[Wine] Wine & Windows viruses

[James Mckenzie]

Patrick70 <wineforum-user at winehq.org> wrote:
>
>Hmmmm, but that post was written back in 2005.

It still applies today, even more so.

>Plus it is based on you actually running the virus.
>What I would like to know is whether it is safe to run Wine, meaning that if you just have Wine running (and in my caee,
>Mailwasher within Wine), would there by any chance of my system getting infected with a Windows virus?

Depends.  If you use a Linux/Unix based mail reading/writing system, probably not.  If you run a Windows based system, very likely you will get your Wine prefix infected and depending on which user you run under and what the virus does it may fully function.
>
>For example, if I put a Windows exe on my Ubuntu desktop and click it, Wine will run it. Suppose it was a virus, then it
>would be executed as well, albeit probably just within the Wine environment.

Again, it depends on what the virus does and what user is running the program.  Most file infection viruses work like they are supposed to, but most other viruses do not.

>Now, suppose I am surfing and come across a site (without my knowledge) which has malware etc... would this cause my system
>to get infected as well or would I be safe?

Basically, you would be infected.  What happens after this depends again on who was running Wine.  The real bottom line is that Wine rates everyone as an Administrator for Windows purposes...

James McKenzie