Antivirus

I just upgraded to Common Sense 2016 it's been serving me pretty well.

I use MalwareBytes if anything seems fishy.

Team Fail said:

And once the browser is compromised, depending on what kinds of access they have, they can do all sorts of things that can lead to the OS being pwned.

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Lol, where's the proof of this my friend?

You would literally have to let the web browser save a file on the system itself. This is again, a matter of allowance, and doesn't even have to do with a browser having access, nor a browser being corrupted. To be honest, I don't believe you can point me to a webpage that, by simply accessing it, would lead to a corruption of a Linux system. It simply doesn't exist.

Instead, what is compromised is at worst, the browser itself. It doesn't just hook into the linux system like that, as you tried to point out. It's a bit like a sandbox, and wont access a system like that. Now, most people use the browser for a good portion of the time they are on the system, so it may feel like their entire system is corrupt, but its not. Plain and simple.

Again, Linux is virus proof to the average user. Hence, even an average user does not need an antivirus on a Linux system. Thanks for reading!

XSE said:

Lol, where's the proof of this my friend?

You would literally have to let the web browser save a file on the system itself. This is again, a matter of allowance, and doesn't even have to do with a browser having access, nor a browser being corrupted. To be honest, I don't believe you can point me to a webpage that, by simply accessing it, would lead to a corruption of a Linux system. It simply doesn't exist.

Instead, what is compromised is at worst, the browser itself. It doesn't just hook into the linux system like that, as you tried to point out. It's a bit like a sandbox, and wont access a system like that. Now, most people use the browser for a good portion of the time they are on the system, so it may feel like their entire system is corrupt, but its not. Plain and simple.

Again, Linux is virus proof to the average user. Hence, even an average user does not need an antivirus on a Linux system. Thanks for reading!

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actually a browser can become compromised via drive by download if the site visited hasnt been listed as compromised/harmful since some browsers if a site has been listed as compromised the browser will block it

Maki-Nishikino said:

actually a browser can become compromised via drive by download if the site visited hasnt been listed as compromised/harmful since some browsers if a site has been listed as compromised the browser will block it

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I know that a browser can be compromised somewhat easily. Or at least commonly. For example, one of the worst browsers compromised was the TOR browser with a JavaScript exploit, that, AFAIK, could reveal the users ip address and other info.

However, again, while a browser can be compromised, the underlying Linux system cannot, simply by visiting a webpage. Read my above posts for why this is so. Thanks for reading!

XSE said:

I know that a browser can be compromised somewhat easily. Or at least commonly. For example, one of the worst browsers compromised was the TOR browser with a JavaScript exploit, that, AFAIK, could reveal the users ip address and other info.

However, again, while a browser can be compromised, the underlying Linux system cannot, simply by visiting a webpage. Read my above posts for why this is so. Thanks for reading!

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However, if you run a mixed environment (and by this I don't mean mixed flavors of Linux), you should probably AV up your Linux system so you don't unknowingly download something that could infect your Windows or Mac environment upon contact with them.

donavannj said:

However, if you run a mixed environment (and by this I don't mean mixed flavors of Linux), you should probably AV up your Linux system so you don't unknowingly download something that could infect your Windows or Mac environment upon contact with them.

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I assume that you mean like a dual boot configuration. Again, Linux requires actual permission before allowing something on to a system. If you use something like Puppy Linux, even more so. If you mean to say that Linux needs to be virus proofed because of Windows, I can't say I agree with that. At best, an email or web browser scanner would be best for any binary files one is downloading, but in reality, simply downloading a binary virus on a Linux system and then putting it onto a windows system isn't enough to do something. All of the viruses I've encountered for windows were something that could have been prevented with common sense. Not downloading a toolbar that comes with a free program. Reading the fine print. Reading reviews. Sticking with well known Open Source or Free software instead of downloading software from some shady sites that have their product advertised everywhere and that have terrible english. But Linux itself, even if it download something onto a windows partition, doesn't need an antivirus. The windows system would.

But again, that has nothing to do with Linux itself, and more to do with Windows. And for Windows, I absolutely recommend some kind of protection, even for the most secure, tech savvy people. It is so easy to catch a virus on windows that it's not even funny.

Admittedly I've likely grown complacent in terms of virus protection since I upgraded my laptop to windows 10. >.>;; I have Windows Defender on it, and somethings I crack open Spybot to do a couple scans here and there, but it doesn't really agree with this version of Windows.

Needa invest in MalwareBytes again, though. That's one of the few programs I make a point of installing down through the years, along with Spybot.

Personally I used AVG Antivirus just recently, even though I used to use Bitdefender and Avast as well. I think I used to install antivirus just because it's the basic that is needed in every computer, but in over time, I find antivirus even more important since I need protection to my data.

XSE said:

-hobby OS talk-
Based on these arguments, Linux, if well secured, cannot be infected.

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I've secured my Windows computer well enough that it cannot be infected either.

As for AV recommendations, I would recommend NOD32.

I don't even use antivirus tbh, I'm just extra cautious with what I download.

My usual antivirus is Avira. My second choice is Comodo.