Do i require anti virus?
 

Hi all,
this is not a much like a problem..
do i need an antivirus on linux?..does a virus exist on linux systems also..
if i need one wat i all need to do?where will i get it

The simple answer is no. The more complex answer is that although there are not many viruses for linux, a linux user can still TRANSMIT the virus to their friends using windows. So generally, it is a good idea to install one just to scan your incoming email. Now if you don't have any windows friends (or don't really care about infecting them) then don't worry about it.

Use ClamAV or F-Prot...

AVG also has a Linux version (with a nice gui if you prefer) now available here.

Baldrick

I like F-Prot.
And it is fun to tell a friend who uses Windows to send you a copy of the virus they have so you can test your anti-virus scanner.

Edit: The basics on Linux are keep up to date on your distributions security updates, configure your firewall to be useful for you, and don't log on as the root user for routine tasks.

As told before, basically there are NO viruses for Linux systems (in fact, rumours are that there have been one or a couple, but they have not been capable of spreading/infecting other computers and have long been extinct). Therefore, if only you are not willing to scan your mail for Windows viruses (e.g. when building a mail server), you really don't need an antivirus.

A quick glance at this link shows me about 953 viruses:
http://www.viruslist.com/en/find?sea...us&words=linux

Symantec website gives about 3100 references when we search for Linux virus,
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/global/vinfodb.html

:Pengy: However as rightly said by 2damncommon earlier that if you have safe browsing habits, a proper firewall in place and you dont use root account for regular day to day purposes, then you can assume that you wont possibly be infected with a virus, at least as of now.

where can i get ClamAV??how i need to install it and how to configure

http://www.clamav.net/ - download section, documentation section... took me all of 10 seconds on google.

There might be easy ways through your distros package manager but we dont know what that is

Are there viruses, rootkits and so-on for Linux? Yes. But are they the problem that they are on Windows? Generally, no.

Why? For one rather simple reason ...

In most Windows installations, everyone runs as root. There's no particular reason for it, and it's incredibly dumb to do, but nonetheless there are millions of machines out there (probably) which are like that. Consequently, when any program run by those users asks the computer to do anything at all, no matter how self-destructive, the computer will obey.

On most Linux systems (that are sensibly run), the user who is, say, connected to the Internet is not a "privileged" user in any way. So, if the virus-program tries to access a system configuration file or patch a library ... bzzzzZZZT! That program is now dead, no harm done, because it is not allowed to do these things.

Windows viruses proliferate simply because of this carelessness (or, ignorance) on the part of users... who are never even informed, by Microsoft or anyone else, in any serious way about the features which have been provided on their machines since the earliest days of Windows-NT. (DOS-based Windows didn't provide this.)

All Windows users should do most of their work from (one or more) "Limited Users." These users, and therefore the programs that they run, do not have any special administrative privileges.

Search the board for "linux virus" and you will find many, many threads covering this very topic, and explaining why Unix systems are not so susceptible to viruses.

Also note: if you share files via samba, or exchange emails with Windows users, you should be running ClamAV. Also, if you run apache with OpenSSL, you should schedule scans of /var/www (or /srv/www depending on distro) and /tmp since some builds of apache are susceptible to cross-platform worms.