Need AV for Win2000 SP4

I have a PC here running Win2000 SP4, IE6 SP1, and the PC has low system specs (192mb SDRAM; 20gb HD; Pentium3 866mhz). So I need a low-resource antivirus app... Avira is OK but I've had Win2000 compatibility issues in the past. Avast, I think it uses system resources too much. AVG8.0 I think might be the same as Avast in this situation. Upgrades to the PC are NOT an option. Freeware is mandatory :-D

Thanks!

[dlb]

 

AVG 8.0 free is a bit more of a resource hog compared to the previous versions. However...due to the exact same restraints as you, I just disabled ALL features other that the daily updates and scans, and it made it much more managable for the machine!! Granted...you get the ugly "x" over the AVG icon in the system tray, but I just set the taskbar to always hide that icon.

Roger

 

We need active real-time protection (even though it probably won't do much good considering the PC owner's past history). I may be mistaken, but Clam doesn't have real-time security....

Yup, no upgrades. The PCs owner has probably spent over $300 in the past 2-3 years on this PC and refuses to spend another dime, instead they are buying a new PC with current technology in the fall, and this one will just be for basic web surfing, email, and Word (which is about all it can handle) but they want some decent AV protection. They're pretty much noobish and they tend to click on the "rogue-ware" pop ups whilst surfing... you know the ones: "Is your PC running slow? It appears to have 587 registry errors. Click Here to repair and SPEED UP your PC for free!!!". They see these types of things and they always click 'em no matter how many people have told them not too. They don't seem to realize that a p3 with 192mb SDRAM and 20gb 4200rpm HD is going to be slow and all the registry fixes in the world won't change that. But they won't listen, so some good protection is about all I can offer 'em....

 

No matter what, an anti-virus with realtime protection will probably use up more ram than you would like to use. What I would do is install avg, but only install the resident shield none of the email of anything else. That will use the least amount of ram for a realtime scanner. I would use avg instead of avast because avast is a little more difficult to use for people who don't have very much computer experience and it does not automatically scan all of your system files unless you choose to manually scan them.

You could just switch their computer over to linux since all they need it for is web browsing email and word processing. :-D

 

LOL Totally out of the question... with these particular folks, that would be like asking them to set the time on their VCR (yes, they probably still have a VCR). It would be a mass of confusion and would be very ugly... and I've already provided too much free tech support, I'm not gonna teach 'em Linux on top of everything else....

 

Very true, teaching people Linux can be a bit of a hassle. Although, linux is beginning to become more understandable and easier to use.

 

I actually considered using AVG7.5 but these people would completely lose it at the end of the year when 7.5 is no longer supported, and I would rather not have to deal with it (there's going to be plenty to deal with between now and then and the fewer issues that arise, the better). I installed the newest AntiVir PE 8. The free license is good thru June 2009. I'll "warn" them about the splash screen that comes up every day or so. I was afraid I'd have compatibility issues with Avira's AntiVir and Win2000, but it's running perfectly and the PC is running as smooth as can be hoped for....