Lightweight Anti-virus for old machine

qBot

Hi, I am looking for a light-weight anti-virus for my ten year old machine. I have been running AVG 7.5 for the past while now and all was superb. Unfortunately AVG are pulling support for 7.5 after next month which means I'll be forced to upgrade to 8.5. I had 8 installed on the machine before Christmas and because the machine is past it's prime it really impacted it's performance. It ran painstakingly slow. So can anyone suggest any other options I could use?

tagoona

I used to have AVG until about 3 months ago.
I switched to Avast which seems a bit lighter in my opinion, and there's none of that annoying link checking that AVG does.

NullZer0

ClamAV for Win32
http://www.clamwin.com/

qBot

iRock wrote: »

ClamAV for Win32
http://www.clamwin.com/

Not too sure if I trust open-source anti-virus tbh. I might give Avast a go alright. Any more suggestions welcome.

Dartz

If you want to pay... I had Kaspersky Internet Security on a Laptop with 256 meg of RAM. Didn't lug it anymore than anything else did. It seems to know to give up resources.

The anti-virus component alone would probably be even lighter.


But ClamAV will do the job.

Nothing beats Common Sense 2009 though, for lightweightness.

PogMoThoin

Nod32 is the lightest AV prog I've seen, they say it'll run on 32MB ram :eek:
Not free tho

watty

Run Linux (May not be practical but 100% fine for email Wordprocess, spreadsheet, Web, database, presentations).

Or
use Firefox and don't install stupid toolbars, never install "you need this codec" don't accept free scans, never click OK on anything you didn't explicitly download, make sure file extensions are on, use Thunderbird with remote images and remote HTML blocked (give it 127.0.0.1 as a proxy) and don't open executable* attachments, Be suspicious of contents of zips. Don't open ANY unsolicited attachment...

Use an external Firewall/Router (built into most DSL modems). Disable SSDP and uPNP in services...

*not just exe, but cmd, com, bat, scr and a bunch more. Google

Then you probably are safer than relying on AV software. Many (all?) social enineered attacks as above will bypass AV anyway.

qBot

watty wrote: »

Run Linux (May not be practical but 100% fine for email Wordprocess, spreadsheet, Web, database, presentations).

Or
use Firefox and don't install stupid toolbars, never install "you need this codec" don't accept free scans, never click OK on anything you didn't explicitly download, make sure file extensions are on, use Thunderbird with remote images and remote HTML blocked (give it 127.0.0.1 as a proxy) and don't open executable* attachments, Be suspicious of contents of zips. Don't open ANY unsolicited attachment...

Use an external Firewall/Router (built into most DSL modems). Disable SSDP and uPNP in services...

*not just exe, but cmd, com, bat, scr and a bunch more. Google

Then you probably are safer than relying on AV software. Many (all?) social enineered attacks as above will bypass AV anyway.

Not looking for a new OS lad, all I want is a new anti-virus.

qBot

Thanks for the replies lads. I'll try em out over the next week.

Capt'n Midnight

qBot wrote: »

Not too sure if I trust open-source anti-virus tbh. I might give Avast a go alright. Any more suggestions welcome.

Clam AV does scheduled scans for viruses it doesn't catch them on the fly.

A lot of AV products will not block other malware other than viruses, trojans and worms. So you would need an anti-malware product too.

Don't use Internet Explorer on any untrusted site especially if you have an old version Use it for windows updates and stuff and leave browsing to Opera or Firefox with Adblock and Noscript

PaddyTheNth

Avira Antivir is undoubtedly lighter than AVG (both 7.5 and 8.0 in my experience).

I can't say whether it's lighter than the other free ones recommended in this thread, and NOD32 is the best option overall imo but as has been said, it's not free.

watty

qBot wrote: »

Not looking for a new OS lad, all I want is a new anti-virus.

I use XP, but no AV. Same install as 7 years ago.

I use a couple of root kit detectors and run silentrunners www.silentrunners.org occasionally.

I have "cleaned up" far more PCs with AV than without. Training of the person behind the keyboard is more effective than AV or malware detectors, which *ARE* going to fail if you rely on them instead of implementing best practices/

cpu-dude

watty wrote: »

I use XP, but no AV. Same install as 7 years ago.

I use a couple of root kit detectors and run silentrunners www.silentrunners.org occasionally.

