Avira Support Forum

Dear Avira Forum Members -

I did search the Avira Forum on UBUNTU and found two links

The command from the second link

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?pag…;threadID=92283

seems VERY USEFUL and understandable to me IF I already had Avira installed on my Wubi Windows install of Ubuntu.

sudo /usr/lib/AntiVir/avupdate --product=Guard

BUT YOUR FIRST LINK

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?pag…;threadID=90095

is too vague for a beginner to know how to install Avira on Ubuntu.

Your above first link refers to

http://dazuko.dnsalias.org/wiki/index.php/Downloads

which mentions that the target is Linux 2.6.31 and mentions some TAR downloads, but gives no indication about Ubuntu 9.1 (which is the what Wubi windows installer installs) nor does it give step by step instructions for how one might install it via the synaptic manager, or via sudo commands.

Therefore I shall post here in the hopes that someone might point out the kind of instructions that I need.

MY POST:

I would like to see a step-by-step beginners guide on how to install and run Avira in Ubuntu.

I did about 10 Wubi installs (and subsequent uninstalls) of Ubuntu for Windows on an old Compaq Presario with an 80 gig drive running Windows XP Home edition.

My only successful experiences so far with installing additional packages are by means of Ubuntus Synaptic Manager, installing Apache, PhP and MySQL (Lamp). If you check my http://wp.me/pBlI9-gM blog post you will see in great detail not only the step-by-step method which finally resulted in success, but also the many times that I encountered problems and had to reinstall Ubuntu and start over.

It is my understanding from searching forums that Ubuntu is far less subject to malware, and the main motive for an Ubuntu installing any antivirus is to clean up things which might be emailed to a Windows user and infect them. I would appreciate hearing Avira Forum member's views on this sort of statement.

I feel that IF Avira could make itself available on the Synaptic Manager, then Avira popularity would greatly increase for many reasons.

BUT, if there are some obstacles to placing Avira on the Synaptic Manager, then, a step-by-step tutorial on how to download, install and launch Avira under Ubuntu would become very popular for beginners who what to get their hands dirty on a successful install.

I will certainly post regarding such a tutorial at my blog and various forums and I do see some activity and interest as people search on tags.

I am truly impressed to see what Ubuntu is like. I only felt comfortable trying it when my step-son gave me his old Comaq Presario, which makes my third Windows machine, so I feel I can afford to be daring and take chances installing and using things that might destroy the Windows installation.

The other piece of the puzzle that made this Ubuntu experiment possible for me was realizing that I can connect additional computers to my Verizon DSL by means of an inexpensive Belkin Wi-Fi USB port adapter ($30 USD). If you visit my blog on the Wubi installation, you can see how I finally got Ubuntu to connect to the Internet.

The biggest obstacle for the beginner to try Ubuntu the lack of a solid step-by-step tutorial on how to install it, connect to the Internet, and then install other useful packages.

One post regarding Wi-Fi adapters and drivers on unix machines (and the issue of wrappers vs. native linux drivers) made one observation that really caught my attention, saying "two years ago Ubuntu was more like a toy, and it would have been difficult or impossible to connect Ubuntu via Wi-Fi, but two years from now Ubuntu will have matured into a serious option for businesses."

I remember in the 1990s asking a Linux programmer out of curiousity if there were any businesses that ran on Linux. He surprised me by saing that Sy Simms Clothiers ("An educated consumer is our best customer") was on Linux.

I started out with a Radio Shack Model I, moved to a Model III, then switched to MS-DOS machines on an inexpensive network product (not Novell). Finally, I moved to Windows in the 1980s.

The glimpses that I had of Unix and Linux gave me the impression that they were very difficult to use. I finally found a few years of stability using XP, and was horrified by the Vista problems in the rumor mill. I dont even hear anything very positive about Windows 7, but rather see commercial after snide commercial from Apple Mac, mocking Microsoft as an incompetent buffoon.

I wonder how Avira Forum members feel about the future of something like Ubuntu becoming dominant in the business world.

Years ago, I perceived MySQL as a kind of educational toy and curiosity. But now I receive re

But now that I have a glimpse of what Ubuntu is like, for the first time I have the urge to switch totally to open source and escape the uncertainties of proprietary software and license agreements.

P.S. I just went to a HUGE computer store near my home J and R Computer world in Manhattan, and I looked at EVERY wifi and ethernet card to see if ANY mention Ubuntu or Linux, and only ONE mentions LINUX which is www.startech.com and the card is only $10 USD. But it utterly AMAZES me that manufacturers so ignore such a market as Ubuntu.

I have found this forum VERY CORDIAL and helpful to me as a beginner, and you have EMPOWERED me to attempt things that I was hesitant to attempt because I do not have a lot of spare money or spare computers. But I do want to observe how OBTUSE most technical types are, especially in the LINUX world, when you go somewhere like SOURCE FORGE for example to download something, there is VERY LITTLE plain English (or plain German or French) instructions to help guide the beginner, and yet it is the BEGINNER audience, and adolescents who will one day become adult users and consumers of products and operating systems.

For my wife's Windows XP Dell. When she saw the expiration date, she didn't realize that European convention is day/month/year and she thought she was being short changed.

But I just installed my first PURE Ubuntu (not Wubi on Windows) and I REALLY would appreciate some step by step instructions for installing Avira on Ubuntu.

