Best Free Antivirus

Hi,

So far loving the EndeavourOs and I have just installed it in my desktop also. Looking for a best free antivirus. Can someone please suggest one.

On linux ClamAV is the one. However it is really only for checking Samba shared files so that Windows files are not containing virii, or scanning mail on the mailserver, where it is local. Other than that you really have to work hard to infect your linux box, as security is much better than Windows, so there isn’t the market to bother with such a thing as an AV.

If you were expecting Trend Micro, or Sophos, or Bitdefender, or something like that, then rest assured, you can spend your CPU cycles on productive software instead.

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Agree with @onyxnz . Sharing my own experience: I am something like 10 years or a bit more on Linux (too much to count) and never had an AV. Never felt the use for one either.

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Io don’t use one, but if you’re going to be doing something you feel you may get a virus from… . I’d do it in a vm or container.

But I don’t really do much to warrant it.

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On Linux common sense is more than enough to protext you in almost all cases. If installing an AV is a habit from Windows I can tell you don’t need one on Linux.

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A free AV for EndeavourOS is ClamAV.

You can install it:

sudo pacman -S clamav

For it to work you need to both start and enable the service:

enable = startup at boot
start = start the service

sudo systemctl enable clamav-daemon.service

sudo systemctl start clamav-daemon.service

ClamAV is now installed and ready to use.

From now on all you have to do to use it is:

Update the definitions:

sudo freshclam

run a scan:

clamscan --recursive --infected

or if you want to watch the scan:

clamscan --recursive --verbose

recursive = scan subdirectories
infected = show any infected files
verbose = clamscan shows what it is doing on screen (watch the scan)

It will probably not detect anything as on non server linux vira are rare.

Read more about ClamAV in the Arch wiki:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ClamAV

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Thanks, that’s helpful in case I might need something like that in the distant future :wink: .

Thank you all for your answers… I may not need an antivirus but still “Prevention is better than cure” :wink: :wink: So I have installed clamav and enabled the service. :slight_smile:

Thanks @Melways … I had installed clamav but i didn’t know that i had to enable and start the service before.

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