I manage a system at a small business that has a Windows 2008R2 server, acting as the domain controller (it also has DNS running on it but file replication is not turned on). Its main purpose is to act as the database server (Microsoft SQL and also an old version of Pervasive) for the business app's that run on the workstations. A few workstation users also use the server to share individual files.

There are approximately 10 workstations on this network (and not all of them log into the domain....only those that need to access files on the server), and the workstations are all either Windows 7 Pro or Windows 10 Pro. The users all work on their own workstations, and no one logs into the server other than myself to perform maintenance.

Although Microsoft Office is installed on the server, it (or any other end-user application) is almost never run on it....well, maybe once in a very rare while I may have accidentally opened up an Excel file on it, or perhaps I'll use Notepad or Paint or something like that, but in general the server is not used for anything other than "serving" the needs of the end-user's workstations.

Every workstation has its own real-time anti-virus running.....either Microsoft Security Essentials for the Win7 machines or Windows Defender (actually, I believe Microsoft just changed the name of Windows Defender to "Windows Security" but it's the same thing). The virus definitions are updated regularly.

In addition to the real-time protection those AV's provide on each workstation, I run anti-virus scans on each workstation pretty regularly. In addition, I run MRT (Micosoft's "Malicious Software Removal Tool") on each workstation pretty regularly.

However, on the server, I have never installed any anti-virus software. From time to time I do run MRT on the server (since it's already part of Windows), and every time I have ever run MRT on the server it has always come up clean. Other than that there is no anti-virus or anti-malware software that is installed or runs on the server itself.

So, my question is: Is there any reason I need to install ClamWin (or any anti-virus software) on the server? I don't believe I would want real-time type virus protection on this server since it's a domain controller. But would Clamwin be of any benefit to actually install on the server? If so, how would it be best configured given my situation as described above? Any and all answers, advice or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

In my opinion, you need an antivirus on any computer that is facing the world wide web. Even if it isn't facing the web, you should have an AV if you have USB slots or if it is connected to a network. Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender should provide sufficient protection for most users/installations, but I believe free use is limited to installations that have 10 or less computers.

ClamWin is an on-demand scanner that only scans when you do a manual scan or if you have scheduled a scan. It does not provide enough protection by itself, so for best protection, the developers recommend it as a backup AV scanner to a real-time scanner.

Regards,

ClamWin remains an important program for users that want to get basic antivirus protection without forking out any dollars. I liked the fact that its antivirus definitions are updated several times per day and that it still retains an active user community. Those in need of real-time protection and more sophisticated features are certainly better off looking elsewhere, but as a free add-on to your main antivirus solution, or a standalone program for low-importance machines, it remains a viable option.

I think that you should install a real-time antivirus on that server also. The ClamWin developers recommend you use ClamWin only as a backup to a real-time AV scanner.

Regards,