Hi,

I know that this site has to be financed, but shouldn't we avoid advertising products for anti-viruses, malware removers and the like? After all, a lot of people who fall on these forums aren't Linux users, and we need to promote Linux as being a safe, stable system that is free (or relatively free) from the ills that effect Windows. I just think that adverts for products like Spydoctor give out the wrong image for Linux.

I disagree. Securing computers is about securing the other operating systems too, than just the one you're using. If you think like "it's the problem of those Windows users", you're thinking the wrong way -- even though many of the viruses, worms and other stuff run on Windows operating system, they slow down networks and that way affect all the other operating systems and their users too, not just Windows users. Great piece of all email traffic nowadays is junk mail, and it's not just Windows users that suffer from that; even though you do use Linux or OS X, you get junk mail (or if you don't, be thankful for it). Not advertising those products might, at some point, give an image of Linux that says "we're not interested in your problems, only our". And what if some people bump into these sites because the search engine gave an anti-virus link as a result to their search, and forwarded them here? They read the word "Linux". Part of them may get interested. Is that bad?

The message shouldn't be "Linux is good, Windows is bad, so you're bad if you don't use Linux", or "Come on, if you've got problems just dump your system and jump here!", or "All the problems in the world vanish if you convert yourself and five of your buddies from Windows to Linux!". It should be something else, maybe "this is something you can also have".

I know a lot of companies make money out of viruses. I'm pretty sure some of them create viruses, worms, trojans and bad stuff because they get paid when they make cures for that stuff. But still, if the answer was not to use Windows at all, why does it still exist? It's a good OS for the purposes it works well with. Linux is good for the stuff you can do well with it. There is no perfect OS, so why try to assure people Linux is one? And more importantly, why start selecting "Linux only" adverts for a site that is about more than Linux (notice that there are non-Linux operating system forums here too, like BSDs for example).

I'd agree and also add that using many anti-virus product on Linux to secure other operating systems is a very common practice.

--jeremy

I tend to agree with the OP, but if they are to be here, I feel they should be Linux-centric, as this is a Linux site.

I don't know where you found this in my post!! It definitely isnt what I wanted to say or imply.

Because it's the OS installed on 99% of new computers and has such a hold on the market that it's complicated to do without it.

Who said I thought there was? But it is a fact that Linux is more secure and stable than Windows. So too is BSD...and Mac.

I wasn't!