antivirus for linux?

I suspect that most Linux users are as complacent as me... I have very little added security, whereas my Windows installations are all stuffed to the gills with security add-ons.

I guess that your version of Linux is probably Ubuntu, in which case it has a built-in firewall (IPtables) which you can configure via something like Firestarter - but I wouldn't bother if you always connect to the internet via a router.

Antivirus: I don't bother at the moment because linux is not heavily under the level of threat that Windows is. If you're worried, ClamAV is reputed to be good, but I could not make it work when I tried a year or so ago.

There is also a rootkit checker (predictably called chkrootkit) which is regularly updated as part of the standard Ubuntu distribution. However you have to use the command line "sudo apt-get install chkrootkit" to install it, which to me is user-hostile...

And if you install the Firefox "noscript" add-on you'll be safe from almost all of the internet-based threats.

As I said at the start, most of us are probably not too worried at the moment, partly because Linux is intrinsically more secure than most Windows variants, and partly because we're just complacent...

tweeter wrote: »

I do wonder what virus writers will get up to with all these notebooks now running linux .

Any system is only as secure as the person using it, and now with a new breed of novices experiencing Linux for the first time you have a rather unsavoury combination.

For a comprehensive introduction to security with Ubuntu, see:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510812

lorweld wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks! Anewhope we were all novices at some time even you!:p Ah no I'm a very careful surfer having seen my sister's machine ruined by a virus! I'm actually too paranoid. And I'd a great security set-up on my last windows laptop. Thats why I'm double checking if I need any security on this netbook. Thanks all again!

I won't lie, my knowledge and usage of Linux is minimal. I was jut throwing something to think about out there..

What I would recommend however, and this platform independant, is if you are out and about sharing a wireless access point, that you don't log into anything important, like your online banking etc.

Firefox + Noscript + Common sense seem about right to use