Is Linux Desktop Better Than Windows? (LinuxPlanet)

Is Linux Desktop Better Than Windows? (LinuxPlanet)

Yes, viruses, worms and backdoors will be more prevalent when Linux gains more mainstream popularity, but they won't be anywhere near as bad as on Windows.

Due to conscious choices on the parts of OSS software vendors, Linux mail clients don't automatically run scripts when you preview/open e-mail. Nor are attachments executable by just clicking them in the e-mail. Extensions don't mean a damn, so renaming something to .pif.exe isn't going to hide anything. All this will serve to minimize the threat from automatic infection.

Linux has had a firewall built-in from (almost) day 1. Most vendors now have it default to "on".

In most environments, users will log in as unpriviledged users and not root or admin users. It *is* possible to install software as an unpriv user on Linux, though you need to be root to do it systemwide for a multi-user setup. Unlike Windows, which doesn't provide (or didn't for the longest time) an "su" command, software can be installed systemwide by a regular user just by popping up a password box for admin rights. People don't have to log in as an Administrator just to play with their system or install software.

That protects from malware that wants to do systemwide nastiness.

Backing up a Linux box, as far as a user is concerned, is as simple as making a backup of /home/<user>. Data is the critical part as the system can be rebuilt in a short time. Unlike Windows, there is no nasty registry to eat all your configs you spent months tweaking for each package.

Finally, Linux enforces the concept of priv ports so a worm is going to have a hard time opening port 25 to act as a mail server.

No, Linux is not immune but it will be significantly better than Windows on Microsoft's best day.