Hi! I wonder if its a matter of how many records of signatures the antivirus applications got and what does signify a good antivirus, i mean clam currently has about 700 000 virus records compared to kaspersky 3 000 000 and how can you make a fair comparition between them?
i also wonders if there will be a new interface for clamwin in the upcoming release and how much more secure it will be ?
I will continue use clamwin because i love open source

Generic signatures and heuristics help an antivirus to spot many viruses without having specific signatures for them. Unfortunately, Clam/ClamWin does not have that many generic signatures or heuristic identification methods. Kaspersky probably does not have many generic sigs or heavy heuristics either--that is why it has so many signatures. Kaspersky can therefore spot more viruses than Clam/ClamWin. Kaspersky charges for its product, while Clam/ClamWin are free, and do not have the resources of Kaspersky. Clam has only a handful of sigmakers, and most of them only work part time. Large AV companies may have a hundred or more people preparing signatures world wide. On the other hand, Clam can probably prepare a specific signature for a virus faster than Kaspersky once it gets a sample because it is smaller and can move faster.

Clam/ClamWin will have a basic heuristic detection package in version .96 when it comes out (probably in February), so detection rates will improve, and it should be competitive with most of its paid commercial competition then--for basic virus detection.

I think you can use Kaspersky and ClamWin together because ClamWin does not yet have a real-time scanner. You should probably turn Kaspersky's real-time scanner off when you run a big ClamWin scan though. No AV can spot all viruses, and ClamWin makes a good backup scanner that does not consume too many resources when not scanning.

I think the ClamWin GUI will change when it goes real-time, but that will probably not be for six months to a year if everything goes right.

Regards,

approciate the fast feedback and hope there will be a complete security package that bring open source security to competion.
Antivirus + antispyware + firewall + rootkit would be amazing . my bought kaspersky license expired and iam a student so i dont have the money for renew it.
Can you suggest a secure environment for me with clamwin and some other components? and free of course

My suggestion is to use the free Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus/antimalware (MSSE). It's really quite good, and it includes protection from viruses, trojans, some rootkits, worms, and antispyware. You can use ClamWin as a backup scanner, and it will not conflict with MSSE. I use the free Microsoft firewall that comes with XP or Vista, but the free versions of Online Armor from Tall Emu or PC Tools will provide better firewall protection but will bother you more.

You need a registered version of Windows to run MSSE. The free personal version of AntiVir antivirus from Avira is also a good scanner, but it does not provide as much protection from spyware or clean viruses as well as MSSE and it has more false positive detections.

Regards,

thanks ..those will be the last questions, sorry for bothering..i`ll go for the microsoft solution and then use clamwin as backup.but is it secure enough or should i setup a firewall and if so on which is the best? i hear most people beeing use standalone scanners to scan their pc like adaware, spybot, malwarebytes or hijackthis but, s it nessecary or else? and i heard of that open source itrusion prevention snort but i dont know how to get it working for my home pc, do i need that also ?
thanks kindly

Microsoft's Security Essentials is a good program--it has to be because Microsoft has had a "black eye" because Windows is so insecure. They hired some good people away from other antivirus companies for their AV work, and it has paid off. It is a very simple, small, and easy to use program. It is just as secure as any other AV, but they can all be disabled (temporarily until a signature is developed) by anyone with good programming skills.

If you are not using a firewall, you need one. My first choice is the Windows Firewall because it is simple--turn it on and that's it. It only protects you from incoming maliicous contacts, but if your AV does its job, that's all you need. My next choice would be the free version of Online Armor (from Tall Emu) and then the free version of Outpost (from Agnitum) or the free version of PC Tools firewall. All three provide inbound/outbound protection but need some initial setup.

I've looked at Snort several times, but my sense is that it is more applicable to a business/network. It is too much for a stand-alone PC or simple home network.

Here's what I suggest at the moment: MSSE, SuperAntiSpyware (free version), ClamWin for backup, and the Windows firewall. If you are paranoid, run an online scane weekly from Eset/Nod32 or Trend Micro.

Regards,

thanks .....i think i can sleep with confidence now