(Last updated 8 February 2015)
ClamTk : http://code.google.com/p/clamtk/ : https://bitbucket.org/dave_theunsub/clamtk/ : http://freshmeat.net/projects/clamtk/ : http://clamtk.sourceforge.net ClamAV : http://www.clamav.net Gtk2-Perl : http://gtk2-perl.sourceforge.net Launchpad ClamTk: : https://launchpad.net/clamtk Virustotal : https://virustotal.com
ClamTk is a frontend for ClamAV (Clam Antivirus). It is intended to be an easy to use, light-weight, on-demand scanner for Linux systems. It has been ported to Fedora, Debian, RedHat, openSUSE, ALT Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS, Gentoo, Archlinux, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Frugalware, FreeBSD, and others.
Although its earliest incarnations date to 2003, ClamTk was first uploaded for distribution in 2004 to a rootshell.be account and finally to Sourceforge.net in 2005. At the end of 2013, we moved to a Google Code page and Bitbucket. It's now 2015 and for some reason it's still going. February 2015 marks 11 years of activity (of being publically available, that is).
ClamTk started out using the Tk libraries (thus its name). In 2005, this was changed to perl-Gtk2 (or Gtk2-perl, whatever). The Tk version is still available on sourceforge.net but has not been updated for some time now and should not be used.
The plan for the 5.xx series was to use Gtk3. Unfortunately, Debian and Ubuntu do not have a recent version of libgtk3-perl, and CentOS does not have perl-Gtk3 at all and reportedly never will. So, at the last second, I rewrote the 5.00 version to use Gtk2. Again.
I always recommend you install ClamTk from official repositories. Check your distribution first, and always install from trusted sources.
RPMs: The easiest way to install ClamTk is to use the rpms.
First, try "yum install clamtk". If this does not work, download it and try:
To remove clamtk:
SOURCE: Warning: Don't do this. It's much easier to just double-click a .deb or .rpm. Really, put down the source. The tarball contains all the sources. One way to do this on Fedora:
EXAMPLES:
a. $ perl clamtk
or
b. $ chmod +x /path/to/clamtk
$ /path/to/clamtkNote: If you have installed this program as an rpm or .deb, you do not need to take these steps.
Note: Did you get errors with this? Check the TROUBLESHOOTING section at the end.
DEBs:
You should be able to just double-click the .deb file to install it. This assumes you have permissions to install programs, of course. Your package manager should grab any necessary dependencies.
By the commandline, you can do this:
To remove clamtk:
Note that the Debian/Ubuntu builds are gpg-signed.
Running ClamTk
a. Beginning with version 4.23, ClamTk will automatically search for signatures if you do not have them set already. This way ClamTk should work right out of the box, with no prompting.
b. Consider the extra scanning options in Settings.
Select "Scan files beginning with a dot (.*)" to scan those files beginning with a ".". These are sometimes referred to as "hidden" files.
Select "Scan directories recursively" to scan all files and directories within a directory.
The "Scan for PUAs" option enables the ability to scan for Potentially Unwanted Applications as well as broken executables. Note that this can result in what may be false positives.
By default, ClamTk will avoid scanning files larger than 20MB. To force scanning of these files, check the "Scan files larger than 20 MB" box.
You can also check for updates upon startup. This requires
an active Internet connection.c. Information on items quarantined is available under the "Quarantine" option. If you believe there is a false positive contained, you can easily move it back to your home directory. You may also delete this file(s). Note that there is no recycle bin - once deleted, they are gone forever.
d. Scan a file or directory by right-clicking on it within the file manager (e.g., Nautilus).
e. You can STOP the scan by clicking the Cancel button. Note that due to the speed of the scanning, it may not stop immediately; it will continue scanning and displaying files it has already "read" until the stop catches up.
f. View previous scans by selecting "History".
g. The Update Assistant is necessary because some systems
are set up to do automatic updates, while others must
manually update them.
h. If you require specific proxy settings, select "Network".
i. As of version 5.xx, you can use the "Analysis" button to
see if a particular file is considered malicious by other
antivirus products. This uses results from Virustotal.
