a serious question

[nicolaus corelius]

if i use an OS that isnt compatible with most viruses and thus the viruses dont get executed when u copy the files, and the viruses will still remain in their respective folders. now my question is whether viruses that dont get executed stay or spread onto other folders on the computer that doesntrecognize them?
i work in a comp shop and want to put linux on one of the machines so that i dont have to fear the constant infection(even with anti-virus we constanly get them). now i understand the actual viral files will be copied onto the machines. but want to be sure that those files dont spread onto other folders or other drives when connected to the linux computer

[Kuch]

You could give it a shot, but I think it will depend upon the type of virus/spyware as much as the OS. Using a good antivirus/antispyware/firewall would probably be more efficient.

Another option is creating an image of the HDD you work from, and then just restoring that image if an infection/problem occurs.

[Negeva]

if i use an OS that isnt compatible with most viruses and thus the viruses dont get executed when u copy the files, and the viruses will still remain in their respective folders. now my question is whether viruses that dont get executed stay or spread onto other folders on the computer that doesntrecognize them?
i work in a comp shop and want to put linux on one of the machines so that i dont have to fear the constant infection(even with anti-virus we constanly get them). now i understand the actual viral files will be copied onto the machines. but want to be sure that those files dont spread onto other folders or other drives when connected to the linux computer

Most malware is written for Windows/Microsoft products because they have the largest share of the market. It basic economics.

To keep this simple. Yes, running one of the many flavours of linux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Windows_and_Linux) should keep you safe from malware. The reason is that running code/APIs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_API) on Windows is different than that of Linux - this is why you have to use something like WINE (http://www.winehq.org/) to run Microsoft based products.

We'll assume you have a machine running Ubuntu and wish to copy the contents of an infected XP hard-drive. The malware will be written (copied) to the Ubuntu drive but it will not infect it, even trying to run one of the malware.exe files will generally result in failure.

From experience, I will never hook up an infected drive to my main machine. It is best to have a spare machine with images to 'slave' infected drives.