Anti-virus protect windows files too?

This may be a dumb question, but if I get something like Comodo for Linux and download Windows files to that Linux box, will it detect viruses harmful to Windows or only to Linux?

 

That's honestly quite a good question. I would imagine that it would not detect viruses that are harmful to Windows but I've never really thought about that. I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.

 

It depends on how the anti-virus scan works. I don't know anything about Comodo, in particular, but a signature based scan will detect the file, if it's already known, off course.
On the other side, a solution that relies totally on monitoring process behavior, won't detect it.

 

Would a Linux AV actually have Windows virus signatures? I'm honestly not so sure about that...

 

Well actually yes. Solutions like Sophos actually do.

Keep in mind that, more often than not, linux is also used as a server (web, mail, file server etc) for Windows clients, in which case it seems obvious why you would want a solution with a decent library.

 

I don't think so. In Linux, the anti virus does not find the file windows.

 

You don't think or you know so?
I just gave you an example of one that does.

 

OK man there are guys here very stressed.

Comodo know not read windows files. I'm going to install the Sophos in my Lubuntu and test it. Is that okay for you?

 

Well, any AV worth their salt should be able to protect any file regardless of host OS or the virus's target OS.

In Linux, it is a very bad assumption that the file extension label determines if its a linux/windows/apple/favor of the month file.

 

But are you worried about the windows viruses affecting your linux installation? I doubt that is possible, unless you are running Wine or virtual machines.

 

While it may not affect your machine, but you can be part of the problem.
They can make you as a carrier so it can lie dormant and spread until it reaches their intended target.