I'm waiting for my linux laptop to be delivered and I'm wondering is an anti virus needed for it? And then if so what would be a good one to get? Daz
Bit-Defender for unicies. Great program also get chkrootkit. BDfU looks like a paid program at first until you see that private personal use can get it for free.
AV software is not needed for Linux. But there are viruses for Linux aswell, not just nearly a much as for Windows, so common sense is still needed.
I've used Ubuntu for a few years, never had AV, never had a problem. But I can't comment on other distros. I hear that there is AVG anti-virus for Linux out now for free, I haven't used it though. But you should be ok.
Common sense and not succumbing to a forced climate of fear helps a lot. There aren't many viruses/malware written for the Linux kernel because the time it takes to write it isn't good value against the effectiveness. You'll be fine as long as you don't run commands because someone on the internet tells you to. If you want to be supersafe because everyone on the interwebs is a pedophile haxxor, install the Hurd kernel. I'm pretty sure there isn't a single piece of malicious code written for that. A firewall wouldn't be a bad idea if you're on the go all the time. You never know when you run into a script kiddie in Starbucks. Knock yourself out with these. Yeah, I can only imagine the risk one can take with all those other GNU/Linux distributions which use the exact same kernel.
