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Free Av For W2k3 Server


ChupaChu

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I have this one windows 2003 server machine at my friends work

that has problems with AV it uses, its scheduled to make updates

regullary, but problem is that every now and then one have to

completely remove this AV, reboot and reinstall it in order for it

to run normaly. The main service just wont start, technical support

could not help, they claim its because there was another AV software

installed (i canot verify that claim) and in agreement stands that they

are not obligated to find a solution to the problem when that is the case.

The error code that AV service spits out is nowhere documented

and until we find another suplier/and preferably another AV

software i would like to find a free option to install on it

and leave it running until new AV jumps in (maybe next month).

So i was hoping somebody coud recommend a decent and

*free* AV software that runs on 2003 server windows machines.

TIA, ChupaChu!

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I would've recommended Avast because it seems to be one of the best free AVs out there.

Unfortunately their website says "This product cannot be installed on a server operating system (Windows NT/2000/2003 Server families)."...

I'm not sure but there must be good reason for them to exclude the whole server family....

Anyway, you might want to try ClamAV:

http://www.clamav.org/

Windows port: http://www.bandsman.co.uk/clamav.htm

As for AVG:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/29124/us/frt/0

It seems most free AVs exclude Server OSs to keep companies from using their free versions. Most of them offer a pro version which does support Windows Server...

Edited by Killboy
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Cant we patch the server check ...is it possible???which would stop the Os Version check.....i wonder if it is possible...or is there a architecture difference ??

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There might be enough difference to make it not work even if you got it running on Server 2003.

I guess you always have to adapt some drivers and settings depending on the OS, so if they're smart enough they'll just exclude those OSs in the first place...

And patching an AV is beyond me... not worth patching it after every update :)

Some AVs might not even care about the OS though, ie it's coded to work on all OSs w/o major adaptions. You might try getting Avira AntiVir, apparently they made their installer refuse installation on a Server OS. Maybe you just have to fool the installer into installing it anyway and it works...

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Patching OS version check is not the problem, problem is ione expects from antivirus to be effective,

i canot garantee that all things will work on server 2003 the same way as on XP sp2.. i'v seen many

programs with OS checks, usualy they work normaly on all systems after patching, as long it not

envolwing strange hooks, memory management, drivers/services etc..

My guess is simple AV softwares shud work after patching, but advanced ones like kaspersky or avira

might act strange or even not doing what its supposed to do in some cases.. i dunno one shud test it,

and currently i dont have time for sucha task..

Anyway i will most probably go with ClamAV if it turns out that it actually works on that OS, only thing

i dont like about it is installer and powertools and dot net and stuff, but i hear unix people talking good

about it.. so i'll try it.. thanx to Killboy for digging it up.

BR, ChupaChu!

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I do not think you will get the free editions of Avast working on server OS's. Probably because they are meant to be free only to home and personal users and these types of people are meant to be running none server operating systems. The server operating systems are meant to run the licenced versions which are aimed at companies and business...

PLATFORMS

Windows 95

Windows 98

Windows Me

Windows NT 4 (No Server)

Windows 2000 (No Server)

Windows XP (No Server)

Windows Vista

Ted.

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  • 2 months later...

This issue i had with sophos, is resolved few weeks ago. I will write it here, maybe it can be of help to someone.

Problem raises when sophos autoupdate service starts to download a fresh version of itself (not just signatures); then a file in temp directory is created so it knows update is running; problem is if network interface gets disconected, update fails, but file does not get deleted - never ever. Same file "blocks" further installations on that system (it thinks autoupdate is running hehe). Resolution is to delete the file manualy. Its called something with *sophos* in name (cant remember anymore, but i'm pretty sure it was zero, or just few bytes in size); but you can delete whole folder content anyway.

Hope admins dont mind me posting to 3months old topic :)

BR; ChupaChu!

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  • 2 months later...

comodo antivirus v2 commercial and personal use

pros:

free for commercial and personal use

excellent hips

resident scanner

cons:

its virus database is average clam has a better one

Edited by 0000007a
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