14 DAY TRIAL // Viruses, also known as virii in some small circles, are a dreadful thing to have on your computer. Once you have a malware running on your machine you never know what is the damage it can do. Some of them are so powerful as to format your hard drive or delete any executable you have stored. The nastiest of the spyware can collect sensitive information like bank accounts, credit card details and send it over the Internet to a third party.
So it is futile to tell you about the importance of safeguarding your computer with an antivirus and a firewall. There are several such utilities on the market that do a very good job and my favorite is Avast as it is low on resources and the signature database is updated fast. The fact that it can be used for free for one year is also one of the reasons I like it.
It seems like the world of free antivirus tools is expanding as I have seen more and more attempts of protecting users' computers. Designed for Unix-like systems, ClamAV decided to spread its cleaning powers into the Windows realm as well. So the same free version is available for Microsoft operating systems.
The interface has nothing to make it stand out, but this is not a crucial aspect when it comes to protection. Minimalism is at home in ClamAV and it seems that it pays as users will find very easy handling the application. From the beginning you are displayed all the drives available on your computer (including the removable ones).
Despite its apparent lack of flexibility, ClamAV allows the user to scan any files available on the computer and the checking is not limited to entire drives. Double clicking on the desired drive will show all the files and folders available. This way, you can scan only certain files in your computer. The virus database includes 95307 signatures which is a bit small if you compare it to other commercial softwares. But there is a good part to all this, namely that the scanning process will not take long at all.
Preferences menu is the most important as it shelters options for configuring the application the way the user wants it. You can set ClamAV to perform a deeper scan and also check the subdirectories, create filters to be included/excluded during the scan, set the virus signature update frequency and the download site, or configure it to alert you via e-mail upon virus detection.
Archive scanning is included in this light protection tool and the options available allow you to set the maximum size of the archive to be scanned, the number of files to be extracted during the scan and the maximum number of sub-archives to be extracted. Pretty odd options in my opinion as I would like all the archives to be sliced and diced during the virus scan. Of course, this option has its utility when it comes to shortening the virus check time.
Reports and logs are preserved after each scan and update and the user can access them at any time from the default location (Documents and SettingsAll Users.clamwinlogClamScanLog.txt for scan logs and Documents and SettingsAll Users.clamwinlogClamUpdateLog.txt for the updates) which can be changed to another one for easier and faster access.
ClamAV comes equipped with a very useful option that allows you to perform automatic scans on your computer. The scheduling function lets you set the frequency of the scan (hourly, daily, workdays or weekly), the time of the scan, as well as providing the location of the folder you want to be checked for viruses. The best part is that you can add as many schedules as you want and activate or deactivate them as you wish.
There is no quarantine option available and the removal of the viruses has to be made manually. Also, another drawback is the fact is that ClamAV does not offer quick access to the infection and you will have to browse for the file by yourself.
At the end of the scan, the user is provided with details like the number of viruses in ClamAV database (currently under 100k), the amount of data scanned and the duration of the virus checking.
Our test included 50 different viruses and ClamAV succeeded in reporting 21 of them. Considering that some of them were pretty recent and with a ravaging effect and others are old enough to be forgotten, I would say that ClamAV offers quite a protection for your computer. The list of viruses used during the test are not the latest products on the market (it is difficult enough to imprison even the old ones) but Perlovga.B, a high risk trojan from 2006 was successfully detected.
Windows is a tough environment in what concerns threats and viruses, so keeping your head above the water is not as easy as it may look. But ClamAV will undoubtedly get better as this isn't even version 1.0.
The Good
The minimalist interface allows easy handling of the application. Scheduling the scans is supported.
The Bad
Improving the looks would be a great idea, together with enlarging the virus signature database.
The Truth
If I were to choose between ClamAV and Avast I would go with the latter as it has more virus signatures and it also gives web protection. But for a temporary period, ClamAV is a good tool to find the nasties on your computer.
No doubt that the signature database will grow in time and the software can only get better from this point of view.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
