it is a windows virus targeted for the system, but even that's unlikely.He may have been talking about rootkits, though.

Next time ask him a simple Linux command line question, surely an admin for 4 years will know them.

We use Linux systems for around 6 years, and we never seen a real virus. And a virus that jumps from Linux onto MS Windows is even more unlikely.

I was under the impression that most virus scanners for Linux, are actually scanners for windows viruses, and are used to try and reduce the number of windows viruses moving about on Linux Internet servers.

As such it would appear that Linux is itself secure, however, there is nothing to stop a Linux server/box playing host to a windows virus. It's just that it is 'immune' as the virus can't execute and run under linux.

So without anti-virus software on a linux box, it could possibly pass a windows virus on, but that would require the downloading of files to a windows based piece of kit.

Now I may be mistaken but Sandisk doesn't appear to use a windows based embedded operating system. It looks more like a linux based one, particularly as Sandisk are claiming their players do not have to pay royalties for MP3 codec use. Sandisk do keep their prices very keen, which is another reason to believe their players are not windows based.

So whilst the man in the shop is possibly talking from a 'Linux administrators' point of view (that is however doubtful unless the shop has a really excellent pay structure, that beats the salary scales of Linux Administrators), the application of that knowledge however gained is probably being used in the wrong context.

The important thing from your point of view is that hopefully you now know how to reformat the MP3 player, and maybe the MP3 player does have a bug in its embedded software, whatever that software is.

Mad Malc

Yeah I was wondering on why a 4 year experiance administrator is doing in the department store on not much more than minimal wage.

He did ask me if I was using open office. I said no I am using Fedora 64bit on Desktop and Ubuntu on older laptop. I thought he meant OpenSuse but now I wonder if he actually meant openoffice.org and how it related to the problem I dont know.

I did say to my daughter the MP3 player could need a format because I have a similar problem with my 4GB Corsair USB stick. It goes good for awhile then it keeps saying it has wrtie protection even though it doesnt have any write protection button. A common problem on this stick and formating fixes the problem for awhile. Corsair said they will replace it no worries at all but I just dont want to have to send it away and be without it for a week or so. I use it daily so will put up with it to its dead.

Probably a similar problem to the Sandisk and corrutpion of the partition for whatever reason.

Thanks

Gimmee :):)O

"...another guy about 50 ... berated her about the mp3 player having a virus on it and she had better not have infected his computer... he said he had worked as an administrator on linux for 4 years and had come across heaps of viruses and removed heaps of viruses from linux..."



That guy didn`t say you all the truth.

He is also full cavalier of St.Queen Victory honours, Roald Amundsen parther, worked in space as russian astronaut(partially employed), teached Carlos Santana to play guitar, and so and so ...

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Dont forget king of Norway! ;P