I think it's a matter of comfort and best-practices; remember that most users coming from Windows just expect that a virus scanner is required, it's better to let them run one using the easy GUI tools now available than to retrain every common practice up front.
Running clamav with the most common default settings doesn't hurt anything, really, since it doesn't do any routine scanning unless you install some addons. I have it installed on most machines as a cheap "just-in-case" (I even run routine scans on many of them).
It's true that Linux is *nearly* untouched by the virus scourge, but it's still possible to pick up the detritus of a failed attack from a Windows or Mac virus, and it's nice to have something to clean that up with, otherwise those worthless bits of junk just hang around waiting to cause problems.
On most desktops, setting a simple cron job to do a basic scan in the wee hours of the morning doesn't hurt anything, and it can help ensure the system's kept reasonably tidy.
With a recent version of clamtk it's not hard to setup a simple nightly scan (and as a bonus clamtk uses cron to do that) from the scheduler page.
==Joseph++
kitepilot@kitepilot.com wrote:
> Hmmmmm...
> Betty, what are you trying to accomplish?
> From http://www.clamav.net :
> "Clam AntiVirus is an open source (GPL) anti-virus toolkit for UNIX,
> designed especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways."
> Are you running a "mail gateway"?
> Do you even know what it is?
> (Now risking to be burned on a bonfire)
> Is there any value in compromising the performance of a machine by
> scanning for viruses that mostly only exist in M$ junk?
> There are LOTS of articles about it, and I chose the next one fairly
> randomly:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/
> I would not waste my time (and bog down my machine) looking for mostly
> unexisting threats. Sounds to me like creating real problems to prevent
> potential problems or vaccinating against "headaches".
> Clamav is a complex sucker, I run it on my "mail gateway"
> (Yes, I run one)
> My free advice?
> apt-get uninstall clamav
> Fire away...
> ET
>
>
> betty writes:
>> ok, that is great. i looked and i did download freshclam and it is set
>> to update every hour !
>> how cool is that. now i'll figure out how to set it up to scan once a
>> day or something i guess?
>> thank you so much.
>> betty i.
>> Joseph Sinclair wrote:
>>> ClamAV is typically updated via a separate package called FreshClam
>>> (in Ubuntu, apt-get install clamav-freshclam).
>>> freshclam is a background daemon that updates the AV signatures
>>> automatically based on settings in /etc/clamav/freshclam.conf
>>> (default us typically to check every hour).
>>> You can control the update frequency from the clamtk window (if it's
>>> *very* recent, many distros are behind in this) via advanced|schedule.
>>> If you prefer using a GUI, you might also look at klamav, which is a
>>> KDE frontend for clam. Be warned klamav brings in dazuko and does
>>> on-access scanning, which is probably not needed for Linux systems,
>>> and may be harmful to system performance and stability.
>>>
>>> ==Joseph++
>>> betty wrote:
>>>> stupid question alert; please do not read if you have no patience.
>>>> I am using clamAV and clam tk, (3.05) so that i can use the gui.
>>>> it's supposed to have automatic updates, how will i know if it is
>>>> updating it's signatures? [using a gui]
>>>> does it run itself automatically or do i need to do that every so
>>>> often?
>>>> thanks again for all the help.
>>>> betty i.
>>>> webcanine.com
>>>> information for people
>>>> who care for dogs
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