AV for win98 - other than delete it!

OK Guys this is my annual post about AV for older Windows OS eg. win98SE (and maybe WinME).

No jokes about replace the OS - I'm talking about PCs that would creak under 2000 or XP, but do their job fine every day.

My info points to:
Dr Web - ongoing support at moment (?)
Avast - but its end of life Dec09
Eset NOD32 - but its the older 2.7 version

Any others still doing support and who gets the highest vote?

(Avast is probably the best known outside techy circles, but DrWeb seems to have the least end-of-life feel to it. YMMV)

 

If this is the case, I strongly recommend you try Linux.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
http://www.xubuntu.org/

 

It might worth a try to see - for the one you use now - if after it's end of life you can still do manual updates. If the producer doesn't change the definition files format, you might get lucky. But unfortunately it is hard to know that beforehand.

 

Just a thought. Unless these are extremely old machines 2k is amazingly lite.
Have tried\loaded it on all sorts of older hardware configurations. Had trouble once on, if memory serves, an old Pent II with 32 Mb of RAM and and a very small hard drive = single Gig capacity hard drive.

2k has all but reached the end of it`s life cycle as well but it will get you a bit more time when it comes to third party support.

 

I agree with the advice about W2K. You should be able to run that OS with a Pentium II and 64MB. With 128MB, it'll comparatively scream.

I have a PII 300Mhz laptop running W2K with 96MB, and it does fine. Boots pretty slow, but it's a good emergency PC. I'd ditch 98/ME for sure. Otherwise you're truly limited with what is available.

 

Ok, i 'll just throw it althout it's an underdog.

Twister supports even Win 95! (lifetime license)

http://www.filseclab.com/eng/products/twister.htm

The next version is scheduled for summer. I don't know what its support will be, but if you 're interested you can contact their support and ask. My guess, is that in China people don't upgrade so easily as in the west, so most probably at least win98 will be supported for the next version as well.

 

A win 98 PC should not be connected to the internet, period.

 

I used a 98 PC for all sorts of file sharing.

You could run an antivirus on-demand. I like online scanners. You could also use ClamAntivirus portable.

 

Drweb, I'm sure it's win 98 compatibily will continue for the av-only.

 

How To Protect Older Microsoft Operating Systems.

 

For the record, you can add Rising, free and paid, to your list.

Also, current avast! version ( 4.8 ) will most likely be supported for a year after replacement version ( 5.X ) is released. So no reason to worry just yet.

 

You could try some lesser known AV products that are quite good.
VirusBuster:
http://www.virusbuster.hu/en/product/antivirus/home/vb2006_winprof

AhnLab V3:
http://global.ahnlab.com/global/prod_detail.ESD?parmProd_class=C&parmProd_type=CD&prod_seq=570

Both have been passed VB100 and have many other certifications/awards.

 

The download page at Avast says in bold but hidden at the bottom that support the old triple 98/ME/NT will end in Dec 2009.

 

Haven't seen that one. This "Note: The operating systems Windows 95/98/Me/NT4 will be supported until the end of 2009." has been there for a while and is deliberately open-ended, i.e. end of support will be not before rather than not after.

Preliminary idea was that avast 5.X would be 'compatible' with 9X/ME rather than having all features supported (like current avast! 4.8 and Rising 2008/2009). This may still happen but as time goes on it's looking less likely. So to minimise the risk of satisfied avast! users waking up one day to "discover" that their AV no longer works with their OS (which happened to a whole lot of AVG 7.1 users running Win95 when they updated to 7.5 ), the aim is to give as much warning as possible.

 

VBA32 will work on 98 for a while as they have some large customers still using it. I also second Win2K comment. I would normally say go linux, but even that would put a hurting on those comps unless you try Deli Linux.

 

VirusFighter paid supports 98, and is made by SpamFighter. It's an excellent AV for 98/ME machines, which shall outlive Vista and Windows 7. The key problem for 98 machines is crapware, because so many freeware, passive script and garbage stoppers work so well using no ram. A good browser and SAS are really overkill. Also BD Free 10 AV supplies proactive and on access protection from viruses ans spyware for 9x/ME PCs, but NOT for 2000, XP, Vista and beyond. On installation, choose COMPLETE installation option. BD 10 free also scans email. Go for it!

Dave