Since on-access scan doesn't seem to be developed anymore (correct me if I'm wrong, but it has been more than 5 years on the work, and all the sparse news I see are about performance bugfixes) why not improve the integration with clam sentinel?

I mean.. I'm forced to run both background processes in my machine, clamwin tray icon to update the database and clam sentinel for the on-access scanning. Why not team up and offer a package that includes clamwin + clam sentinel and make the automatic database updates without having to run yet another background process just for them?

Also, a single installer would be better so that even my dad can install it by himself, easily.

Well Said!

There are a few hurdles, but they are not insurmountable, I'm sure. Clam Sentinel is written in Delphi, and ClamWin is written in C++ with a touch of Python. They are two separate projects with some difference in philosophies. Additional development for both projects will require more time than the developers have available. There have been several attempts by ClamWin to use outside developers (including a paid developer at one point), but they don't hang in there. I keep hoping that Sourcefire will integrate Clam AV into the Cloud, but that would probably require a rewrite of ClamWin.

Let's see if any of the developers chime in here.

Regards.

I don't think a merge of the code bases would really be required (or desirable). I was asking for some collaboration so that they can play more nicelly together, and bundled in a single installer for those of us who want a simple way to distribute it to people who would need on-access scanning. This doesn'T mean the current ClamWin installer and current ClamWin tray icon has to disappear, I guess there are people who want it.

I would be happy enough if clamwin had some option (a commandline flag would be enough) to update the database and then just exit, so it's not required to have the background process running all the time.

After this it would be damn easy to just make a installer bundling both of the programs and schedule the database updates using, for example, the Windows Task Scheduler, while clam sentinel is set to be the only process being run on Windows start. I believe that I could even package the installer by myself, if the update-and-close functionality existed.

I see now. Clam Sentinel doesn't really need ClamWin to be active--it just needs a database that is current, which can be updated from a Task Scheduler job (or something similar). This is similar to some of the AVs (like Immunet Free or Panda Free Cloud) that do not even have scheduled scans in their free versions. I think you would need a scheduled scan now and then--in case a virus slipped by that would be detected by a subsequent signature.

A combination installer would be nice too for the non-geeky users.

Good idea. Thanks for the input. I hope the developers take note. I referenced your post to them.

Regards,

Well, it's been several days, and I don't see any developers. If you could come up with the installer, that might have some results, but there's no guarantee.

Another idea: the Clam AV for Windows program might do what you want with some tweaking/configuration. I've never tried it, but I understand it's strictly command line--no GUI, but Clam Sentinel is not set up for it. Sentinel is structured so that the code for the heuristic scanner is separate from the code referencing ClamWin, so Sentinel can work with some other AVs with a bit of programming, but none of them have legacy support for users of machines older than Windows XP. Andrea Russo briefly ran Sentinel with Bit Defender Free back in 2010, but it was decided forego that due to potential copyright problems with Softwin.

Regards,

I think scheduled scans are over-rated. To evade detection, most viruses are short-run now. Many of them may only be distributed to a limited list of targeted users/organzations. Therefore, an AV might not even get a signature. If it does get a sig, the damage might already be done.

Regards,

Hi,
I am currently working on on-access scanning for ClamWin using a filter driver. It's almost finished, I'll post it here in a day or so. It will support scanning PE files when launched.

Thanks! That would be nice. I hope the ClamWin developers can make use of it.

Regards,