Hi, I have downloaded the application but can't run it as my computer is infected with something. The message I get says

ClamAV update process started at Thu Jan 01 11:38:00 2009

nonblock_connect: giving up due to excessive bogus loops

Can't connect to port 80 of host database.clamav.net (IP: 127.0.0.1)

WARNING: Can't download main.cvd from database.clamav.net

Trying again in 5 secs...

Whatever this is also made it so I can't run spybot or norton or any other virus protection. Any suggestions?

Helllo,
It seems you cannot connect to Clam servers for virus DB updates. Sometimes it may happen that servers are down or overcharged with requests at the same time so one is not getting updates. Try to relaunch virus db update and verify if you have installed a firewall; this may block the application clamwin is using (named freshclam.exe) for updates. In the case set your firewall so to allow freshclam to work.

Regards,
Antonio

Antonio,
Thanks for the suggestion. I did disable the firewall to see if that was the problem but it wasn't. The application won't run at all. If I select the C drive for it to scan I get the message that my clam is outdated, the bogus loops problem, etc. I never actually get my "scan" button to operate. I know nothing about computers but I am guessing that anytime the virus detects that I am trying to load a virus scan program it reroutes the request, hence the "bogus loops". Any other ideas?

T

I've seen bogus loop messages a few times, and they have not been connected to virus activity--just to a problem with Clam's mirror downloaders, but those problems usually clear up in a short while. The average virus will not disable antiviruses--they don't have to if they are new/unrecognized. If you've done everything Antonio suggested, do a search here in the forum and on the web for "ClamWin bogus loops" to see if you can find anything that helps. Also check back here occasionally to see if one of the ClamWin developers will suggest something. They are pretty busy sometimes.

Regards,

Hello mytown3 ,
On this thread Bob provided further suggestions:
https://forums.clamwin.com/viewtopic.php?p=8967&sid=63ae295df48080ce0b927115746927d8#8967
Try to see if the above solves the problem.

For what concerns the troubles encountered I am also receiving bogus loops messages sometimes. Usually they are related to servers which are temporarily down for servicing/updates. Normal operation is resumed after a short time. The message displayed for the outdated Clam refers to the engine Clamwin is using. Presently Clamwin is using 0.94.1 version, Clam is already @ 0.94.2. Once Clamwin uses the same engine version these messages will disappear. Note that this is not affecting Clamwin detection abilitites anyway.

Other option: You may think about downloading and installing the portable version of Clamwin on a USB drive (www.portableapps.com) and check if you get the same message when trying to download the virus db updates. If all goes ok you can try to scan your machine to see if something is really infecting it.
Come back if you have further news.
Regards,
Antonio