This has been said before, but I feel the need to say it again: There should be an option to disable the memory-resident tray program.

Generally, antivirus software needs a constantly running process only because it performs automatic scans of files as they're used. I would have thought that the major benefit in eliminating that feature would be to free up system resources.

I switched to ClamWin after having used Avira AntiVir for a very long time. I made the switch because I no longer felt I needed a real-time scanner, so I figured why not free up those system resources? ClamWin seemed to be the way to go. I didn't realize it nevertheless runs a seemingly unnecessary resident process.

What makes the option to disable even more prudent is the fact that clamtray uses so much memory -- 17mb. Avira AntiVir uses about HALF that, and does everything clamtray does, PLUS performs real-time scans.

I understand that a resident process is necessary for those who use scheduled updates and scheduled scans, but for those who don't require those things, it's pretty much a useless waste of memory. With Windows Explorer integration, the scanner could just be launched when needed and then closed.

If clamtray used as little memory as I would think it should (for what it does), then I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it. I understand that it's free software running on donated time, and I appreciate all the work that goes into it. So I'm not trying to criticize the memory usage aspect, because I know that making an efficient program is hard work. But please at least give us the option to get around this by using a more on-the-fly approach.

It seems to me that most ClamWin users are going to be IT professionals and other such people who know what they're doing, and would appreciate not having something unnecessary constantly running.

Agree even though clamav is not a real time scanner or a backup scanner, i realize that it is more efficient and less sucking memory on my PC . . . but i will mostly appreciate that clamwin will become a realtime scanner cuz it just great and efficient!!

Still no real answer to the question though.

Can someone from ClamWin look into the idea from the OP.

Regards

Try searching previous forum threads. The tray question was covered recently, I believe. As I recall, it is needed under the current version of ClamWin for "housekeeping" functions. Any new version of ClamWin will certainly be more efficient; however, development has been slow. Anyone with C++ programming skills is certainly needed.

Regards,