Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

some guy reviewed v0.99.1 on Apr 19, 2016

good stuff more for the advanced windows user that likes full control, for a non advance user i suggest Bitdefender

some guy reviewed v0.98.5 on Dec 9, 2014

one of the only non annoying antivirus low foot print allows me to scan before opening a file or folder or directory. Sure it requires manual operation but my HD is not going crazy in the back ground. Like a few others I have used Avira /Avast/Bitdefender,, ect... and configured them not to update or scan by them selves but sure enough clickiity clunky the hard drive thrashes

TheDevilHimself reviewed v0.97.7 on Apr 9, 2013

I've been using ClamWin for years now, and it's my one and only virus protection. ClamWin is not like all the other fancy virus programs who pops up all the time and tells you a lot of useless information. ClamWin only act when there really is something to act for, and not just to look nice and smart like all the other jerkvirus programs. I also have tried a lot of all the other virus programs but everytime I went back to ClamWin after a couple of days, sometimes just a couple of hours. And today there is only one virus protection for me and that is ClamWin and for malwareprotection I use Spybot 2 and I think that is a good combination. ClamWin is beyond rating but anyway, five thumbs up. Hail to ClamWin

Aegis69 reviewed v0.97.4 on Apr 3, 2012

Why does ClamSentinel give so many false positives? Its going off ALL the time,and I know I have no infections. It seems to go off for everything I download, the partially downloaded file gives a warning and I hate that. Those constant warnings make ClamSentinel completely unusable in my opinion.

Assirius reviewed v0.97.3 on Nov 29, 2011

Yeah , I agree , many antivirus bring down pc performances , this one combined with ClamSentinel keeps light background processes consumption .

hariskar reviewed v0.97.3 on Nov 1, 2011

This is my only antivirus the last 2 months in my 3 PCs. I combine it with ClamSentinel for real time scanning. No infections till now and my PCs have become much quicker.

Assirius reviewed v0.97 on Feb 17, 2011

I don't understand why people that are afraid of viruses and get viruses all the time despise this program . It is a great program , free , and that is not heavy for the computer processes . THE BEST ANTIVIRUS IS THE HUMAN BRAIN ...
ah I forgot , for who owns one... ^^

bellgamin reviewed v0.96.5 on Dec 8, 2010

For ClamAV WITH a real-time monitor get ClamAV for Windows. Using in-the-cloud technology PLUS ClamAV's adequate (NOT great) database of malware sigs PLUS community cross-feeds, ClamAV for Windows offers excellent protection. Feather-light (because it's in-the-cloud), stable, stringently maintained -- I recommend you give it a try.

LRN reviewed v0.96.5 on Dec 8, 2010

-1 for not having real-time protection.

But only -1. Remember, that viruses don't just pop up from nowhere, they come through various directions called "attack vectors". ClamWin IS capable of countering them even without real-time protection.
It WILL scan files Firefox downloads.
It WILL scan e-mails you get in Thunderbird.
It CAN BE integrated into most applications that acquire files for you (browsers, e-mail clients, p2p clients, ftp clients etc).
It WILL NOT protect you if some piece of buggy software on your PC is vulnerable and downloads-and-executes malicious files.
It WILL NOT protect your if some piece of buggy software on your PC is vulnerable to buffer overflows and executes malicious code at remote attacker's whim (and no AV software will protect you from that kind of attack, by the way).
It WILL NOT protect you from your own stupidity (such as having AutoRun enabled for external storage devices).

Without RT protection this software is made for smart people. Not for dummies, who think that running some magical application will make them safe.

P.S. ClamWin is a port of Clam to Windows (and GNU/Linux version of Clam is much more capable). Therefore slandering Clam in particular and free security software in general is something only a fool would do.

roj reviewed v0.96.5 on Dec 8, 2010

I'm with Hilbert and JackRegan on this one.

Garbage.

ONE star until Real Time Protection is developed and implemented. At that point it will actually be worth a proper evaluation against other products.

