Re: Anti Virus Software
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On Thu, Jun 19, 2003 at 11:58:33AM -0700, M. Kirchhoff wrote:
> Regarding virus protection under GNU/Linux in general, how essential
> is it?
Not a problem. Rootkits are a greater issue, but you need to be
compromised to end up with one. Make sure you have the security
update sources in your sources.list if you're running stable and check
it at least once a week.
> I'm a recent convert from the Microsoft world, where virus
> protection is essential. I've also heard reports that virus
> protection under GNU/Linux isn't as necessary, as the typical user
> has restricted privileges, as well as the fact that most viruses
> seem to target Microsoft systems. Any thoughts on this?
As long as you don't make a habit of logging in as root, yes. Don't
log in as root, use su -m as you need root, and exit the root shell as
soon as you no longer require root privleges.
This is also the reason why gdm won't let you log in as root by
default, and I hope the maintainers of xdm and kdm make this the
default behavior there, too. It helps encourage the ignorant to learn
why it's not letting them log in as root, and helps prevent the stupid
from doing it anyway.
- --
.''`. Baloo Ursidae <baloo@ursine.ca>
: :' : proud Debian admin and user
`. `'`
`- Debian - when you have better things to do than fix a system
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