Newbie still confused about potential for virus problems on Ubuntu

[Leonard Chatagnier]

--- On Sun, 4/26/09, Ed Oneill <kodiack91 at yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Ed Oneill <kodiack91 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Newbie still confused about potential for virus problems on Ubuntu
To: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Date: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 12:02 PM

> I have clam av  but was told it is only for e_mail? and I am running avg free but want to try avast also!
What is the chances of virus problem on ubuntu 8.10 if used to surf web,open e-mail and 
fileshare with transmission ? Am I correct thinking the Ubuntu os is not in danger only a windows based system I would interact with  is at risk and that is the reason to use virus scanners? Does clam av,avast,bitt defender and avg scan the whole system or do they only scan the windows based files It seems clam does not scan my shared files from windows and Avg shows errors and says it can not open Ubuntu os files it only scans shared files/folders!
 
> Has anyone useing Ubuntu had virus issues and how would you know what are some of the possible problems if they exist ?
 
    clamav will scan the entire OS if you tell it so.

sudo clamscan -ir /

Using sudo allows scanning of most all files.  The -r option scans
recursively.  The -i option only reports infected files.  See the
output of clamscan --help for other options and read the appropriate
manual for more info.  I suspect that any virus scanner will scan the
entire OS if you tell it so but haven't checked them all.  Reading the
man page for the scanner should tell you what you want to know.

I've found a few viruses on Ubuntu, probably from intentionally opening
a suspect email just to see what it would do(not a good idea for a
novice).  These viruses were not activated  on Linux as they would be
on windoze but could be transmitted to a windows OS via the email
containing it.  HTH.

Leonard Chatagnier

lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net