Win98 on internet:security measures

[stefcep]

i have been given a PIII-650 with Win98SE.  i want to use it on internet for the sites that my A4000 wont work properly on.  i have been reading about the Window security issues.  What measures in  software and hardware, preferably free or real cheap, should i take? I mean recommended firewall, antivirus, antispyware etc

[odin]

I suggest dump W98 and put W2k or WinXP on that if you wish to use Windows.

-edit-
For antivirus you can use AntiVir or AVG. WinXP has an inbuilt firewall (opinions vary on it though).

Here's a list of other firewalls.

For spyware I can think of Ad-Aware and Spyblaster from the top of my head.

[Vincent]

Grisoft's AVG Free Edition

Sygate Personal Firewall (limited free edition, but I've been using it for 3 years with no problem)

I'd also recommend upgrading to 2000 or XP.

[bloodline]

stefcep wrote:
i have been given a PIII-650 with Win98SE.  i want to use it on internet for the sites that my A4000 wont work properly on.  i have been reading about the Window security issues.  What measures in  software and hardware, preferably free or real cheap, should i take? I mean recommended firewall, antivirus, antispyware etc

Get WinXP on it, and run WinUAE on it :-)

[adolescent]

Don't forget a spyware checker also.  The free MS Antispyware beta works fine.  But, again, you'll need XP.

[Vincent]

For spyware I'd recommend:

Spybot Search & Destroy
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE
Microsoft's AntiSpyware (Beta)

The MS one is handy as it has a real-time checker, but you'd need Win2000 or XP.

[alx]

@bloodline

Get WinXP on it

I'd have thought that XP would crawl on a machine like that (dunno how much RAM it's got though).

and run WinUAE on it :-)

Not AROS? :-P

[amiga1260]

If you have 256 MB of RAM, you could run Windows XP on de P-3 650 MHz nicely. I tried it on a PC with P3-600 and it works very well.

[bloodline]

alx wrote:
@bloodline

Get WinXP on it

I'd have thought that XP would crawl on a machine like that (dunno how much RAM it's got though).

and run WinUAE on it :-)

Not AROS? :-P

Well he did say he wanted to use the unit for web browsing... :-) But it's true that running AROS on the machine is the only way to ensure safety ;-)

[whabang]

Time to write a virus for AROS, then! :evilgrin:

[Amigaz]

odin wrote:
I suggest dump W98 and put W2k or WinXP on that if you wish to use Windows.

-edit-
For antivirus you can use AntiVir or AVG. WinXP has an inbuilt firewall (opinions vary on it though).

Here's a list of other firewalls.

For spyware I can think of Ad-Aware and Spyblaster from the top of my head.

If it's a 128mb machine don't install WinXp because it'l'l probably eat away 100-130 megs just booting up

[stefcep]

It has 192 meg ram, and it runs windows really quickly.  I do run Winuae and it renders pictures in Cinema4d about 10 times faster than my 68060 A4000.  I can get XPro Academic with SP2 for about $125 Aus and I was tempted but then I thought about the speed hit on such a relatively slow cpu if i did.  So thought that I could have the speed with Win98 and just do something cheap for Internet security.  Anyway most people seem to recommend XP and some more ram.  not sure if I still can get ram for it though..

[Noster]

Hi,

@stefcep

> Anyway most people seem to recommend XP and some more ram. not sure if I still can get ram for it though.

Don't listen to them. I'm still using Win98SE and it works perfect for me. I use Firefox as browser and my old 486 as external Linux router/firewall to connect to the internet and browse the sides the Amiga doesn't displays.
You don't need to update to XP, you will get nothing else than problems! I think Win98 is even safer than XP (it doesn't have so much crap running in the background).

I would only update to XP with a P4 2GHz or above if I would use any software that requires such a machine (what could this be except games and recompressing stolen movies?). I've never got any virus or malware in the last 5 years. If you don't want to use an external router/firewall you need to purchase a firewall for your windows machine.
I use F-Prot as offline-virus scanner (no need for an allways running scanner).

Noster

[Vincent]

Go for Win2000 instead if you can't get more ram - W2k isn't quite as resource hungry as XP.

[Noster]

Hi,

> Go for Win2000 instead if you can't get more ram - W2k isn't quite as resource hungry as XP.

Why should he, what are his benefits from changing to W2k or XP?

He might not get any memory because the old machine might not work with more than 256 MB.

Noster