Hi everyone.

Can anyone recommend any good, stable anti-virus and firewall freeware for Linux? I am using Mandrake 9.2.

Try Firestarter for a good Firewall. It also has gui interface and a wizard you can run for setting up initially.

Mark.
www.stoctech.co.uk

I like guardog. It disables everything by default. Then you can choose what things you need to get thru. It took me a few minutes to get a working firwall.

Doesn't mandrake come with a firewall?

Shorewall ? It's built into Mandrake and is easy enough to use.

Unless you're providing mail / file services for other machines you don't _need_ anti-virus on Linux. (though on a dual-boot machine, it's nice to be able to scan Windows partitions from within Linux).

If you are using KDE then you can try Guarddog for setting up your firewall. I used Guarddog first, till I learned IPtables enough to setup my own firewall script. I have been using f-prot for virus scanning(f-prot for linux is free for home users) and have been using chkrootkit for scanning for rootkits.

Later
Bob

I have installed Firestarter and an anti virus program. Occasionally, I can find evidence that they are loaded and apparently running. However, as an old windows user, I am used to an icon on the taskbar that I can right click on to configure running utilities etc. I don't see anything like that. Is there some way I can get a clickable icon for firestarter on the taskbar in MDK Linux please?

I also have another problem. I installed an Epson 3170 scanner. It works fine in windows98SE. I found a driver rpm package for it on the net and installed it. everything was installed, apparently perfectly. Only thing is I can't see how to access the scanner or use it. Xsane says it finds nothing and the hardware config program fins the Epson Scanner but says it's not in the database. Help!!!

I can be reached at swameejeeX@netzero.net
(remove the X before using)
Thanks.

I don't think there's a simple way of putting it on the bar.

ps -A|grep <name>

In a console would show you if it's running or not.
You can also set up a shell script to respawn it if it dies.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by swamiji
[B]I have installed Firestarter and an anti virus program. Occasionally, I can find evidence that they are loaded and apparently running. However, as an old windows user, I am used to an icon on the taskbar that I can right click on to configure running utilities etc. I don't see anything like that. Is there some way I can get a clickable icon for firestarter on the taskbar in MDK Linux please?

At the top of the Firestarter window, there is a Edit tab. Go to that and click preferences, then at the first window there will be an option to display an icon in your tray. It will be a little grey ball. When you double click on the ball it will open the window back up!

Hi and thanks for the suggestions. I had already checked the /edit/preferences/taskbar option in firestarter. Upon further checking, I noticed that the Gray ball you refer to does appear in the task bar in Gnome, but not in KDE. I am using Mdk 9.2, about to try Mdk 10.0 rc.
Also, now when I start Gnome, I get a request for the root password for firestarter, which is already running anyway! Is this normal?

I also get an error message when Linux shuts down about can't find running process involving execvp. So something is started which I don't need. Where do I look for thos problems?
Thanks.

Go spend the $60 on a router/gateway/firewall. You wont regret it.

Hedgehog

I have a netgear unit on a customers network and these things are a piece of cake to configure with alot of options, including vpn links. I guess it depends on what you need, but for most home setups they are the way to go. If you can setup any of these software firewalls that are dicussed here on this site, you can easily handle one of these pieces of hardware.