Most of us must have used a Microsoft product atleast once in a Lifetime….Many famous Microsoft products like WINDOWS OS, Microsoft office etc., According to the recent statistics more than 70% of people who use Computers have Windows Operating System in it and the remaining use other OS like LINUX and MAC….
This is the reason why Windows is much affected by Virus than any other OS, as the number of users are more all the hackers will try to target the larger population so we have around 100,000 known computer viruses only for Windows.
More of the complaints we get regarding Windows PC is about virus infection. You cannot use a Windows machine without antivirus or anti-malware. Even after having these programs installed there is still the risk of getting infected. Sometimes, viruses and malware even get past the best solutions. On the other hand, with Linux, you don’t need to worry at all about this. Your PC will hardly get infected with viruses with this operating system.
One of the key reasons LINUX and Mac are less prone to virus infection is that these systems require privileged access to install and run viruses. Malware rarely is able to gain root or privileged access to these devices and so it is more difficult to leverage system vulnerabilities. The idea that the dominance of Windows is a reason for its susceptibility is specious. LINUX install base covers everything from embedded processors to super computers. While Windows is definitely the dominant desktop OS, the increasing prevalence of embedded devices is rapidly making LINUX the most prevalent OS in the world. All without a major increase in susceptibility to malware.
Advantages of Linux
Stability
If you have used other operating systems, once you have made the switch to Linux, you will notice that Linux has an edge over Windows here. I can remember rebooting Windows many times over the years, because an application crashed, and I couldn’t continue working. Linux can crash also, but it is much harder to do. If an application crashes in Linux, it will usually not harm the kernel or other processes.
Free Software
Most software can be obtained without cost for Linux. For example, one thing that has kept people from Linux is the lack of office software. That has changed with Open Office, and now you can edit documents and presentations from the popular Microsoft software. The conversion isn’t 100% perfect, but it has worked remarkably well in allowing me to correspond and use documents that people send me via e-mail or the web.
Runs on old hardware
If you have an old 386 or 486 laying around collecting dust, you can use this to run Linux. I remember running Linux just fine on a Pentium 100 with a 1 GB disk drive, and 16 MB of memory. One use of an old machine like that could be a file server. Just go to your computer store, buy a large hard disk (as long as your old stuff can support it), and you can make a great storage server. With all the digital pictures and movies around today, this could be a great use for Linux. Look into using Samba, a server application for Linux that allows you to make your machine share the disk as a Windows share.
Security
Linux has the advantage of the code being in the public domain. This can be a double-edged sword; while you can look at the code, and developers can fix holes rapidly, it also means hackers can find bad code. I have been very impressed with the security of Linux, and the programs that run on it. I think having the code out in the open, and the ability to fix things yourself if necessary is a big plus. Who likes to work blind? With some distributions, on installation the computer will ask you what levels of security you would like for your system. You can be very trusting, or you can be paranoid. Linux gives you this flexiblity.
courtesy: wiki.answers.com, itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com, linux.bihlman.com, http://www.pcworld.com
Posted by
Mahesh ( MGIT ECE 4th year )
MGIT ECE (www.techbook.co.in) 