Anti virus
- Thread starter Pops6810
- Start date
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
You are now using GNU-Linux, as a guess I would say most of us do not use an antivirus, Linux is not Windows thankfully, and so there are very few nasties around, I do recommend you set up the fire wall that comes with your distribution, and if you feel you must have an AV, then you can install Clam from the distribution repository, you can also set your browser to stronger than normal filtering, the biggest cause of infections to any operating system is located between the seat and the keypad, bad habits are your main security concerns.
I run in on my mailserver.
Do you run it manually or did you compose a script or cron job?
If my memory serves me correctly from reading the documentation ClamAV needs 3 GB of RAM.
clam is to catch windows and mac viruses. since for all intents and purposes there are no linux viruses you do not need it. You will just waste your time at this point with anti virus. As it was stated earlier, this is not windows so unless you are worried about passing on viruses from one windows system thru you to another then please do not worry about it. Take your brain our of windows mode.
If people using windows are worried about viruses then let THEM have the anti virus because you do not need it.
If people using windows are worried about viruses then let THEM have the anti virus because you do not need it.
I do run a 'portable' version of COMODO's AV4Linux we cobbled together between us for Puppy some years ago. I only use it for occasional, manually triggered scans.....and only then for the simple reason that everyone else in the family uses either Windows or Mac.
I'm doing it more to protect them than to protect me. Always found ClamAV to be bloody 'fiddly' in operation; I use COMODO 'cos I used to run their firewall under XP. Never let me down, and I was more than happy with it.
Mike.
I'm doing it more to protect them than to protect me. Always found ClamAV to be bloody 'fiddly' in operation; I use COMODO 'cos I used to run their firewall under XP. Never let me down, and I was more than happy with it.
Mike.
It gets used by the anti-spam software I use to also scan for viruses so neither, I have 4G ram on that system.
Last edited:
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Up to just over a year ago, I ran clam for the same reason, granddaughter had to have a Windows machine for school work, now her family all run android and mac tablets [which are less susceptible] I no longer bother,
If a linux system is accepting and passing on MS files, then virus software is useful and makes a lot of sense, perhaps even necessary to protect those receiving such files.
Vulnerabilities in linux tend to be code that is not amenable to virus checkers. Nevertheless those issues do mostly get identified quickly because the code is open source and thus visible to many very informed eyes. That said, there's so much code that sometimes things aren't so prompt, like this one: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archi...nux-vulnerability-discovered-and-patched.html.
Recently the "spectre" and "meltdown" vulnerabilities were patched in the kernel, neither of which a virus checker had any capacity to identify, but they were patched. One can check if the current kernel one has on one's system has had the "mitigations" for these problems applied by inspecting the directory:
/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/
and checking if mitigations are in place from within that directory:
If there are no mitigations present, one ought to upgrade the kernel to be on the safe side.
Vulnerabilities in linux tend to be code that is not amenable to virus checkers. Nevertheless those issues do mostly get identified quickly because the code is open source and thus visible to many very informed eyes. That said, there's so much code that sometimes things aren't so prompt, like this one: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archi...nux-vulnerability-discovered-and-patched.html.
Recently the "spectre" and "meltdown" vulnerabilities were patched in the kernel, neither of which a virus checker had any capacity to identify, but they were patched. One can check if the current kernel one has on one's system has had the "mitigations" for these problems applied by inspecting the directory:
/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/
and checking if mitigations are in place from within that directory:
Code:
cat spectre_v1
cat spectre_v2
cat meltdown
cat retbleed
Last edited:
charlie.corder
Well-Known Member
I've been about 5 years with Linux. Have never had an anti-virus program since switching over from Windows. Never have had a virus since switching over either.
Peace of mind is what happens when you quit worrying about viruses.
OG TC
Peace of mind is what happens when you quit worrying about viruses.
OG TC
Yup. TBH, if it weren't for the fact I occasionally pass on files to other Windows-using members of the family, I wouldn't bother either.....
With COMODO, I'm simply sticking with what I know has worked well for me in the past; certainly, despite the fact it has options to set up regular, scheduled scans, I feel no need to go chasing down THAT particular rabbit-hole again, so.....occasional, manual scans it is. Works for me.....and it's NOT greedy with resources. Never uses more than a single core, though the database does occasionally need 'pruning'.....it gets to silly proportions after a while.
@Pops6810 :-
In all honesty, ClamAV and COMODO's AV4Linux are the only two free options now available. Everybody else has moved to a paid model.....even F-Prot & Avira.
Mike.
Last edited:
if you look at what you are saying is that you are going to try to prevent passing a virus with you as the middleman. But what you are actually saying is that you do not trust the windows anti virus to do it's job when it gets to the windows machine.Yup. TBH, if it weren't for the fact I occasionally pass on files to other Windows-using members of the family, I wouldn't bother either.....
With COMODO, I'm simply sticking with what I know has worked well for me in the past; certainly, despite the fact it has options to set up regular, scheduled scans, I feel no need to go chasing down THAT particular rabbit-hole again, so.....occasional, manual scans it is. Works for me.....and it's NOT greedy with resources. Never uses more than a single core, though the database does occasionally need 'pruning'.....it gets to silly proportions after a while.
@Pops6810 :-
In all honesty, ClamAV and COMODO's AV4Linux are the only two free options now available. Everybody else has moved to a paid model.....even F-Prot & Avira.
Mike.
since every windows pc has anti virus on it you really do not need to worry about it unless you have no faith in the windows anti virus and in that case maybe they should look at switching to linux.
I guess faith is a valuable sentiment, but history can put an awful dent in it:
Conficker
Downup
Downadup
Kido
ILOVEYOU
Morris Worm
Mydoom
Stuxnet
CryptoLocker
Tinba
SQL Slammer
Brain
Zeus
MEMZ
BASHLITE
Regin
I never said I had faith in windows, that is why I am all linux. What I am saying is that let windows deal with its own crap as people wise up they go linux, that is what the core of my business is about.
by the way you mentioned "brain" that virus is so old it can't infect a hard drive because it predated them in most computers, in fact it was the first virus I learned about and found a way to beat. Brings back memories from school.
Last edited by a moderator:
You want to stop a virus on whatever system it comes across first, whether that be a Linux mailserver or a Windows system of some sort. Windows defender is fine from what I last saw of it, it's gotten better over the years.
Last edited by a moderator:
Linux Laptops Custom Built for You
MALIBAL is an innovative computer manufacturer that produces high-performance, custom laptops for Linux.
For more info, visit: https://www.malibal.com