I have "cleaned up" far more PCs with AV than without. Training of the person behind the keyboard is more effective than AV or malware detectors, which *ARE* going to fail if you rely on them instead of implementing best practices/

Firefox + Adblock + Router + Common Sense = The Best Anti-Virus

qBot

cpu-dude wrote: »

Firefox + Adblock + Router + Common Sense = The Best Anti-Virus

It's not an option i'm afraid. The whole family use the computer so there is no control of what comes in through usb sticks or visiting malicious websites. A virus showed up on my fathers usb stick during the week. Anti-virus is what I need.

watty

Then you need the best one and it will still get trashed. A computer used by many people is the worst case scenario.

cpu-dude

watty wrote: »

Then you need the best one and it will still get trashed. A computer used by many people is the worst case scenario.

Exactly why this is going to be the business, fair play Microsoft:

http://lifehacker.com/5176876/windows-7-guest-mode-creates-bomb+proof-accounts-for-kids-friends

watty

People do that now by using free VM player and a fresh Archive copy back of the Virtual machine each session. Much safer than Bloated Win7, works with Linux or Windows, on a Windows or Linux box.

Win7 is much better than Vista, but still a waste of disk space and in reality offers nothing new. Also not a solution for anthing more than a few years old.

qBot

And what this has got to do with my original question I have no idea.

Capt'n Midnight

It has nothing to do with your original question only because your PC is 10 years old. But for anyone with a newer system, a sandbox or vm or OS that restricts users is a better approach and it's relevant to them.

If you had windows NT/2000/XP (or almost any OS except CE/95/98/ME ) you could setup a guest account for the other users with lower rights , it would add a layer of security to the system but windows may have problems with autoruns and you may need to lock down file system and security settings too.

Kevster

I haven't been running any anti-virus software on my computer for well over a year now and have only had one infection (which I managed to remove myself using a little technical knowledge and assistance from the Internet).

Also, if you have Windows, you can download a virus-removal tool every month as part of their 'Automatic Downloads'. This then runs once and cleans the machine of any recent viruses that have been in circulation.

So, no need for anti-virus software that will only chew up your processing time. A firewall should be still used though.

Overheal

watty wrote: »

Then you need the best one and it will still get trashed. A computer used by many people is the worst case scenario.

Too true I'm afraid.

Another thing you can try (its technical, and I wouldnt know how myself, but I know its possible) is to setup the PC to it restores from a fixed state every time its rebooted, unless an admin makes changes. Anything they need saved can be kept on separate drives or partitions. That way when they do eventually bomb something, the computer is right as rain in 10 minutes with the flip of a switch. The practice is very common in net cafes and colleges.

Other than that, would it kill you to upgrade the damned thing? 10 years is good round figure to put a PC out to pasture, or at least upgrade some of its components.

unnameduser

My 2c

Either.
Paid version - Eset Nod32 - €40
Free version - Avast

When a computer is used by a number of people you will have to be very vigilant to keep it sqeeky clean.

Good luck.

NullZer0

qBot wrote: »

Not too sure if I trust open-source anti-virus tbh. I might give Avast a go alright. Any more suggestions welcome.

But you will trust it to run your internet, to assign your IP address, to answer hostname queries, for your firewall and as your routing protocol?

Doesn't make sense to me.

qBot

iRock wrote: »

But you will trust it to run your internet, to assign your IP address, to answer hostname queries, for your firewall and as your routing protocol?

Doesn't make sense to me.

OMG, so open source anti-virus runs the internet???? Never knew that.

qBot

unnameduser wrote: »

My 2c

Either.
Paid version - Eset Nod32 - €40
Free version - Avast

When a computer is used by a number of people you will have to be very vigilant to keep it sqeeky clean.

Good luck.

Thanks for your input lad.. I'll take a look at the options over teh next week when I have time. I'm very aware of the downfalls of shared computers and i have taken action previously.

qBot

Overheal wrote: »

Too true I'm afraid.

Another thing you can try (its technical, and I wouldnt know how myself, but I know its possible) is to setup the PC to it restores from a fixed state every time its rebooted, unless an admin makes changes. Anything they need saved can be kept on separate drives or partitions. That way when they do eventually bomb something, the computer is right as rain in 10 minutes with the flip of a switch. The practice is very common in net cafes and colleges.

Other than that, would it kill you to upgrade the damned thing? 10 years is good round figure to put a PC out to pasture, or at least upgrade some of its components.

A bit too complicated lad, AV has served me well in the past and i'll do me fine in the future. As for upgrading, I don't use the machine that much, only when i'm home, It's really only for my parents and they don't see the point in upgrading. I have my own laptop that does me fine

NullZer0

qBot wrote: »

OMG, so open source anti-virus runs the internet???? Never knew that.

