Entry

How the UNIX OS is free of virus please explain in depth

Jan 25th, 2006 11:08
Cristian Ciupitu, Yogish Yogi,

If you want this to be explained in depth I'm afraid that you will need
to read a book on Unix and another one on Security.
 The short answer is that because of it's security model, the users are
separated so an user can't harm other users. This, also, implies that a
simple, normal user can't harm the whole system, he can't render it in a
non-working state. You can only harm yourself.
 Often, in "the Windows world", users have too many priviledges and when
one of them runs a virused program the whole system is affected.
 It is very important to keep in mind that no OS, program (and
antivirus) can prevent (restrain) you from running (executing) a harmful
program. For example, if you (or someone else) write(s) a program that
just deletes all files, no protection mechanism will stop you from
running that program. And if you want to try this stuff, create a bat
file, for example x.bat, containing:
format c: /u
 If my memory serves me right, this bat will format your hard-drive. Try
to run it and see if your antivirus stops you.
 Instead of "format c: /u" you could also try "del %SystemRoot%\*.*".
 Btw, what is your definition of a virus?