Noob Linux Question

[Guest]

This may be the quickest to answer for all those who are experienced with Linux. On my system both Windows and Linux are installed on the same physical drive in different partitions obviously. I know Linux is known to be less of a hassle when it comes to viruses/malware/etc, and while I haven't got a virus in more than a decade, I still would like to make it my business OS and keep Windows just for games. And there's the privacy concerns of course. My question is, while I'm using the Linux partition can I still get a Windows related piece of malicious software? My logic says because it's on the same drive it can still get infected. Thoughts?

[Windows7ge]

Malicious software has to be coded to affect an Operating System. Linux is based off an entirely different set of instructions to Windows so a Windows Virus cannot infect a Linux OS. On top of that Linux doesn't recognize NTFS which is what most people use on their Windows machines. Linux uses a completely different format. A windows virus couldn't jump ship over to the Linux partition and still work. It'd be like an american moving to a foreign country where they speak a language that you have no understanding of. You'd have no ability to communicate with the rest of the system to affect it.

[Guest]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

Malicious software has to be coded to affect an Operating System. Linux is based off an entirely different set of instructions to Windows so a Windows Virus cannot infect a Linux OS. On top of that Linux doesn't recognize NTFS which is what most people use on their Windows machines. Linux uses a completely different format. A windows virus couldn't jump ship over to the Linux partition and still work. It'd be like an american moving to a foreign country where they speak a language that you have no understanding of. You'd have no ability to communicate with the rest of the system to affect it.

That was all I needed to know. See? Knew it would be simple for smart folks like you. Thanks!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Windows malware won't run and you can have your drive filled with Windows malware and it won't be a security issue. Same with it the other way around but that's not normally a issue. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

Malicious software has to be coded to affect an Operating System. Linux is based off an entirely different set of instructions to Windows so a Windows Virus cannot infect a Linux OS. On top of that Linux doesn't recognize NTFS which is what most people use on their Windows machines. Linux uses a completely different format. A windows virus couldn't jump ship over to the Linux partition and still work. It'd be like an american moving to a foreign country where they speak a language that you have no understanding of. You'd have no ability to communicate with the rest of the system to affect it.

Just saying linux has full read write support if ntfs but just can't execute. 

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Just saying linux has full read write support if ntfs but just can't execute. 

Oh wait...I might be thinking OSX. In OSX it refused to recognize a NTFS partition made on a windows machine. Only after I reformatted the thumb drive in FAT32 did OSX recognize it. My bad. The execute thing is news to me though. If Linux is compatible with NTFS partitions how can it read/write but not execute?

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Oh wait...I might be thinking OSX. In OSX it refused to recognize a NTFS partition made on a windows machine. Only after I reformatted the thumb drive in FAT32 did OSX recognize it. My bad. The execute thing is news to me though. If Linux is compatible with NTFS partitions how can it read/write but not execute?

Yeah I have heard that too, that OSX can't read NTFS  so rediculous...

But yeah, Linux has had read/write support for NTFS for almost 10 years now, and read alone for longer than that.  Never heard about the executing thing though

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah I have heard that too, that OSX can't read NTFS  so rediculous...

I needed the thumb drive for college and I needed it to be cross platform compatible which apparently the latest supported Windows/OSX format is still FAT32 which is waaaaay outdated due to file limitations. I don't remember the exact numbers but something like files can't be bigger than 2GB. Nowadays files can easily exceed that.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

Oh wait...I might be thinking OSX. In OSX it refused to recognize a NTFS partition made on a windows machine. Only after I reformatted the thumb drive in FAT32 did OSX recognize it. My bad. The execute thing is news to me though. If Linux is compatible with NTFS partitions how can it read/write but not execute?

I think its due to posix and how ntfs doesn't follow the same permissions.

 

I think with OSX ntfs is read only.

[Windows7ge]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I think its due to posix and how ntfs doesn't follow the same permissions.

 

I think with OSX ntfs is read only.

With OSX it refused to even recognize that there was a partition on the drive it just told me I needed to make one and that no space (or very little) available on the drive. When I reformatted it to FAT32 then plugged it in it recognized it as external storage and worked as normal.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

With OSX it refused to even recognize that there was a partition on the drive it just told me I needed to make one and that no space (or very little) available on the drive. When I reformatted it to FAT32 then plugged it in it recognized it as external storage and worked as normal.

i think osx is picky with partition labels in the partition and wont try to mount it unless it matches a filesystem it knows how to mount.

[vanished]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

i think osx is picky with partition labels in the partition and wont try to mount it unless it matches a filesystem it knows how to mount.

"It just works" am I right?  

[Windows7ge]

10 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

i think osx is picky with partition labels in the partition and wont try to mount it unless it matches a filesystem it knows how to mount.

It's possible if I wiped the entire partition table plugged it into the Mac then if it has an NTFS option formatted it as so it might have worked then.

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

"It just works" am I right?  

You reminded me of this post on Reddit. The good ol days.

[vanished]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

You reminded me of this post on Reddit. The good ol days.

 

Oh how times have changed...

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

Your most likely to get hit with ransomware than anything else and they are made for all operating systems. There have been worms and viruses in the past that infected linux for the sole purpose of attacking windows machines. There are malware designed for linux based routers and modems that could possibly hurt a linux desktop but unlikely considering modems and routers tend to be attacked through a windows based web browser.

Just like on windows do not click on stupid shit; use adblock and noscript.

[Guest]

On 5/10/2017 at 3:09 AM, SCHISCHKA said:

Your most likely to get hit with ransomware than anything else and they are made for all operating systems. There have been worms and viruses in the past that infected linux for the sole purpose of attacking windows machines. There are malware designed for linux based routers and modems that could possibly hurt a linux desktop but unlikely considering modems and routers tend to be attacked through a windows based web browser.

Just like on windows do not click on stupid shit; use adblock and noscript.

I use those options already and know to stay away from the obvious stuff, I was just curious about how Linux and Windows operated under the same physical drive. I'm still somewhat new to the OS and am just exploring everything about it.

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

8 hours ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I use those options already and know to stay away from the obvious stuff, I was just curious about how Linux and Windows operated under the same physical drive. I'm still somewhat new to the OS and am just exploring everything about it.

turn off fast boot in bios. In disk manager, turn off automatic mounting for the windows partition and you shouldnt have any troubles.

[kango_v]

You can edit the Linux /etc/fstab file and mark the windows partition read only.