24 January 2008, 12:36

Free virus scanner for Macs: ClamXav 1.1

Whether with useless anti-spyware or Trojans in video codecs on pornographic sites, criminal gangs on the internet are now attacking Mac users too. Some renowned antivirus software makers do of course have products for the Mac OS X in their portfolio, but these cost a fair bit. ClamXav, which has now appeared in version 1.1, provides a user interface for the free, open-source virus scanner ClamAV, which also accompanies it in an updated version.

ClamXav is aimed at users who don't want to mess about with ClamAV on the command line and who are unwilling to pay for an anti-virus product. The program also includes a background process called Sentry that can monitor specific folders and automatically check all files arriving in them. In the change log, the developers list many cosmetic changes to the software in its current version. They provide archives for Mac OS 10.5, 10.4 and 10.3. The new version already has a link on the web site, but clicking it results in an error message from the server. The developers say this may be a bandwidth problem with the provider.