Thinkpads Forum

The title pretty much says it all. My Dad's 600X is now running Win98 and I'd like to update it. The thing is I don't want to even get online w/o some kind of antivirus. I'm not too sure what antivirus to use since I think most W98 support is gone from most software. If anyone has an recommendation I'd appreciate it.

I would try AntiVir.

I'll give that a look. I've been trying to install the 3com PCMCIA Ethernet driver on the old beast!

It's a learning experience for sure using Win98

Use Norton AntiVirus 2003. It is the last of the "good" (i.e., non-bloated, fast, streamlined) Norton AntiVirus products, works perfectly on Windows 98 without "choking" it, requires no activation, works with the most current Norton LiveUpdate virus definitions, and gives one 12 months of subscription from the date of installation. Send me a PM (Private Message) if you need more ...

Symantec Antivirus Corporate version 9 is what I used to use for my old old machine running Win98SE (AMD K6-2 @500MHz, 256MB RAM).

Then again, it's not really a piece of software you can easily get as a private person, at least not legally.

And finally I realized that the Win98 box, especially behind a router, probably doesn't need an antivirus. Seriously. In today's world, viruses in the classic definition are history, and 99.9% of the malware circulating out there exploits security holes relevant to the NT-based kernels, not the long outdated Win9x one...

+1 for what dr_st said. I ran ClamWin on my Win98SE 600X for a while, then decided I was happier without anti-virus software.

goofyGAguy wrote:I would try AntiVir.

+1 for AntiVir. I have run it exclusively on my computers for almost 10 years. My impression is that it has some of the lowest resource requirements while still providing good protection.

An unsolicited suggestion would be to change to Windows 2000 to get to an NT-based OS. It runs on those computers and still has some update paths and capabilities to meet most current uses. I run it on my 770 and 770X.

My Grandad has ClamWin Anti Virus on his Compaq Evo N110 running Windows 2000 - I imagine that this will work on Windows 98... seems to do the trick. Small in size and I think you can just download it from here http://www.clamwin.com/ and it states that it work on Windows 98 so no worries there.

Thanks for all the input

Finding out some people aren't using antivirus on a Windows OS is is pretty amusing

... but then again it is an older version so one would think that almost all trojans, malware, etc are aimed at the newer MS OS'.

I haven't got the wireless working so it's almost a moot point right now to install an antivirus. I do have a question about the Intel 2100 and WPA but I think that Win98 just doesn't do WPA-PSK. That encryption came out after Win98 and the 600X. Not sure if changing miniPCI's would make a difference

At any rate thanks!