Greetings,

This is more in the nature of a bug report than a support request, however the contact form warned not to use it for support. So here goes:

My family has been using ClamAV on all of our personal computers for years, and we really appreciate your great app. We always update manually via the "Tools" menu (Tools/Download Virus Database Update). Starting yesterday, the update will not complete. It stops/idles right after downloading daily-22474.cdiff

(Our operating system is Windows XP.)

Here's today's report, saved after several spaced attempts over two days, and eventually stopping the process after several minutes of waiting each time:


ClamAV update process started at Sat Nov 05 09:01:46 2016

main.cvd is up to date (version: 57, sigs: 4218790, f-level: 60, builder: amishhammer)

nonblock_recv: giving up due to excessive bogus loops

WARNING: getfile: Error while reading database from database.clamav.net (IP: 128.199.133.36): Operation already in progress

WARNING: getpatch: Can't download daily-22474.cdiff from database.clamav.net

nonblock_connect: giving up due to excessive bogus loops

Can't connect to port 80 of host database.clamav.net (IP: 207.57.106.31)

nonblock_connect: giving up due to excessive bogus loops

Can't connect to port 80 of host database.clamav.net (IP: 69.163.100.14)

Trying host database.clamav.net (194.8.197.22)...

Downloading daily-22474.cdiff [100%]

Downloading daily-22474.cdiff [100%]



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Cancelled

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Once it downloads that cdiff file (which now happens EXTREMELY slowly), it just sits there (with the sidebar animation still going) rather than completing the update process. (I tried it again just now, and it was even worse, taking several minutes just to get to 33% of the file downloaded, with no end in sight.)

I hope this helps you to track down and fix the problem with the ClamAV updater.

Thanks for all your great work!

At first glance, the ClamWin download messages you get look the same as what I often get when I try a manual download. For one reason or another, manual downloads do not go well at times. Let me suggest this for the present: set ClamWin to download hourly and see if it updates.

Also, have you installed any new software recently? Additionally, are you using a real-time antivirus along with ClamWin? You should be using one (Avast Free, Avira Free, Windows Defender, Forticlient, or Panda Free to name a few). Your Windows XP OS is easy to infect since Microsoft no longer supports it.

Lastly, download Malwarebytes Home Free antivirus and do a Threat Scan with it, after you configure it to scan for rootkits, (Settings, Detection and Protection). It should update before beginning the scan--please note whether or not it does for later reference.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for using ClamWin!

Regards,

Hi, GuitarBob:

Thanks for the reply. The thing is that this started happening on BOTH home computers at the very same time, with same symptoms. And neither of us has made any changes to our settings or installed any new software. So the change is definitely on ClamWin's end, not on ours.

We don't leave ClamWin running after bootup, as we manage our system so that there is no need for a virus scanner to be using system resources by running in the background. Our need for a scanner is purely "on demand" when we specifically download a file. We close ClamWin when it launches on bootup, and launch the updater from the tools menu directly after that, so that our database is (or was, until recently) always up to date.

Doing manual updates is exactly the way we want it, and is a main reason for choosing ClamWin, since we want to control all updates on all software. One thing we particularly like about ClamWin is the ability to fully control the updates -- as well as controlling if, when and what it scans.

Additionally, manual updates have been working great for us for several years. Yes, it often fails to connect at the first (or even second) USA mirror it tries, but it has ALWAYS worked (up to the day of my original post). We don't care about the initial failed attempts to connect (possibly a problem with the USA mirrors? Or does the dev team need to update the IP addresses where the updater tries to connect?) -- our concern is just the sudden inability for the application to complete its update process once that file IS downloaded.

Could there be a problem with that particular .cdiff file (daily-22474.cdiff)? Surely there have been more added to the database since that one started hanging up, but our updater never gets past the point of (slowly) downloading that one.

Will someone on the development team please look into this? Clearly the change was on ClamWin's end, and hopefully it will be an easy thing to correct.

Here's a report from today's attempt, which still stops right after downloading that .cdiff file:

ClamAV update process started at Mon Nov 07 08:58:53 2016

main.cvd is up to date (version: 57, sigs: 4218790, f-level: 60, builder: amishhammer)

nonblock_connect: giving up due to excessive bogus loops

Can't connect to port 80 of host database.clamav.net (IP: 209.198.147.20)

Trying host database.clamav.net (194.186.47.19)...

Downloading daily-22474.cdiff [100%]

Downloading daily-22474.cdiff [100%]



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Cancelled

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As a side note, if you guys put up a page on Patreon, I'm sure that a lot of us would pledge a monthly amount to support your work. No "reward" perks are necessary, just a chance to support on a regular basis with the convenience of a Patreon pledge. You might want to look into that!

Thanks for reading! We look forward to hearing some good news on this issue soon.

Okay, you seem sure that there is no malware involved, so I'll take your word for it. Remember, however, that your OS is no longer supported by Microsoft and is probably easy to infect.

Let me suggest this for the present: copy the ClamWin database files somewhere--main, daily, and mirrors and then delete the files from the ClamWin DB folder. Then try a manual update and see how that goes. If it doesn't work, you can copy the files back from the saved location.

My last suggestion: uninstall ClamWin and reinstall it from the regular ClamWin download on the ClamWin web site. This is just in case the executable file somehow got corrupted. Keep the copied ClamWin database files just in case.

Re: ClamWin development: it seems to have stopped, and we have not had any communication with the developers since the version .99.1 beta test back in April. I can only hope a developer reads this thread if I can not be of any more help.

Regards,

Hello again,

Thanks for your great suggestions. I was going to implement them, however here's what happened:

I tried the updater again, thinking I'd give it one more chance... and as before it seemed to completely stall after downloading that particular .cdiff file and just sat there for several minutes.

However, I was busy in another part of the room, so the application was left open. About 15-20 minutes later, I noticed that it had suddenly started working again, and had downloaded dozens of new .cdiff files after that one (the backlog from not being able to complete an update for several days). So apparently there WAS something about that one file that was causing it to hang. Once it got past that, it behaved normally again.

I've tested it twice since then, and updates are now downloading and completing normally. In fact, today it only needed one attempt to connect. Yay!

Even if the dev team is no longer continuing to develop this app, I would like to support the folks who are keeping the mirrors up and continuing to update the database. Is the "Contact" form on the site the best way to suggest a Patreon page for this?

It's better to have a decent number of people pledging even a dollar (or few) per month than to rely on sporadic one-time donations, in my opinion. And from a potential supporter's point of view, it's also a lot more convenient. I think a lot of us would be willing to contribute to the upkeep of this application, if such a convenient route existed.

What do you think would be the best way/place for me to suggest this?

Thanks again for your kind and helpful responses!

I'm glad it is now working for you! You may want to reconsider letting ClamWin update automatically in case this happens again.

I think the Contact form is the best way to contact the developer(s). The Clam AV project provides the database and scan engine used by ClamWin. The developers port it over from the Clam AV Linux application to Windows. Cisco owns Clam AV and provides it freely for use on Linux email servers.

Regards,