Can....Ubuntu can be infected by a virus.

[vinod_jaiswal18]

Hello Guys,

pl. help me regarding..virus issue..
i am an absolute beginner in linux.
i hav started linux from a week or 2.

i have Dual boot in my machine.

1.Vista
2.Ubuntu

My question is...
Is it is important to install an anti virus in Ubuntu?

If not, then....Do tell me tat Can Windows virus's entering through ubuntu browsing, can Corrupt my windows partition.?

Pl. answer asap.
Regards
ViNoD

[pmlxuser]

if you install an antivirus in ubuntu it catches windows viruses. But it is really not that important to install an antivirus in Ubuntu.
when you say
"Windows virus's entering through ubuntu browsing"
You mean while
1.using ubuntu or
2.you mean if you access the files from the Ubuntu partition while in windows.

if you access files from ubuntu partition while in windows there might be a risk i think of activating a dormant viral file . thats why it is very important to have an up-to-date antivirus in Windows.

On the other hand a virus will not attack you windows partition through Ubuntu browsing if the case is the first on.

[ibutho]

Hi.

Linux cannot be infected by Windows viruses unless you are running a Windows emulator e.g. something like WINE. Unless you are sharing files between Windows and Linux or running a mail server, then generally you do not need antivirus. If you are sharing files with Windows or Windows users, then its not a bad idea to run antivirus on Linux (not to protect the Linux system, but the Windows system or users).

You can find out more info about Linux and viruses by reading this article.

[flytripper]

not likely but anything is possible....
all virus writers should burn in a fire..

[Herman]

If you can avoid using Windows on the internet and for email and use Ubuntu for those things you'll notice an immediate and remarkable reduction in the number of items that all kinds of scans of your Windows system will come up with.

Ubuntu isn't affected by viruses or malware unless you install the malware yourself.
There is not very much malware available for Ubuntu, but if you choose to install software from outside of the official Ubuntu repositories it's theoretically possible to install a program (or write one yourself) that will do something bad or something other than intended, however, malware can't just install itself with a 'drive-by download' like it can in Windows.

Viruses can't cross partition boundaries by themselves, but they can hitch a ride on files that you might download in Ubuntu and then pass into your Windows partition. You can make a separate FAT32 or NTFS partition for staging such files, (if you need to pass files between systems), and scan then with your antivirus before you move them the rest of the way into Windows.

You can get a few anitvirus programs that will run in Ubuntu, and they're very good, but they're not for protecting Ubuntu, they're for scanning Windows or files that you might want to transfer into Windows.

Regards, Herman

[hyper_ch]

basically

(1) ubuntu is save from viruses

(2) you can download a virus in a word document or so - and it has no effect on ubuntu... however if you open that file with windows, you might get infected...

So, if you have an antivirus on windows, you don't really need one on ubuntu.

[|{urse]

virus writers are pretarded. We learned all the basics needed to write viruses in my 1st quarter Introduction to programming class (covered a little C) sad. But there are a few "viruses" (more like petty annoyances) out there for linux. The chances of you ever seeing them is incredibly rare. Both avast and AVG linux scan for those. So the question really is, How paranoid are you?

[Chayak]

The more accurate statement is that you are fairly safe browsing in linux. The only way for you to infect your windows install would be to execute something you downloaded in linux in windows.

Is linux more secure? Yes

Is linux perfectly secure? No, not every person who finds a vulrability reports it or fixes it. They might just put it to use themselves and not tell.

Is any file I scan for malware safe to run in windows? No, there are quite a few malware samples I've seen that don't show up on any AV scans. There are also ways to hide known malware from AV by custom compiling or using custom PE packing.

[vinod_jaiswal18]

Thanks to everyone...!!

So i think.........i should install an antivirus.....for My ubuntu...!!

But question comes how and From where...!!

i am really Confused...i tried to install avast for Ubuntu.....It got Installed too....It was an .deb pakeage installation...!!

But when i was searching for the execution file for the Avast scanning..i didn't got any thing...!!

help me guys...!

[hyper_ch]

I still think you don't need AV on linux