Hi Sir / Mam,

Need your answer and suggestion on the ff. questions below for me to get some information on how can I maintain our system protected on virus.

1. When will the new version of Clamwin be release ?
2. Considering manual scan. Will it be still update the virus database ?
3. I have windows 2000 advance server with installed Clamwin. Until when Clamwin supports windows 2000 ?

There is no new version of ClamWin scheduled. The ClamWin developers just prepare a port of the Clam AV for Linux AV when they are able to do so. There is no development schedule, and there is no guarantee that they can/will prepare a port. It is getting very difficult to support a free AV now. If ClamWin currently works okay on your OS, it will probably continue to do so. However, if there is ever a ClamWin 1.0, I think it will not be able to support legacy Windows OS versions because of the new functionality it should have. Many AVs no longer support legacy because it is just too difficult to do so, and ClamWin is free, which makes it even worse. ClamWin is already unable to provide some of the functionality available in the current Clam AV Linux version(s).

Regards,

Hello Chris05,

Your questions are harder to reply. We'll try to help you the best we can.

1. When will the new version of Clamwin be release?
ClamWin is based on a port of ClamAV engine and follows the roadmap from ClamAV project, that (at least, from what I've already searched and read) doesn't have a roadmap. E.g: 0.99.2 was released about 2 months after 0.99.1 release, but 0.99.3 was released 1 year and 3 months after 0.99.2 release.

In fact, ClamWin project depends on newer releases of ClamAV engine port from Linux to Windows by Sherpya. Actually, ClamWin uses ClamAV 0.99.2 engine (there isn't significant changes into 0.99.3 to justify code migration, from what I've read so far).

Into newer releases (0.99.3 and above), ClamAV engine is compiled into Visual Studio 2015 platform, that isn't compatible with Windows 2000.

There's technical details that disallow us from providing support from legacy platforms. The support from legacy platforms depends from Sherpya builds, so he's the best person to reply it to you, but he didn't appears on the forums sometime by now.

I have windows 2000 advance server with installed Clamwin. Until when Clamwin supports windows 2000 ?

New functionalities to ClamWin are into plans (a new UI, an on-access scanner, improved heuristics, etc), and compatibility with Windows 2000 isn't priority. Please remember that most AV vendors doesn't support even Windows XP anymore. ClamWin is an open source project, with little to none budget - we keep it because we love, and because we believe on it. Please consider a donation if it's helpful, but as the majority of Open Source projects, we didn't have fixed dates.

ClamWin versions from 1.0 on (if any) will probably not work on legacy operating systems because they will have increased functionality that just can not be used by legacy systems, which are getting difficult to support for a small/unpaid team like ClamWin.

My recommendation: use it as most you can. Signatures probably will (probably) work for 2 years or more for your ClamWin version. Please note that actually, ClamWin isn't a recommended AV for daily base, as it's work with base of signatures with no heuristics (a virus can take 18 months to be included into ClamAV database) and no real-time protection.

I know at least one known vulnerability that Windows 2000 have that wasn't fixed by Microsoft. It's vulnerable to a TCP/IP DoS attack (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-048). The will have to re-engineer the TCP/IP stack to fix this issue in Windows 2000 not only being a huge effort on their behalf but ALSO breaking a ton of apps that currently run on 2000. If you are still running 2000 it is more than likely because you've got some crazy old proprietary application that won't run on anything else or difficult to migrate. IT'S 9 YEARS OLD and this DOS requires a sustained TCP stream to cause the system to be non-responsive. Once the stream is stopped the system is responsive again.

Windows 2000 is vulnerable to NSA exploits too and probably other (un)known vulnerabilities from newer Windows versions, like Windows XP (already EOL) and Windows Server 2003. I recommend you to implement at least a Firewall into your network and one into Windows 2000, if possible (maybe ZoneAlarm into Windows 2000 and pfSense into the edge of your network?). I recommend you to migrate to newer Windows Server versions or migrating to ReactOS or Linux if you're in low budget.

Considering manual scan. Will it be still update the virus database ?

Please read ClamAV End of Life policy at https://www.clamav.net/documents/end-of-life-policy-eol

Edit: Even if newer versions of ClamWin breaks Windows 2000 support, you can keep the version of ClamWin actually installed and it will still receive signature updates normally until EOL.

