Windows 98 anti-virus software

Nex0

Rex_Mundi wrote:

But Avast is totally free, and works perfectly well with W98. AVG is also free and works perfectly well with W98.

Things are useally free for a reason and personally I woudnt trust a antivirus thats free.

For the sake of £8 quid id rather get a proper one.

bud-miser

Thanks to everyone.

Personally, having used the newer systems, I still can't see what actual huge benefits they confer to the AVERAGE pc user over and above W98. They might be great toys for the nerds/folk who live, eat and sleep computers but for someone who just wants a bog standard workhorse which does the JOB they represent no significant advance IMHO. That's why I want to keep my W98 running.

To me, this is another classic case of a technology getting too clever by half. Most people seem to have swallowed the 'new, bright and shiny' hype/sales pitch and bought into XP/2000 and are now possessed (having enriched Bill Gates Inc. by mega-millions in the process) of systems which are capable of vastly more applications than they would ever have any actual use for.

This is nothing new. It's said that 90% plus of TV/video owners back in the 80s didn't know what half of the buttons on their remote controls were for...

ManAtHome

Ah well, that's the onward march of technology for you. Similar situation with lots of stuff:
You can still take decent pictures with a 2mpix camera (and film..!)
You can still take decent video with Hi8
You can still record TV programs on VCR

If nobody buys the new stuff, you never get the chance to buy the new stuff... (even Win98 wouldn't be around if we hadn't bought CP/M, PC-DOS, MS-DOS, Win3 etc).

If it does the job for you, use it, if it doesn't, change it.

Rex_Mundi

Nex0 wrote:

Things are useally free for a reason and personally I woudnt trust a antivirus thats free.

For the sake of £8 quid id rather get a proper one.

I used to think that way, but having used Norton for years (paid for), and also using NOD32 (paid for), Avast, and AVG (free) on different computers. My view is that the free antiviruses alongside a decent package of free antispyware/worm detection/firewall, is as effective as the paid for antivirus packages. I'm certainly not anti Norton (like some), but I haven't come accross the free antiviruses lacking in any respect because they are free (I prefer Avast over AVG through experience).

Rex_Mundi

bud-miser wrote:

Thanks to everyone.

Personally, having used the newer systems, I still can't see what actual huge benefits they confer to the AVERAGE pc user over and above W98. They might be great toys for the nerds/folk who live, eat and sleep computers but for someone who just wants a bog standard workhorse which does the JOB they represent no significant advance IMHO. That's why I want to keep my W98 running.

To me, this is another classic case of a technology getting too clever by half. Most people seem to have swallowed the 'new, bright and shiny' hype/sales pitch and bought into XP/2000 and are now possessed (having enriched Bill Gates Inc. by mega-millions in the process) of systems which are capable of vastly more applications than they would ever have any actual use for.

This is nothing new. It's said that 90% plus of TV/video owners back in the 80s didn't know what half of the buttons on their remote controls were for...

I don't agree that XP is for 'nerds'. I also don't think that you can blame MS for needing a more powerful OS (like XP is over W98).

We are seeing a lot of moves from software companies/hardware companies/ISPs to get the PC central to peoples use as 'media centres' now. This is going to become more and more mainstream as time goes on (aimed at the average user). To run these applications well, we are going to need more powerful computers. Fact is, W98 can't handle the increase in power/bigger file sizes. Latest games need more power to run. This also means that average kids that want to play the latest PC game is going to need a more powerful OS than W98.

My W98 PC does a lot, but I'm finding that applications I use that need more power don't run well on W98. They run fine with XP though, because XP can handle the extra hardware capacity of my latest system.

bud-miser

You wouldn't agree that 'XP is for nerds'...?

In the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies: 'Well, he wouldn't, would he?'!

Perhaps I should have used a kinder formula of words: the 'computer-fixated', perhaps..?

I repeat: for the vast majority of everyday PC users, XP and 2000 represent NO great advance over 98. What they DO represent is the triumph of marketing over actual need. But then, as I said, nothing new there.

Rex_Mundi

So when Intel/AMD increase the power of their chips (this is inevitable, read up on Moores Law), and Mobo manufacturers improve their products to run the new chips better, and software companies develop better/more powerful applications to use the increase in power. The average PC user should ignore this advance in technology, and still use a good, but completely limited OS (W98), that can't take advantage of latest software/hardware out there?

You can't even burn a full DVD with W98 because the biggest file size it can handle in one hit is 4GB (a DVD is 4.7GB). Does that mean they should move backwards and decrease DVD size so we can use these with an older system? This is crazy.

This is nothing to do with falling for sales pitches. It has everything to do with the advance of technology.

Toxteth_OGrady

@bud-miser

Hope you'll not be too disappointed if your mobo, cpu or graphics card fail in the next couple of years and the only replacements you'll be able to get will be pci-e and dual core. :eek:

Try googling for 98se support for these - good luck. Mind you if you're "nerdy" enough you'd be able to use a VM environment.

:cool:

TOG

bud-miser

Toxteth_OGrady wrote:

@bud-miser

Hope you'll not be too disappointed if your mobo, cpu or graphics card fail in the next couple of years and the only replacements you'll be able to get will be pci-e and dual core. :eek:

TOG

If ever there was a case of someone proving my point for me, this is it.

Sorry, Monsieur Mobu-cpu-pci-e-dual core man - my native language is English...

Toxteth_OGrady

I didn't realise you'd actually made a coherent point in any of your posts.



:cool:

TOG