Low-demands virus scanners

I have an older pc 500Mhz with 64mb running Chinese Windows 98se (specially modded to run faster).

But the AVG virus program is a real hog. She flies without it even with Office 2000, but she flows like treacle with it. Any suggestions for an antivirus program that is light on its resources.

I can’t imagine that Symantec or any other BIG names would do any better, but I’m prepared to be convinced!

Best Wishes
Kenneth

try avast.com/index.html

its very good, self-updating daily and free.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]try avast.com/index.html

its very good, self-updating daily and free.[/quote]

Yes I use Avast too, and it is awesome!!

Ok, I’m giving it a whirl. But I"m not sure that it will be any easier… AVG’s requirements seem to be pretty low:

“Minimal hardware configuration which can be used for AVG Free Edition installation is a PC with 486, 32 MB RAM memory and 30 MB free space on the hard drive.”

Kenneth

perhaps it’s time to upgrade the pc??

AVG is one of the ‘lightweight’ virus scanners currently out there. I think the fact that you only have 64mb in the machine is the big problem. You’re probably running out of memory left, right and middle. Adding memory to a machine that old is probably not worth it though, compared to an upgrade.

Id recommend NOD32 from Eset.com

I’m trying Avast at the moment.

The machine is basically 6 years old at the moment. However, for the purpose to which it is put it is more than fine. It performs well, if a little slowly with a virus program installed. Otherwise it flies when antivirus programs are turned off. Even with Office 2000 installed.

We use it principally for word, internet browsing and chat. That’s it. Is it worth upgrading? I doubt it. But usable… mostly.

Kenneth

Not sure how much of a true geek you are, but I usually hear that many Linux distro’s run well of lower specced machines such as yours.

Most versions come with a full set of FREE utilities that can handle all that you have indicated that you do. There is even a word processing program called Open Office which can handle MS Word and Office files.

The upside is that I have never heard of a virus attack on a Linux box.

You can give Knoppix a shot. Download the ISO, burn it, and it boots from the CD, leaving your Windows installation intact. This way you can fool around without committing.

While I’d be willing to try Linux, I’m not sure the person using the PC would, though in reality, it is most suitable, esp. something like PuppyLinux which has a bunch of neat versions.

Kenneth

damn small linux should work great on your rig, it works very well on the xbox. it is kinda ugly but it has what you’ll need…