I did come across the following link, which speaks of two different email virus scanners, one of which is CLAM, and has many related packages in the Synaptic Manager. I would appreciate feedback about these other products.

http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/118618?theme=print

If someone CAN help me install Avira on Ubuntu, I do blog about it in Wordpress and Facebook and Plurk, so it may spark other people's interest in Avira. Thanks!

Hi,
Please read this manual

Quoted from "Nicolae Moldoveanu"

Hi,
Please read this manual

Except, as I look it over, I realize that I am too inexperienced to undertake such an install.

I already put so many hours into just getting Ubuntu installed on this old Gateway tower. I don't want to do anything to risk losing it and having to start over.

Do you think an Ubuntu 9.10 desktop on WiFi can get by with something like Clam which is in the synaptic manager
or with a firewall like Gufw, which is also in the synaptic manager?

What is your opinion of statements to the effect that Ubuntu does not need an antivirus or firewall.

I blog about everything I am doing step by step at http://williambuell.wordpress.com and I think I am getting some readers with Ubuntu and Avira interests.

Hi WilliamBuell,

Quoted

Original by WilliamBuell
What is your opinion of statements to the effect that Ubuntu does not need an antivirus or firewall.

I run a Fedora spinoff and technically running Linux there is no need for an antivirus or firewall, but I do because of emailing, if I somehow managed to get a virus on my Linux box although it will not effect me if I send an email that is infected to a windows user then they will definitely not be pleased, so I use an AV on my Linux box purely for this reason.

Quoted

Original by WilliamBuell
I already put so many hours into just getting Ubuntu installed on this old Gateway tower. I don't want to do anything to risk losing it and having to start over.

As long as you have created/burnt an ISO image that corresponds to your hardware architecture, then reinstalling should not be a problem. Should only take about 15 mins depending on your system, much quicker than reinstalling windows.

Quoted

Orininal by WilliamBuell
Do you think an Ubuntu 9.10 desktop on WiFi can get by with something like Clam which is in the synaptic manager
or with a firewall like Gufw, which is also in the synaptic manager?

No reason why not mine is hooked up via WiFi more than it is cable.


Regards
Barrie

Barrie! Thanks for your very helpful comments. I did not think about burning an ISO image as a backup. Would that also restore all my data?

The real reason for this post is that I joined an IRC channel via Konversation which is in the synaptic manager, and it put me right into a Kubuntu chat. I mentioned my interest in Avira, and someone sent me exactly the link that I needed to download the Debian install OF AVAST.. SORRY FOR MY CONFUSION. I am reposting the post I just now made at my wordpress blog:


MY APOLOGIES. I AM A 60 YEAR OLD MAN WHO GETS CONFUSED SOMETIMES. WHAT I WAS GIVEN WAS AVAST AND NOT AVIRA!!

Once it installs, just right click and choose the first option to install.

Once the install finishes, you will find the link in Applications-> Accessories

When you first launch it, it will ask you to register to receive a key in your email. Fill out the registration and past the key from the email that will arrive.

First do an UPDATE to get the latest virus signatures. Then do a full scan.

My technique is to install something new FIRST on my machine which runs a Wubi install of Ubuntu on windows, because if anything goes wrong, it takes me much less time to reinstall that than to reinstall my pure Ubuntu 280 gig Gateway.

I posted several times at Avira forum, which is always very helpful, asking for Ubuntu install instructions. Finally someone gave me a link to a PDF about Avira Linux installs which seemed to require a kernal rebuild, which is way beyond my abilities. If only they had given me the above link, I could have installed it with a couple of clicks. I kind of gave up on the idea of having Avira.

The way I discovered this useful link is that I wanted to have an IRC client to seek advice from other Ubuntu users, so I went to synaptic manager and ... well, first I installed ircii, but I saw no way to launch it, so then I installed Konversation, which has a gui interface and launch icon and places me right into an Ubuntu chat. I mentioned there about my interest in Avast for Linux-Ubuntu and someone gave me the above link that I need.


I went to the synaptic manager and found the CLAM antivirus scanner, and installed that.

I am sure my Wubi Ubuntu machine will be running that THOROUGH scan of the ENTIRE system for quite some time. But I want to try it out to the maximum before I put it on my Gateway.

I just now took a peek at the screen and it is paused because IT HAS FOUND A VIRUS, which it recommends moving to the CHEST for Quarantine,

Suela -1042 in host/pagefile.sys

which means it is scanning the windows portion of the hard drive, so I think I will ignore it, since that Windows portion gets scanned each day by Avira and also by MalwareBytes.

It is most curious that the file is flagged by the Linux version and not by the Windows version, so I will post this at the Avira forum and call it to their attention. I do believe that pagefile.sys is part of the Windows system and is always locked during scans!.

I never stopped to think that a COMPLETE system scan would include all the files in HOST, which is the Windows partition.

Hi WilliamBuell,

Quoted

Original by WilliamBuell
I did not think about burning an ISO image as a backup. Would that also restore all my data?

No you would need to create a backup of your Linux partition and all its relevant settings this would include the desktop etc.

As I said I do not use Ubuntu but a Fedora spinoff and created a backup image of my system on an 8Gb USB stick via macles method here , it works a treat, but I do not think this will work for Ubuntu, it would be best to search there forums for a backup solution.


Regards
Barrie