5 Reasons why Linux is Secure against Viruses than Windows
February 5th, 2009 | by admin |
While comparing windows and linux each other lots of peoples have one thing in mind that linux is more secure against viruses.This could be the one from many reasons that linux is widely being used on servers but if we think about why linux is secure against viruses than windows.We will have lots of reasons in mind.In this post i am gonna list some reasons why linux is secure against viruses than windows.
1) User Privileges.
In linux no user is given administrative Privileges rather than root therefore linux doesn’t allow a normal user to write any system file.Only root user can install software and can edit system file so if you need to install any software or need to edit any configuration file you will have use su – command.
2) No Executables.
Like windows linux doesn’t support .exe files. Most of the viruses in windows are being spread with .exe files what happens you just double click on .exe file and virus,trojan or malware easily integrate itself with windows.
3) No Registry.
Registry is another place where viruses put their information so what happens even if you delete files infected with virus.It rewrites its information from registry and it is also too difficult to find where virus hides its information in registry.Linux uses configuration files rather than registry so another big hole for viruses is closed and as i mentioned in point 1 that linux doesn’t allow any normal user to edit system files.
4) No Internet Explorer (IE)
Internet Explorer (IE) which is installed in windows by default is another big hole for virus.It has been proved by many times by research that IE is has lots of vulnerabilities.Linux has Mozilla firefox browser installed by default which is the most secure browser and blocks most of viruses and trojans and doesn’t allow any website to install any software without your permission.
5) Linux is not soo common like windows.
Although developers of linux has improved it alot and has also worked to make it user friendly but still linux is unsuccessful to capture most of the desktop users.Most of the viruses are made for desktop users rather than servers because servers are monitored by system administrators and have security softwares,Hardware firewalls and much more to protect them against viruses.Because linux is not common like windows number of viruses created for linux is also minimum.
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10 Responses to “5 Reasons why Linux is Secure against Viruses than Windows”
By Richard Chapman on Feb 5, 2009 | Reply
You named only one reason why Linux is more secure than Windows. The other 4 can be reduced to Linux is not Windows, which it is not but it says nothing about why Linux is more secure. Linux, like all Open Source, is transparent. Everybody sees the code. There are far more eyes with good intentions looking at the code than those with bad intentions.
By JKirkwood on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
You really should take a look at your grammar and punctuation.
By Mark Sanborn on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Good article, my only fear is that people are used to throwing the sudo command around and being a root user won’t mean much if viruses start to come out for Linux.
@Richard,
Yes, Linux is open source which means that hackers and others can attempt to reverse engineer to find vulnerabilities. This actually leads to more fixes and MORE secure code.
Promoting security through obscurity is not the answer.
By admin on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
@JKirkwood
Thanks for pointing about grammar actually English is not my first language but anyways will try to improve.
By Richard Chapman on Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
@ Mark Sanborn
Yes, that’s exactly the point I was trying to make. Linux is more secure because more eyes see the code. There are other reasons too like permissions. Some people, who suffer from paycheck induced ignorance, pretend that Windows is apparently less secure than Linux because it’s more popular and therefor a bigger target. The faulty logic goes on to posit that Linux is apparently more secure because of its obscurity. This nonsense is scattered through the Internet like buckshot.
By Myshkin on Sep 14, 2009 | Reply
“No registry”
No, but you end up with a million .conf files scattered all throughout the filesystem.
By Kyle Barnhart on Oct 23, 2009 | Reply
But those “million .conf files” can be more stable than a registry. A simple google check will tell you location of file, which could be modified.
Linux has been my friend because of low memory use, more customizable than Windows, virus-free environment, and I can run my necessary Windows-only apps too. Linux actually has a more stable structure due to it’s GPL license, as the others said. If Windows went open-source, I think they could benefit from it.
By Lacksinho on Apr 3, 2012 | Reply
That true…Most of virus is executable file such .exe, .bat which supportrd by window