ClamAV for Windows Mail Servers

There are any number of antivirus applications that scan email.  One of the most prolific email scanners in the world happens to be ClamAV.  You probably don’t realize this if you’re a traditional Windows user because you’re used to using something like McAfee, Norton (a.k.a Symantec), Avast, AVG and there are many many more I’m not mentioning.  Most of those people recognize because they have a large desktop presence.  I’d guess though that ClamAV scans more email than all the others combined.  Why?  Because it’s native to Linux, it’s primarily used on Linux mail servers and companies like Barracuda use it for their email SPAM filter in addition to just about every Linux web host on the planet.  ClamAV mostly lives on web hosting servers and appliances, dedicated hosts on your network (like a Barracuda SPAM Firewall) that primarily does one thing and they do it well  (by the way, this is by no means a kudos for the Cuda, I’m merely mentioning them out of convenience) .  Additionally, appliances are typically easy to setup.  You answer a few simple configuration questions and like any Ronco product you “set it and…FORGET IT“.

You can also run ClamAV on a Windows Mail Server but it’s not as easy as 1-2-3.  Because I’m familiar with Linux I might have had an easier time than a newb but who knows.  I thought it valuable enough to make my configuration available for download.  I had to make a few configuration changes to the default ClamAV download.

For the record:

You can download the base stuff for Windows ClamAV here (Not sure there’s a 64 bit version?):  ClamAV Win 32

I had to add some directories, mod some config files and then it worked without a problem, my version here:  Configured ClamAV Win 32

You must unzip / unpack / extract (<– Whatever term you like to use) to c:\clam-devel

* You can change that directory if you want, you just need to modify the clamd.conf file I believe

Kerio Connect or other Windows mail servers:

I originally looked into this to run a Kerio Connect mail server’s virus scanning instead of using a “commercial” antivirus package (like any of the afore mentioned).  I found the Kerio instructions for ClamAV a bit dated so if you’re running one you should be able to use this package just fine out of the box.  Just unzip and double click “start_clamd_service.bat” in the c:\clam-devel directory.

Here is the Kerio Connect KB on running ClamAV Win32 on your server:  Link

I didn’t turn clamd.exe into a daemon (Windows Service) because I don’t think I’m rolling this out but if I did roll this out I’d certainly move forward with kicking this off as a service I could start and stop.

As always you comments are appreciated, if for nothing else than to know it helped out and my posts aren’t just useless bits and bytes :)

* If you’re looking for ClamAV for desktops / workstations check that out here:  ClamAV for desktops