Windows malware can't harm a Mac computer, but it can spread via Macs to other Windows computers.ĬlamXav also doesn't have any kind of Web-link scanning component, for detecting malicious links and Web pages as you browse the Internet. But it can also detect Windows malware on a Mac, as can the other Mac antivirus products we reviewed. It can't stop malware from installing itself via a drive-by browser download, for example. In addition to scanning files, ClamXav 2 also has the option to scan email content for malicious attachments and phishing attempts.ĬlamXav 2 is an antivirus scanner only, without extra features. (The Mac antivirus programs from Avast, Bitdefender, Sophos and Intego have similar file-scanning features.) The App Store version of ClamXav 2 doesn't contain this feature, which we nonetheless considered very important. For some reason, ClamXav Sentry only comes with the version of ClamXav 2 found on the ClamXav website.
One component of ClamXav 2, called ClamXav Sentry, automatically scans imported files as they're copied onto your Mac.
(If you only glanced at ClamXav 2, you might think scheduled scans aren't possible.) Among other Mac antivirus tools, Sophos Antivirus for Mac Home Edition and Intego Mac Internet Security X8 also allow scheduled scans Avast Free Antivirus for Mac and Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac do not. You can schedule anti-malware scans, but the scheduler is buried away under the Preferences button.
(In Preferences, you can create a whitelist of file types you don't want ClamXav 2 to scan.) The other buttons at the top of ClamXav 2's panel are for updating its list of virus definitions, viewing a log of scans, viewing a log of updates and a Preferences button. ClamXav 2 has no prepared full-scan or quick-scan options. To begin the scan, highlight the desired folder or volume in the Source List by clicking on it, and then click the green Start Scan button at the top of the window. I dragged in the entire Macintosh HD volume. You can either click the "+" button beneath the Source List in ClamXav 2, or navigate to the target file or volume and drag it right into the Source List.
For those platforms, check out our roundups of the best Mac antivirus software and the best Android antivirus apps.īefore starting a scan, you must choose which files on your hard drive you want scanned.
It looks like another window of the Mac OS X's Finder files being scanned are listed in alternating blue and white rows, as in older versions of Mac OS X and iTunes.Īs free, open-source software, ClamXav doesn't come bundled with Windows or Android software the way some commercial programs do. After installation, ClamXav 2 launches and begins its first definition update.ĬlamXav 2 has the starkest interface of all the Mac antivirus programs we reviewed.
You might, for example, decide to carry out a quick scan every week, and then do a full hard drive scan once a month.You can also get a slightly different version of ClamXav 2 from the Mac App Store. You can also add destinations to the navigation pane by clicking the “+” at the bottom.ĬlamXav doesn’t automatically schedule any scans, but to do so you can select the drive or folder you’d like to scan, click the clock icon in the main panel, and schedule a scan. There’s also a section to drag-and-drop files. The left-hand pane contains options to do a quick scan, scan the entire hard disk, the user folder, recent files, Documents, Desktop, or Downloads. You have a left hand navigation pane, and then a primary area where you can activate a scan and view the results. The basic layout is similar to previous versions. Interface and featuresĬlamXav continues to offer a very simple and straightforward interface. ClamXav itself doesn’t have any protection for online threats, but if a malicious file hits your Mac the suite should detect it. ClamXav also stood up well against the Wicar test database, blocking a virus that Firefox didn’t red-flag.