Question about computer viruses

[MIB]

Here's a question I've been pondering concerning computer viruses. Like medicines that can cure a disease completely or cut down on the symptoms, It is given that there are many anti-virus computer software that blocks viruses, Trojans and other sorts of nasties from infecting your computer.

Is there any anti-virus programs that can eliminate viruses from traveling to another computer after coming unto yours. Can they also try to deprogram a virus making it weaker after it travels from your computer to the next.

I use Norton 360 and I'll get reports about viruses that were quarantined. Does that mean the computer viruses were eliminated or do I have manually take then out somehow?

MIB

[markov]

Quarantined generally means that any infected files that could not be fixed/dis-infected have been moved to your quarantine area. Basically these files become non-functional and are cut off from the rest of your system, just like a quarantine in real life. You can leave them or delete the quarantined files, but they aren't really a danger unless you manually try to restore and activate them

If an AV program disinfects a particular virus, that virus is no longer any concern to you, and wouldn't be transferred anywhere else. The only time this is a concern is when the virus is not detected by the software or cannot be fixed.. this is why it is important to keep your virus DB up to date

This is also one of the reasons I prefer to use Linux these days.. all the virus makers are targeted at Windows and it gets tiresome having to keep up with blocking all that shit

[MIB]

If I wanted to use Linux, is there an OS software I have to purchase to install on my machine or do I have to purchase a another computer with the Linux OS already installed? If I install it on my machine, will it completely override the Windows 7 OS that is pre-installed on my machine?

Another question is will I be able to run windows based games on Linux?

MIB

[Nod]

You can get several different Linux distributions for free. I started with Ubuntu and loved it until the last update or so and it costs nothing.

You can partition your drive and dual boot between Linux and Windows if you like

Depends. Currently to run your Windows games you're going to need a pretty fast computer and WINE to do so. Valve/Steam is working on releasing a version that will be compatible with Ubuntu and will run Left 4 Dead 2 natively. I'll probably be switching out to another distro myself before it happens though as I've grown weary of Ubuntu.

[mousepad]

Steam for Linux runs on Ubuntu and Fedora (with some tweaking).

[funkspiel56]

Fedora is real nice and very fast, you dont need a new hard drive you could use a external disk, or usb. But if you want to permantly use linux youl need a new hard drive.