Is Linux a virus-free OS? How often you see virus/malware on Linux??

Question

Apple claims their OS is virus/malware free. Is that true?

Answer 1

They way to stay infection free is not to change OS's or browsers. Linux brags about not getting infection because very few people use it and the scumbag crackers don't want to waste time infecting a few computers. They want to infect the largest number they can, and, that means windows computers.

The way to prevent infections is to know your enemy. Understand what you are facing and how to protect your computer properly. This site is a great basic education.

http://www.internetinspiration.co.uk/computer_privacy_and_security.htm

Some browsers like Firefox claim the cannot be infected, are faster and many other claims. I used Firefox for several months and found that most of the claims to be bogus. About half of what I tried to do had to be done using the IE browser because Firefox did not allow it. The simple process of Updating Windows must be done using IE. Firefox doesn't allow ActiveX. Now, if I have to use IE for many things, why use Firefox. Here is a site that addresses all the claims by Firefox and proves them to be Myths.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html

To give your computer good protection against Malware infections is not difficult. You should have a Firewall (windows xp sp2 has a built in firewall). You should use a Anti-Virus program (use only one AV program). You should have 3 Anti-Spyware programs providing Active Full Time protection. The reason for three is that about 1500 new spyware programs are put on the net every month. No single program can keep up with all of those. By having 3 you get a wider range of protection.

You do not need to buy all these programs. Everything you need is free and very good.

Firewall: Use built in windows or download Zone Alarm.

Anti-Virus: AVG or AVAST. Both are very good. (one only).

Anti-Spyware: Windows Defender Beta 2, Spybot Search & Destroy, SpywareBlaster. Spybot need to have the "Tea Timer" turned on during setup to provide Active protection. Watch for it and check the box to turn it on. If you miss it you can go into the Advanced Mode settings and activate it.

All of the above programs can be downloaded from this safe download site. It guarantees no Malware added to any download. All are in the first three RED boxes.

http://www.filehippo.com/

Make sure you have the latest version of Java. You can download the Update 9 version at Filehippo also. It is in the GREEN box at the bottom. Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove all other versions of Java.

Answer 2

Here are a few reasons why viruses aren't an issue on Linux. - Users are not Root (Administrator) by default - Unix-like operating system have strict file permissions - Downloaded content is not executable (including scripts) they have to be made executable by the user - Linux is very diverse. Different desktop environments, different kernel releases, different package managers, etc. This means that not all Linux distros will be vulnerable to the same kind of attack Malware still exist (mostly Trojans), but it's not an issue Linux users worry about.

Answer 3

They're putting a marketing spin on their ads with the saying that they're computers are virus free. It's true they have far fewer problems with infections, but that's only because the vast majority of people use Windows and the creators of infections know this and want to do the most damage to the most people, thus they write their codes for Windows based systems. If the majority of people used Linux then Windows would be virtually infection free and could play the same spin ads Apple does now.

Answer 4

NOTHING is Virus/Malware free.

That said, if you think about this logically, What runs on 90% of the computers in the world? Windows. So if you want to takeover the largest number of computers or create the largest possible disruption, what will you try to attack? Microsoft Windows. Not only that, but many people - especially those who write these viruses/malware - simply don't like Microsoft and will write things to attack Microsoft products in the hopes that they can demonstrate how bad Microsoft is.

Now, there are the occasional malware authors who want to attack other systems for whatever reason, so if you THINK these other systems are "safe" without running any antivirus software, you're fooling yourself. But, that said, if you practice safe computing, odds are you won't get anything bad on these systems - Linux, Mac, etc.

Answer 5

Nothing is virus free, but there are a lot less things going around on Linux for a simple reason - it's not a Microsoft product.

If it was completely safe, then why would software like AVG Free for Linux exist? ;)

Rawlyn.

Answer 6

I'm not sure Linux is actually risk-free for viruses. But I do know that it seldom is actually attacked. My husband uses Linux, and prefers that over the Windows systems by a long shot.

Answer 7

it's true that nothing is virus/malware free but Linux certainly is more virus free than windows