[SGVLUG] (no subject)

[John E. Kreznar]

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Dustin Laurence <dustin at laurences.net> writes:

> On Fri, Jul 28, 2006 at 07:55:58AM -0700, juanslayton at dialup4less.com wrote:

> > This probably belongs in an FAQ file, but I'm interested in personal
> > experience.  Does anyone have recommendations for gnu-linux antivirus
> > programs?  (For what relevance it may have, I'm running Fedora Core 4
> > on a legacy Pentium II machine.)

> As Tom said, it depends on what you want.  When people ask this question
> it's often because they're new to Linux and their experience with
> Microsoft Windows makes them think that they need antivirus software on
> any OS.  The fact is that there isn't any A-V software *for Linux
> viruses* that I'm aware of, for the simple reason that A-V is a "horse
> out of the barn" solution.  Such security issues should be, and are,
> taken care of in other ways on properly designed operating systems that
> do not have the trademark Microsoft Windows "insecure by design"
> features.  The few Linux viruses "out there" don't actually spread in
> practice.

> However, there is A-V software that runs on Linux--but it's purpose is
> to look for Microsoft Windows malware on Linux servers, so that (for
> example) if one user puts some malware on a shared directory the server
> doesn't inadvertently share it to another machine.  The only Free/Open
> Source one I know of is ClamAV, which is by all accounts pretty good.

I agree with the original poster.  This answer deserves to be in an
FAQ somewhere.  Is there a place for it on the SGVLUG web site?

I wish that I had the discipline to make such measured remarks about a
subject as emotionally charged as that oleaginous company in Redmond.

- -- 
 John E. Kreznar jek at ininx.com 9F1148454619A5F08550 705961A47CC541AFEF13
         Microsoft is an oil spill on the Internet

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