Now that we have installed Windows Server 2003 on the VM machine check the previous post here “Installing Windows Server 2003 in a VMware machine“ is time to install an anti-virus on the server. It seems that there are countless free anti-viruses for client operating systems but almost nothing to none for Windows Server 2003.
I know Avira antivir and Avast will probably run on windows server 2003, but I would rather go open source and install Clamwin on this server. I have heard many good reviews about clamwin, the only downside it’s that it does not include an on-access real-time scanner, but taking into account that we won’t be browsing the Internet on this server, and we will try to tight up the security as much as possible by stopping some unnecessary services this anti-virus will be fine.
To download clamwin by going to http://www.clamwin.com/ and click on the download link on the right sidebar and download the software.
The installation of clamwin should be straightforward. click next on most of the windows. One of the things we should setup in this anti-virus is a daily scan. to schedule a daily scan, open clamwin interface, then click on tools, and then click on scheduled scans:
Click on Add. Schedule a flexible time to run the virus scan on the server, a time that you know the server will be up and running. choose the folder you want to scan, preferably choose to scan the entire system drive.
Click on the OK button, and exit out of the program.
Wikipedia cites two tests that show this AV to be only around 50% effective, versus up to 99% for others.