# Good Antivirus For Old PC ?



## scubadiver

I was looking for a pc forum to get some help with this
i found this forum so i take my chance and post it here.

Ok i am temporarly using a 7 years old Computer with a Athlon 800 mhz processor and 512 Mb memory on Win Xp

It runs very slow if i use Some of the new antivirus like Kaspersky or Norton
its freeze if i both transfer by usb (mp3 players, pendrivers) and browse internet at once.

So i need a antivirus something that is keen to my specs.

I have been using Nod32 before until i got the Memory resident virus Virut.A
that replicate it self forever to all .exe on the pc.
Nod32 didnt detect this, a scan with kaspersky did.

Virut.A is a Big problem for me since is not the first time i got it
in one year i got it 3 times :upset:

So i want an antivirus that protect well against virut.a and remove it.
since last time i had to Format my Drive when i got Virut.a

As i Said the pc i use at the moment is slow so i cant use Kaspersky or the latest Norton as my default antivirus, and i dont trust Nod32 anymore 
beside nod32 is dificult to setup.

I been using the Free Bitdefender8 some time it was fast for my pc
but had 2 problems: It took an eternity to scan and now when i try to update i cant just got "has never been updated" and "Updated failed"
so i got rid of the Bitdefender thing.

Now i am installing AVG 7.5 antivirus to try that, is even free
I heard is good but not the best but what i liked it has a removal tool for Virut.A the so called rmvirut.exe if this work it help greatly against that virut.A virus if i ever get it again.

Should i use AVG for this old pc or is there something better?

The antivirus i dont want is:
Nod32
Panda (found protection to be low)
Zonealarm antivirus (integrated into zonealarm)
Bitdefender 
Mc.affe (had very bad experiece with it on old pc)

And ofcourse: the latest Norton and kaspersky would not be so good on a old pc.

NOW, What about using Norton 2004 ?
and older norton would not be such a big resource hog.

So mainly my choice is: AVG, Norton 2004 or another antivirus that work good with Old pc.

Suggestions?

MEanwhile i will try out AVG because bitdefender was useless since i couldnt update it anymore.

And later i guess i Install Kaspersky on the new pc when i get it pc back


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## Old Rich

AVG should do well on that machine . . keep your definitions updated and it will do the job


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## scubadiver

If i use AVG should the Resident shield be on?
how long does AVG take to scan 80Gb?

And how do i see how much is left to scan
i dont get a status bar or % scanned


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## Old Rich

scubadiver said:


> If i use AVG should the Resident shield be on?
> Yes
> how long does AVG take to scan 80Gb? Hard to say
> 
> And how do i see how much is left to scan
> i dont get a status bar or % scanned


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## scubadiver

I dont realy like a scanner that dont show how much % has been scanned.
Does Avast has this , is Avast better (And more updated than AVG)
Should i uninstall the AVG and use Avast instead?

Thanks for suport so far


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## Old Rich

I would take some time to get used to it . .


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## Go The Power

scubadiver said:


> I dont realy like a scanner that dont show how much % has been scanned.
> Does Avast has this , is Avast better (And more updated than AVG)
> Should i uninstall the AVG and use Avast instead?
> 
> Thanks for suport so far


AVG and Avast! are both very good, and it is really personal choose after that.

I think AVG is easier to use and is more user friendly.


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## Old Rich

Go The Power said:


> AVG and Avast! are both very good, and it is really personal choose after that.QUOTE]
> 
> Well said! !


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## scubadiver

Yea is probaly up to how the enduser likes each program.
My first AVG scan took 2 hours on a 80GB+20GB hardisks
which is ok (compared to bitdefender)

Now as i said i dont like it dont tell me how much left scanning.
I am planning to uninstall it and try Avast.

I am also thinking about Trend micro and Fsecure
but not sure how heavy they are for an old pc?

Free antivirus are probaly quite good and underated in tests
just because they free not mean they are bad so i will try them first.

Any more sugestion is apreciated


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## Go The Power

My personal choose for Antivirus is Avira Antivir (the link is in my signature), it is free and very light on resources.

I have never used Fsecure so i cant see if it is 'resource hungry'.

What are the system spec of the computer?


