anti-virus program

[CharlesA]

Or if you do install Wine, confine it with AppArmour.

[Sef]

Also too avoid running flash and java.

[Lisiano]

Better yet, avoid using the GUI, might get a wine keylogger (I wonder if those work?), just sit in a VT. Only use cat and echo to manage documents, occasionally vi or nano if the documents are big. Use only wget and lynx for web browsing. Also run only in read-only mode. Also a good idea would be to just purge netbase so people can't hack into your box from the network. Maybe even encrypt the whole drive with a 4096-bit token and a 128 char password. Also keep the HDD in a safe, that is located in a bank vault which only opens for a few minutes once a year. Wait... Someone could write something in the BIOS rom, keep that in a separate vault that opens at a different time once every 2 years.

Heh. Right. Heavy sarcasm aside, just don't do stupid stuff and use common sense.

Also, it's quite interesting how security based questions grow into a discussion on these forums.

[zrdc28]

clamav is a virus catcher for linux, you can probably get it from any repo. The better way to check the whole computer is to use a live cd with clamav and then you can check linux and windows with nothing mounted. rkhunter is a really good package for find rootkits.
I use a live cd with clamav, when windows has a virus to bad to even boot, clamav can find and destroy it.

I never worry about anything when on linux, I open everything that I'm interested in and all email & have never had problem in 12 years of using many different distros.

[audiomick]

Heh. Right. Heavy sarcasm aside, just don't do stupid stuff and use common sense.

That is and has always been my policy, and I don't think I have ever had a virus, either on a Linux install (no surprise) or a Windows install. I have Avira on my Vista install at the moment, but my main protection is that I try and only go on the 'net with Linux.

[Ms. Daisy]

*sigh*

Anti-virus software will scan for windows (and maybe Mac) viruses, but none of them scan for linux malware. It's not that there cannot be linux malware, it's just that mass market malware for windows has a much greater return on investment for attackers.

The OP's instinct is correct that you need something for security, AV is just not the answer. As previously mentioned read the basic security wiki for actual effective security measures for a linux machine.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BasicSecurity

[3rdalbum]

when using Ubuntu as your only operationg system I read somewhere a while back that you didn't need an anti virus package like you do with windows.......I have to admit this doesn't make sense to me........

A computer virus isn't like a biological virus. It is not a physical thing, it is only a computer program created by a human.

Like all computer programs, it must be written for an operating system. Viruses are almost always written for Windows. If Linux can't run Windows programs, then neither will it run Windows viruses.

Linux is designed to be secure - it is a lot more difficult to write a Linux virus, and as there are fewer Linux desktop computers it's nearly impossible to actually have a Linux virus spread far.

[siddharth007]

Try Clamav anti-virus package.It provides effective protection and the updates are available frequently.

apt-get install clamav

[sleash78]

clamav

[Paqman]

Try Clamav anti-virus package.It provides effective protection

I disagree. Clamav's performance is mediocre at best. The best antivirus suites for Linux are Avast and Avira. So if you decide you really need AV for some reason, go for one of those.