Prozactive,

We may have an additional AV option. Just yesterday, I ran the ESET Online Scanner (http://www.eset.eu/eset-online-scanner) on a 98SE notebook, and it finished successfully.

However, the same scanner crashes at 31% on my 98FE tower that has a more capable CPU and a lot more memory. So it looks like FE/SE may be the dividing line for this program.

Happy Hunting,

--JorgeA

JorgeA,

Sorry about the slow response. Thanks for the info about ESET. I've heard about it and I know there are several other online virus scanners people have referenced. I've never used one on my own systems but I have run a few scans on other people's computers during malware recovery efforts. They do seem to work quite well, although I tend to be leery of any online type system scan for whatever reason. Like I said, luckily I've had very few encounters with malware and hopefully that will continue.

When Avast! support for Win9x/ME ends, I will probably switch to PC-cillin or NAV. You should take a look at the very informative "Surviving Without a Virus Scanner" thread dencorso referenced earlier. It presents a long technical discussion about this topic and I will probably implement many of the suggestions.

HTH

Prozactive,

Thanks very much for the tip on that thread. I will definitely look it up!

I'll also make sure to look into PC-cillin for the 98SE notebook, for the time when Avast! pushes us away.

BTW, I was browsing at the newsstand today, and IIRC Consumer Reports ranked Avast! 4.8 at the bottom of the free AV applications. I'm not so sure that's such an accurate ranking, but that's how they had it. I'll be waiting for my subscription copy to come in the mail, for the details.

--JorgeA