New to Mint, Question on Clam Anti Virus

[draceena]

Hi!

After reading a favorable review on PCMechanic I decided to give Mint a try. I had been using Ubuntu for around 2 weeks or so in VirtualBox (great program by the way) and although I liked Ubuntu alot I thought that it should be a bit easier to use (specifically in the multi-media department).

I downloaded Mint and fired up a new VirtulBox and WOW! This is one amazing Linux Distro! All my multi-mediafiles worked right away! Heck, everything just seems to work smoother and easier than Ubuntu.

The only problem (and a small one at that) is when I went to the MintInstall and downloaded the Clam Antivirus and installed it, there was no link created for it in the Menu. I had to use Synaptic to download and install ClamTK for a menu selection to finally appear and then I also had to download and install an additional file for the virus database to work (I can't remember the name of this file at the moment).

I would think that the Clam install supplied by MintInstall should have all these files packaged together for easier end-user installation but I wasn't sure where to place this suggestion/problem/

Again, congrats on a great Linux distro!

[Husse]

Welcome to Mint
and thanks for kind words
You really don't need antivirus but of course you need to be observant.....
As far as I know the ClamAV in mintInstall works OK but something like you describe has been mentioned before so it may be some problem with some version.
You don't have to reinstall just because you don't find it in the menu - you can add a menu item, right click on the menu > Add

[muskratmx]

You don't need clamav in the menu. By default it updates it's own database. and I believe it adds a cron job to run every so often in the back ground.

The only purpose of an antivirus in linux is to protect your windows using friends when you give them a file.

I currently have one file with a virus on this PC. But clam doesn't point it out, it just tells my I have it. and It's up to me to read a log file several hundred pages long and find which file is infected. So far I haven't been able to pick it out of the pile of data yet.

[Fred]

muskratmx,

Luckily, I don't need ClamAV. All my friends passed on years ago! This is just one of several advantages of not having any friends.

Enjoy life,

Fred

[kenetics]

Fred, I'll be your friend , but I have Windows machines on my home network, so you'll have to install Clam first!

Come to think of it, I should install it myself.

[Fred]

kenetics,

Wow! You would be willing to be my friend? How much would it cost me? One time fee or subscription rates?

I had a friend a while back, but I made the mistake of untieing him and he got away! Ahhh... you live and learn.

Thanks for the offer,

Fred

[kenetics]

My friendship comes free, as in free Linux and free beer.
Join us at the Mint Cafe, we are all friends there and the booze flows freely!
No ropes allowed though or any weapons or sharp objects.

[muskratmx]

Fred; You've already been a friend to me in this forum, I hope I haven't died lately

But like I said I have a windows virus held in limbo on my linux box, Clam told me so, I just haven't figured out how to get it to point it out.

[draceena]

Yea, I figured that the ClamAV was running and all, but as a rank Linux Noobie (I've only been playing around with it for only 1 month) I just thought that like everything else in Mint that the Clam AV should do everything (i.e make the menu link and update the database) without user intervention (unless I want to modify it after install )

Anyways, it's just a small issue and not a deal breaker to me, I've already told several friends how great Mint is and am trying to learn as much as I can about Linux in general. (geeky I know )

PS. I am the computer geek wife and things like Mint need to pass the husband test....and Mint certainly passes with flying colors as the husband is using it every day and loving it.

[Husse]

Well this topic evolved in a somewhat unexpected way
I remembered that Clamav is a cli application and thus it is not shown in the menu so it's OK
Sorry for my slightly misleading first answer

[linuxviolin]

The only purpose of an antivirus in linux is to protect your windows using friends when you give them a file.

Yes but there are viruses on Linux! Although a home user has very little chance to see one of them

"Just for the record: ClamAV is one of the worst antivirus on Unix."

[muskratmx]

"Just for the record: ClamAV is one of the worst antivirus on Unix."

What is better? Are they GNU?

And yes there are Viruses out there for linux but like you said the desktop user doesn't need to worry about them as of today, who knows about next week. That's why I didn't start down that path. Actually this anti-virus issue is a touchy subject in linux forums. I suppose it's a case of your pairnioa level.

I just thought that like everything else in Mint that the Clam AV should do everything (i.e make the menu link and update the database)

Clam AV is a CL package, I think there is a GUI front end for it, but it's a seperate package.

It is most likely doing just that, updating the database. It's just you can't see it because of LinuxMint silent boot and shutdown. If you remove silent and splash from the boot line in grub next time you boot and watch, you most likely see Clam AV doing it's thing. It starts on boot, on shutdown it updates it's database before the system goes down.

You might see a lot of other things that tweek your interest. Such as an error here or there during boot, which you can't see because of that silent/splash.

[Husse]

I have Avant on demand scanner and scan the entire system (including the XP partition which has Antivir installed) about once in a fortnight