Support for AVG Free after August 2008

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

While checking out the Grisoft site for some AVG Free information (I

have been using AVG Free for a couple of years), I came across the

following information:

 

Important notice

 

"Some older operating systems such as Microsoft Windows ME,

Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 98 will only be supported

until August 2008 as a minimum".

 

So I asked about this on the AVG Free forum, got the following

response:

 

"I can say that currently Win95 isn't officially supported but AVG

Free still works on it... but I can't say that will also be true for

Win98-WinME at the point that Grisoft does drop support for them. I

can say that most ( not all ) of the other antivirus companies have

already dropped support for Win9x-WinME and you can only expect most

all to do the same very soon".

 

Just thought I might bring this information to the attention of this

group, check it out for yourself. I have just got a copy of Avast Home

Edition which is also free, seems to get much better reviews, performs

more functions than AVG. I also wrote to the Avast forum to ascertain

their intentions about continuing support for Win98SE, got the

following response:

 

"The avast policy is to keep all features that were compatible with

Windows 95, 98 and Me available. Only new features are being just

developed for newer Windows versions.

And ok, it will be free.

Welcome to avast. I'm an ex AVG user too".

 

Avast Home Edition Free requires its own registration process which

you can check out on their website, where you can also get a number of

skins to change the Avast look. Hope this helps.

[Guest Dan]

RE: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

I have heard about this as well and it is annoying since I think AVG should

at least match Avast's policy. I tried Avast but did not care for its

interface and scanning features. Well, if AVG quits in the future then I may

have to go back to AntiVir if they still support 98 Second Edition but I will

just wait and see.

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Sep 29, 1:26 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I have heard about this as well and it is annoying since I think AVG should

> at least match Avast's policy. I tried Avast but did not care for its

> interface and scanning features. Well, if AVG quits in the future then I may

> have to go back to AntiVir if they still support 98 Second Edition but I will

> just wait and see.

 

Dan, I hope to give Avast a try soon. From my research it seems to get

much better reviews, offer far more protection than AVG (P2P, instant

messaging). I will try to report on my experience with Avast.

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Sep 29, 7:07 am, "pixtur...@gmail.com" <pixtur...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sep 29, 1:26 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>

> > I have heard about this as well and it is annoying since I think AVG should

> > at least match Avast's policy. I tried Avast but did not care for its

> > interface and scanning features. Well, if AVG quits in the future then I may

> > have to go back to AntiVir if they still support 98 Second Edition but I will

> > just wait and see.

>

> Dan, I hope to give Avast a try soon. From my research it seems to get

> much better reviews, offer far more protection than AVG (P2P, instant

> messaging). I will try to report on my experience with Avast.

 

Dan. I just went to the Avira AntiVir site. They no longer support

Win98/ME.

 

Windows 98/Me

As of June 30th, 2007 Avira does not support this Microsoft operating

system anymore. A download package for Windows 98/ME is therefore no

longer provided.

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

"pixturesk@gmail.com" wrote:

> On Sep 29, 7:07 am, "pixtur...@gmail.com" <pixtur...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > On Sep 29, 1:26 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> >

> > > I have heard about this as well and it is annoying since I think AVG should

> > > at least match Avast's policy. I tried Avast but did not care for its

> > > interface and scanning features. Well, if AVG quits in the future then I may

> > > have to go back to AntiVir if they still support 98 Second Edition but I will

> > > just wait and see.

> >

> > Dan, I hope to give Avast a try soon. From my research it seems to get

> > much better reviews, offer far more protection than AVG (P2P, instant

> > messaging). I will try to report on my experience with Avast.

>

> Dan. I just went to the Avira AntiVir site. They no longer support

> Win98/ME.

>

> Windows 98/Me

> As of June 30th, 2007 Avira does not support this Microsoft operating

> system anymore. A download package for Windows 98/ME is therefore no

> longer provided.

>

 

Thanks and that information is unfortunate. I may have to write to AVG

and let my concerns be known. I tried Avast a while back and was annoyed how

it wanted to scan so often and just with the interface and load time in

general. I have been really satisfied with AVG and was pleased how when I

removed it the program went out of its way to remove itself fully. I will

stick with AVG for 98 Second Edition for as long as possible. I did run into

issues with Antivir with 98SE in the past so I am not too disappointed that

it no longer supports 98 but thanks for the information anyway.

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Sep 29, 8:36 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> "pixtur...@gmail.com" wrote:

> > On Sep 29, 7:07 am, "pixtur...@gmail.com" <pixtur...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > > On Sep 29, 1:26 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>

> > > > I have heard about this as well and it is annoying since I think AVG should

> > > > at least match Avast's policy. I tried Avast but did not care for its

> > > > interface and scanning features. Well, if AVG quits in the future then I may

> > > > have to go back to AntiVir if they still support 98 Second Edition but I will

> > > > just wait and see.

>

> > > Dan, I hope to give Avast a try soon. From my research it seems to get

> > > much better reviews, offer far more protection than AVG (P2P, instant

> > > messaging). I will try to report on my experience with Avast.

>

> > Dan. I just went to the Avira AntiVir site. They no longer support

> > Win98/ME.

