![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I simply don't see ClamXav as being a substitute for a commercial anti-virus program. (Usually they manifest themselves as gibberish e-mail attachments.) A Macintosh is highly unlikely to spread Windows viruses to Windows users, so software to detect Windows viruses resident on a Mac is of little value. You then have to delete such software to be rid of the virus.ĬlamXav also does not scan files interactively.ĬlamXav *is* good at scanning for, and detecting Windows viruses on your Macintosh, but that is of questionable value, as these are harmless on the Mac, and they are easy to detect and just trash. It also does not scan for the three known OS X Trojans in the wild, or the "Concept" Trojan (which is not a real, or malicious, Trojan, but it does sort of provide a model for someone who wants to create one, so it would be nice if your anti-viral software identified derivatives of it.)Īlso, ClamXav does not disinfect infected files and software. Since ClamXav does not scan for Macintosh-only viruses, if you use Classic, ClamXav does not protect you from any OS 9 viruses, which can also infect Classic. (It does provide protection from cross-platform Word and Excel macro viruses.) (The developer of ClamXav has admitted that not only has he not contributed any such definitions, but that he doesn't know how to write such definitions.) In other words, ClamXav is practically worthless for use with the Macintosh, and worse, I fear that it lulls Mac users into a false sense that it is protecting them, when in fact it doesn't protect them from much at all. As far as I can tell, no one is writing and adding virus definitions to the ClamAV database for Macintosh malware. In addition, if a Macintosh-only virus were to appear in the wild, there is no indication that the ClamAV database would be updated to deal with it. What this means is that ClamXav doesn't look for anything that is Macintosh-only, or even anything just because it is Macintosh-related. The problem is that ClamXav uses ClamAV's anti-viral database, with no additions in consideration of the Macintosh.Īs a test, do a search for, for instance, "Macintosh", or "Opener", or "Renepo" and see if anything shows up. Click to expand.ClamXav is a little less than "not very useful" in my estimation.ĬlamXav is an OS X port of ClamAV, which is a UNIX server anti-virus application for use with Windows networks. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |