ClamWin Free Antivirus
ClamWin Free Antivirus is designed for Windows and uses the open source GNU General Public License. The anti-virus program currently supports the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, XP, 2003, and Vista.
Features
The features you can expect to find in ClamWin Free AntiVirus are virus database updates (which the program retrieves automatically), right-click menu MS Windows Explorer integration, scanning scheduler, a standalone virus scanner, and add-in function to MS Outlook (which enables easy scanning of email attachments).
One of the downsides to ClamWin Free AntiVirus is that it doesn't have an automatic scanning feature for newly activated files. This means that you'll have to manually scan all the files you have recently downloaded from the web before you can safely execute or use the files.
What ClamWin Free AntiVirus does have, however, is an update feature that ensures that your software application is equipped with protection methods to prevent your computer from getting infected with the latest viruses, worms, and other types of malware.
ClamWin Free AntiVirus also has a comprehensive online database that is automatically refreshed several times every 24 hours. Like most other anti-virus programs, ClamWin Free AntiVirus also has a scanner scheduler that allows you to customize the exact times of the day when you want your system to be scanned. Another cool feature of the ClamWin Free AntiVirus database is its availability in a portable version, which users can store and use from a USB (universal serial bus) flash drive.
Installation and Setup
As mentioned, ClamWin Free AntiVirus uses the open source GNU General Public License. Because of this, the program program comes with an open source code and an installer that you also get at no cost. ClamWin Free AntiVirus can be installed silently - you can install the software application without ineracting directly with the program. This means no user prompts, no text confirmations, and no dialog boxes.
If you want to install ClamWin Free AntiVirus silently, you can use a prompt that goes like this: c:\Documents and Settings\$USER\My Documents\clamwin-0.88-setup.exe/sp- /silent /norestart. If you don't want to install the program in the My Documents folder, simply replace the path with the location where you want the ClamWin Free AntiVirus installation file to be stored.
User Interface
ClamWin Free AntiVirus has a graphical user interface that is relatively easy to use. You can easily jump from tab to tab to go to the specific function you wish to tweak or execute. If you want to conduct more thorough scans, you can use the right-click feature to select the specific files, directories, and locations that you want to scan.
Although ClamWin lacks the on-demand scanning option and other up-to-date functions found in other free anti-virus programs, it's still a good option for those who want to keep their computers safe from viruses without spending a dime.