Apt-get :: Antiviral - pls don't ignore this post

I'm going to ask the question that nobody else seems to think of whenever somebody asks about running antivirus on Linux--Why do you want to run antivirus anyway?

'Cause, you know f-prot only checks for Microsoft Windows viruses, right? You do know that, right? So, unless you're running f-prot to scan for viruses on a mail server that you're running for your intranet, that serves Windows boxen, there's really no need to be running antivirus.

And frankly, DSL isn't really the distro I'd choose to run a mail server anyway, so, Why do you want to run antivirus anyway?

PS: Things that don't work -

1. As an afterthought I wondered if it was because the cron daemon had not been started following install - it's supposed to start on boot.

It turns out that typing /etc/rc2.d/./S89cron yields various start/stop options for cron. One is:

Typing '/etc/init.d/cron start' starts the daemon. This information is not provided in man cron.

But my cronjob STILL does not run, so that's not it.

2. I tried putting a symbolic link to check-updates.sh in /sbin, which the man cron says is the default path for cron as root. Nothing.

Grim

Your post is meant to be provocative but I'll reply anyway (once only).

1. F-prot currently scans for 408 known unix/linux viruses in addition to many thousands on a number of other platforms including Windows.

2. I've scanned my (Windows) hds from the dsl liveCD toram and it's fast - faster than scanning the same drives with eg Norton AV within windows, which takes all day. Also, you never know what type of downloads I may want to scan in the future - not only linux files - or what type of use I may put dsl to. And I'm working towards a hd install.

3. The idea that only mail servers should scan files seems shortsighted. Whatever the infection rate now, the diffusion of linux viruses is bound to increase because linux will overtake Mac as the second most popular OS by the end of the year (according to HP). There are less Mac viruses than Windows, but that does not stop Mac users running a/v software. For me this is by way of preparation. You're an opttimist, you're welcome never to run antivirus software if you wish - hope you don't have a hd install.

4. Most importantly, in case you haven't noticed, I and many others use these little projects as ways of learning to use other linux features on dsl, like cron. I'm happy to let that take over as the primary objective. Others may want to know the same information also.

Quote (Guest @ Nov. 12 2004,06:26)

My scheduleupdates.cron (to run at say 12:55 every day) is in /home/dsl/dist/:

55 12 * * * ./home/dsl/dist/f-prot/check-updates.sh; echo "Virus update ran "`date`>>/var/log/virus.log

I dont think your crontab syntax is right man....plus you dont want it to echo anything on a crontab entry since it is automatic and not actively involved in a terminal window

Here is my entry in my crontab

Code Sample

# run f-prot update program
55 23 * * 0 root /usr/local/f-prot/tools/check-updates.pl -cron -quiet

# run f-prot antivirus
59 23 * * 0 root /usr/local/f-prot/f-prot / -dumb -report=/var/log/f-prot.txt -silent -wrap &

Mine runs weekly, updates at 1155, then runs the scanner at 11:59 on sunday night

Quote (Grim @ Nov. 12 2004,07:54)

I'm going to ask the question that nobody else seems to think of whenever somebody asks about running antivirus on Linux--Why do you want to run antivirus anyway?

There are linux/unix viruses...and you wouldnt want me hosting virused files and not know about it would you? Dansguardian and other service passthru deamons can use f-prot to scan inbound/outbound files for problems as well....its not completely worthless man...

Brian
AwPhuch

Since BitDefender offers free and unrestricted usage of their
"free" product, wouldnt this, combined with the cronjobs
posted here, make a nice extension ?
( or f-prot , but I am not aware of their licensing yet )

Set it up to autoupdate at some a.m hour, and then scan ?
You could still manually run it at anytime with the menu or icon.

Ideas, thoughts?

73
ke4nt

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