ClamWin Free Antivirus facts for kids
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ClamWin running on Windows 11
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| Developer(s) | ClamWin Pty Ltd |
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| Stable release |
0.103.2.1 / June 7, 2021
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| Written in | C++ and Python |
| Operating system | Windows 98 and newer |
| Type | Antivirus software |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later |
ClamWin Free Antivirus is a free computer program that helps protect your Windows computer from viruses and other harmful software. It's like a digital guard dog for your computer! This program uses a special engine called Clam AntiVirus to find and remove bad stuff.
What ClamWin Can Do
ClamWin Free Antivirus has several helpful features to keep your computer safer:
- Scanning Schedule: You can set it to check for viruses at certain times. Just remember, you need to be logged into your computer for this to work.
- Automatic Updates: It regularly gets new information about the latest viruses. This helps it know what new threats to look for.
- Scan Anytime: You can run it whenever you want to check specific files or folders for problems.
- Easy Scanning: You can right-click on files or folders in Windows Explorer and tell ClamWin to scan them.
- Email Protection: If you use Microsoft Outlook, ClamWin can check your emails for viruses.
- Portable Version: You can put ClamWin on a USB flash drive. This means you can use it on different computers without installing it.
There are also special tools for the Firefox web browser. These tools let you scan files you download with ClamWin.
No Real-Time Scanning
ClamWin Free Antivirus scans your computer when you tell it to. It does not automatically check files as you open or save them. This is called real-time scanning.
However, other projects like Clam Sentinel and Winpooch can add real-time scanning to ClamWin. They work like extra helpers for the program.
How Well Does It Work?
In the past, some people said ClamWin Free Antivirus wasn't as good as other antivirus programs. They noted it sometimes missed viruses and scanned slowly. For example, in 2009, ClamWin didn't find about half of the Trojan horses and other bad programs in a test.
In a test from 2008, ClamWin found about 54% of threats. It was 37th out of 49 programs. The best programs found over 99% of threats. In another test in 2009, ClamWin found about 52% of threats. It was 43rd out of 55 programs. The top program found almost 99% of threats.
It's important to know that these tests are over ten years old. ClamWin has been updated many times since then. But there aren't many new test results from big testing groups.
ClamWin is a free and open-source program. This means its code is available for anyone to see and change. Because it's free, it might not offer the same complete protection as some paid programs.
Even without new test results, many people still choose ClamWin because it's free and open-source. If you want stronger protection, you might need to use other security tools or a different antivirus program.
In 2011, a website called CNET gave ClamWin a good rating of 4 out of 5 stars. They liked that it was easy to use and updated regularly. But they also mentioned it could be slower and not as good at finding viruses as some other programs.
See also
In Spanish: ClamWin para niños
- List of antivirus software
- List of free and open-source software packages
- ClamTk, a similar program for Linux computers.
