Install CLamAV Antivirus for Ubuntu
There are only 3 reasons according to me why people switch to linux based operating systems 1] They are Free 2] Cool applications and loads of free updates 3] Virus Free . And many people assume that there is neither virus nor antivirus for Linux based distros especially ubuntu which is most popular . However there is an antivirus for it Clam AntiVirus or mostly called CLamAV
There are actually no real viruses or malwares on a Linux OS but there can be still are many many amazing varieties of Bugs !
About Clam :
AntiVirus (ClamAV) is a free, cross-platform antivirus software tool-kit capable of detecting many types of malicious software, including viruses being mostly useful on mail servers as a server-side email virus scanner. The application was developed for Unix and has third party versions available for AIX, BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, OpenVMS, OSF and Solaris.
Why is it useful ?
Installing an anti- virus program allows you to watch out for Windows or even Mac viruses in files sent to you. Therefore, you can avoid passing on virus-infected files that might affect those running non-Linux operating systems. ANd thats why it is better to use in Linux against Windows or Mac OS so that , the virus does not spread as you are not logging from affected OS [WIndows / Mac ] .
Besides it is free and one of the widely supported open source projects , so its a big deal to try it :)
How to Install ?
- Start Synaptic [ From Systems >> Administration ] and search for clamtk. Now check alongside the clamtk entry in the results
- Click Mark for Installation in the menu that appears.
- Agree to install the list of dependencies, that includes ClamAV itself, and then click the APPLY button on the toolbar.
- When ClamTK is run for the first time it’s necessary to update the virus
- database. In future this will be done automatically and periodically in
- the background, without any need for user intervention.
open a terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and
type the following:
gksu clamtk
Click Help > Update Signatures. Once ClamTK reports the signatures
are up to date, close the program window.
Scanning viruses / Malwares
To start ClamTK, click Applications > System Tools > Virus Scanner.
Note that ClamAV is unable to remove any virus infections found in a file [ It just checks whether the filw is infected or not ].
Its only the user [ You ! ] who decides what to do with the file !
Deleting the file is best !
For Windows user : ClamAV [As of version 0.96 ] runs on Windows.
Both ClamAV and its updates are made available free of charge.
For Mac OS X user : Apple Mac OS X Server has included ClamAV since version 10.4. It is used within the operating system's email service. A graphical user interface is available in the form of ClamXav
This works best if you have two hard disks - one of linux and other of windows / mac and you have logging problem or your computer freezes every-time and you cant launch antivirus ! Even i did same when i had ubuntu and corrupted XP and was able to swap most of the viruses with great help of Clam . Free , safe and open source what else is better than this ?
Download from SourceForge