For the record:

The average user IS a dummy. "oh I like that " Click. Like. INFECT. "Oh that looks neat" Download. INFECT. "Oh that site looks cool" Click. INFECTION BY DRIVE-BY.

"Oh this product isn't for dumb users". Click. "OH, I'm a SERIOUS dummy for even thinking that stupidity in today's user environment".

Hilbert reviewed v0.96.4 on Nov 20, 2010

To those arguing below, let's get this straight:

THIS PRODUCT, CLAMWIN, IS ABSOLUTELY USELESS, EXCEPT FOR TWO EXCEPTIONS:

1. Wasting the time of testers in comparative anti-virus software tests, and;
2. Fooling the gullible into believing that they've actually AV software running when they've not. ...And ClamWin performs these exceptions with flying colors.

Knockers on a bull would have more use (at least they'd have novelty value).

(I won't bore you with the number of times I've been made to look a fool in front of my colleagues by insisting that we actually include ClamWin in comparative/evaluative tests of anti-virus software. (In my defense I once admitted to a forlorn hope that open AV software might have been able to cut it with the big boys. Eventually the realization dawned that even mentioning ClamWin was as useful as flogging a dead horse.))

JackRegan reviewed v0.96.4 on Nov 19, 2010

At last i can agree with roj about something.

anomoly reviewed v0.96.4 on Nov 19, 2010

Perfect for people who don't feel threatened by the big bad internet. I love it cuase it never runs, never finds anything when it does, and I never get virus's to begin with, Go figure.
Only idiots post just to say they don't use it as if they were not already aware of how it works. Both of your reviews are like used TP. WGAF morons. Roj, nobody gaf what you think about name schemes or anything else jagoff, You don't even use it. Jack must be your boyfriend no doubt. You should probably tell the creator of hiren's boot cd that he should rename the av software on it too just for you.

roj reviewed v0.96.4 on Nov 19, 2010

OK, let's get one thing clear:

This product needs to be renamed. It is NOT an antivirus. An antivirus PREVENTS infection and to that end has as a key feature something called Real Time Scanning.

This software is incapable of real time scanning. It attempts to shut the stable door after the horse has already bolted and as with all such designs, fails - you'll already be infected. It is at best a malware removal tool or passive scanner.

Even as an anti-malware removal tool it remains second rate. MalwareBytes chews it and spits out the bones.

In short, I really can't see a use for this other than as a backup for something like MalwareBytes. Run Microsoft Security Essentials - you'll be FAR better off.

TWO stars.

anomoly:

It's not about being threatened by the big bad internet. It's about prudence, intelligence and foresight. Based on your comments you're an epic fail on all of the above.

dotnetnightmare reviewed v0.96.2.1 on Sep 18, 2010

Why would you use this second rate antivirus? Scanning an individual file is soooo slooooow! Avast Free has an option during install called "custom installation" in that you can unselect all "shields" and then install it. Now you have a world class on demand antivirus that scans quickly and has a HELL of ALOT better detection rate!

bellgamin reviewed v0.96.2 on Aug 18, 2010

ClamWin is a second-tier AV as pertains to detection of malware. However, it is "better than nothing" for *second opinions.*

The fact that ClamWin does not run in real-time is of lesser significance IF & ONLY IF the user is imaging his system drive at least weekly, and retains at least 3 or 4 recent clean images.

A very good, FREE imager is Macrium Reflect.

anomoly reviewed v0.96.2 on Aug 18, 2010

Yeah roj, with all the viruses you attract and download you will definitely need a smarter piece of software which protects you from yourself.
Hey, that's what these programs are for right?

roj reviewed v0.96.2 on Aug 18, 2010

No real-time scanner. The logic of getting the penicillin shot after having unprotected sex completely escapes this security analyst.

