Hey,
I bought my acer aspire one linux and i'm having trouble finding anti virus software that works. Do any of you have any solutions?

Ellabella
xxx

Generally anti-virus is not a big issue in the linux realm based on its secure nature and the fact that most
virus writers target the biggest base of users which is windows, however, clamav has a reasonably good following.

I am sure if you throw your query into google you will get plenty of options. May help to add your flavour of linux
into the query.

Do not flag your posts as "URGENT". It's not urgent for anyone but you, and telling people who volunteer their time to help to hurry up, is fairly rude. The best you'll get is ignored.

And the reason you're having problems with anti-virus programs for Linux, is the simple fact that they aren't needed. There are SOME anti-virus programs, but for the most part, they are useless.

Most people that run linux desktops do not use any antivirus or other antimalware software because it's simply not needed. This generally comes as a shock to people coming from a windows environment but it is one of the really nice things about running linux. Another shocker to windows users, in linux you don't need to defrag your hard drive since linux filesystems are much more resistant to fragmentation compared to the windows filesystems, NTFS and FAT32.

There are some linux antivirus applications, like ClamAV and I believe AVG also has a linux antivirus product. However, these applications are typically used on linux file servers and linux mail servers and they are there to protect the windows boxes that connect to those servers from windows viruses that may have been maliciously placed on the server.

1 members found this post helpful.

While "Urgent" will not get your question a quicker response it probably will not get it ignored either. At least one person will scold you for your "offense"

That said... I have run AVG anti-virus for Linux on my server (which runs Samba and connects on occasion to Windows PCs) although the latest version as I recall lacks a GUI.

I am now running Bit Defender. It is free for home use. I have it installed on my new netbook (Ubuntu 9.04) and I have used it as a mobile repair tool for infected Windows PCs. I have an adapter which will attach to a hard drive via USB. I unplug the data cable to the drive in the Windows PC, attach the adapter and plug the USB into the netbook. I then scan the remote drive with Bit Defender and repair/remove/replace any infected files. A neat parlor trick


Ken

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avira

This company has received decent reviews in recent years.

Hi -

Personally, I've had good experience with Clam A/V:
http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/

I definitely want to emphasize what the previous folks said: in all likelihood, you probably don't NEED (or want!) to install an antivirus problem on your Linux.

Check out this link:
A/V for Acer One

At the office (7000 employees,IT handled by a major contractor) they use ClamAV on all the officially-supported Linux boxes.

I've used Linux for well over 5 years now and I have yet to install any form of Virus protection.

You should rather focus on rootkits
Take a look at rkhunter and chkrootkit
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/127202/171/

Sorry i'm new to this, didn't mean to cause offence. sorry

I keep an anti-virus in Linux for my windows partitions. For me Klamav works like a charm, and unlike clamav it has a graphical interface too

You do realize that KlamAV is nothing but a GUI front-end to Clamav, right?

Hi, ellabella -

I think I'm speaking for all of us (including TB0ne :-)) when I say "No offense on our part meant, and none taken ". We just want LQ to be a pleasant, productive experience for everybody - and things like "urgent" or "text-speak" can be off-putting to some (and confusing to others).

ANYWAY: TB0ne is absolutely correct:But if you *really* want that extra "peace of mind", then you have several options. I would recommend pixellany's suggestion:And again:'Hope that helps ... and please, enjoy your Linux experience!

Sincerely .. PSM

Agreed, totally.

Could you specify exactly what this good experience is? Do you mean that it has actually found Linux viruses, or that it's easy to use, or that it does a good job of protecting your friends who receive forwarded email from you?