How to update ClamAV?

Question

Level 1

6 points

How to update ClamAV?

Need to update ClamAV from version 0.97.4 to 0.97.5.

The freschclam.log file directs me to http://www.clamav.net/support/faq which warns me to "always read the upgrade notes!" at http://wiki.clamav.net/bin/view/Main/UpgradeInstructions#Upgrade_notes ....

Unfortunately, that entire wiki is offline. The News section of ClamAV.net states that as of July 5th: "The ClamAv Wiki is currently down. It hadn’t been updated for some time (several years!) and it was time to covert it into something more useable. We are currently converting the relevant documentation that was in the Wiki into something more useful and it will be forthcoming."

So, can anyone give me a step by step of how to perform the upgrade? I found instructions in another forum thread for how to update it on OSX Server, but nothing about how to do it on plain old OSX.

Also.... for anyone replying to this, assuming you also run ClamAV: have you gotten any updated virus definitions lately? Mine are set to update daily, and I've always gotten at least a few and often several updated files each day, but for the past three days the updater simply tells me "Virus definitions are already up to date", which seems odd.... Last update file I received was "daily-15306.cdiff" on 8/29; have there really been none since then?

Thanks for any help you can offer,

PDiggy

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 2.5 GHz / 4 GB / AMD Radeon

Posted on Sep 1, 2012 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Sep 1, 2012 9:50 AM in response to PDiggy

macupdate.com and download the most up-to-date version. Then it should automatically check for updates. Even though it's unnecessary to run any antivirus software on a Mac ClamXav is the least intrusive.

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Answer 2

PDiggy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 1, 2012 10:04 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Macupdate.com carries only ClamXav, which is ClamAV plus a pretty GUI. Probably should have installed that to begin with, but in any case....

From what I understand, there would be issues if I now install that version alongside the barebones version. And again, clamav.net warns in bold letters to always read the upgrade notes! ...so I hesitate to proceed without at least educating myself about what those issues might be.

Maybe I ought to just do a complete uninstall of what I'm running now and replace it with the more user-friendly Xav version.....

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Answer 3

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Sep 1, 2012 10:10 AM in response to PDiggy

Open ClamXav and check for updates. The latest version is quite safe to use as it is mostly for Lion and Mountain Lion.

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Answer 4

PDiggy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 1, 2012 10:13 AM in response to Klaus1

Sigh....again, please read what's already been posted. I am not running ClamXav.

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Answer 5

PDiggy Author

Level 1

6 points

Sep 1, 2012 1:49 PM in response to PDiggy

So the best option was to uninstall ClamAV and go with the more user-friendly ClamXAV. All is well now.

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Answer 6

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Sep 2, 2012 1:25 AM in response to PDiggy

Just curious as to how you obtained ClamAV in the first place? In addition to ClamXav, it can be installed by Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner, as well as OTIC's ClamAV® and ProtectMac. It comes with OS X Server or can be compiled and installed from the source code at SourceFire's clamav.net or it can be installed by third party distributors such as MacPorts.

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Answer 7

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Sep 2, 2012 9:28 PM in response to PDiggy

PDiggy wrote:

have you gotten any updated virus definitions lately? Mine are set to update daily, and I've always gotten at least a few and often several updated files each day, but for the past three days the updater simply tells me "Virus definitions are already up to date", which seems odd.... Last update file I received was "daily-15306.cdiff" on 8/29; have there really been none since then?

I've checked five separate ways to see what the latest update is and can confirm that daily-15305.cdiff was posted on 2012-Aug-28 21:18:00 GMT and was the last posting. I have no idea what it contained, but I'm working on that, as well.

I've asked all my contacts and posted the question on the clamav-user mail list, but no response so far.

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Answer 8

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Sep 3, 2012 5:20 PM in response to PDiggy

PDiggy wrote:

have you gotten any updated virus definitions lately?

This just in from ClamAV.net:

Db updates will start pushing again soon. We've done some heavy backend work on the system that pushes them.

--

Joel Esler

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