This program only has any value when used with a REAL antivirus product that has real-time scanning - the concept is called "defense in depth". However, if you're going to go that route, you might as well use MalwareBytes Free. This is far more a virus remover than it is an antivirus; unlike this program, an actual antivirus program attempts to prevent you from getting infected int he first place.

And yes anomoly, if you had more than ten minutes experience in this business it would be blatantly obvious (unless you were terminally braindead and on life support) that the average user DOES need to be protected from him / herself. It's also a poor choice for servers which also need real-time scanners even if they're file servers only (including ftp servers). Mail gateways and servers also need real-time scanning of attachments BEFORE they get to the user for reasons which I would think are crystalline clear. You want real-time scanning happening on a mail server because queueing mail to be processed by a script is an additional processing bottleneck at best on anything but a single user email server.

The point is that you stop the incursion BEFORE it starts and you also have tools and processes to deal with it when it inevitably does before it escalates. If I have to explain that to you, you haven't wriggled out of the IT womb yet, let alone been fitted for diapers.

TWO stars.

anomoly reviewed v0.96.0.1 on Apr 13, 2010

Finally fixed what the hell was up with updating.

Aegis69 reviewed v0.95.3 on Nov 10, 2009

0 day viruses and browser exploits will always get through your anti-virus program no matter which one you use, sorry to inform you of that leet kiddies. Thats why resident checkers are becoming useless resource hogs, they simply do not and cannot protect you against everything, and most do nothing for browser exploits.

Thats not what clamwin is for, you use clamwin to test files you have downloaded if you are suspicious of the source and to do regular system scans, say once a week on certain folders or your who hard drive. Its main use is for servers where files are uploded by anonymous sources, or mail servers to check attachments.

Ryusennin reviewed v0.95.2 on Jun 12, 2009

ClamAV is the best free antivirus for Linux. Just because there are better alternatives on Windows (eg. AntiVir) doesn't make this one a bad program.

some guy reviewed v0.95.2 on Jun 12, 2009

just 2 outdated for its time , Avira is the best windows based virus program hands down.

anomoly reviewed v0.95.1 on Apr 14, 2009

I use a hostfile and proxy IE. I do not need a realtime scanner. This is perfect for me. If you know a lot of garbage passes through your pc (or you mistakenly download some strange files -on a regular basis no doubt), then this is most definitely not the av for you.

PagingDrLeoMarvin reviewed v0.94.1 on Nov 11, 2008

ClamWin is very nice.

ubermann reviewed v0.94.1 on Nov 11, 2008

LoL are you trying to say that this is what l33t computer users want and noobs should stick to programs that runs in the background ??
Im a "l33t" computer user and i mess with firmwares and soldering and overclocking pretty often and i can say that sure dont want any stupid virus program that cant find virus!!

A virus program needs to find as many virus as possible!
That is the most important function of a virus program.
This program would be good for me as i dont download unknown files very often so i almost never need antivirus running.
But it SUX and you voted just because you made this program or what ??
Accept defeat and get lost!

Blue Joker reviewed v0.94.1 on Nov 10, 2008

This antivirus is for people that KNOWN pc stuff ,
they don't need to run an antivirus on background becoz they know stuff... A MANUAL ANTIVIRUS ON DEMAND is the best solution for them in order to greatly increase their computer performances .
Who else did speak as non-sense must stay out from posting any kind of comment not related to a manual scan rendition.
Thank you.

radiomaffia reviewed v0.94.1 on Nov 10, 2008

To many virusses went through this proctection. I returned to Avast Home Edition 4.8 also free, virusses where ever they are do not get a change to get my pc infected with Avast cause it stops exe,zips, rars to download when there is a virus in it. Avira is also free but is single user licensed (one user on one ipadres) and does not look into zip/rars and letting you download infected zips/rars! If you know what you are doiing and wanting to have the infected zip/rar download it could be an option to install Avira, otherwise choose Avast. Tip : Panda Activescan can run a free scan besides every installed virusscanner