You should read my comment more carefully.
Anyway, if you want to go pay for something then go for it

Perhaps you know better than people who contribute to such a project. I'll have to assume so as I'm not familiar with your level of technical expertise

Just my $0.02

qBot

iRock wrote: »

You should read my comment more carefully.
Anyway, if you want to go pay for something then go for it

Perhaps you know better than people who contribute to such a project. I'll have to assume so as I'm not familiar with your level of technical expertise

Just my $0.02

Perhaps you didn't read my comments lad. I said I didn't trust open source anti-virus. I said nothing whatsoever about open source software or Linux. You with your fanboy mentality read into and read what you wanted to read. And I stand by my comments, I don't trust OS AV. I do on the other hand appreciate some OS software. I'm a computer professional, I get paid to develop using OS tools on both Windows and Linux. I also develop on Macs on the side. So yes, I would say you're probably not familiar with my level of expertise.

NullZer0

I was refering to this:

qBot wrote: »

OMG, so open source anti-virus runs the internet????

I just wanted to clarify that I meant open source technologies are the framework for the internet and pretty much run it and I wasn't referring to "open source anti-virus" alone as you mentioned above. Apologies for any misunderstanding.

I may be mistaken but as far as I can see you were the first to mention linux on this thread.

I am by no means a fan boy, I just have a reasonable understanding of alot of technologies that happen to be open source.

Had you read and understood my signature you would see that.


If I realised you were a professional I wouldn't have bothered you with such nonsense. I may consult you in future "lad" if I need help with a batch file.

I would however, expect that a professional would know where to get/what to use in this case.

Capt'n Midnight

lets get back on topic

it's also worth using www.opendns.org too to block a lot of sites if your parents use it to surf the web, you can download a program that lets you block sites by category too. This should block a lot of drive by downloads and possibly stop some of the nasties phoning home.

NullZer0

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

www.opendns.org

+1

Yup - opendns is excellent.

gamer

NO point in running a 10 year old pc, buy a pentium 4 laptop 8ogig hd price 150 on adverts ie ,put in 1gig ram, install avast ,or even buy a p4 pc 120euro.IF its a laptop,take out the battery.look on adverts.ie, or pm me i have a dell laptop celeron cpu 1gigahertz 512meg ram that i,m not using .

Capt'n Midnight

gamer wrote: »

NO point in running a 10 year old pc, buy a pentium 4 laptop 8ogig hd price 150 on adverts ie ,put in 1gig ram, install avast ,or even buy a p4 pc 120euro.IF its a laptop,take out the battery.look on adverts.ie, or pm me i have a dell laptop celeron cpu 1gigahertz 512meg ram that i,m not using .

I'm sure the OP is well aware that you can get a better spec for free.

knuth

setup guest accounts and grab a copy of sophos av. Had it runnin fine on an nt box, p166 32mb ram

Amalgam

Hmm, I'm sure the OP appreciates the OS wide advice, but all he\she wants is an AV.

I didn't notice if the following had been mentioned or not.

Avira (Free) http://www.free-av.com/

It will run on a low specced machine, I was a long term Kaspersky user until recently, this is lighter, I find.

The free version will not scan incoming email (POP3 etc), if you want that service, it is bundled in their payed version, the price is around 15-19 euro. Fine otherwise.

I run Avira on an Eee 900 (Celeron) and a desktop AMD Barton 2500.

gamer

WHEN secondhand pcs are so cheap i dont understand why bother using a low spec pc?you must be acessing the web if you need an antivirus,its like watching tv on a 14inch black and white,is there some specific reason for using it ,eg low noise or low power ,in my experience a 500mhz pentium 3 still make s more noise than a celeron laptop.

kaimera

nod32 tbh.

KatCookie

As a user of an old Computer 'til about 3 months ago,when it died (i'm no expert, but i think the Hard Drive just well.. failed) i think i understand the OP's concerns, (Used to have 10 year old Win 98 that in its older years, had trouble doing anything other than playing games)

i think the general consensus is that Avast is the way to go, for me AVG is very heavy to use on a daily basis.

i get the feeling that the OP's parents dont feel the need to shell out money for a computer that still basically works -it has internet access, it prints out the odd Word doc, it might even run a couple of games. it doesn't sing, it doesn't dance, it doesn't need to.
Maybe a buying second hand computer would be cheap, but its like a 10 year old car -you know its dying, but theres no point buying a 9 year old car which will break soon too, you drive the 10year old for as long as possible, with minimum expense,and then when its dead, buy a new car
-OK, bad example, but i think the OP should tell the parents and family not to have anything of major importance on the computer without it being backed up, (my parents learned the hard way, lost about 5 years worth of accounts :rolleyes: if I had known about them, they would have saved onto the laptop which is backed up regularly)