With all the news about viruses attacking Windows, it’s easy for Mac users to feel a false sense of security. Even if few hackers target the Mac, you might still be vulnerable from files exchanged with careless Windows users. No one likes to spend money on necessary evils like virus checking. And now, with ClamXav, you don’t have to.
ClamXav puts a simple GUI on the open source antivirus engine, Clam AntiVirus. This popular virus scanner is used by countless ISPs, organizations, and universities. The project is well supported and virus definitions are added regularly.
Using ClamXav couldn’t be easier. When you install the program, the Clam AntiVirus engine is also installed. Launch the program and click Update virus definitions (definitions may be added daily, so it’s a good idea not to fall behind). Choose what to scan, then hit the Start Scan button. Scanning can take some time (it took about 84 minutes to scan my Home folder, which is a little over 10 GB) and you’ll feel a hit in performance while it chugs along, so it’s best to scan when you can get away from the computer awhile.
There are few options to set in the Preferences. You can choose to log scan results and/or update results to a file. You can choose whether or not to quarantine infected files and specify a quarantine folder. You can change proxy settings, if needed. There are options to scan mail in mbox style mailboxes (which can detect viruses embedded in an HTML message), to exclude files that match a text string, or to scan only files that match a text string.
When I scanned my Home folder, ClamXav successfully detected a single virus—on my Virtual PC disk.
Bottom Line: If you have a .Mac account, you can take advantage of Virex. But if you don’t, ClamXav is a great freeware alternative. Automatic updating of virus definitions and the ability to scan at preset times would be welcomed additions, but clamXav has the essential features and makes it easy to protect yourself without shelling out for a costly commercial program.
From: Mark Allan
Price: Free
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9 Responses to “ClamXav 0.8.7c”
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February 15th, 2005 at 10:41 am
pour mac OS9
February 18th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
Sorry, there’s no version of ClamXav for 0S 9 and, as far as I know, there’s no version of Clam AntiVirus for OS 9.
July 7th, 2005 at 5:48 am
ClamXav version 1.0 is out now. As I never got round to commenting here with details of 0.9.0f before it, here’s a list of all changes since clamXav 0.8.7c.
Version 1.0 – 05 July 2005
Case change from clamXav to ClamXav to bring back in-line with ClamAV
Added Danish localisation – thanks to Sebastian Adorján Dyhr
Added French localisation – thanks to Thomas Robisson
Added German localisation – thanks to Jüergen Schichtel
Drag and Drop
Folder Watching
Watch for and scan removable media upon insertion
Times in schedule pane now displayed as numbers to be easier for non-English speakers
Quarantine option and mbox checking now mutually exclusive – thanks to Filip Vandoorne for the suggestion
Menus correctly enable and disable
New version of ClamAV 0.86.1
ClamAV engine installer now uses Apple’s preferred user/group number
Pre-existing ClamAV user/groups are no longer altered during ClamAV engine install
Ability to use ClamAV installation by Darwinports
Version 0.9.0f – 18 November 2004
New version of clamav 0.80
Check for new ClamXav and engine version on startup
Auto-update definitions on startup
Scheduled scanning and updating – by far the most requested feature!
Able to use any custom installation of ClamAV
Allow non-admin users to update virus definitions – thanks to Barijaona Ramaholimihaso for the tip
Correct permissions on /usr and /usr/local when installing my precompiled engine
Avoid scanning .dmg files
Progress bar
Alert (beep & icon bounce) on virus find
Button to set quarantine folder now separated from checkbox
Textual representation of quarantine folder
Buttons now toggle between start and stop to allow room for “Preferences” button on main window
Version field at bottom of main window showing ClamXav version, engine version and date of most recent definition update
Fixed display problems if never been run before (ie. no prefs file present) and engine hadn’t been installed yet.
Disallow scanning root (/) as it causes the scanning engine to crash or loop endlessly
Virus definition update now shows more accurate/helpful success/error messages
Online Help and Documentation
July 21st, 2005 at 9:18 am
How do I get hold of ClamXav??
I found out of this program through softonic.com, a spanish website similar to versiontracker. There’s a download link there but it’s broken
July 21st, 2005 at 9:35 am
You can get it directly from the developer. Click here to go to the download page.
October 9th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
Thank you
October 10th, 2005 at 9:42 am
You’re welcome!
July 20th, 2007 at 6:16 am
i almost wanted to buy Norton till i see your link in Apple, Finally i find a Antivirus for OSX as a freeware, but is this apps as good as NAV? Thanks
July 20th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I can’t really say if this is as good as NAV, but personally, I don’t worry too much about viruses on the Mac. ClamXav is the only antivirus software I’ve used since switching to OS X and I’ve never had any problems.