If you desire, you can submit a file for further review.
Please do *not* submit personal files.
j. The "Whitelist" option provides the ability to skip
specific directories during scan time. For example, you
may wish to skip directories containing music or videos.Commandline
ClamTk can run from the commandline, too:
$ clamtk file_to_be_scanned or $ clamtk directory_to_be_scanned
However, the main reason for the commandline option (however basic) is to allow for right-click scanning within your file manager (e.g., Nautilus or Dolphin). If you want more extensive commandline options, it is recommended that you use the clamscan binary itself. (Type "man clamscan" at the commandline.) Or, if you know of something useful, let me know and I can add it as an option.
You can view and delete scan logs by selecting the "History" option.
You also have a few options with the files displayed. Click on the file scanned to select it, then right-click: you should have four options there.
a. Quarantine this file: This drops the selected file into a
"quarantined" folder with the executable bit removed. The
quarantine folder is held in the user's ClamTk folder
(~/.clamtk/viruses).
b. Delete this file: Be careful: There's no recycle bin!
d. Cancel: Cancels this menu.If you've quarantined files for later examination, you have the option to restore them to their previous location (if known), or delete them.
Version 2.20 is the first ClamTk version to offer this. Have time on your hands and want to contribute? See the Launchpad page at https://launchpad.net/clamtk .
Note that some builds do not account for other than English languages because they have not yet updated their build/spec files. A polite email to the respective maintainer may fix this.
Probably a lot. Let me know, please. Ranting on some bulletin board somewhere on one of dozens of Linux sites will not improve things. Let me know what you like and dislike!
One of the current issues that hopefully will be resolved is that ClamAV rpms are not standardized. This isn't my fault (that I'm aware of), but I feel it adds unnecessary confusion (as opposed to necessary confusion :). Because of this, multiple builds are needed as opposed to just one. Fortunately, Debian does not appear to suffer from this.
Also, some distributions require you to manually delete certain malware - such as the (un)popular right-to-left override stuff.
For feature requests or bugs, it's best to email me. You can also go to the Launchpad project page listed above and submit requests/problems there.
As of version 3.10, ClamTk will not scan standard mail directories, such as .evolution, .mozilla or .thunderbird. This is due to parsing problems. If I come up with a smart way of doing that, it will be added.
Also, please note that version numbers mean absolutely nothing. There is no rhyme or reason to odd or even numbers, so an odd number does not mean "unstable". A new version means it goes up 1 (or, rather, .01). Because I changed from Tk to Gtk2 I did move the major version number up significantly, but that was just to keep them separate. The version 3.xx series became 4.xx when there was a major change in the packaging and processes. As stated, 5.xx was supposed to be the jump from Gtk2 -> Gtk3. Still, enough changed that it warranted the 5.xx series. Just pointing it out.
Are your signatures up to date, but ClamTk says they're not?
You probably have more than one virus signature directory. See below answer for finding signatures.
If you are getting an error that ClamTk cannot find your signatures:
ClamTk is trying to find its virus definitions. Typically these are held under /var/lib/clamav or /var/clamav or ... If you are sure these files exist, please find their location and send it to me. Try the following to determine their location:
Are you using the source and you see something like this: Can't locate Foo/Bar.pm in @INC... (etc, etc).
This means you are missing some of the dependencies. Try to find the dependency through your distribution's repositories, or simply go to http://search.cpan.org. I recommend trying your distro's repo first. It's more than likely your distribution already packages these for easy installation. Depending on your distro, you will likely use "yum" or "apt" or some "Update Manager" and the like.
Thanks to...
Contributors
Many people have contributed their time, energy, opinions, recommendations, and expertise to this software. I cannot thank them enough. Their names are listed on the ClamTk website.
Direct contact
email : dave.nerd AT gmail DOT com