It takes too long for the database to be loaded by clamscan and hmail times out. What can we do?

There's not much you can do. ClamWin takes too long to both load and to scan, and there are not enough virus signatures. Clam AV has made some improvements to help its Linux version, but the ClamWin developer has not prepared any new Windows ports of the Clam AV Linux version for well over a year now. I assume that development/improvement of ClamWin has stopped, and I no longer use it. I recommend you use Microsoft Windows Defender (or Microsoft Security Essentials for XP or Windows 7 computers). Fortinet's Forticlient is also a good free antivirus for newer computers. If you can't do that, I suggest you download/use OS Armor from NoVirusThanks from Italy. OS Armor will give you some protection. It's not an antivirus, but it keeps lots of malware from activating on a computer. It will occasionally get a false positive, but you can restore/whitelist it.

Thanks for using ClamWin all these years!

Regards,

I am sorry to hear that. Well I can't install an active antivirus. Makes system so slow and at the end of the day it is not enough. That is why I liked clam. It was standby for me to call it on risky files.

Thanks anyway.

I think you should look into that OS Armor program that I told you about. It is not active--it comes with preinstalled security like preventing certain programs from doing things they shouldn't do. It is free from the NoVirusThanks team in Italy. They've been around for years. OS Armor will occasionally give you a false positive detection (just like ClamWin), but you can easily whitelist it.

They also have an OS Hardner program that I have never used and don't know anything about, but you might look into that too.

Regards,

Well it seems ClamAV already has a windows solution which I guess solves the problem.

Yes - Clam AV has a Windows "solution" but it is not as user friendly as ClamWin. There is no GUI, and it does not have a real-time capability. In fact, the Clam AV for Windows port is prepared by Sherpya, one of the ClamWin developers. As far as I know, howeever, there has been no development by Clam AV on it for years. Sherpya just prepares a Windows port for it. The old minimal GUI at Sherpya's site may still work. Check it out at https://oss.netfarm.it/clamav/ on the web.

Regards,

OS Armor looks like a great option for old Win versions, but sadly, in all machines with XP I've tested, OSArmor just freezes the entire system, even with standard config.
Do you have any other suggestion for a additional protection for WinXP? I'm using an AV and was setting the ClamWin+Sentinel, but looks like it won't do much as you said :/

The OS Armor people have a bunch of programs besides OSArmor. You might look at Sys Hardener and/or Registry Guard.

There is an undocumented configuration in Clam Sentinel that lets you use it without ClamWin, but both programs have to be installed when you make the configuration. After that you can uninstall ClamWin if you don't ever want to use it or you can just keep ClamWin and don't ever use it. This option lets you use the Clam Sentinel heuristics only, which are always in memory. The heuristics only look at Windows executable PE files--.exe,, .dll, and a few more (about 8 or so file extensions in all). To use this option, with both ClamWin and Clam Sentinel installed, exit Clam Sentinel and make the following entry to the Clam Sentinel .ini configuration file (be sure to save it afterwards and then activate Clam Sentinel):

NS=2
;### This is an undocumented option. Sentinel is internally set to NS=0 as the installation default.
;### NS is no scanner. ClamWin is the scanner we are talking about. Options are 0, 1, or 2.
;### 0 sets the default to use Sentinel heuristics and ClamWin signatures during Clam Sentinel's scans.
;### 1 sets the default to use Sentinel heuristics all the time, but use ClamWin signatures only when scanning memory/USB.
;### 2 sets the default to use the Clam Sentinel heuristics in scanning and not use ClamWin signatures at all.
;### This option only affects scans by Clam Sentinel--it doesn't affect the ClamWin program at all.
;### For 1 or 2, the Sentinel icon says "no scanner", meaning that Sentinel does not use ClamWin signatures, but Sentinel heuristics are still used all the time.
;### To change this option, add this information to Clam Sentinel.ini and change NS to 1 or 2 as desired.

Remember this only protects your Windows executable files--you will have no protection for document, javascript, PDF, and other files.

Regards,

GuitarBob, thanks! I'll keep only ClamSentinel as your sugestion.

I have been facing the same issue.
Updated: I have found the solution <ahref>here</a>.

Clam Sentinel can not be used without ClamWin. You wouldn't want to use it anyway because it was discontinued in 2014.

Regards,