Need help finding free antivirus and firewall programs for older computer

mharnisch · Feb 15, 2006

I have an older computer, Compaq Presario 4770 with a Pentium 200 processor, 32 MB RAM, running Windows 98. I am looking for FREE firewall and antivirus programs that will run on my system. I have tried Avast, AVG, and Zone Alarm, but they all require a faster processor and won't work properly. I cannot afford upgrading or buying new. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can try?

chaslang · Feb 15, 2006

Avast will run on this PC. See: http://www.avast.com/eng/system-requirements-avast-home.html

With this processor speed and such a low amount or RAM you will find that after adding the necessary protection tools you are going to be running rather slow and will be limited in how many windows/processes you can have running simultaneously.

You can check out the other firewalls (and other tools ) mentioned in the below link to see if they support your system.

How to Protect yourself from malware!

mharnisch · Feb 15, 2006

Thanks for your suggestions. Please let me reply.
I have tried Avast. Immediately after installation I updated it and it will update OK. When I tried to run a scan, it would scan 1 file, then stop. Then shortly thereafter the Avast box would disappear and that was all that would happen. I tried removing and reinstalling it several times with the same results. I then checked out the system requirements and found that Avast requires a 486 processor. So I assumed that is why it won't work.
I also tried AVG. It will run a scan but won't update. It also requires a 486 processor.
I will check out the other information you suggested.
If you have any other thoughts, please let me know.

Thanks,
mharnisch

chaslang · Feb 15, 2006

Requirements are minimum requirements. That mean that it requires at least a 486 Processor. You have a Pentium which is better. Avast should work. But the amount of RAM you have is just not adequate for most of todays applications.

Insomniac · Feb 15, 2006

As far as firewall, the one that uses the least resources in my experience, is OutPost.

Having said that, no modern program is going to run great on such dated hardware.

chaslang · Feb 15, 2006

Insomniac said:

As far as firewall, the one that uses the least resources in my experience, is OutPost.

Having said that, no modern program is going to run great on such dated hardware.
Click to expand...

We are in agreement about the hardware.

Did you know that Outpost was in How to Protect yourself from malware!

I did not know it used the least system resources though since I have not experimented with it too much.

Did you ever play with Jetico Personal Firewall

Insomniac · Feb 15, 2006

Yeah, I knew OutPost was in the MalWare thread.

No, I've never used Jetico, or even heard of it before.

mharnisch · Feb 15, 2006

I would like to try Outpost. At the website it says that it requires Win All. What is that?

chaslang · Feb 15, 2006

mharnisch said:

I would like to try Outpost. At the website it says that it requires Win All. What is that?
Click to expand...

In this case, it just means you can use any Windows OS. In the case of Outpost, this is MS Windows version (95,98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000, XP).

If it required WinXp, it would specify that (the same goes for other OS's).

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Need help finding free antivirus and firewall programs for older computer

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