Linux Do I need any antivirus software on Ubuntu?

I'm installing Xubuntu or Fluxbuntu (haven't decided yet) on an old computer (you can discuss and suggest hia).

So, just a simple question, is antivirus software needed or recommended on Ubuntu?
Also, if someone has a good suggestion of a free and lightweight antivirus thing for Win98SE, could you please share it with me?

Thanks in advance!

 

no, you probably won't need antivirus stuff.

 

If you don't constantly log on as root, chances are slim that you'll get virii that cause any damage.

What you will get is a good laugh when poorly made sites claim your C drive is infected...

 

I suppose you'd get more responses by mainly asking for a light antivir for 98SE.. Because unline Ubuntu it really needs one! AFAIK you don't need antivir with any unix-based OS as there's no viruses for those either. One of the things that make them perfect... According to some

 

Get the habit to restrict the rights of your main user

and use sudo !!!

 

Thx for the fast responses.

Gr8 that I don't need any antivirus on Ubuntu.

Actually, I read somewhere that a guy was surfing, then a popup window opened and it downloaded an exe file on the desktop... Luckily he was on his Linux... lol

If you have any knowledge or just time please take the time answer to the other thread too, can be found here.

 

Heh if you want safe surfing on windows, I highly recomment you noscript plugin for firefox ... it is a hassle at the beginning to manually allow the websites where scripting is allowed but since you usually navigate the same pages and since it takes two clicks to allow a website, it is a quite useful addin.

 

WOW that's cool, please tell me where to get that plugin! (Do I need any additional antivirus when using that plugin BTW?)

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/fi/firefox/addon/722 No, you don't need any virus scanner.

 

Noscript does nothing to stop idiots from pulling in Virii tough... Noscript just refuses sites to run any scripts (thus avoiding them to install stuff)

And OT, there ARE viruses for Linux/Unix, don't be mistaken... They just aren't common and require fools to get installed.

 

on a different note i prefer having a linux antivirus to scan the windows partition, but thats personal preference

 

As far as I know, there are no virus scanners available from Linux apart from scanners designed to check on hosted Windows computers or partitions. Virus-wise, you shouldn't need any protection, but Linux can still be hacked, so use a firewall and don't run as root, use sudo instead.

 

ClamAV is a Unix antivir (mostly used on mailservers). You could probably use it to scan your windows partition too.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm propably not going to use any antivirus, but as you guys suggested, propably Noscript and running as a non-root will do it. Do you have any Linux firewall suggestions?

 

Iptables?

 

Is Iptables a firewall? Please provide me a link.

EDIT: Nevermind the link. Found info of it from Linux wiki. Seems pretty difficult to use, but I think everything on Linux is a bit difficult for the first user...

 

Firststarter (?) is a good front end for iptables, nice and easy to configure until you get the hang of setting your own rules

 

IPTables seems hard at first, but once you get what chains are, you're set Just read up on some guides and you'll be fine

 

OK, will be then using Iptables!
Learning to use isn't that hard then, well.

 

Firestarter's decent, but it's better to just learn to use iptables in my opinion.