I'm using ubuntu, and I never had any problems with virus after I converted from XP couple of years ago. Sometimes people ask for anti virus programs for linux, and then techie answers that there's no need for it, linux never have any virus problems. The computer networks of the Norwegian police departments was recently hit by virus attack, which had some effect. The Finnish police have been using linux for a while, and their systems are more stable then Microsoft based systems. Why can't all state departments convert from M$ to linux, it's cheap, safe and a great learning tool. But hypothetically, if i.e 5 years from now, unix-like systems had 90% market share, and Microsoft 10%, wouldn't this mean that virus, spam etc would be targeted at unix systems rather than windows? The reason why linux is safe is only because there are so few users?
In theory , Linux virus is much less possible than Windows. Windows virus have more virus because the virus spread through internet and IE .
Linux offers better security compared to Windows but people prefer to use Microsoft Windows. Because over 90% of computers run Windows, it's more prone to virus attacks.
Master Foo and the Nervous Novice There was a novice who learned much at the Master’s feet, but felt something to be missing. After meditating on his doubts for some time, he found the courage to approach Master Foo about his problem. “Master Foo,†he asked “why do Unix users not employ antivirus programs? And defragmentors? And malware cleaners?†Master Foo smiled, and said “When your house is well constructed, there is no need to add pillars to keep the roof in place.†The novice replied “Would it not be better to use these things anyway, just to be certain?†Master Foo reached for a nearby ball of string, and began wrapping it around the novice’s feet. “What are you doing?†the novice asked in surprise. Master Foo replied simply: “Tying your shoes.†Upon hearing this, the novice was enlightened. --Eric S. Raymond
Linux is a very powerful OS. It just can't be taken for granted. One must know what he/she is doing. Like I did it on a dedicated server. I executed a command without realising the correct syntax and it started changing the file permissions to 644 and directory permissions to 755 recursively. The only way out was to go to WHM, locate the process and kill it. But till then it was too late. The process was almost complete.