For any ClamWin users who have the Windows Vista operating system, be aware that Microsoft is going to discontinue supporting the Vista operating system. There will be no more updates--security and system. See https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/reminder-microsoft-will-pull-the-plug-on-windows-vista-in-two-weeks/ on the web.

Regards,

No one will miss it. It was never popular. One of the worst OSes Microsoft ever made, along with Windows 8. Windows XP still has more users then Vista and 8. Windows 10 is OK, but only if you get the "Enterprise LTSB N", which doesn't have all the metro apps in it, like Cortana, Edge, store, etc. Feels a lot like Windows 7 did, which was the second best OS made from Microsoft, in my opinion (nothing has yet to beat XP).

Still, I hope ReactOS becomes a popular thing, as I really want to switch to that. I have a feeling that once it becomes more stable, it will be a lot more popular then Mac and Linux combined.

Another OS to compete with Windows is surely needed. Linux is still too nerdy for the average user. I don't know much about Apple, but it seems to be a "dictatorial" OS. Let's hope that ClamWin will work on any successor!

Regards,

A great reminder, Bob. And then there were three.

I had a laptop with Vista 32 that was actually quite decent. I think the keyword is 32. When Vista was released, Microsoft was still green with 64 bit architecture, and I think that was why 64 bit Vista was such a bomb.

I tried ReactOS maybe six months ago but it was quite rudimentary. I don't expect anything useful there for several years. Until then, I can run XP in a VM on a Ubuntu host.



Macs are still too expensive for mainstream use, but I disagree about Linux still being nerdy. Burn a DVD or create a bootable flash drive with "Linux Mint Mate" to try it out without installing. If you can run Windows, you can run Mint with very little learning curve. There is a tips and tricks article about Mint on Gizmo's Guide (techsupportalert) I found rather helpful.

LIpper, have you run Clam AV on MInt? How well does the real-time scanner work, if so?

I'll give Mint a try, and I too think that XP is/was the best Windows OS..although Win 98 wasn't too bad for the time!

Regards,

Greetings Bob:

Yes, but without on-access scanning. Most Linux hardliners are adamant that an antivirus is unnecessary at all, and I agree to a point. So, I'm actually running ClamAV .99.2 without real-time, and with ClamTk 5.19 front end (outdated version by personal choice). For a second opinion, I use Comodo Antivirus for Linux. The real-time scanner is/has been broken, but it works fine as a demand scanner. Last December, Comodo CEO Melih promised us a new software to replace CAVL. We are still waiting patiently and watching the beta boards for a release announcement. Of course, I also run ClamWin and ClamWin Portable in Wine, as each has it's own idiosyncrasies. Since rootkits are more of a problem than viruses in Linux, chkrootkit and rkhunter are two demand scanners that I prudently run occasionally. Both are available from the Mint (Ubuntu) software repository.

Cheers,

Mac is very close to Linux, then it is to Windows. In fact, Mac uses a UNIX-like kernel system.

I have tried several UNIX systems before and the only one I somewhat enjoyed was ZorinOS, but even that didn't suit me. ReactOS is the only other OS I found to be a good alternative to Windows. I only hope for the day they can finish up the cache manager, enable ext2 filesystem, and add a internal updater. I think once those three are done, I will make my switch.