Galifray reviewed v0.94 on Oct 2, 2008

It loads fast, takes few resources, but...
It won't work easily as a scan tool with programs like WinRar, nor does it seem to effectively scan inside rar files. Just today it let a group of viruses infect my computer after it gave a clean bill of health to a rar file.

cricri_pingouin reviewed v0.94 on Sep 18, 2008

I needed a free antivirus for a non-home machine, so my choice was pretty much limited to this one. So it gets point for that. I knew it didn't include real time scanning, so I wasn't expecting to give it more than 3. On top of that, it is very slow! Just a memory scan lasts ages, and I've only got 2 things running in the background (including firewall), in addition to ClamWin itself and obviously the OS. I can only give it 2+. I won't comment on the exhaustivity of the virus database since I have no way to measure it.

vallum6 reviewed v0.94 on Sep 13, 2008

PRO
it is open-source.

CONS
there is not a "real-time scanner" and it is REALLY SLOW.

madmike reviewed v0.94 on Sep 11, 2008

Good cost its free, but it DOES not catch all common Viri, not ready for mainstream by a long chalk

pjb reviewed v0.93.1 on Sep 4, 2008

Installs nicely.
Works well. It's not the interface that counts it's what goes on behind the interface!

McAleck reviewed v0.93.1 on Jun 18, 2008

this interface makes me go flaccid!

styxchan reviewed v0.93.1 on Jun 17, 2008

The intention of Clam was for mailserver. So no On-Access was needed ! It can still scan your PC. And it is not yet real 1.xxx Release. If you all can do better and open source than do it !

darkxiiindp reviewed v0.93.1 on Jun 17, 2008

Just because of being open source and free this horrible AV (one of the worst) get a so-much-better rating than some products that 10 times better?

Artem S. Tashkinov reviewed v0.93 on Apr 21, 2008

Although it's free, it has a very low virus/trojans detection rate.

eek-1 reviewed v0.91.2 on Nov 14, 2007

I give it a 3. Not having an on-access scanner is quite a big minus. Because people sometimes could accidentally forgot to do necessary things, and some USB drive could happen to have an autorun.inf in it.

anomoly reviewed v0.91.2 on Oct 4, 2007

True.
AVG I deleted as it does nothing but waste my time with false alerts and file lockups.
I'm already using clamwin portable anyways, what's the dif?. integration I suppose

Tenoq reviewed v0.91.2 on Aug 23, 2007

internetworld7:

Sorry buddy, but if you know what you're doing, AV is not necessary, even on a Windows machine. Add a firewall, some brains and you've got all the protection you need.

I'm up to about 5 years now, without a virus on my Windows machine. No AV in that time. Only people who don't know what they're doing get infected. Unfortunately, most computer users are less than competent, and obviously you're one of them. Keep preaching your bulls*** though, because I'd say 95% of PC users aren't smart enough to avoid viruses. So don't feel left out. :P

Jalandar reviewed v0.91.2 on Aug 23, 2007

I always find it amusing when someone with an agenda attacks a quality open source product, and it always makes me question their motives. This is especially true when the make blanket comments about how open source cannot possibly be good.

First of all, about the ability of ClamAV to detect viruses, you know, studies can be tweaked to produce results that the study operator wants them to produce. Or more appropriately, the party paying the study operator.
A nice link describing the problems with "AV Test" studies.
http://www.theregister.c...8/09/anti_virus_testing/

Next your claim that real time protection is required for everyone. That is also, a blatant misstatement. A large number of power users, including hard core gamers, PREFER products which are not real time AV, because of the major performance hits such real time protection products typically have for power applications and gaming. They trust themselves to protect themselves from most threats, and use AV products that do on-demand scanning as a safety net.

There are different products for different needs, and then there are also people who oppose particular segments of the market because of their own self interest, or because of some misguided ideology.

