microsoft virus scanner

Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV), is a widely used free antivirus software toolkit for Unix-like operating systems. It is mainly used with a mail exchange server as a server-side email virus scanner. ClamAV is open source software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Both ClamAV and its updates are made available free of charge.

ClamAV is generally configured to automatically update its list of virus definitions via the Internet. Antivirus company questions quality of Microsoft's Security Solutions.

Mac OS X

ClamXav for Mac OS X is a port for the Apple Mac which includes a graphical user interfaces.

Microsoft Windows

ClamWin provides a graphical user interface to the ClamAV (Clam AntiVirus) engine on Microsoft Windows, including a scanning scheduler, context menu integration to Explorer, addins for Microsoft Outlook and Firefox.

However it does not provide real-time scanning of files as they are read and written. This is something generally seen as vital and is a feature universally provided by commercial products for Microsoft Windows, including in their freeware versions. (Experienced Windows users may be able to configure real-time scanning by using Winpooch or similar products to call ClamAV as files are opened). Standalone virus scanner and right-click menu integration to Microsoft Windows.