I want to install it on Windows 10. I have visited https://errorcode0x.com/windows-10-preparing-automatic-repair-error-fixed/ https://errorcode0x.com/windows-10-preparing-automatic-repair-error-fixed/ and get useful ideas. You may also visit this.

Forget that page! This is an old post that someone may be taking advantage of to steer you to a malicious web page. The page is 404 on my setup (not existing). It might be that the page has not been set up yet. At any rate, I would steer clear of it.

Regards,

Dear developers of Clamwin,

over the years I really loved Clamwin as an addon to the Microsoft defender. Now Clam AV has reached version 0.101.4. where Clam Win is still at 0.99.4. May I ask if you have abandoned the Clamwin project? Or what are the reasons for the lack of new releases?

Of course there is still the Immunet AV with integrated Clam av engine. But it is much more heavier than Clamwin. So I would prefer it over Immunet.

Thank you very much and regards.

freefighter

Hello freefighter--it is good to hear from you. You and I started with ClamWin about the same time.

Here is my take on the situation. I am not a developer but I am in occasional contact with Alch and (more often) with Sherpya. Sherpya prepares the Windows port from the Clam AV Linux, code and Alch makes the changes needed to accommodate ClamWin. Sherpya always has a port ready soon after any new version of Clam AV is released. Since version .95 Alch has been unable to pass on all of the Clam Av capability to Windows. I believe that ClamWin needs some professional programming to advance/improve, but I do not think this will ever happen. It is getting too difficult for a free AV with no resources to adequately protect its users, and it is probably getting even more difficult to accommodate/support Windows 98, which is one of the primary reasons that ClamWin still exists.

I inform Alch/Sherpya every time there is a new version of Clam AV released. Early in August, I told them about the latest full version release of Clam AV and later I told them about the 2 security patches that were released. After I told Alch about the latest full version release, he indicated he would prepare a version for ClamWin, but so far it is not available.

I have dropped the out-of-date Clam Sentinel, but I still have ClamWin on my computer, but I do not depend upon it. I suggest that you go with Immunet, although it appears to me that it does not have very many resources committed to it--just like Clam AV. Neither is a money maker, and Cisco does not want to make any competition for its revenue producing security software. I tried it recently, and it has been improved, but they still do not give much attention to false positives (and maybe other things). I assume that, like Clam AV, no one is working on it full-time.

Regards,

We can find almost anything opensource, except a decent, actively developing, with a large community behind it antivirus.

That is a pity...

PS I downloaded today and try last version of Clamav in windows command line. Is there a reason not to use that if someone is familiar with the command line?

No reason - the Windows version of Clam AV should be much better than ClamWin because it has the latest updates (for Windows machines) of the Clam AV Linux scanning engine. ClamWin has not had any update(s) for going on two years now.

However, you need a better Av than even the command line version of Clam Av for Windows. It is not a real-time scanner, it does not have enough virus signatures, it has no heuristics to speak of, and it does not have any behaviorial detection. You should only use it or ClamWin as backup to a real-time scanner, such as the Free Microsoft Windows Defender.

Regards,

Thank you! Unfortunately I don't dare to uninstall Kaspersky av in my job pc...

https://www.clamav.net/documents/usage
on-access scanning - provides real-time protection via a clamd instance

Is this not a real-time scanner?

Yes - it is a real time scanner for the Clam Av for Linux Av only. ClamWin is a separate project not related to Clam AV. The ClamWin developers merely get a Windows port of the free Clam AV for Linux and slap a GUI (graphical user interface) for Windows on the port. The real-time module you reference is for Linux AVs only. The ClamWin developers can not port this module over to Windows--Windows is a separate OS. Several attempts to come up with a real-time module for ClamWin have been unsuccessful, and they have given up on it.

Kaspersky is a very good AV. It is in the top 3 AVs in my book. Although it is a Russian AV, don't believe the US government's complaint that it is affiliated with Russian hacking. Any hacking was done from the outside--Kaspersky had nothing to do with it. Kaspersky has now located lots of their infrastructure to Switzerland to prove their independence from Russia.

Regards,

Thank you for reply! So Clamav for Windows running in console has no real time scanner?