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## scubadiver

Specs are Mhz800 memory 512mb XP


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## scubadiver

Ok i now tried Avast Dont like it (except for the skinning)

Scanning time AVG vs Avast for 100Gb hardisk:

Avg > 2 hours
Avast > almost 4 hours

So i going to remove Avast and give Avira AntiVir and F-secure a try 
are they any good, is Fsecure too heavy for my pc?

And what about Trend micro too heavy for my pc?

I only be using this Old Pc for 1-2 months or so until get laptop back
so i can use Antivirus trials dont have to buy yet.


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## Go The Power

First try Avira Antivir.

When I used Trend Micro, i didnt think it was resource hungry. From some reviews I ahve read Trend Micro doesn't have the best detection rate. It is still good just not as good as others.


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## scubadiver

Go The Power said:


> First try Avira Antivir.
> 
> When I used Trend Micro, i didnt think it was resource hungry. From some reviews I ahve read Trend Micro doesn't have the best detection rate. It is still good just not as good as others.


In other words Nod32 is better than Trend micro?
Any experience with F-secure?

I am now trying avira Antivir (when i scan it says Luke Filewalker 
What i like with Antivir over AVG/Avast is that Antivir give me a Status
how much % is scanned

10 minuts into the scan (100gb hardisk) and is 2.7% quite detailed
with that rate i calculate the scan will be over in 4 hours or so 
meaning Avg is still faster (but i cant say for sure until it finish scanning)


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## Go The Power

I would say Nod32 would be better that Trend Micro, but that is what I have read, I personally haven't tried Nod32.



> Any experience with F-secure?


Sorry I have never used it.



> I am now trying avira Antivir (when i scan it says Luke Filewalker


When I first tried Avira, I thought that was very clever :grin: :laugh:


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## scubadiver

But i dont like is slow 100Gb 
and 2 hours and is like 20% thats too slow isnt it?


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## Go The Power

scubadiver said:


> But i dont like is slow 100Gb
> and 2 hours and is like 20% thats too slow isnt it?


How full is the HDD?


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## scubadiver

Quite full on the main drive i have like 1-2 Gb free
But i am trashing avira i got a Blue screen error at srescan.sys
long time since i got a blue screen on my computer

Now i will try Fsecure


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## Go The Power

No wonder your computer is slow if you only have 1GB free!, that is what the scan would take so long.

By the way *srescan.sys* is part of Zone Alarm.


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## scubadiver

Ok so thats why i Got a blue screen, so Avira is incompatible with Zonealarm, and UNFORTUNALY seem that Fsecure antivirus 2007 is too
it wont let me install it want to remove my Zonealarm , i dont want zonealarm removed.

So i guess i have to try something else now
Trend micro or Nod32 hmmm..


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## scubadiver

So how much free Space should a Pc have for Fast virus scanning
10Gb out of 100Gb , i have a lot on the pc and altrough i have it backed up there is thing i need there.

Thing is some antivirus is quite fast scanning like Nod32 and avg
so i wonder if it is just about space.


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## Go The Power

Avira is compatible with Zonealarm, as I used to use that myself. 

You should always have at least 15% of you HDD free.

Why do you want a fast scanner anyway? The faster doesn't mean the better, iy may be faster but it might not pick up everything.

Please tell me all the security programs you have installed on your computer? (This includes if they are turned of or disabled)


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## scubadiver

Ok

Antispywares:
Ad-aware 2007 (am going back to the old version liked it better)
AVG antimalware 7.5 (Antispyware/antitrojans)
Spywareblaster
Webroot spysweeper

Firewall:
Zonealarm Pro latest version (Excelent)

Cleaners:
Ccleaner

Others:
Hijackthis (Is useful removing junk)
Sandboxie <--- Have not tested or installed it yet (virtual drive security)
dascshund Anticrash(Use it only if Windows get corrupt it stops bluescreen)

By the way Trend micro is incompatible with Websweeper so had to remove websweeper to try Trend micro

So far opinion about trend micro antivirus with antispyware:
Good:
Catches some spyware i didnt though i had

bad:
Is too much resource hog and the interface is huge on a 1024x768 screen
dont like I have to chosse between Trend micro and spysweeper
(But atleast that is better than giving up Zonealarm as fsecure wants)

When i finish testing i guess there is no other way than
either go back to Nod32 or AvG/avast
and that is without having had a chance to try fsecure


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