antivirus & firewall settings made simple???
 

hi ,is it possable to advise "newbees" about some simple settings for the linux firewall,and advise about antivirus needs.
i have googled ,and read lots about this (some of it very old i mite add),but im still not sure about the requirements,(still paranoid frome the old days i guess.
for example, firewall, "tick the box no firewall",or not,any advice please
ive installed "clamav",i dont even know where to find it.
sorry if this has being asked several time before,but i cant find any up to date advice,very possably the newer versions of linux may be more /less secure.
im using "pclos" and linux mint9.any advice appreciated thanks:o:o

The advantage of a firewall, in addition to one provided by your router is that it will act as a secondary backup in case you inadvertently open a hole in your primary firewall or install an application that opens a port that you don't intend to be open. Unless you are running server processes, you shouldn't need any open ports in your firewall. The default Linux firewall is Iptables. UFCW (uncomplicated firewalls) and Firestarter are a couple of GUI application front ends for IP tables that will help you. Here is an excellent Iptables tutorial.

Generally, Linux does not need antivirus. While there is malware that can infect a Linux system, it doesn't suffer from the rampant infections that Windows does. This is largely due to the diversity Linux as well as the enhanced permissions setup. This is also one reason why you should avoid running as root as much as possible. From what I have read, ClamAV is decent at detecting (Windows) viruses. While your system won't be susceptible to them, it is possible to both pass them on to a Windows host as well as have them cause problems in Wine. Clam does not run as a real time background scanner like is common in Windows. You can initiate it by running 'clamscan' from a terminal prompt or even set up a Cron task to run it periodically. Typically, Antivirus applications are run as part of a mail server to prevent the spread of infections. Like most applications it will be installed in one of your BIN directories (/usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin) depending on your system defaults. The easiest way to find it would be to look at your package manager and see if it has the installation details. Failing this, you could use the find command to search for clamav.

thanks for your help, appreciated