Frequently asked questions.

What are ClamXAV’s system requirements?

ClamXAV 3 requires a Mac running macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer.

ClamXAV 2 requires a 64 bit Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.8 to 10.9.5.

A subscription to ClamXAV will work on both version 2.19.x and version 3.x.

How do I install ClamXAV on another Mac?

With a ClamXAV for Home subscription, you can install and activate ClamXAV on up to three Macs in your household. Similarly, ClamXAV’s Family Pack allows you to install and activate ClamXAV on up to nine Macs. But how do you go about installing and activating the app on your additional Macs?

Installation

Firstly, you will need to choose the correct version of ClamXAV based on your version of macOS (formerly OS X). If you are using OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or below, you will need to download ClamXAV 2.

If you are using OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher, you will need to use ClamXAV 3.

Activation

After installation, your next step is to activate the app using the details in the order confirmation email you received after purchasing a subscription. We’ve tried to make this process as easy as possible and there are three ways activation can be performed.

Activation Link

Your order confirmation email contains an activation link which will automatically open ClamXAV and activate the app by applying your subscription details. The easiest way to activate the app is to forward this email to the Mac you just installed ClamXAV on and click the activation link within.
You will notice that the link differs for versions 2 and 3 of the app. For ClamXAV 2, the link will resemble the following:
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https://www.clamxav.com/installRegistrationV2/CLA123456-1234-12345
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For ClamXAV 3:
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https://www.clamxav.com/installRegistration/CLA123456-1234-12345
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Please make sure you use the correct link for the version you have installed.

Registration Key

​Besides the activation link, ClamXAV can also be activated using your unique registration key. This key is included in your order confirmation email and resembles the following:
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GAWAE-ABCDE-1ABCD-3BC11-22OG1-DF7JG-0FJAS-HENSP-AL3KS-IFEL3-1JFOO-1ODJF-9BAHF-POW2-A3551
​
In the event that you can’t locate your order confirmation email, you can make a request for the key to be re-sent by visiting out Lost Key Retrieval page.
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If you have just installed ClamXAV on an additional Mac, the first time you launch the app you will be greeted with the following screen:
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Clicking “I’ve already bought ClamXAV” will allow you to copy and paste your registration key into the app to activate it.
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If you have already started a free trial on the additional Mac then you will need to update ClamXAV to use your subscription details. You can do this by opening the app and clicking the ClamXAV menu in the toolbar at the top-left of your screen. You can then click “Show subscription details” to reach the screen above.

Order Number

ClamXAV can also be activated using the order number from your original order (i.e. not the number generated by a subscription renewal). This can also be found in your order confirmation email and any other correspondence from us. Usually, an order number resembles the following:
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CLA123456-1234-12345

Repeat the steps above for activating using a registration key but copy and paste your order number rather than your registration key once the appropriate window is displayed.

What’s the best way to update ClamXAV when a new version is available?

Go to the ClamXAV menu at the top of your screen, hold down the option key (sometimes labelled 'alt') on your keyboard, and select Check for ClamXAV Updates. That’s it. It’ll do the rest for you.

How to deactivate ClamXAV when retiring an old Mac

If you are retiring an old Mac, you will need to deactivate your ClamXAV installation before you dispose of it. Running the ClamXAV uninstaller will not perform deactivation for you. This means that even after uninstallation, our licensing system will still consider ClamXAV active unless you perform the deactivation steps below.

To run the deactivation procedure, use the following steps:

1. Open ClamXAV.
2. Once open, click the Help menu at the top of your screen.
3. Select the option labelled ‘Deactivate This Mac…’ and follow the instructions on-screen.

How do I deactivate a Mac I can no longer access?

The instructions below are only required if you were unable to perform the 3 steps in the above FAQ: “How to deactivate ClamXAV when retiring an old Mac”.

If you no longer have ClamXAV installed on the Mac being retired, but it still starts up, please can you start it up and send us its Hardware UUID. If you no longer have access to the computer being deactivated, or it won’t start up, please send us the UUID from the remaining Macs which are to be kept active.

If you have a commercial licence and this isn’t practical, please reply to this email and let us know.

Obtaining the UUID

You can find this by:

1. Navigate to the Apple menu (top left of your screen) and holding down the option (sometimes labelled ‘alt’) key on your keyboard.
2. The top item should change to “System Information…”. Select that and a window will open.
3. In the new window, select “Hardware” at the top left, and your Hardware UUID should appear in the right hand side. See the image below:



Please copy that line from the appropriate Mac(s) and paste into an email to us or visit our Contact Us page to send a message with them

How do I uninstall ClamXAV completely?

You can simply drag ClamXAV.app to the trash; after a few seconds you’ll see a message asking if you would also like to uninstall the scanning engine.

If this doesn’t happen or it doesn’t appear to have worked, you can download the uninstaller and run it manually. The uninstaller will remove the scanning engine, preferences and any schedules you’ve got set up. But we’ll be sorry to see you go.

