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Note to new Linux users: No antivirus needed!
One of the most frequently asked questions I hear from new Linux users is ‘what about Antivirus?’. It’s a hard concept to grasp, after being a Windows user, that Linux simply doesn’t need any antivirus software. Not just antivirus, but any malware software at all isn’t really needed for Linux.
Why? Linux.com provides a great answer:
http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/8261-note-to-new-linux-users-no-antivirus-needed
To sum it up in a nutshell;
“Whether newcomers grok permissions or not, I try to explain the bottom line to them: that because they have chosen Linux, they are now free of having to pay either a security tax up front to protect themselves from malware, or one after the fact to have their systems sterilized after having been infected.
Misleading claims and false advertising by virus protection rackets to the contrary, you simply don’t need antivirus products to keep your Linux box free of malware.”
psyphen
Rusty Broomhandle
wesp
I wish I had the courage to migrate to Linux
I love your header picture, btw!
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I changed to linux last June and i love it. I kept windows on my old computer, just in case, but ive never had cause to go back to it. I’d never go back to windows now, linux is so much quicker, and easier to use, with no anoying virus scans and security updates when you least want them!
With all due respect, Pixie, don’t tell us. Tell the software manufacturers, so maybe someday there will be a wider range of native software available on Linux–not converted Windows programs that require a conversion program.
I’m no computer expert, of course, and I don’t have a lot of time to work “under the hood” to get programs running right.
Well, this post was specifically about antivirus software and the fact that Linux doesn’t need any, and not about how many applications are available native to Linux. The software manufacturers don’t care whether or not an OS needs an antivirus before they decide to make software for it; it’s irrelevant.
But since you’ve brought it up, what software are you referring to specifically? The only software that you really need to fiddle with to get to work on Linux is commercial stuff, but for almost every (if not every) piece of commercial software out there, the Linux community have put out a valid alternative.
And by the way, that previous comment, ‘Leebee’, is my mother. She is by no means a computer expert; far from it, in fact. She had been a novice Windows user for a few years before I persuaded her to give Linux a try – and she loves it. She’s had next to no technical assistance with doing anything in Linux – after all, I’m on the other side of the globe so can’t talk her through things while pointing at the screen – but that’s just it; she hasn’t needed any.
And by ‘conversion program’, do you mean an emulator? They’re also very easy to use. You install it, then use it to open your windows software. And that’s it. If that doesn’t work for some reason, which is rare, then you can also try Virtualbox. Also easy to set up – in fact, Gavin kindly provided a tutorial on this blog with lots of easy to follow screenshots, and that lets you run one OS inside the other. Also trouble-free, no fiddling required.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you’ve never actually tried Linux (or tried it several years ago when it was very different). It’s only the people who haven’t tried it who don’t realise how easy it is; who think it’s for ‘hackers’ and ‘computer experts’. It’s not. It’s made by people who want things to be simple. It’s made by people who want things to *really* be plug and play – who want things to just work.
Jaco was talking his friend through a Linux install on her computer. She put the disk in, ran it, clicked where it said to click, and a mere ten minutes later (compared to the 45+ minutes Windows takes to install, she had Linux on her machine. The only thing she could think to say to Jaco was ‘Wow. It just… works.’