And if you’re still unsure, you can execute such files in a restricted user account or better yet, VMware / VPC / Parallels / Qemu / Bochs..

No, i’m not saying Linux users dont get infected because it isn’t popular. I’m saying Linux viruses are rare because
Linux isn’t popular. I’m well aware of Windows’ weaknesses. But the reality is that most internet users today use Windows, making it the prime target for viruses (maximum possible impact with least possible effort).

Post #27.
You are making massive assumptions and basing nonsense on hear-say. How about you try it yourself? I don’t do Computer Science, and I use Linux. I also teach newbies how to use it and set it up. They never bother me, because it has worked for them so well. (Its because I get them to write everything down, teach them proper computing practices, and we have our own local community to help each other).

By the way, hardware makers will never support Linux. We the community have to support ourselves. I say good riddence! Closed-source drivers SUCK. They are a possible avenue for security issues. All we ask is that hardware manufacturers give use the specs, so we can write our own.

Hardware support is getting better. But at a gradual rate. Popular wireless cards are supported. If you’re stuck with some wireless card that doesn’t work, you can use the NdisWrapper to load up the Windows driver for wireless cards. (assuming no open one exists).

I can tell you know shit about Linux…And you study Computer Science? That’s scary.

Post #28.
You’re taking the assumption just because something is popular, it means they’ll be infected more.

The fact is, Windows is the EASIEST thing to hack into compared to other OSs.

Why?

* Poor coding from Microsoft.
(They can slap on all the security features they want, it isn’t gonna stop the problems caused by bad coding practices and stupid policies that came from clueless fuckheads from Management).

* Poor response time to security threats.
(They take at least a month for a typical security issue. Open-source takes hours to a week at the latest.)

* MS has poor Policies in handling security issues.
(They let the clueless user have admin rights! They’re trying to change this in Vista…As well, they wait for a security issue to become a serious exploit to see if its worth putting effort to fix it. Other times, they won’t bother. Not even the developers of Opera browser do that!)

* Windows users (like some Mac users), are clueless to security issues. They are very vulnerable to social engineering. (tricked into entering details, password, and other sensitive information).

* Users are clueless about proper computing practices.
(People leave crap behind in University PCs…They forget to delete them. They don’t encrypt their USB external devices, etc).

When you switch to Linux, you are thrown into the deep end for good reason.

* You learn good computing practices.

* You learn about file permissions and access control.

* You learn that everything can’t be executed until YOU say so. (In Windows, EVERYTHING is executable…Even if the user didn’t ask it to be).

* You learn the importance of user and root/admin privileges.

* You will realise bugfixes come much quicker than what MS can muster up. (even on their good day).

* You realise Windows malware don’t work well on Linux. (You can keep it contained if you’re using Wine…Even then, it doesn’t do much on Linux).

* You don’t waste time with defraging the hard drive, because filesystems in Linux don’t have massive performance hits if ever fragmentation occurs.

* Even when Linux has viruses (it does), they’re so inconsequential and rare, that us hackers try them out, simply out of curiosity! (We learn how they work, so we can build new features or come up with policies to prevent them).

* You realise that Linux users are more likely to contain security issues than be a platform of spreading them.

* You can compile and add new features like granular access control, smash stack protection, buffer overflow protection at $0 cost. (Hell, even Microsoft have taken some of these ideas from open-source projects to try to secure Vista! Not like it helps against a seriously determine cracker/blackhat.)

Linux is hard for good reason. Its because you actually learn something that is good for you in the long run!

The three biggest benefits are Freedom to choose, flexibility, and low cost.

You will not find these three in Windows. EVER.

And as Linux gains popularity, more viruses will be targeting Linux aswell. Personally i love open source software and such, but find myself using mostly Windows out of comfort. I am simply too lazy to re-learn, and my few experiences with Linux have so far ended up in failure.

Caesar Chavez is dead…

if you can, switch to linux. I mean, it’s difficult for the first week or so, but if you get your head stomping against it, you’ll find that installing software without worrying for crack or keygen, opening e-mail without fearing virus, f@#§king programs that work, and so on…. at least give it a try!

http://www.ubuntu.org for beginners, if you can install winxp, you can install ubuntu, or you are so much retarded?

Otherwise, if you like to stuck with virus-prone windows, at least use thunderbird as e-mail client, for God sake.

@ Zleet
And with thunderbird come an extension called “spamato”, try it, it really works, and if you don’t like it, remove it, it’s free, not some kind of Norton “i-can-anti-spam-even-you r-serial-port-kind-of-bullshit-49$-big-deal-wath-out-1gig-ram-hungry”

See you, great site rlslog

Also AVG stops them too…

so any AV is capable of stopping them…