In any event, to down rate a product for the reasons you stated, without taking into account that your needs do not dictate everyone's needs, is short sighted at best, if not an outright attempt to slander a product for some reason we are not able to ascertain without knowing more about you.

fss69 reviewed v0.91.2 on Aug 23, 2007

Another piece of software that gets over-rated just because it's open source. Real-time protection and scanning speed aside, ClamAV has a weak virus signature database. It detected 53% of viruses while most AV programs score at least 90% using the same test set.

http://www.av-comparativ...bnisse/2ndgrouptest.pdf

EDIT: In response to the review above, read my first sentence clearly. I just wrote that it was rated higher than it should be because it is open source. I use a lot of open-source software, I'm just pointing out that they tend to be overrated because their fanboys are especially fervent... such as yourself. Funny you're the one claiming I have an agenda when you wrote a mini essay right there. By the way, next time you're trying to make a point, do not cite a TABLOID (not an opinion - a fact, do your research) like The Register as a source.

Blue Joker reviewed v0.91.2 on Aug 23, 2007

Clamwin is the perfect solution for windows advanced users that don't need real time protection ,
the rest is mass .

n8chavez reviewed v0.91.2 on Aug 23, 2007

belthurgp - I hate to disagree with you, but real time protection is required, or at least in should be. The average user does not run on-demand scans every day, thus on-access is what will keep them clean. Also, I do not believe open source is best for security software. Clam was recently vought by SourceFire, so it'll be interesting to see what happens with it. For now though you'd be better to do with NOD32, KAV, or VBA32.

belthurgp reviewed v0.91.1 on Jul 25, 2007

@internetworld7

This is not a place for your tirades...

First learn to respect people who give valuable time in developing free software and to other people who take time off to test these software.

Second, understand that there will always be folks who know and understand things much better than you...

With an attitude like yours, I hardly have any reason to believe that you know about any thing at all, last thing being software and viruses.

5 to appriciate the efforts and counter people like "internetworld7"

uberfly reviewed v0.91.1 on Jul 25, 2007

I'm glad it's free and I love the on-access only scanning (to use as a second scanner), but it takes FOREVER to manually scan even just a few files. Almost unusable to me based on just how slowly it scans on my system. Maybe it's just a local issue to me though, not sure.

internetworld7 reviewed v0.91.1 on Jul 24, 2007

Awful detection rate and NO REAL-TIME PROTECTION. I'd give this junkware a -0 if it were possible.

On another note, I cannot believe that there are idiots here who state that real-time protection is not necessary! ROFL. One moron wrote in his review that experienced users can tell if a program has a virus or not!!! LOL. What a crock of crap. People who say such things should be taken out back and shot. :-)

cricri_pingouin reviewed v0.90.2.1 on May 30, 2007

Experienced users know that when you notice that you have a virus, it's already too late: you are infected. Which is the whole point of having a real time scanner: to bloke the treat in a preventive way! Similarly, you often only know that a site is dodgy once you opened it; again, it's too late.
As for "you don't need to have a scanner running all the time", surely you don't need a firewall all the time either. Or is it because you use the firewall to block incoming traffic as well? And can't incoming traffic include say a trojan that a real-time scanner would intercept?
Anyway, even as a "on demand" scanner, ClamAV has a poor detection rate. It only owes it's current high rating to the fact that it's open source.
I'll give it a 2 in the hope of seeing it becoming competitive.

SpamSlayer reviewed v0.90.2 on May 13, 2007

Well I'm sure if the makers wanted it to have real time scanning they could put it in. But to experienced and non-novice computer users that would be a waste and useless, probably see it as just taking up memory. Experienced computer users can easily recognize a site that would give them a virus, or even a program, in addition we would know if we have a virus by how the computer acts. So I don't think real time scanning is that important.
As for virus detection I thought it did quite well, I installed Windows under VMWare in Linux and installed and downloaded just about every virus out there, tried to install ClamWin but one of the viruses was blocking it, good thing for ClamWin Portable (please, tell me what other antiv is portable?) After it was running on Windows it caught most if not all of the virus files. Sure it didn't put everything back to the way it was, but hey its there to catch the virus not clean up the virus' dirty work. I like it, would recommend it to anyone who is afraid of viruses.

