Re: Speaking of viruses

On or about 2003-12-29 06:10, WA9ALS - John whipped out a trusty #2 pencil and scribbled:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Elton Woo" <elwoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: Speaking of viruses

Bruce W. Bigby wrote:

On Sun, 2003-12-28 at 22:18, Elton Woo wrote:

WA9ALS - John wrote:

Another naive question from a Linux newbie - Are you guys all running
antivirus software on your Fedora box? I've had some pretty

knowledgeable

Linux guys tell me it's unnecessary - Could that be correct? I

understand

Though linux is more secure than most Windows systems, I would STRONGLY
ADVISE, that you do not take the attitude that "it can't happen".

IMNSHO,

besides a firewall, using at least one antivirus application is highly
advisable,

Now, where would a Linux newbie acquire such anti-virus software for
Linux?  Inquiring minds want to know.  Do you actually run anti-virus
software for Linux?  If so, what does this software actually do?

This newbie got H+BDEV's Antivirus (for LINUX) from:
http://www.hbedv.com/download/download.htm
and F-Prot (for LINUX) from:

http://www.f-prot.com/products/corporate_users/unix/linux/workstations.html.

Both of which are free for personal use.

... if you don't know what antivirus software does, I guess I'm not
smart enough to explain that to you!

cheers,

Elton Woo ;-)

My understanding is that these programs detect WINDOWS viruses as received
on a linux box.  If you don't have Windows, "What, Me Worry?"
- John, feeling slightly less newbie

If you read mail on the Linux box, you might get an infected email and forward it to someone who reads it on Windows. So running f-prot (FREE for home Linux users) is perhaps keeping you from passing a virus on to someone else.

But in *my* case, I have one Linux box and 4 Windows boxes. The *free* f-prot scans all the SAMBA shares on the Windows boxes in the middle of the night run by cron. And saves me $25 per Windows machine that I used to send to McAfee every year. And scans all the incoming email for the WIndows users as well. Such a deal.

--
Fritz Whittington
Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt. (George Sewell)

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