Antivirus

[johndingli]

Hello another question please do you need to install an antivirus had been checking on synaptic and found no antivirus thanks as usual

[Snowhog]

Re: Antivirus

Technically, and practically, no. There are antivirus packages though. Search for clamav in Synaptic.

[johndingli]

Re: Antivirus

Thanks again snowhog

[johndingli]

Re: Antivirus

I i wish to download another antivirus not clamav how do i install it thanks

[Robin T Cox]

Re: Antivirus

See:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510812

For the most part, Linux anti-virus programs scan for Windows viruses which do not run on Linux, even on wine (http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?s...30222&from=rss). Anti-virus programs are "reactive" in that they can only protect you from known viruses. They can only protect you against the next Linux virus after it is developed, not before. Furthermore the "fix" will be to close any hole(s) in the code, these fixes will be available through security updates (which are more frequent in Linux then your previous OS if you are coming from Windows).

My advice is to skip the anti-virus if you run Ubuntu. Why ?
They scan primarily for Windows viruses.
There is a high rate of false positives.
Isolation/inoculation is poor.
And currently there are no known active Linux viruses (so there is essentially nothing to detect).

Running antivirus can make some sense if you are intending to "protect" windows users, however, IMO, for a variety of reasons, it is best if Windows users learn to protect themselves. In fact the most common usecase for a Linux antivirus program is to run a Windows fileserver or serve mail to Windows clients.

[johndingli]

Re: Antivirus

the file extention is .tgz any help how to install this file

[dibl]

Re: Antivirus

If you right-click the file, you should get an option to "Open with > Ark" or "Extract with Ark" or something like that. So you will extract it to wherever you wish on your system. There should be a "README.TXT" file in the package that you can read for detailed installation instructions. Follow that.

Cautions:

1. Be very careful and verify what you're doing.
2. Don't perform root operations (like installing software) in your ~/home/johndingli folder.
3. If it's been packaged for rpm management, you're screwed unless you convert it to .deb with alien.
4. This is probably a bad idea.
5. Linux is not like Windows.

[Snowhog]

Re: Antivirus

And, what file did you download? Just because it (may) have been designated for Linux, it may not be for your version of Linux. Think of it this way: A program that was written to run in Windoze Vista isn't (necessarily/likey) to run in Windoze 95.

[johndingli]

Re: Antivirus

Thanks to all of you first of all i have decided not to install an antivirus and secondly i will use the software found in synapic but as they say i wont stop experimenting so you wont hear the last of me but sencerely thanks guys