Howell reviewed v0.90.2 on May 3, 2007

Very good scanner, works on Windows and Linux, threat database quickly updated after new virus discovery, scanning engine updated very regularly, FREE and Open-Source.

Missed the 5 stars because it doesn't provide realtime protection... not a big deal if you are careful enough to scan every file wich comes from athe outside of your computer (as it has already been said) but with the adequate realtime scanner it would be have led to a 5+ stars ;)

Must be used in conjunction with a program that prevent hostile websites to install virii such as a resident anti-malware product.

Edit : BTW, ClamAV scanning engine is used in some products such as excellent Spyware Terminator (freeware) ;)

Blue Joker reviewed v0.90.2 on May 2, 2007

"ClamWin is not an antivirus, because it hasn't a real time scanner, so it's useless."
For people who know how to use computers properly, having real-time scanning running all the time is what is useless.
I quote , nothing to add .

For Clamwin Coders :
the scan of archive files should be improved .

dkratter reviewed v0.90.2 on May 2, 2007

"ClamWin is not an antivirus, because it hasn't a real time scanner, so it's useless."

For people who know how to use computers properly, having real-time scanning running all the time is what is useless. You're not downloading/copying files from external sources constantly, so there's no need to be scanning constantly. When you do download/copy a file, scan it.

caronn reviewed v0.90.1 on Mar 21, 2007

ClamWin is not an antivirus, because it hasn't a real time scanner, so it's useless. ClamWin/ClamAV is also the worst in viruses detection

boaz reviewed v0.90 on Feb 28, 2007

Not too bad. I am a big fan of "open source" software, as opposed to the commercial apps. This is still in the development stages, but I'm sure it will get better.

Corbit reviewed v0.88.6 on Nov 29, 2006

Not bad for an early open-source effort. Still misses quite a bit. I hate to say it, but AOL's Kaspersky-based Active Virus Shield product seems to be the best (for now) free solution out there. Who woulda thunk it? :)

stopbuggingme reviewed v0.88.5 on Nov 12, 2006

Junk. Very bad detection, but a lot of false positives. Only on-demand scanning and very slow. If you want a good free antivirus I would suggest AntiVir. If you don't mind paying Kaspersky and NOD32 are the best.

hemu_u reviewed v0.88.5 on Oct 20, 2006

A good program. It detected W32.CIH.1003 on my PC which Latest AVG and 2002 NV couldn't.

Request 2 improvements though :-
1) Option to PAUSE scan.
2) If possible, improve scan speed / minimize CPU usage (AVG = 10 min (1 detected), ClamWin = 30 min (2 detected)).

Ian C. reviewed v0.88.4 on Oct 17, 2006

This is one open source project I would definitely like to see improve. But as it stands now, this AV engine catches very little even compared to other free AV products.

qrst reviewed v0.88.4 on Sep 19, 2006

Maybe first, you should understand that this is not a resident protection, but an on-demand virus scanner... - and I would say a very good one, updated regularly, and quite simple to use.

bobad reviewed v0.88.3 on Jul 11, 2006

Works great for me. I like the small, tidy size. My only wish is that it had a resident scanner. 1 point off for that! If you're disciplined enough to run the program periodically or when you D/L files, you must try it.

rawbanana reviewed v0.88.2.3 on Jun 14, 2006

Don't know why no one has reviewed this software. Its free, its updated regularly, and it cleans viruses/spyware that Norton can't. This program was the only anti-virus I tested (also used Symantic/Norton, PC-cillin).

Just set Clam to remove viruses and it actually removes the software without allowing it to reinstall itself the next time you boot your computer! Amazing! I was about to format the computer when I found out this works.

Note, its not a true antivirus program in that it scans every file you open, but for the periodic antivirus scans its great.