AV + firewall (freeware) needed for old pc!!!

[Birdman]

Tring to help out a friend here who is losing his AOL/McAfee security suite soon. I'm trying to find the best FREEWARE security suite combo (firewall + AV) for his system (which is pretty old).

Here is the system info he provided:

-Windows 98 Second Edition
-Intel 667 mhz Pentium III Processor
-511.0 MB of Ram

Besides a firewall and AV....does he need anything else?

Thanks.

[kinwolf]

{QUOTE-> Tring to help out a friend here who is losing his AOL/McAfee security suite soon. I'm trying to find the best FREEWARE security suite combo (firewall + AV) for his system (which is pretty old).

Here is the system info he provided:

-Windows 98 Second Edition
-Intel 667 mhz Pentium III Processor
-511.0 MB of Ram

Besides a firewall and AV....does he need anything else?

Thanks. <-QUOTE}

AVG might fit his anti-virus need. It is free, light and according to their website it supports win98.

For a free firewall light on ressources, not sure, Comodo is good but not exactly light and I am not sure it support win98. Sunbelt Free firewall might be better suited and the Pro version is only 10$ right now for even better protection.

Kin

[Sealord]

I have a similar set up on an old PC.

Avast free and Kerio 2.1.5 run just fine on that kind of set up.

[WSFuser]

Id try AVG for antivirus and Sygate for firewall.

[JerryM]

I have used Avast Home, and Kerio 2.1.5 on W98 machines in addition to XP.
I would suggest either Avast or AVG along with Kerio or another free firewall.

In addition I would install the free version of SuperAntiSpyware for periodic scans.

Regards,
Jerry

[LowWaterMark]

Technically speaking, that's a rather narrow set of requirements, which I think qualifies this beyond being an open ended which is best thread.

Free and compatible with Win98 elminates a lot right off the bat. A light footprint for an older machine and good detection, probably means you've been given the main choices for resident anti-virus packages - AVG and Avast.

Anyone know any others that actually meet the criteria?

[HiTech_boy]

@Birdman

Perhaps the best would be if you or someone of this family makes him a present - buy a new computer which is Vista capable/compatiable :) You can't live for long with this Win98se - it is so old and the list of the application that cease to work on it is growing every day. Win98 is very unsecure by itself and so buggy especially for internet stuff and (new/modern) applications installations

[19monty64]

{QUOTE-> Besides a firewall and AV....does he need anything else? <-QUOTE}
Perhaps Opera browser too!

[larryb52]

I vote with Fuser Avast & sygate light combo good protection...

[FadeAway]

{QUOTE-> Avast & sygate light combo good protection... <-QUOTE}

I used to run that combo on a 98 machine (AMD K-2, 333 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM).
Worked great. Can't say how newer builds of avast! would work, though.

[dave88]

{QUOTE-> Win98se - it is so old and the list of the application that cease to work on it is growing every day. Win98 is very unsecure by itself and so buggy especially for internet stuff and (new/modern) applications installations <-QUOTE}

While true, it still works fine, and is actually immune to many of the newer exploits. As it is less targeted and they don't work on it.

@OP I would definitely recommend using either Firefox or Opera, as IE has not been updated for win98 for a long time. I recommend AVG and either sygate 5.5.2710 or zonealarm 4.5.594

[ccsito]

{QUOTE-> I used to run that combo on a 98 machine (AMD K-2, 333 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM).
Worked great. Can't say how newer builds of avast! would work, though. <-QUOTE}

I have this hardware setup on a PC that I still have used since 1999. It has Antivir 7 (which is no longer supported) and Zone Alarm 6.1 and used to use McAfee VirusScan (before they blocked further updates).
For AV, Avast and AVG still support Win 98. If you want to use Antivir, you will have to use an unsupported version.
For Firewall, I don't know of any free program that is still supported. There are numerous old programs (such as the older Zone Alarm, Sygate, Kerio, Outpost, etc.) that can be used on a Win 98 system.
A lot of Antispyware programs are still compatible with Win 98 (such as Ad Aware, Spybot, SuperAntispyware, A-squared, Spyware Blaster) which you might be interested in.

[MaB69]

Hi all,

A more tight setup : Antivir free, Jetico 1 and FF or Opera as browser

I think light and secure

Regards,

MaB

[larryb52]

{QUOTE-> I used to run that combo on a 98 machine (AMD K-2, 333 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM).
Worked great. Can't say how newer builds of avast! would work, though. <-QUOTE}


I've ran it on XP pro, runs light & well...

[Banshee]

Avast+ jetico1 or kerio 2.15

[Birdman]

Thanks for your help guys. I recommended him Avast + Kerio + Spybot.

As for the browser, he uses AOL.

Also what's the best way to completely remove the McAfee/AOL security suite from a system? I know that McAfee does not have a removal tool like Norton/Symantec.

Thanks.

[19monty64]

http://downloads.digitaltrends.com/System+and+utilities/OS+management/Uninstall+utilities/195895/McAfee+Uninstaller.html ...they do now!

[zapjb]

As I'm going to do exactly this with ny elderly Ma & Pa's 98se dialup puter.

If an AV & PF are required & on a 98se, I'm not so sure.

I'll go Avast home & Sygate.

Heres the thread about my ~parallel situ.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=184868

[bellgamin]

{QUOTE-> Technically speaking, that's a rather narrow set of requirements, which I think qualifies this beyond being an open ended which is best thread.

