some important points on the virus issue. a virus is supposed to execute on the client computer without the user's permission or knowledge or in most cases both. this can't happen on linux because without permission no virus can ever execute on a linux machine. one needs to chmod the file to be executable. if what some people call as "virus " exists on the linux platform then they forget the fact that no file can ever execute on a linux machine just like that. now coming to the point of developing some trogen. it is now the responsibility of a user to manage his or her own house and this is nothing to do with any OS for that matter. is it not possible that if at all such a thing exists then it gets known to the fre software community and the communication (through forums, glugs etc )is pritty fast to alert the people? all these points are very bad incentives for virus developers who want to attack linux. regards, Krishnakant.