How do I purchase ClamXAV?

ClamXAV is available through our Online Store. Your registration details will be sent to you by email and you should print this out and keep it in a safe place. If you’ve already installed ClamXAV 3, you can place your order directly within the app.

Do you offer a student discount?

Yes, a discount is available to students of approved educational institutions to purchase ClamXAV for your own personal use on your own computer. Please visit the Education Store to purchase with a discount.

How do I upgrade from ClamXAV 2?

You can validate your eligibility to upgrade from version 2 to ClamXAV 3 via the Upgrade page on our website.

You'll need your existing ClamXAV 2 registration key or order number.

When will my licence auto-renew?

ClamXAV 3 subscriptions will auto-renew at the end of the chosen subscription period unless you cancel it before you reach that date.

One subscription of ClamXAV for use on multiple Macs in my household?

• A single Home Licence for ClamXAV can be installed and used for your domestic and personal use on up to 3 computers you own or lease at the same home address.
• A Business Licence for ClamXAV may be installed and used for your internal business purposes within a single organisation on the number of computers specified in your order with us and listed in your registration details.
• A Family Plan for ClamXAV can be installed and used for your domestic and personal use on up to 9 computers you own or lease at the same home address.

Do you offer a volume licensing program?

Yes, please visit our Commercial Store for information on volume discounts. If you would like to order in excess of 150 units, please get in touch with our Sales Team.

How do I cancel my subscription or update my credit card details?

There’s a link in your order confirmation email which takes you to a management page allowing you to update your card details or cancel your subscription at the end of your current period.

Are you storing my credit card details?

No we would never do that. When you purchase ClamXAV, our reseller partner (FastSpring who handle all card payments) receive a special token which is unique to you, and which allows them to charge your card again the following year on the condition that your card is still valid. You can read more about this in our How billing works support document.

How do I change my registered email address?

Simply get in touch with us via the helpdesk and we’ll sort you out.

Can you send me my registration key again?

If you've lost your registration key, or need us to resend it to you, you can use our Lost Key Retrieval Service.

Can I scan my entire hard drive?

Absolutely! It will already be listed in your Source List. Just select it and press the Scan Now button as if it were any other file or folder.

Why is the scan taking so long?

A scan of your entire hard drive shouldn’t take more than an hour or so (it may take longer if you have a large amount of data on the drive).

If it’s taking considerably longer than that, please check that you’re not scanning your Time Machine/Time Capsule backup disk. This will simply take too long and provides only minimal protection as it’s not actually possible to remove any malware that ClamXAV finds on a Time Machine/Time Capsule disk – the only software that can modify one of those backups is Apple’s Time Machine software itself.

The best thing to do is to scan your hard drive now, to remove any malware which might currently be present, and any infected files in your backups will simply get deleted in due course as your backup disk runs out of space.

Will other anti-virus scanners cause conflicts with ClamXAV?

Some incompatibilities have been reported with other anti-virus products so we’d always recommend having only one on your Mac at any one time.

I’ve got a suspicious file but ClamXAV didn’t find any malware – what do I do?

Please send us your suspicious file and we’ll check it out for you. And equally, if you’ve got a file that you KNOW has malware and wasn’t picked up by us, send us that suspicious file too and we’ll sort it out as soon as possible.

ClamXAV picked up a virus in my Word documents – what do I do?

Although one way to remove the infection is simply to delete the infected file, this isn’t always feasible and may not actually solve the problem anyway. Our advice is:

1. Quit all your office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Entourage etc) and delete Word’s Normal file (which you’ll find in Home Folder/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Normal).
2. Empty the trash and open up Word again.
3. Go to Word Menu/Preferences/Security and put a tick in the box under Macro Security.
4. Open each of your infected Word documents in turn and click Disable Macros when the warning comes up.
5. Then copy and paste the contents into a new document and delete the original.

What’s the difference between malware, viruses and trojans?

• Malware is the generic name for computer threats. A virus is a self-replicating, self-propagating, malicious piece of software designed to destroy files and folders on a computer system. These are mercifully rare these days.
• A trojan is a piece of software that pretends to be legitimate and useful but installs other software (without your knowledge) to open up a ‘back door’ to your computer – this allows a hacker to access your files and, theoretically, your entire computer system. A computer infected by a trojan typically becomes part of a botnet. Trojans are the primary mechanism of malware delivery today.

What’s phishing?

Phishing primarily concerns emails designed to fool you into believing they’re legitimate so that you follow links to a website and enter private information.

Such websites will typically look like a bank and prompt you to provide personal information like your username, password, credit card number etc. Legitimate emails from a bank or financial institution should never ask you to click links to their website; in fact, they’ll usually say “Go to our website and log in.”

Phishing can be very convincing, especially if you actually have an account with the company being spoofed. Don’t be fooled. Any doubts, call the company using a phone number you’ve already got and which you know is correct.