hi- I have no knowledge of using linux. I have mandrake 8.2 and am using KED. I want to make sure that my computer is secure for leaving plugged into the internet. How do I protect my computer with a firewall and virus protection in linux? This may all seem basic, but I'm used to zone alarm from windows...which was very easy. Does linux have some thing graphical like that to use to set up a firewall? what about viruses, also? I only want to surf the net and use Gaim (for now) I want to block everything else. lost and confused--- matt

I'm not so sure about firewalls, but I can tell you that you don't have to worry about anti virus software since there are no linux viruses.

There aren't many viruses for linux and i'm actually not aware of any virus software out there, not to say it doesn't exist. Linux is also more secure out of the box than windows and a firewall is not absolutely necessary. In fact a poorly set up firewall is worse than not having one at all. But if you must have one then read up on iptables. There are some gui interfaces for it too.