It is very rare you get a free antivirus software with all the advanced features. We all wish to protect your personal information and Clamwin is one of the best options to achieve that without paying any money. There are free security softwares and paid ones available in the market. Clamwin is the popular free antivirus software used by more than half million people around the world. So you can guess the quality of protection it gives.
In this blog we are going to discuss about the efficiency of this software and will try to help you understand the features, advantages and flaws of this software.
Clamwin is a free open source security solution which utilizes ClamAV engine to detect and block emerging threats. They are basically Windows software which is compatible with version including 7, 8, 10, XP, Vista, 2000 and the Windows servers 2003, 2008 and 2012. According to the records Clamwin has around 600,000 users worldwide.
Clamwin can reliably detect and eliminate all types of malwares and threats. You can schedule the scan hourly, daily or weekly. You can also select the preferred files and folders to scan. They give good results when they are combined with other anti-virus programs.
Advantages
- It is a free software.
- Scans can be scheduled according to your needs.
- User friendly
- You can select the files to scan
Disadvantages
- Automatic file scanner is absent.
- Slow processing speed.
- Inconvenient system updates
Features
- Virus detection: Clamwin is basically developed to block virus and threats, once their presence is detected in the system. Compared to other free antivirus softwares, they have high detection rate while online and offline.
- Scanning scheduler: This helps the user to plan the scans according to the requirements. It can be hourly basis, daily, weekly or monthly. This option is useful for the users who are busy at their work and does not have the time to conduct scans manually.
- Automatic download updates: Whenever the company releases updates, your system automatically updates the software and you don’t have to visit their websites and check for updates. Once the new version is installed, the program notifies you.
- Stand-alone Virus scanner: They are independent virus scanners and do not seek the help of any third party applications. As you install the software, it starts the work and scans for any malicious content present in the device.
- Microsoft menu integration: Using this feature, you can combine Microsoft applications through a single interface that makes it easy for you to use.
To check the reliability, AV Test Labs exposed a group of malwares, Trojans and other malicious threats. ClamWin successful detected most of the threats and blocked them. The interface of this software is simple and the features are arranged in a way which is comfortable for the users who has limited knowledge in antivirus programs. Once you have downloaded the program, you should accept the EULA and then it starts to function automatically.
All the antivirus details are obtained from ClamAV database. The major advantage of ClamWin is that they do not offer real-time protection such that it cannot detect and block zero-day attacks. Apart from drawbacks, they regularly update their databases which make the efficiency of the software much higher.
They include memory scan that focuses on the programs which is running in the system memory. They make sure that those files are safe. If you want to speed up the scanning process, it is possible to configure the filters and prevent unwanted scanning of certain files and folders.
Using this software, you can directly combine Microsoft Outlook email with Windows Explorer. This makes it easy to send individual files, folders and attachments for inspecting. During the scanning process, if the software finds any infected program running inside the system memory they would instantly freeze the program and them to quarantine.