anti virus software

[lane1075]

hi absolute beginner at ubuntu is there any anti-virus software already installed? also need to download software updates but keeps on asking for password everything i have tried doesnt work how can i re-set a password?

[aeiah]

very few people bother with antivirus software for ubuntu. linux is inherantly more secure than windows, and also has hardly any viruses. i would say no viruses at all, but then some smart-*** will chirp in with some case study that found one or something. basically you may want to use antivirus if you deal with windows computers so you dont accidentally send on an email containing a windows virus, but this virus won't affect you its self. if you want to use antivirus, then have a look at clam-av

your other problem seems more worrying though. your root password should be the same as your initial user password. the user you set up initially when installing ubuntu. do the usual check of making sure capslock is off etc

[muteXe]

It's the password you chose when you installed Ubuntu.
Search for clam av in the repo's for antivirus. I think avg do a linux version of their software as well.

[Hyper Tails]

I recommend clamtk or avast.

choose which one you'll like
I have Clamtk

[MysticGold04]

I use Avast Anti-Virus on my Ubuntu machines only because I have a network with Windows machines attached. Generally no need, but I like to be on the safe side.

[Hospadar]

As above, clamav would be the software to use. That said, viruses for linux are very rare, on top of things being relatively secure in general (although that's not to say linux is invincible, all software has holes in it, and you should still use smart computing practices)

If you want to use clamav, there are some graphical frontends for it, although in all honesty I think it's more straightforward to run it from a command line.

I run a clam av scan on my internet-exposed server once a week and have yet to detect a single virus (it's been running since the fall), so I think you're probably pretty safe. Certainly a once-weekly scan is probably plenty.

Also note, clam av (even the linux version) will detect and inform you of known viruses for all OS's. So if you by chance download a windows virus, although it won't do anything on linux, it's always nice to know and delete these sorts of things. (this is because a lot of people run clam av or similar stuff on mail and web servers which may serve content to windows/osx machines)

[john stiles]

Do not forget pass words are case sensitive in Linux.
Avast is a good anti virus for windows converts as it shares the same interface.

[lane1075]

thanks for the anti virus info well helpful, ok next problem a bit trickier then what if i cant find out what my password is?

[john stiles]

It sounds as if you have just installed for the first time. You gave a user name and password, but no longer have it. Why not simply install again, obviously taking greater care at the username and password screen this time.

[marco123]

thanks for the anti virus info well helpful, ok next problem a bit trickier then what if i cant find out what my password is?

It's the password you logged in with.:)

Cheers, Marco.

[john stiles]

Backup any data you added quickly, before logging off.

[atomizer]

you can change your password in recovery mode (option when you boot)


look at this howto (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/linux/reset-your-forgotten-ubuntu-password-in-2-minutes-or-less/)

[XubuRoxMySox]

I installed clamav, I think, but it isn't listed under Applications. So I ran the install again through Symantic Pkg Mgr. Still nothing shows up. How do I know if I even have Clamav? - And if I do, how do I run it?

Sorry, total n00b, but loving my Ubuntu!!

-Robin

[Celauran]

How do I know if I even have Clamav?


ps aux | grep clam


And if I do, how do I run it?
Either run clamscan manually, or set it up as a cron job. 'man clamscan' for options.

[Paqman]

I installed clamav, I think, but it isn't listed under Applications.

You've been led slightly up the garden path on that one. They should have told you to install clamtk, which is clamav plus the GUI interface to use it with. If you install clamtk now it'll show up.

A good way to avoid this problem is to use Add/Remove instead of Synaptic. Add/Remove doesn't show all the command-line only apps that are in Synaptic.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Here's the output I got back afterwards:


clamav 4578 0.0 0.2 3268 1348 ? Ss 05:56 0:00 /usr/bin/freshclam -d --quiet
robin 7023 0.0 0.1 3240 804 pts/0 S+ 12:29 0:00 grep clam

Um, does that mean I have it? Does it mean I have to go to /usr/bin/freshclam to use it?

I'll get it sooner or later, LOL

-Robin

[Celauran]

Freshclam is what keeps the virus definitions up to date. The -d indicates that it's running as a daemon.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Freshclam is what keeps the virus definitions up to date. The -d indicates that it's running as a daemon.

Sorry to be so totally ignorant, but it sounds like my computer needs an exorcism or something! What's a daemon? Nothing like a demon, I hope.

I hope it means it's running "in the background" just doing it's little thing and doesn't need any manual input from me. If that's what a daemon is, then wow, cool, call off the exorcism!

-Robin

[Celauran]

Yes, it means it's running in the background.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Oh, how very cool! Got it, thanks. So I guess the daemon is doing the updates (because I'm not "root" ordinarily and don't want to be!) automatically. It would tell me if it's out of date, wouldn't it?

Oh, LOL, I'm pro'lly making all this harder than it needs to be. It's just that I share the network here with abuncha Windows machines and want to be nice to them...

I guess it's all working fine now. Thanks!

By the way - AVAST was much easier to install, update, and run, but I like the idea that Clamav detects viruses for all operating systems, not just Windows

-Robin

[MrWES]

Sorry to be so totally ignorant, but it sounds like my computer needs an exorcism or something! What's a daemon? Nothing like a demon, I hope.

I hope it means it's running "in the background" just doing it's little thing and doesn't need any manual input from me. If that's what a daemon is, then wow, cool, call off the exorcism!

-Robin

A Linux daemon is a kin to a Windows service. It generally loads at boot time. FYI, freshclam, by default, checks for updates once per hour = 24 times a day.

Bill

[XubuRoxMySox]

A Linux daemon is a kin to a Windows service. It generally loads at boot time. FYI, freshclam, by default, checks for updates once per hour = 24 times a day.

Bill

Thanks, Bill! Hope my ignorance is amusing instead of irritating! I don't mind being laughed at a little... I expected it when I started something totally new to me.

Daemons are good little guys to have around! Thank you very much.

-Robin