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Desktop / Laptop Linux Users: Do you use an antivirus app?
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Author:  mihanson [ Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Desktop / Laptop Linux Users: Do you use an antivirus app?
I'm proud to say I rid my home of Windows about 2 months ago (and so far no major complaints from the wife! :D ). I run Debian testing on my desktop (I use wine for a few freeware Windows apps I can't seem to find good equivalents for. Example.) and I wanted to know if anyone else who runs an opensource OS on a desktop/laptop uses an antivirus app. I did some googling on the subject and found arguments for both sides (to run or not to run). It seems for mixed Windows and *nix environments it was more important, but for straight *nix the need doesn't seem to be there. Any opinions?
Author:  alien [ Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:29 am ]
Post subject: 
I've been involved in a couple of investigations into compromises of various unix systems. They have all been real people breaking into open ports. Port 22 (ssh) is the big (bad) one. You wouldn't believe how many stray default passwords may be sitting on the system. Do a google of "default passwords" and there are some interesting lists.

I would recommend concentrating on a good firewall and ensuring that if any ports are open/forwarded, the application that is running on it has been secured. I'm not sure how to best secure the windows applications you may be running, so some sort of virus app for them might be in order.

Just out of curiosity, what did you use to install debian on your machine and what window manager did you end up using? I'm building a machine out of old parts for my son and am looking for something simple to set up and with a nice easy window manager. I've been thinking of knoppix, but haven't really started researching this.
Author:  mihanson [ Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:20 am ]
Post subject: 
alien wrote:
I would recommend concentrating on a good firewall and ensuring that if any ports are open/forwarded, the application that is running on it has been secured.


Good news, I have the firewall/ssh security covered. :D

alien wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what did you use to install debian on your machine and what window manager did you end up using? I'm building a machine out of old parts for my son and am looking for something simple to set up and with a nice easy window manager. I've been thinking of knoppix, but haven't really started researching this.


I am running straight Debian testing (i.e. not Knoppix or other Debian based distro). I install using the netinstall CD and more or less followed some suggestions in this thread. I'm using XFCE4 with no display manager. Pretty easy to set up, but you'll need to know what you want to add to your system since this is a minimal install. My desktop is a GQ3151 with an upgrade to 364 MB RAM, a 300GB hard drive, WiFi PCI card and internal USB flash card reader/writer. It's pretty speedy on Debian considering what's under the hood. I hope that's at least a little helpful. :wink:
Author:  slowtolearn [ Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Desktop / Laptop Linux Users: Do you use an antivirus a
mihanson wrote:
I'm proud to say I rid my home of Windows about 2 months ago
Congrats! Wish I could do the same, can't seem to get the kids to give up their games (tried Wine and VMware, much too painful given the hardware specs and I'm not about to upgrade their systems!)

mihanson wrote:
I wanted to know if anyone else who runs an opensource OS on a desktop/laptop uses an antivirus app. I did some googling on the subject and found arguments for both sides (to run or not to run). It seems for mixed Windows and *nix environments it was more important, but for straight *nix the need doesn't seem to be there. Any opinions?
Of the 15 or so working computers in the house we have 5 that run Windoze, one of those is an NT 4.0 system that I setup to run TrendMicro's OfficeScan. The other 4 PCs/laptops that use Windoze run the OfficeScan client.

We run ClamAV on the Slackware box that shares out a directory via SMB, only because there are Windoze systems in the mix. I don't run any local anti-virus apps on the Linux desktops, and (knocks on wood) have had no problems in over 4 years.

As alien mentioned, make sure you keep the "baddies" and script-kiddies out with firewalling/securing access, but past that I'm not aware of any *nix-specific viruses or trojans in the wild.
Author:  cecil [ Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
I don't use a virus scanner on my workstation.
Author:  mihanson [ Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yes, I've decided it's not necessary. If I had a mail server and Windows clients connecting, I probably would. However, in a Win-Free enviornment, I'm skipping it.
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