

One of the biggest limitations of the program is how it handles the scanning of mail inboxes. The larger the files, the longer the time it takes to scan them, and in all truthfulness, the program is not the fastest in the world, scanning 5GB of data in a little over 30 minutes. Throughout the process, it will display the file it is currently at, and any infected files found. At this point it will begin going through the files one by one until it has scanned them all. Scanning is as easy as selecting the drive, or folder, which you want scanned and hitting the start button.

It will also search your e-mail boxes for any attachments that contain worms, viruses and the likes. The preferences contain some controls and options but for the most part, everything you need is located in the main window.ĬlamXav can be pointed in the direction of one of your drives or folders in order to scan the contents for any possible virus. The program uses an interface that is almost simplistic, all the controls being located in one central window. Much like you would expect from an anti-virus program, it scans your files for possible viruses and then attempts to deal with them. It uses no helper applications, which have been criticized by the community, and is about as transparent as a program can get. As such many feel it is more trustworthy than the alternatives out there. This program is a free, GPL solution, and is offered as a service to the community. It is a sad day when one has to take such things into account, but, with all the FUD that has been going around lately, the community at large is beginning to question the security experts and solution providers. One program that kept getting mentioned on various community sites as being a good anti-virus alternative to the corporate 'solutions' was clamXav.

Since Norton has already shown us how dependable their solution is, and since Sophos just recently trashed perfectly good files, by the hundreds in an attempt to protect users from a worm that is not even 'in the wild' and which is nearly impossible to get unless you actively seek it out, I figured I'd take a look at some less 'professional' and expensive alternatives. With all the excitement about the new viruses and worms or Trojans, or whatever you want to call them since the experts can't seem to all agree on this one, I thought I'd take a look at an anti-virus.
