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[Japo]

Well if I used Win9X which doesn't include a firewall as XP, I'd use a free firewall just in case. But I agree that it's the browser which makes the most differece. Using MS IExplorer is like asking for intrusion out loud.

[Shadikka]

Firefox + Avira + Comodo Firewall.

I very rarely get anything harmful through.

[win98]

AVG Ad aware avg anti spyware and comodo are the programs I use works great.

[Sentinel69]

On win2K here with firefox and sygate ,Avira is a decent and free virusscanner.
Before I used AVG but it slowed the system down and was bugging me with messages after almost one year.

avira is only one message a day , after each update.

And not only for Wink2K users .... on my old games pc with win95 and Atguard ,Avira runs also perfect.

gr,
Irene

[Japo]

AVG is not heavy at all, I've got it installed in my old crappy P3 450MHz 64MbRAM and the system runs as fine as without antivirus. As for the messages, like most programs you can configure the updates of AVG. I must have customized it, not sure, but I only upload it manually so there are no messages. If I take too long between updates the tray icon turns black and white to let me know that my protection is out of date so that I can prioritize my next manual update. But I'm sure Avira is good also as you say.

PS Welcome onboard.

[Sentinel69]

Thank you

My win95 is an old 550mhz machine and became quite slow with AVG, but if I am really honest...... this win95 install is > 6 years old.
I am affraid if I reinstall the whole bunch again it will not be compatible with some old games anymore because all the things I changed.

But with Avira it runs better.And Norton antivirus I would not recommend at al.If it crash just say buh bye to your system. Happened to me several times.

gr,
Irene

[Japo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sentinel69 @ Feb 8 2007, 04:40 PM) [snapback]278500[/snapback]</div>

this win95 install is > 6 years old. [/b]

Win9X has a very serious issue with system corruption along time. I don't use that machine myself any longer but the only working solution was formatting the hard drive. I actually partiotioned it in two units, so that I only had to format the small one where Win98 is and didn't lose my data. It's not difficult nor time-consuming provided you know what you're doing, definitely less time-consuming that bearing with the system corruption.

But if you don't format you should at least install and run a program like EasyCleaner. In my experience its registry cleaning feature is 100 per cent safe, I've been using it for a long time and never ever got an unpleasant surprise after deleting the bad registry keys it detects, they're referred to files which no longer exist and slow down the system. Plus you can recover afterwards what you delete, even though I've never needed to. An indispensable utility.

[win98]

Yes WIN9X gets unberable after awhile.

[jg007]

I can't agree with the no firewall stratergy there although I will definately agreed that most virus or spyware come from user greed / errors and people do need to be carefull which sites the d/l from and don't just think 'oh kewl it's free !' and 'oh yeah I've got a firewall , that will protect me from everything'

I use za ( + spybot/adaware and other occasionals )and find it really great but I also like to use total uninstall and have a quick check afterwards to see what the proggy installed or edited in the registry , I also really like autoruns as if you check nice and regularly you know what is there and what has mysteriously appeared since last time!

hey it took me ages to d/l from abandonia as I was really suspicious that anything to do with abandoned games or free stuff was suss

I have also always used IE as i'm too lazy to change as it does what I need

[Dave]

Welcome to Abandonia jg007!
What do you think about Zone Alarm free edition?
I see that AVG 7.5 includes a firewall...good or bad one?