UPDATE (2009-04-26 7:06PM EDT): Apparently I was mistaken.  When poking through the preferences of ClamXav in order to restructure my watch folders, I noticed a checkbox that I had overlooked.  Apparently you can add the login item from within the main application.  However, it still doesn’t start the Sentry app when adding the item.  You have to manually click the “Save settings & Launch Sentry” button.

Recently I have bowed to the necessity of installing antivirus software on my Mac, both at work and at home.

In investigating the possibilities I decided to try out the open source antivirus solution ClamAV.  While I tend to gravitate towards commercially supported security products when possible, I currently don’t have the extra money to spend on the Intego VirusBarrier product, and the budget at work is quite strained, as are budgets for most people.

I like the ClamXav frontend for the ClamAV engine.  I know that I can do all the scanning functions from the command line, but I am fan of gui frontends do to the fact that they are often more user-friendly.

The ClamXav is a nice frontend.  The only problem I have with it is that there is inherent mechanism to launch the sentry program at user login.  The ClamXav Sentry application is contained in the Resources section of the Contents of the ClamXav application bundle. Below are the steps to add the application as a login item.

Adding ClamXav Sentry as Login Item

1. Open System Preferences from the Apple Menu

Open System Preferences

2. Open Accounts Preference Pane

System Prefences

3. Select Login Items

Login Items

4. Click the Plus sign button at the button of the Login Items list.

5. When the dialog window comes up, hit the Command + Shift + G keyboard combo.

6. In the window type the following:

/Applications/ClamXav.app/Contents/Resources/”

then click the Go button.

Enter the file path to the Resources of the ClamXav bundle

7. Select ClamXavSentry.app from the list and click the Add button.

Select the Sentry app

8. Congratulations, you have successfully added the ClamXav Sentry as a login item.

Login Item Added

I also wrote an Applescript application that will add the login item for you.  The benefit of using my utility is that it launches ClamXav Sentry after adding the login item.  You download a zipfile containing both the application and script file.