avast! Linux

avast! for Linux features an antivirus solution for the popular Linux platform. The version for home users is intended for testing of the operating system and for scanning of hard drive partitions used by Windows operating systems.

Antivirus kernel

The antivirus kernel of avast! For Linux is identical to the one for Windows systems, which means that all high-end features, typical for AV kernels on Windows, are included in the Linux version too.

The latest version of avast! antivirus kernel features outstanding detection abilities, together with high performance. You can expect 100% detection of In-the-Wild viruses (viruses already spreading between users) and excellent detection of Trojan horses with minimum of false positives.

The kernel is certified by ICSA Labs; it frequently takes part in the tests of Virus Bulletin magazine, often yielding the VB100 award.

As avast! for Windows , avast! engine for Linux features outstanding unpacking support too. It can scan inside almost same number of archives as under Windows, with exception of MAPI, CAB, ACE, CHM, 7ZIP and NTFS streams. Following archives can be scanned: ARJ, ZIP, MIME (+ all associated formats), DBX (Outlook Express archives), RAR, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, ZOO, ARC, LHA/LHX, TNEF (winmail.dat), CPIO, RPM, ISO, and SIS. It also supports a number of executable packers (such as PKLite, Diet, UPX, AsPack, FSG, MEW, etc.).

User interface

The Simple User Interface is used to start on-demand scanning, work with the results and change various options of the scan.

The user interface requires GTK+ 2.x libraries. If you do not have these libraries installed on your system, the libraries from the installation package will be used.

Command line scanner

Experienced users will appreciate a classic on-demand scanner, controlled from the command line. It allows to scan files in specified directories and both on local and remote volumes. Of course, the command line scanner also works on volumes mounted over network.

The program is very flexible; it accepts a lot of additional arguments and switches. It is able to generate extensive report files that can be used for analysis.

The scanner is able to run in STDIN/STDOUT mode as a pipe filter. This mode is intended to be used in shell scripts.

Automatic updates

The updates of the virus database are another key need in virus protection. In the current version, the updates are not incremental. So when the virus definition file is changed, the whole database must be downloaded again and replaced.

Virus chest

The Linux version also has a chest directory where suspicious files are stored. These files can be deleted, or it is possible to work with them later.

Internationalization

Currently, avast! for Linux is available in the following languages: English, Czech.