What do you meant by “portable environment”? Do you mean it’s on a bootable USB thumb drive?

Great to hear, cheers!

Personally, I prefer to keep Linux and Windows on separate boxes. I’ve never had issues with them dual booting on the same box or when one (or the other) was in a virtual machine. But… I keep them separate because I like to play, and invariably, when I play, I sometimes break things! So for me at least, it’s safer top keep them separated.

World of Warcraft, sorry I don’t play it, but maybe you can check out Wine? –> http://appdb.winehq.org/object.....p;iId=1922

The Question…

I am an Audio Engineer, Sound Designer, and Musician. I run DigiDesign Pro Tools LE beta on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. (1) Due to data protection purposes, would it be more feasible to run Ubuntu (for browsing, email, IM, FUN) on a separate computer rather than having both OS’s on the same computer? (2) I’m a nerd: Can I play World of Warcraft on a Ubuntu system ;)?

Thanks for the time. I eagerly look forward to joining this community of respectable friendly people. (Whoot!!!)

fascinating thread, and well, lots of food for thought!

I have used Linux before, but as a novelty, rather than for practical purposes; I am a big geek *grins*

Having recently revisited Linux (and specifically mint and ubuntu distros)I have quickly seen vast improvements of system resource management, and usability (both over windows OSs, and previous linuc distros).

However, I am a graphic designer, and compatibility with windows and Mac OSs is essential! In my free time I find myself booting portable versions of Mint 8, partly because I prefer to use it, and partly because I find it more efficient.
For work I *cringe* need windows. For play on the other hand, I have every intention of booting from a portable USB hard drive when I can get hold of one (duel booting is sadly a risk I am not prepared to take).

THE QUESTION AT HAND:
How much of a security risk would you believe running a full install of a distro like Mint be in a portable environment?..

Thankyou in advance, I know the overarching Linux community is one of the most sincere and helpful I have ever spoken to, but I also can see this is a very old thread!

That does not look like a virus, that is most likely the result of some configuration or related driver issue – possibly even an applications scripting issue.

Please read the valuable information in the comments from “yochai”

Lo siento por mi pobre español, no es mi lengua materna.

Tu comentario no está relacionado con este post (antivirus).

Usted menciona que Ubuntu Linux no se recomienda (por ti), porque tienes que ir a un programador, si quieres hacer algo …

Nada podría estar más lejos de la verdad, con respeto, su comentario es totalmente erróneo. Un ejemplo, mi padre, 88 años, cambió de Windows a Linux (Ubuntu) hace aproximadamente 2 años. Nunca usó otra cosa que Windows. Él ha tenido ningún problema. Varios de mis clientes (algunos con casi ninguna de Smarts de ordenador) cambió a Linux (Ubuntu), y todos ellos están disfrutando también.

Debido a que usted personalmente haya tenido problemas con su software y hardware, que es injusto sugerir que la culpa es de Ubuntu – En particular, cuando cientos de miles de usuarios están felices.

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@ gustavo

Sorry for my poor Spanish, it is not my native language.

Your comment is not related to this post (antivirus).

You mention that Ubuntu Linux is not recommended (by you) because you have to go to a programmer, if you want to do anything…

Nothing could be further from the truth, with respect, your comment is completely wrong. One example, my father, 88 years old, switched from Windows to Linux (Ubuntu) about 2 years ago. He never used anything other than Windows. He has had no problems whatsoever. Several of my clients (some with almost no computer smarts) switched to Linux (Ubuntu), and they are all enjoying it too.

Because you personally may have had issues with your software and hardware, it’s unfair to suggest that the fault is with Ubuntu – Particularly when hundreds of thousands of users are happy.

Unless a script can run the “sudo” or “su” command and then enter the appropriate password, so as to install on the system, it’s not going to get far at all.

I have been using Linux for several years. Not once, ever, have any of my Linux systems been infected with a Virus (or malware).

Additionally, I agree with other users being protected. If someone wants to run the command “rm -rf ~/” they are able to, as they are deleting their home directory. If they are insecure or do not know what they’re doing, trhen other users should be protected (that’s the point).

But again, in reality, I’ve never had to repair my Linux based PC’s (or those of my clients; who use Linux) from a virus (or malware) issue.

There’s a lot of talk about permission and how they will protect the user in Linux as long as they don’t run anything as root. But that doesn’t really protect the user, it mostly protects other users on the system. If I receive an executable it can do something like:
rm -rf ~/ (delete my entire home directory)
in a billion different ways. Bye bye years of data. Fine I can restore from backups, but that is a real pain… Sure /usr is safe, other users’ home directories are safe, but all my files are dead and gone.

Worse the virus/malware can open a TCP connection and send data to the cracker’s server. It could send him all my emails (if they are not encrypted) and any non-encrypted file I have access to. Again it can’t send him other people’s files, but do I really care about that or do I care about my personal data?

It can also install a server running on a port >= 1024 and listen and let the cracker log in to my machine. Ok this is with my permissions not root’s, but once the cracker has local access, there are often ways of compromising the system and gaining root privileges. If he can do that it’s game over for everyone! Yes I know a firewall can block this, but then you need a firewall and it is not installed/enabled on my Ubuntu/Debian systems by default.

So yeah if the user wants to be able to run executables from emails or from the internet they are at risk of all of that. I mean you can use public key cryptography and have the sender or the provider sign the package with their private key. But that just confirms that the sender/provider is really the one who generated that package, it doesn’t mean they are trustworthy.

Is there really anyone who knows all the people they get software from over the internet? Even software in source code form can do all this. I mean sure you can look through the code and find out, but there can be thousands/millions of lines of code. Sure if you get all your software from the Ubuntu or Debian servers you are fine, but I often find interesting software from other sources.

And there’s no easy fix. I mean I don’t want to be asked for confirmation by the OS each time one of my file’s needs to be deleted, or each time I make a TCP connection.

I could be wrong, and I’d love to see a system that could run arbitrary code with zero risk of hurting the user, I just don’t think that’s realistic.

XP cannot natively read the ext2 or ext3 filesystem.
Your system is supposed (in many cases) to have cookies – They are often used for session control in dynamic web sites. For example I configure my browser to remove all cookies when I close the application.
Antispyware and antivirus are two different things completely.]
I have never ever had to install antispyware applications as I do not install spyware in the first place. The permissions system in Linux makes it somewhat immune to “warez and virus” attacks. Sure there are a few Linux based viruses, but again it’s problematic because of the permissions system. To be effected negatively by such thing, you would have to be logged in and operating your system as the root account! (Which one should never do, hence the need for commands such as sudo and su). :)
I work in an environment where the best protection is an antivirus device directly connected to the network (along with the firewall). ;)

ok thanks… i was just wondering if it is possible using a avg linux anti-virus…

since i have a storage drive and it seems infected by a virus on that worthless windows OS.. of course i want a clean storage drive and the virus that i got seems to be self replicating, i mean it creates a clone of itself…

right now it seems to stop when i’m using ubuntu… but it is making me paranoid and hoping it won’t affect my linux side or i was hoping to keep my mind at ease is to eliminate it using my linux OS + avg anti-virus software…

a bit off-topic… sorry

I’m no expert, but I’ve never heard of a Linux virus. I currently do not use it on desktops, only on mail servers.
Hope this helps.