diff --git a/common/optparser.c b/common/optparser.c
index 3e9c7fe13..8d02de651 100644
--- a/common/optparser.c
+++ b/common/optparser.c
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@ const struct clam_option __clam_options[] = {
 
     {"ConnectTimeout", NULL, 0, CLOPT_TYPE_NUMBER, MATCH_NUMBER, 30, NULL, 0, OPT_FRESHCLAM, "Timeout in seconds when connecting to database server.", "30"},
 
-    {"ReceiveTimeout", NULL, 0, CLOPT_TYPE_NUMBER, MATCH_NUMBER, 0, NULL, 0, OPT_FRESHCLAM, "Maximum time in seconds for each download operation. 0 means no timeout.", "0"},
+    {"ReceiveTimeout", NULL, 0, CLOPT_TYPE_NUMBER, MATCH_NUMBER, 60, NULL, 0, OPT_FRESHCLAM, "Timeout in seconds when reading from database server. 0 means no timeout.", "60"},
 
     {"Bytecode", NULL, 0, CLOPT_TYPE_BOOL, MATCH_BOOL, 1, NULL, 0, OPT_FRESHCLAM, "This option enables downloading of bytecode.cvd, which includes additional\ndetection mechanisms and improvements to the ClamAV engine.", "yes"},
 
diff --git a/etc/freshclam.conf.sample b/etc/freshclam.conf.sample
index 0330c056c..26c4e7a63 100644
--- a/etc/freshclam.conf.sample
+++ b/etc/freshclam.conf.sample
@@ -175,9 +175,9 @@ DatabaseMirror database.clamav.net
 # Default: 30
 #ConnectTimeout 60
 
-# Maximum time in seconds for each download operation. 0 means no timeout.
-# Default: 0
-#ReceiveTimeout 1800
+# Timeout in seconds when reading from database server. 0 means no timeout.
+# Default: 60
+#ReceiveTimeout 300
 
 # With this option enabled, freshclam will attempt to load new databases into
 # memory to make sure they are properly handled by libclamav before replacing
diff --git a/libfreshclam/libfreshclam.h b/libfreshclam/libfreshclam.h
index 6782c1018..f3d1e04b6 100644
--- a/libfreshclam/libfreshclam.h
+++ b/libfreshclam/libfreshclam.h
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ typedef struct fc_config_ {
     uint64_t maxLogSize;             /**< Max size of logfile, if enabled. */
     uint32_t maxAttempts;            /**< Max # of download attempts. Must be > 0 */
     uint32_t connectTimeout;         /**< CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, Timeout for the. connection phase (seconds). */
-    uint32_t requestTimeout;         /**< CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, Timeout for libcurl transfer operation (seconds). */
+    uint32_t requestTimeout;         /**< CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME, Timeout for libcurl transfer operation (seconds). */
     uint32_t bCompressLocalDatabase; /**< If set, will apply gz compression to CLD databases. */
     const char *logFile;             /**< (optional) Filepath to use for log output, if desired. */
     const char *logFacility;         /**< (optional) System logging facility (I.e. "syslog"), if desired. */
diff --git a/libfreshclam/libfreshclam_internal.c b/libfreshclam/libfreshclam_internal.c
index f3cf0d5fc..f7c5ccd71 100644
--- a/libfreshclam/libfreshclam_internal.c
+++ b/libfreshclam/libfreshclam_internal.c
@@ -623,8 +623,16 @@ static fc_error_t create_curl_handle(
         if (CURLE_OK != curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, g_connectTimeout)) {
             logg("!create_curl_handle: Failed to set CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT (%u)!\n", g_connectTimeout);
         }
-        if (CURLE_OK != curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, g_requestTimeout)) {
-            logg("!create_curl_handle: Failed to set CURLOPT_TIMEOUT (%u)!\n", g_requestTimeout);
+        if (CURLE_OK != curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME, g_requestTimeout)) {
+            logg("!create_curl_handle: Failed to set CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_TIME  (%u)!\n", g_requestTimeout);
+        }
+        if (g_requestTimeout > 0) {
+            /* Minimum speed is 1 byte/second over the previous g_requestTimeout seconds. */
+            int minimumSpeed = 1;
+
+            if (CURLE_OK != curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT, minimumSpeed)) {
+                logg("!create_curl_handle: Failed to set CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT  (%u)!\n", minimumSpeed);
+            }
         }
 
         if (bAllowRedirect) {
diff --git a/win32/conf_examples/freshclam.conf.sample b/win32/conf_examples/freshclam.conf.sample
index 8e62bf3e3..7e97ee30e 100644
--- a/win32/conf_examples/freshclam.conf.sample
+++ b/win32/conf_examples/freshclam.conf.sample
@@ -172,9 +172,9 @@ DatabaseMirror database.clamav.net
 # Default: 30
 #ConnectTimeout 60
 
-# Maximum time in seconds for each download operation. 0 means no timeout.
-# Default: 0
-#ReceiveTimeout 1800
+# Timeout in seconds when reading from database server. 0 means no timeout.
+# Default: 60
+#ReceiveTimeout 300
 
 # With this option enabled, freshclam will attempt to load new databases into
 # memory to make sure they are properly handled by libclamav before replacing