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clamxaV

M

mojobebop

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 29, 2011
28
0
I have downloaded clamxav, and I was wondering about the disclaimer
advising you of possible data loss, etc.

If anyone has used this program and experienced any type of data loss, or other problems I would be interested in hearing about it before i run this program.


Thanks,
Richard
 
mojobebop said:
I have downloaded clamxav, and I was wondering about the disclaimer
advising you of possible data loss, etc.

If anyone has used this program and experienced any type of data loss, or other problems I would be interested in hearing about it before i run this program.


Thanks,
Richard
Click to expand...

If you feel you have to have some antivirus protection on your iMac ClamXav is the one to have. However because there are no viruses for OS X it's probably a waste of time. The only use for antivirus software on any Mac is if you download files from unknown sources and then pass them onto MS Windows users. The Windows users are susceptible to viruses so you are only protecting them.
 
rkaufmann87 said:
If you feel you have to have some antivirus protection on your iMac ClamXav is the one to have. However because there are no viruses for OS X it's probably a waste of time. The only use for antivirus software on any Mac is if you download files from unknown sources and then pass them onto MS Windows users. The Windows users are susceptible to viruses so you are only protecting them.
Click to expand...

thanks,

somewhat confusing as i keep reading from various sources 2 points of view;
1. no viruses for mac
2. trojans, & malware can infect mac.

i'm not expert in terms of using a computer. i use common sense, however if i am searching online say for cameras, or musical instruments i will click many links on google. if i download i won't use some questionable site, but there does exist the possibility of doing so. (also, as someone else uses the computer to search for clothing sites on occasion, and they might be problematic). so for myself a anti-virus, or anti-malware/trojan would possibly be advisable. i'm just trying to figure out the best one to use, but there are so many divergent points of view.
 
Don't worry about the disclaimer. ClamXav has been running on my macs for 5+ years and I've never had any problems with it. I don't think you will either.
 
mojobebop said:
thanks,

somewhat confusing as i keep reading from various sources 2 points of view;
1. no viruses for mac
2. trojans, & malware can infect mac.

i'm not expert in terms of using a computer. i use common sense, however if i am searching online say for cameras, or musical instruments i will click many links on google. if i download i won't use some questionable site, but there does exist the possibility of doing so. (also, as someone else uses the computer to search for clothing sites on occasion, and they might be problematic). so for myself a anti-virus, or anti-malware/trojan would possibly be advisable. i'm just trying to figure out the best one to use, but there are so many divergent points of view.
Click to expand...
I'll clear up some confusion for you. First, You don't need any 3rd party antivirus software to protect Mac OS X from malware. No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have built-in anti-malware protection. As long as you're careful about what software you install, your chances of encountering any form of Mac OS X malware are extremely remote. If you find that you want to install a 3rd party antivirus app, ClamXav is one of the better choices.
 
mojobebop said:
I have downloaded clamxav, and I was wondering about the disclaimer
advising you of possible data loss, etc.

If anyone has used this program and experienced any type of data loss, or other problems I would be interested in hearing about it before i run this program.


Thanks,
Richard
Click to expand...

Clamxav is like GG said one of the best AV out there for Mac.
You'll definitely be a lot safer with that than with the built-in :)
 
mojobebop said:
thanks,

somewhat confusing as i keep reading from various sources 2 points of view;
1. no viruses for mac
2. trojans, & malware can infect mac.

i'm not expert in terms of using a computer. i use common sense, however if i am searching online say for cameras, or musical instruments i will click many links on google. if i download i won't use some questionable site, but there does exist the possibility of doing so. (also, as someone else uses the computer to search for clothing sites on occasion, and they might be problematic). so for myself a anti-virus, or anti-malware/trojan would possibly be advisable. i'm just trying to figure out the best one to use, but there are so many divergent points of view.
Click to expand...

It's not really 2 different points of view, it's that viruses and trojans are two totally different things. Kind of like an earthquake and a tornado are both natural disasters but are totally different. The primary difference is trojans are things the user consciously downloads from the internet and installs. OS X is designed to catch these and is updated in the background every day to catch any new ones that may have been developed. Trojans have to be installed by the user so the user has to have a very small amount of common sense. All the user has to know is to not download something that comes up from a pop up or download from a website they don't know and trust.

Because there are no (as in zero, none, nada, zip) viruses for OS X having anti virus software is a waste. Also OS X is incredibly secure and is constantly updated. Anti virus software is for catching viruses.
 
I use ClamXAV on my macs even though there's never been a virus targeting macs....yet. It's never given me a problem in the years I've been using it. To me it's piece of mind..
 
I do not know if it's still a problem, but there have been some data loss issues related to ClamXav.

The specific issue occurs when the the quarantine feature is enabled and a piece of malware is found in an email ".mbox" folder.

The entire folder will be quarantined instead of only the single infected email.

Quarantined emails are no longer accessible and it is somewhat of an annoying task to restore the folder to a functional state.

The issue does not occur if quarantine is not enabled.

Also, there are two versions of ClamXav that are available.

1) from the ClamXav website that includes the Sentry feature that provides user defined on-access scanning.

2) from the MAS that is less complicated to update due to the install location of the scanning engine but does not provide the Sentry feature.

If you're not going to use the Sentry feature, install the version from the MAS.

If you are using an older version of OS X without the MAS and/or is no longer supported by Apple, install the version of ClamXav that includes the Sentry feature.

The information provided below is important for users of unsupported versions of OS X:

Set the Sentry feature to scan common locations where external files enter the system, such as download and email folders (for example: ~/Downloads, ~/Library/Mail, and ~/Library/Mail/Downloads), and set up weekly scans to scan the entire system for any threats.

Unsupported versions of OS X no longer receive security patches from Apple. This leaves these versions of OS X unprotected from any security vulnerabilities that are found subsequent to support being dropped for those versions of OS X.

This is a relevant security risk due to vulnerabilities found in still supported versions often being applicable to unsupported versions of OS X.
 
Last edited:
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