ClamXav is a very useful tool, a freeware virus checker for Mac OS X. ClamXav uses a slightly modified version of the tried, tested, and very popular clamav open source antivirus engine as a back-end.

Back in the days before OS X, the number of viruses which attacked Macintosh users totalled somewhere between about 60 and 80. Today, the number of viruses actively attacking OS X users is...NONE!

However, this doesn't mean we should get complacent about checking incoming email attachments or web downloads, for two reasons.

Firstly, there's no guarantee that we Mac users will continue to enjoy the status quo, but more importantly, the majority of the computing world use machines running MS Windows, for which an enormous quantity of viruses exist, so we must be vigilant in checking the files we pass on to our friends and colleagues etc.

For example, if you're a wise person and you've turned MS Office's macro support off then you're not going to notice that virus which is hiding inside this month's edition of Extreme Ironing.doc which your friend sent you.

If you then forward that document to a less wise person who has not turned off the macro support, then you have most likely just sent him a shiny new Pandora's Box with a sign saying "Open this end"!

Flippancy aside, I'm sure you get the idea: check the file before opening and/or sending it on to someone else. This gives you the opportunity to avoid the file altogether or at least copy and paste any vital information into a new document and send that instead.

Don't forget, if you run VirtualPC you can still become infected and lose valuable data on your Mac even though technically you're running Windows inside a sandbox. VPC will run any application you tell it to, virus or no virus, it doesn't know the difference.

You can protect yourself slightly by not using VPC's "shared folders", but that's a useful feature which you shouldn't have to be without.

NOTE: Must NOT be installed on Mac OS X 10.4 Server.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Java is no more. ClamXav is now written entirely in Objective-C
· Launch time has reduced considerably
· The interface is now much simpler to use and more inkeeping with other OS X applications
· You can save your favourite scan locations for easy access
· Toolbar buttons can be rearranged to your heart's content, or hidden entirely
· Infected files are listed more clearly
· You can send selected files to quarantine or trash with one click
· Specifying exclusion settings is now a much simpler task
· Setting a schedule is now more straight-forward
· Specifying the location of your own ClamAV installation is now easier
· Updates are taken care of directly within the application, automatically quitting and relaunching Sentry if necessary
· Sentry can be told to monitor sub-folders on a per folder basis
· Sentry no longer requires Spotlight to do the monitoring
· Sentry launches and starts monitoring much more quickly
· Sentry requires far less memory to run
· If a disk or folder is not available when Sentry launches, this isn't a problem any more; monitoring will continue when the folder reappears
· Added compatibility for 10.6 Snow Leopard
· Added German localisation.
· Added option to play a sound at the end of each scan.
· Fixed an intermittent bug causing text to appear in ClamXav's console log unexpectedly.
· Fixed a bug which prevented pasting text into ClamXav's exclusion settings.
· Fixed bug in Sentry causing delays going to sleep in 10.6.
· Stability improvements in Sentry particularly under 10.6.
· Fixed crash in Sentry which would occur if changing prefs in ClamXav whilst Sentry was running but not actively watching.