| Handling Viruses | ||
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Chapter 4. Viruses |  |
| Handling Viruses | ||
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Chapter 4. Viruses | |
Because viruses are still uncommon on Linux systems, there has not been a great deal of development of anti-virus software. There are some projects to develop Open Source anti-virus software, but they are still in the early stages.
The following example illustrates how to use a text based system to disinfect or delete infected files on your system. This system uses F-Prot for Linux which is currently available free to home users. To use F-Prot you will need to open a terminal window and manually type in commands. When you have typed a command, press the Enter key to carry it out.
Konsole.
Type the command: f-prot -disinf followed by the file or directory you wish to disinfect and Press Enter.
Examples are:
/f-prot -disinf /home/david which will scan all files in the directory /home/david if david is a directory. If it is a file it will only scan that file.
/f-prot – disinf /mnt/floppy scans the diskette in the diskette drive
The screen below illustrates an example of the printout from such a scan.
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f-prot -delete /home/david scans the directory and deletes infected files. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion. f-prot /home/david scans the directory and reports back.
Click the Exit icon in the top right hand corner of the screen when done.
As viruses are created on an on-going basis, these need to be analysed continuously by the developers of anti-virus software. Not only do the developers need to be able to extract the signature of the virus, but they also need to analyse how the virus acts and how it can be removed from the program. These changes then need to be incorporated into the anti-virus software.
Users in turn need to download these changes and update their software. The longer the period between updates, the more vulnerable computer systems are to the action of new viruses. Updates are often made available on a daily basis by developers.
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| Chapter 4. Viruses |  |
Chapter 5. Print Management |