I am running Mandrake Linux and just doing basic Internet surfing and email, thats about it. And my PC is a standalone. And BTW, all of my emails go through a web-based one anyway.... But soon to be using Thunderbird or Evolution with PlainText only enabled if I do use them.

If really need one, then whats the best FREE scanner for Linux?

Viruses for Linux are as rare as hen's teeth - rarer. But that doesn't mean we are totally safe: we can still pass on viruses to Windows boxes. If you are sending on MS Office files, or don't strip out the .pif attachments before forwarding or replying, it is worth putting a virus guard on your pc.

F-Prot and ClamAV both have free (for home use) versions.

Not really needed but you can still pass them on through email and such. I read somewhere there are like over 80,000 variants of windoze viruses and only a couple dozen for Linux with only one that has not been patched up, rootkit I think is the one that you have to watch for.

All in all, you have more to fear from passing one on than getting a infection yourself. Windoze viruses will not run on Linux unless you are using wine and from what I have read it will only infect wine and not the Linux part.

I don't use windoze at all but I am very carefull with what I forward to family and friends since they use winderz. No need passing on something that I can stop here.

I use f-prot myself but the last few versions seem to take forever to scan. Not sure why they made it do that.

Later