yes you might not install any old binary but the normal windows user who has just switched to linux probably would?

yeah but,

do you really think a trusted site is not going to notice a file has been altered???

you dont think someone is going to report it and remove it??

if this is so, tell me why viruses havent flourished in the unix env,

besides the same old, oh because its users are amoung only 5% of the population.

theres more to it. unix is a bad breeding ground for viruses, why??

well,

i have to say that there is ALWAYS a potential for a binary to infect linux, but its just not as likley

windows is click here for automatic updates,

linux, you have to research somwhere along the line

you dont even know what is going on in the back ground in windows

linux is an openly traceable OS, proccesses, RAM, everything is traceable, you can watch how and what a binary does when executed.

which leads to quicker hardening and more patches or anything else needed

yes viruses CAN run in the linux world, but as mentioned above there are serveral reasons why there are so few out there.

1. yes Linux is only about 5 - 10% of the total market share around the world. In fact last year in the Asia/Pacific area over 7% of the servers (only servers) sold were Linux. That is just a small area (well 1/4 of the world)

2. most linux users are smart enough NOT to run as root. Most software requires root level access to install.

3. even if the user does install it as user (not as root) then ONLY things that user can modify will be affected. this means it is rather simple to cure. remove that user and start over. make sure you have backed up your data on a consistance basses.

4. with so many different distros out there and each one having a different location for specific directories it would make it extreemly difficult to both install in any one location and or find something to damage.

5. linux users are smarter as a collective then windows users. this is not a slight or a brag, but think about it. most people using linux for more then a few months LEARN how the linux system starts to work. people can use windows since win3.0 until today and still have no clue how to do anything about the computer.

so think about that.

(Think, I'm gonna repeat but I don't care, as long as FUD is gone)

These days, worms are being marketed as viruses. Worms are possible in both Windows & Unix environments. Unix viruses are a waste of root privileges, and they could be easily detected with one of these Tripwire alikes:

+ Samhain
+ Osiris
+ AIDE
+ Integrit
+ Sentinel

They're called File Integrity Checkers (and you may use them on Windows too!). You don't need to update a lame "virus database". If you're fetishist, use an antivirus, but on Unix we don't need this crap. Clamav's vulnerabilities are reported almost every week. We don't need this even to protect Windows boxes. Just setup a firewall and stop using MS Office and both Internet Explorer and Outlook. Mozilla's better.


We must accept that Unix isn't a breeding ground for viruses. It's a test-and-tried-and-true family of OS's. Our old problems continue to be:

+ Buffer overflows
+ Heap overflows
+ Integer overflows

because they all let unwanted code to be run. Both Unix and Windows suffer the problem that any corrupted image or archive data may crack the system. The solution by now is to reduce the possibility of vulnerability by using the root account for administration only. This way, the problem is contained. With open source and lack of patents we will reach sometime the point where it's mostly impossible to run unwanted code via overflows

i agree with the two above!!

Microsoft keeps people in the dark,

the reason for this is job security, not information security.
which proves Gates as a good buisness man, but a horrible IT Specialist.

He could give a F about your privvy info, he take it hostage.

The only thing i respect about microsoft, is the engineering team, they are responsible for the
development of the server suite that dominates our world.

this is because they have the money to hire huge development teams with deadlines
this produces a tighly unified system an enterprise can depend on.

great, but you are at Bill's mercy because your info is at his scrutiny.

Linux could easily win out if the open source community developed OS'es like Microsoft does.

I could unify everything with LDAP and SNTP and such, but no one would likely pay me to do R&D on linux.

Linux unfortunatly is a Staple

its capable of so much more.

Right noe my project is translation.

I have to get Linux workstations to auth through AD.
It pisses me off that these two OS's run the same protocols but it's sometimes difficult to
get them to talk to eachother.

well im learning Microsoft to be a dependable player on my team
but developing Linux to see that is gets a fighting chance

i am sure you realize that is because the MS vs of those protocols is not RFC standard, but the MS vs of them. both LDAP and SNTP, kerberos, etc... everything that MS runs as "standard" is standard to MS, not to the RFCs that govern those standards for the rest of the world.

that is why you will have a night mare of a time getting windows and other OSs to talk to each other. all of the other OSs follow the RFCs were MS does not. MS does this to make it look like they are upgrading to the world standards, but in realilty they are just continuing with their FUD and trying to force out other options.

reminds me of AT&T before divestiture

well i going to have to hack at it (not stupid script kiddie crap)
i mean find a work around that i can depend on.

what ever happen to working at somthing, figuring it out on your own

hey its one thing to use other peoples experience or input to figure it out on your own,
but these days people watch too many movies, get a "hacker" alter ego and download someone elses hard work, to destroy things,

it took multiple years to build the WTC, and a lot of hard work,
it took a couple hours to destroy them..... hhmmmm
lets think about this

question,

does anyone know how to switch from IPv6, back to IPv4

is there a quick fix or do i have to recofigure the kernel,
if i have to reconfigure, any input??

right now id rather work with octets, IPv6 is a project for another day

input??

No offense, but could you please make at least one of your posts coherent rather than a bunch of random ramblings strung together?

Sorry to be so rude , but. . . geez. . . go back and read some of your posts!

its incoherent because i was replying to a prev. comment, sorry

cant write every single detail out, in a conversation

why repeat my self because you cant follow

this is a general post on virii is it not???

general posting,

doesnt that mean general conversation???

hmmmm...

one more thing

i was refering to somthing 2 posts previously,
next time i will name the person i am repling to

will that be better??

One reason why Windows is a good place to find Viruses is because it has so many different folders and places where they can hide. There is the C:\Windows folder which is cluttered. There is the C:\Windows\System32 folder which is beyond a joke, have you ever looked in there? I nearly fainted when looking for a virus in there before. The registry is also a mess. Alot seems to be repeated in the registry, and as someone has already stated, the registry needs to be perfect for Windows to run smoothly.

Where as Linux, I deleted the /var directory the other week (in a fit of stupidity), and my system still carried on running for another 2 days before I got round to reinstalling everything (might have not been the best method, but was the quickest. I also wanted to clean up and not install as much stuff). I would like to see you get away with deleting a major folder in Windows.

Also, I haven't heard of you being able to hide a process like you can in Windows. I have installed a program before, and it has asked me if you want it to be hidden from the task manager and add/remove programs list!

Hopefully, Microsoft have realised their problems in their OS, as they are, apparently, completely rebuilding Windows for their next release, Windows Vista. I read an article where one of the guys from Microsoft (lead developer or something) told Bill Gates that Longhorn wasn't going to work because there was just way to much to implement. If they take the sensible route and make Windows more clean, then Windows Vista might actually be a stable and secure OS. We can only hope though...

tom88:

windows lets the system name the system files
so they end up being HKJH78as76df8s7.dll

instead of httpd.conf

linux developers actually wanted you to read a file name and know what it does

whodda thunkit