viruses

[44139]

10.3 I have some viruses detected by an MS popup. what linux anti virus is on my downloaded DVD, and will it clean my system? I'm assuming I'm ok for now. spyware, a trojan and something else.....so it claimed. advice pls.

[Manchunian]

Are you talking about those pop ups that appear on some sites that claim to have detected a virus on your computer? If so, this is totally bogus. Whilst I can't put my hand on my heart and say you don't need to worry about viruses while you are using Linux, it is very unlikely that you'll get one. Most people using Linux don't bother with anti-viruses.

[jayd512]

Pop-ups like that will almost always tell you that you're infected with something. Manchunian has it right in that you probably don't need to worry about it. Really though, the only thing I think you might need an AV program for is if you plan on sharing any type of files with a Windows computer. In which case ClamAV is free to download.

[Manchunian]

Alternatively, you can use Avast. But, as Jayd said, the only time you really need to worry about viruses in Linux is if you share your data with a Windows computer - your Linux computer will be fine; but your Windows computer can get infected.

NB - There is a case where you could get a virus in Linux. For example, say you want to watch a video, you may find a little message saying that you need to install a codec. You click the link to install the codec, and a little message pops up asking you for your root password. This particular type of virus has already infected Mac computers, and we can only imagine that as Linux becomes more widespread, Linux will one day also be targetted. For me, this shows why sticking to your package manager is a very good idea.

[44139]

Ta, was wondering how to remove virii if infected, even if they can't do anything.

[jayd512]

You would probably be able to manually delete the files with either terminal commands or with your file manager.

Side note since you were asking about various infections. Still rare for home users, but something good to know about on the server side is rootkits, and ways to search for and/or remove them, rkhunter.

[HROAdmin26]

Google will return many hits - such as using a Knoppix LiveCD, installing F-Prot, and then scanning your drives.

[jayd512]

Awesome link! Bookmarked!

[valemon]

Ta, was wondering how to remove virii if infected, even if they can't do anything.

Take a look here and don't worry.