PC Security---what's the best?

[grotbag]

Originally Posted by mtcrilly

I'm a scouser, we're naturally cheeky monkeys :P

But seriously, give the post a read and you'll get a better understanding of what you're protecting your self against. It's like replacing an exhaust (I've never done this), I can imagine it's easier to do if you know how your exhaust works and why you're changing it, no?

Actually I already do know, an ex toyboy was an IT geek .. oops .. I mean IT technichan and a good teacher, plus I've had loads of ITC training for my job, so don't make assumptions


Seriously though, this area was sort of intended for peeps who aren't very IT literate so plain speak and in short sentences was the kind of thing we was looking for otherwise if someone has what is to us, a simple question but are given a very technical answer, it will only discourage them from asking their question if they can't understand the answer, if you see what I mean

[grotbag]

Originally Posted by jonnywombat

no dictionary recognises either as the correct plural

including the medical dictionary! Does penicillin work in PC's ...............

Originally Posted by jonnywombat

Not wishing to be a pedant but the correct plural of virus is simply viruses..

Although virii (or sometimes viri) are often used in terms of computers no dictionary recognises either as the correct plural

Also as for linux viruses..AFAIK a couple do exist merely as proof of concepts, none are in the wild, and even if they were the potential for damage is low as long as you don't log in as root

There are Linux viruses in the wild, mostly certainly. It's just Linux boxes are harder to exploit due to a harder file system and the security it implements. Also, having root access doesn't mean they still can't do damage or fish around for your personal details etc... you don't run FireFox as root, so your cache, cookies, session data aren't protected behind the wall of the root user account. Not to mention the fact there are more specialist services running on a Linux box, such as SSH, HTTPd's, FTPd's etc - so more to exploit.

I guess this is getting too technical for this area now hehe

[jonnywombat]

Originally Posted by mtcrilly

There are Linux viruses in the wild, mostly certainly. It's just Linux boxes are harder to exploit due to a harder file system and the security it implements. Also, having root access doesn't mean they still can't do damage or fish around for your personal details etc... you don't run FireFox as root, so your cache, cookies, session data aren't protected behind the wall of the root user account. Not to mention the fact there are more specialist services running on a Linux box, such as SSH, HTTPd's, FTPd's etc - so more to exploit.

I guess this is getting too technical for this area now hehe

The few (about 40ish) linux viruses pretty much all have to be downloaded as binaries, so if you stick to the repos then you should be ok.

The point of the root, is not to so much to "hide" behind it (although you do), but the fact that the virus would have to be run under root, which if your dumb enough to allow then you deserve all you get

Anyway as probably the only two linux users here maybe we should stop boring everyone else.

What distro do you use? I have tried most of the main ones, fedora, suse, pclinuxos, puppy, slackware... but kept coming back to ubuntu..just coz for me it kinda just works...so I have been lazy and have stuck with it for the last 12 months or so. maybe it's time to try a few live cd's

[Mickie]

Originally Posted by Mickie

LOL! Nice one.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by jonnywombat

Not wishing to be a pedant but the correct plural of virus is simply viruses..

Although virii (or sometimes viri) are often used in terms of computers no dictionary recognises either as the correct plural

Also as for linux viruses..AFAIK a couple do exist merely as proof of concepts, none are in the wild, and even if they were the potential for damage is low as long as you don't log in as root

Yeh, I'm puzzled by that.? When you need to do a root task you use sudo ..... etc, what is to stop them do the same thing?

[Bill CBF1000]

Originally Posted by gasman

Yeh, I'm puzzled by that.? When you need to do a root task you use sudo ..... etc, what is to stop them do the same thing?

me too .... surely to do a root thing you use just for men?

Originally Posted by jonnywombat

Anyway as probably the only two linux users here maybe we should stop boring everyone else.

What distro do you use? I have tried most of the main ones, fedora, suse, pclinuxos, puppy, slackware... but kept coming back to ubuntu..just coz for me it kinda just works...so I have been lazy and have stuck with it for the last 12 months or so. maybe it's time to try a few live cd's

I use Uuntu as a desktop and am running RH as a server. I also have Samba to exchange files between $icroMoft and Linux.

Attached is my Ubuntu version