Free and compatible with Win98 elminates a lot right off the bat. A light footprint for an older machine and good detection, probably means you've been given the main choices for resident anti-virus packages - AVG and Avast.

Anyone know any others that actually meet the criteria? <-QUOTE}AntiVir-PE (http://www.free-av.com/) is light on resources and free as the air.

Kerio 2.1.5 (http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page7.html#Kerio%20Personal%20Firewall) is light as a feather, free, & there is lots of hand-holding hither (http://www.dslextreme.com/users/surferslim/tpf.html) & thither (http://www.urs2.net/rsj/computing/kerio/index.html) & yon (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/kerio).

[cello]

On a similar machine of a friend of mine, I installed Avast! Free (only standard, mail and network shield enabled), Jetico V.1 and an older version of Opera (I don't remember exactly wich).

Not a resource hog and fairly good protection, IMHO.

[zhanwest]

AVG Anti-Virus
Jetico 1.06
Very light, very strong

[LowWaterMark]

{QUOTE-> AntiVir-PE (http://www.free-av.com/) is light on resources and free as the air. <-QUOTE}But, didn't they drop support for Windows 98 in June?

[bellgamin]

{QUOTE-> But, didn't they drop support for Windows 98 in June? <-QUOTE}Ooops! I didn't know that.

In that case, & IAW with the thread's prerequisite for freeware, the main choices among *proven* antivirus freebie programs are: AVG & Avast.

Both of these antivirus programs did poorly on handling polymorphic viruses, according to recent tests by AV-comparatives (http://www.av-comparatives.org/). However, a recent update to Avast has reportedly improved its performance against polymorphics. There, Avast is probably the better choice.

[fred128]

Netvada is still supporting Win 98

http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm

[ccsito]

{QUOTE-> http://downloads.digitaltrends.com/System+and+utilities/OS+management/Uninstall+utilities/195895/McAfee+Uninstaller.html ...they do now! <-QUOTE}

What, you have to pay to get rid of a program? Totally unacceptable.:thumbd:

[ccsito]

{QUOTE-> Netvada is still supporting Win 98

http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm <-QUOTE}
This program has not been updated in a while and support on the forum is non-existent. Also, some users have gotten a license expired message after using it for a while. There might be some kind of limitations on using it. Use at your own risk.

http://forums.netveda.com//index.php?showtopic=229

[19monty64]

{QUOTE-> What, you have to pay to get rid of a program? Totally unacceptable.:thumbd: <-QUOTE}
I used it on '98, and would have gladly paid (as a time-saver) to get rid of that crud! I think they realize that, too!

[WSFuser]

{QUOTE-> What, you have to pay to get rid of a program? Totally unacceptable.:thumbd: <-QUOTE}
I dont think that program is to remove McAfee products. McAfee Uninstaller is an old product for cleaning your computer iirc.

[mercurie]

{QUOTE-> What, you have to pay to get rid of a program? Totally unacceptable.:thumbd: <-QUOTE}I agree completely. This will certainly come into play when considering if I should put it on PC 2. I have this question in another thread. :(

[clocks]

Have not seen test for it, but the new version of PC Tools AV is super light.

[zhanwest]

{QUOTE-> Have not seen test for it, but the new version of PC Tools AV is super light. <-QUOTE}
Right? PC Tools AV has high cpu usage and badly slows down my pc.

[clocks]

Are you using version 3.1 or 3.6? 3.1 was heavy, while 3.6 is much lighter.

[dw2108]

Win 98 and 98 SE are subrecursive, and are therefore the incontestibly safest systems running today. ANY AV with ANY safe browser/email app and antispyware app -- WinPatrol SpyBot TeaTimer, etc. -- will protect 98 even if the person at the PC is not a safe surfer but takes care in not reading spam or not downloading and installing well-known destructive apps. Win 98 will be here for a very long time, and recall that SpyBot went back to supporting Win 95! Old PC's are here to stay.

Dave

[dw2108]

Sorry to double post. ScripTrap, Script Defender etc., are good in stopping a great many unwanted critters, and BugOff is also a VERY good product. Use any therse with light AV + resource-light firewall. All shall be well.

Dave

[19monty64]

McAfee has a removal-tool now, but only for 2k, xp & 2003... http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5420.html ...but @ least it is freeware!

[Diver]

This may seem off the wall, but a Win 9x machine should not be connected to the internet. The OS is that insecure and no amount of add on programs will change that.

Put Ubuntu on the box, its free and will run a heck of a lot better than Win 9x on an old machine.

If he must run Windows, I would look for an old version of Zone Alarm free firewall, probably 4.5. The three well known free AV's are AVG, Avira and Avast. Try all and see which one works best.

[bigc73542]

of those three free av's they don't all support win98 anymore. I would be sure to check the sys requirments before downloading and installing one.

[ccsito]

{QUOTE-> McAfee has a removal-tool now, but only for 2k, xp & 2003... http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5420.html ...but @ least it is freeware! <-QUOTE}
That is too late for me. When the DAT files would no longer update my old program version, it was so long to McAfee. :'(

[Kerodo]

{QUOTE-> This may seem off the wall, but a Win 9x machine should not be connected to the internet. The OS is that insecure and no amount of add on programs will change that.

<-QUOTE}
I don't see how one could go wrong using Win98 with a router and a compatible AV.. assuming the user is reasonably intelligent about things.. :)

[19monty64]

Win98 has survived many new OS'es and continues to have a loyal following. Because it accounts for less than 1% of the OS'es, it's not the target of a lot of attacks. Router, AV and alternate browser is about all it needs.