#34 Option no to start Clam on logon (again)
Hi Alch,
I know it has already been suggested, but I do think
there should be an option to prevent Clam from
launching at startup.
First, it's not very polite to do so...
Imagine if all softwares that we install did that...
Moreover, the ability of a program to add itself in the
systray is one of the major factor that allows virus
spreading.
If we had a better way (than opening the registry) to
control which softs are running automatically in Windoz,
there would be far less pbs with that OS.
It's also a question of privacy : each program that we
LET start in the systray can open connections and
transmit personal info - and we have very few control
about that...
An awful example is Quicktime. After you've removed
its "run" entry in the registry, it automatically recreate it
at the next manual launch... It's an extremely bad
behavior.
You're a GNU developer, so you're aware of all the issues
raised by aggressive, intrusive commercial practice, and
aware of all the security holes of Windows...
So, think twice about the use of systray !
I guess Clam is clean and reliable, sure, but it's a
question of deontology !
:)
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yes it has been discussed before and without tray module
clamwin wouldn't function. It is used by different
components to exchange data, display notifications and call
other programs. Think about it as being a unix daemon that
needs to be started on system start.
I do not consider having an icon in systray as an aggressive
practice. There are quite a few programs that run in the
background (services) but don't have an icon in the systray.
If you ever are in doubt what clamwin does and what does it
transmit to the outer world, please review the source code
and build the install form the source.
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Sorry, I didn't want to hurt !
I have no doubt about what the (excellent) Clam does !
I just meant that a program should let the user disable such a
function...
I didn't say that launching a soft automatically is bad !
Im very glad that some of my programs start at boot time on
my PC :-)
But they do so, because I decided that they would do so. Do
you feel the difference ?
Just like a file on Internet : the browser downloads it, and
then let us decide if it has to be opened, or not
You could add a checkbox (checked by default) with a
caption like : "Launch automatically Clam at startup".
That should be clear for everybody, and simple to make :-)
(and as about Windows Services, precisely, they can be
cleanly turned off/on, through a management console !)
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No hard feelings mate - it didn't hurt :).
However I must stress again clamwin wouldn't work without
the tray application loaded in memory. So if you don't want
it to load you may as well uninstall clamwin.
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I realize the systray icon is necessary for clamwin to work,
but is it necessary to have it around all the time even when
I don't want clamwin running? I'm all for having it while
I'm scanning or after I've manually started the program, but
I don't need clamwin on all the time..
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It doesn't seem like clam in systray is required for scanner
to work. first thing I do after installing clam is deleting
clam from "Run" from registry. Then I run clam and it scans
correctly without anything in systray. Am I missing something?
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It is used by scheduler to update virus database, run
scheduled scans, display notifications from main scanner and
outlook plugin. In future releases it w ill be used to
control on-access scanner, will change colour/shape
depending on how old the virus database is, etc.
I do not intend to make tray icon optional, doing so will
create more problems than do good.
Cheers,
Alch
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I understand that fo scheduled tasks you need something to
run in background, same for scheduled updates. I'm not sure
what do you mean regarding displaying notifications from
main scanner - the scanner currently gives me enough
notifications about the results of scan. Outlook plugin
doesn't say anything that it needs the tray icon. If the
tray icon is not present, or if for any other reason outlook
addin is unable to scan messages, it should notify user
immediately otherwise it's a security threat.
I basically update the definitions manually before every
scan, so I don't really care about colors. On-access scanner
should really either run the tray icon itself if not
present, or ask the user to do so - basically the latter
should be true for any time clam window needs the tray icon.
So I guess basically the choice is either getting rid of
tray icon or make all the things needing it but not
complaining about its absense, complain about it or run it
on their own. or both.
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Frankly I don't quite buy that the systray icon is required all the time whether or not I am using ClamWin. In fact, disabling the autorun does not appear to affect in anyway the functionality of ClamWin. Furthermore, since ClamWin Portable by definition does not require an autorun at boot file I think what you say is FUD.
Given the current state of ClamWin not providing on-access scanning, I fail to see what value having ClamWin autorun provides. Sure, if I am using the Outlook plugin, or want to update the virus defs every day, or use scheduled scans then something running automatically is fine. You need to recongnise that many of your users will not be following this pattern and only use ClamWin manually.
So I really don't understand the resistance to adding the option of not starting at boot up, rather than requiring advanced users to use a registry hack to prevent this.
I guess ClamWin Portable is an option for users who don't want the feature, but is that really what you are aiming for?