Contents->Scanning

  1. How To Scan
  2. Scan Settings
  3. Virus Database Location
  4. Scanner Settings
  5. Creating Scan Items
  6. Drag & Drop Scan
  7. Scan Results

See also; Updating The Virus Database and Clam AntiVirus User Manual


How To Scan

When you run avscan without any command line arguments you should see AVScan start up and display the Scan Page (shown below). If you are not seeing the Scan Page then click on the Scan tab to get to it.

Scan Page

Before performing your first scan, you should make sure that the:

  1. Virus Database Location is set properly, go to Database->Location... (see Virus Database Location for more information).
  2. Scanner Settings are set properly, go to File->Scanner Settings... (see Scanner Settings for more information).

There are four methods for scanning:

  1. Enter/set the Scan Settings in the Scan Frame, Scan Settings are as follows:
    • Location - Comma-separated list of files and/or directories that you want to scan.
    • Recursive - Check this to scan all subdirectories if the specified Location was a directory.
    • Executables Only - Check this to only scan "executable" objects (files who have their executable permission flag set).
    • Ignore Links - Check this to avoid scanning links or recursing into links that refer to directories.
    Then click on Start.
  2. Create a Scan Item to store frequently scanned locations (see Creating Scan Items for more information), select it, and then click on Start.
  3. Drag a file or directory that you want to scan on to the Scan Icon (shown below) and AVScan will scan it.

    See Drag & Drop Scan for more information.
  4. Run avscan from the command line and specify the path to the object that you want to scan, example:
    • avscan /home/me/myfile.bin &
    See Command Line for more information about command line arguments and running avscan from the command line.
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Virus Database Location

The Virus Database Location specifies which Virus Database to use while scanning. The Virus Database contains a list of virus patterns that the AntiVirus Engine will look for in the objects that it scans.

To set the Virus Database Location, go to Database->Location... or click on the Virus Database Location button (shown below):

The Virus Database can be either a file or a directory. When setting the Virus Database to a directory, all the Virus Database files within it will be used.

The default value is:

However this may vary depending on how your system is set up.

Clam AntiVirus typically has two Virus Database files that you can choose from:

  1. /usr/share/clamav/db/daily.cld
  2. /usr/share/clamav/db/main.cld

If you want to perform fast and less through scans that uses less memory then you should choose daily.cld, otherwise you can choose main.cld for a more complete scan.

For the most complete scan, you use both by selecting the directory that they are in:

Note: The Virus Database Location setting is set independently from the Scan Items (see below) and is, therefore, not stored on each Scan Item.

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Scanner Settings

The Scanner Settings specify how the AntiVirus Engine should perform while it is scanning.

Be careful not to confuse Scanner Settings with Scan Settings.

To set the Scanner Settings go to Scan->Scanner Settings... or click on the Scanner Settings button (shown below).

You should then see the Scanner Settings dialog (shown below).

The scanner settings are:

If you are uncertain about what value to set then just use the default value.

Setting these values too high can result in DoS (Denial Of Service) attacks where file(s) that take a long time to scan are maliciously placed for scanning resulting in extensively long scans that can slow down or cripple a system.

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Creating Scan Items

Scan Items are used to store frequently scanned locations for convience.

To create a new Scan Item, click on the Add... button. You should then see the dialog as shown below.

Enter the new Scan Settings and then click on Set.

Whenever you want to use your new Scan Item just select it from the Scan List and its values will automatically be entered into the Scan Frame's Scan Settings, then click on Start to begin the scan.

To edit an existing Scan Item, select the Scan Item from the Scan List and then go to Edit->Properties....

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Drag & Drop Scan

You can scan objects instantly by dragging them from another application and dropping them on to the Scanner Icon (shown below).

Remember that you still need to set the Virus Database Location and the Scanner Settings before all scans (including drag & drop scans).

The objects that you drop on to the Scanner Icon must be one of the following target types:

See Selection Target Names for more information about target types.

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Scan Results

Immediately after you start each scan, the Results Page should appear (shown below) and any objects found to have viruses or problems will be listed there.

Results Page

A Scan Report dialog will appear after each scan is finished to report the results of the scan.

If you encounter any objects that are listed to have viruses then it is recommended that you recycle them or move them to a new, clean, directory where they will not be executed or viewed.

Never attempt to execute or view an object that has been found to have a virus.

You can save the scan results to a log file by going to Results->Save As...

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