this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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I am confused about installing some virus scanning software on my Linux system. Thought of installing clamav, so will that be good or if anyone is using any better one, please do suggest. Thanks in advance.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Don't think Clamav does scanning of everything you launch, it works on files you request to scan usually for mail or file servers. The result is not that great from my experience though neither are with kaspersky or eset and they actually ask money for that.

Why do you need an antivirus? Do you plan installing viruses? It's pretty uncommon request for Linux desktop as you'd have to put some effort to finding and running some Linux virus(actually, please dm if you find one).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I didn't know if we have to scan files manually in it.

I just want to make my system more protected, because it's said that linux is more prone to attacks than windows. So maybe I just need a software which can monitor if everything is going good. and I am a newbie in linux, so sorry if that question sounded vague.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Who says Linux viruses are more common than Windows viruses? That just sounds patently false. Why would someone have more incentive to do that? The point of a virus is to infect a computer. Why would someone spend hours developing a virus for a desktop operating system that only comprises a mere 1.2% of the market share?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I get it now, looked it up. Was just being paranoid maybe.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not saying an antivirus would be a bad thing. It all depends on your threat model. I was merely responding to that one point you made. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I understand your point

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

i think you have it the other way around. usually windows is more prone to/attacks than linux. for a program to be installed system-wise, or a program to make system changes it has to have sudo privileges, and you would definitely be prompted for a password then.

but if you want people you share your files to be protected, you can by all means use an antivirus.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah you are right I suppose, I looked up a bit, idk if root privileges can be compromised by some means, but I got to know that there aren't many viruses made for linux based systems. So getting a virus in a file is rare case maybe, hence using an antivirus may be of no use.