antivirus?

[f23948]

I don't need antivirus unless i use Wine is that correct?

[TheDead]

Contrary to urban legends, Mac and Linux do have viruses.
They are only fewer since virus makers usually like to spread their creations and there are more Windows machines.

On Linux, a popular one is ClamAV but it is not "real-time" meaning, you have to scan a computer for it to detect viruses.
Personnaly I prefer "real-time" antiviruses to catch virus "in the act" (i.e. before they infect/corrupt/delete files).

Though I do not use a Linux antivirus personnaly since I keep my important files on different protected locations, I still use one on all my Windows machine because... experience.
If everything important are on your personnal computer, backup to a USB (that you disconnect after backups) or protected network drive as needed.
If you have none of those an antivirus and/or cloud backup is suggested.

Quite a few major antivirus companies make Linux Antivirus.
I will leave the Linux "Masters" suggest which ones are the best...

[newtusmaximus]

I have been using SOPHOS for Linux - free to private users.  needs patience to install/setup via terminal, but very effective. 
Working from home office  and having  incoming and outgoing files in collaboration projects, I have used SOPHOS  for many years to ensure that "transmitting Risks" is minimised.

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/fr...linux.aspx
Manuals 5 Install Sophos Anti-Virus on astandalone computer    https://docs.sophos.com/esg/SAV-Linux/he...nux_sg.pdf
User  https://www.sophos.com/en-us/medialibrar..._cgeng.pdf
Maybe too specialised for general use, but worth the effort IMHO

[TMG1961]

In the past i tried installing an antivirus program but never succeeded so i gave up and stopped using one.

[mdiemer]

I've tried ClamAV, but it never found anything. As always, the user is the single most effective resource against malware. Having said that, anyone can still get hacked at any time. I think with Linux you are at least 10X safer than windows. No idea about Apple. Can't see paying too much for a computer which you can't even open and fix.

[f23948]

can i use Linux Lite without antivirus as long as i don't use Wine and torrent downloader?

[Moltke]

can i use Linux Lite without antivirus as long as i don't use Wine and torrent downloader?

You can use any Linux distro without an AV software. I do use wine and do torrent downloads too. Never have had any virus/malware scenario so far. AV sofware in Linux is a waste of time and resources. It doesn't mean you don't have to be cautios when downloading stuff and surfing websites, just use your common sense and you'll be fine.

[TheDead]

For Wine, if you have a virus in there, I'm doubtfull it will go far into the Linux side.
Still, I found the idea interesting. If the file system is available to Wine and not sandboxed, It could damage files...

In the Linux viruses departement, I have seen a few, they were mainly on servers. Most dealt with email services.
Note that these systems needed some "updates love" and could've been better armored with that.

But I digress, if you have important data, backup (or I should say BACKUUUUP!!!!) and keep copies elsewhere NOT on your computer/network.
I have most of my important stuff in my daily backpack, so if the house burns down, I have a (semi)up-to-date backup .
I almost lost everything "data" once (years of school/work, personal photos,etc.) from an electrical problem.
I still bless the Silicon Deities to this day that I worked in a computer shop at the time because because of the six circuit boards I found that physicaly fitted my harddrive ONE was compatible with the physical drive and made my data available. If I lost my data to a CryptoVirus... I would have lost everything.

Bonus : Since then, I have my data on my computer/replicated every few days to my network drive which is in RAID 1 (two hard drives, if one fails you don't lose data) and a USB hard drive that follow me around. Uh yeeeah... I'm not a fan of cloud backups.