>

> > Windows 98/Me

> > As of June 30th, 2007 Avira does not support this Microsoft operating

> > system anymore. A download package for Windows 98/ME is therefore no

> > longer provided.

>

> Thanks and that information is unfortunate. I may have to write to AVG

> and let my concerns be known. I tried Avast a while back and was annoyed how

> it wanted to scan so often and just with the interface and load time in

> general. I have been really satisfied with AVG and was pleased how when I

> removed it the program went out of its way to remove itself fully. I will

> stick with AVG for 98 Second Edition for as long as possible. I did run into

> issues with Antivir with 98SE in the past so I am not too disappointed that

> it no longer supports 98 but thanks for the information anyway.

 

Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE. Also

there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because of 98SE,

as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate Personal

Firewall I am using. I am not of the computer generation so these

factors have given me pause to re-think my choice of Avast. I agree

with contacting AVG about continuing to support 98SE. If you can give

me the correct link, I also will express my concerns. The only contact

info I can see is for the paid version, no one else can contact them.

Thanks.

[Guest Nigel Stapley]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

pixturesk@gmail.com wrote:

> Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

> see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE. Also

> there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because of 98SE,

> as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate Personal

> Firewall I am using.

 

 

For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build 2710), and

it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

 

 

--

Regards

 

Nigel Stapley

 

http://www.judgemental.plus.com

 

<reply-to will bounce>

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Sep 29, 6:55 pm, Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com> wrote:

> pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

> > Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

> > see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE. Also

> > there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because of 98SE,

> > as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate Personal

> > Firewall I am using.

>

> For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build 2710), and

> it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

>

> --

> Regards

>

> Nigel Stapley

>

> http://www.judgemental.plus.com

>

> <reply-to will bounce>

 

Nigel. Do you just use the default settings in Avast, when running it

with Sygate 5.5 2710, (the version Sygate suggests for Win98SE) in

Win98SE? Thanks.

[Guest Nigel Stapley]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

pixturesk@gmail.com wrote:

> On Sep 29, 6:55 pm, Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com> wrote:

>> pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

>>> see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE. Also

>>> there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because of 98SE,

>>> as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate Personal

>>> Firewall I am using.

>> For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build 2710), and

>> it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

>>

>> --

>> Regards

>>

>> Nigel Stapley

>>

>> http://www.judgemental.plus.com

>>

>> <reply-to will bounce>

>

> Nigel. Do you just use the default settings in Avast, when running it

> with Sygate 5.5 2710, (the version Sygate suggests for Win98SE) in

> Win98SE? Thanks.

>

 

Of the six resident providers, I only have Internet Mail, Standard

Shield and Web Shield running (although the Outlook/Exchange one is

running as I type this - even though I use Tbird!). I have VRDB set to

generate only when the system is idle and I don't have VRDB as a

separate icon.

 

There are one or two other little tweaks (exclusion of certain file

types, etc.), but nothing which is likely to make any difference to

performance.

 

However, there is a known issue when you opt to do a scan of selected

files and folders (rather than the whole drive), whereby your Explorer

icons (in toolbar, systray, etc.) disappear afterwards and you have to

reboot to get them back. Avast! don't seem to want to recognise this

problem exists.

 

Still, I've been using Avast! for 4-5 years and am very happy with it. YMMV.

 

HTH

 

--

Regards

 

Nigel Stapley

 

http://www.judgemental.plus.com

 

<reply-to will bounce>

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

Thanks for your feedback, Nigel and I will have to consider Avast if and when

98 Second Edition is eliminated by AVG. I have just been so pleased with AVG

and my dad, Ivan likes it as well for his XP Professional Dell laptop.

[Guest Galen Somerville]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

 

"Dan" <Dan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:4474B68D-E375-46E0-82BD-8C890E48CD73@microsoft.com...

> Thanks for your feedback, Nigel and I will have to consider Avast if and when

> 98 Second Edition is eliminated by AVG. I have just been so pleased with AVG

> and my dad, Ivan likes it as well for his XP Professional Dell laptop.

 

Theres a difference between AVG not providing an install for Win98 versus AVG not providing updates

for Win98.

 

If the updates still work then just hang on to the last install version that covers Win98.

 

I do the same with Zone Alarm for Win98.

 

If AVG makes it so the older installs can't be done, that's another story. Anyone have more info on

this?

 

Galen

[Guest PCR]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

Nigel Stapley wrote:

| pixturesk@gmail.com wrote:

|> On Sep 29, 6:55 pm, Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com> wrote:

|>> pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

|>>> Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

|>>> see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE.

|>>> Also there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because

|>>> of 98SE, as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate

|>>> Personal Firewall I am using.

|>> For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build 2710),

|>> and it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

|>>

|>> --

|>> Regards

|>>

|>> Nigel Stapley

|>>

|>> http://www.judgemental.plus.com

|>>

|>> <reply-to will bounce>

|>

|> Nigel. Do you just use the default settings in Avast, when running it

|> with Sygate 5.5 2710, (the version Sygate suggests for Win98SE) in

|> Win98SE? Thanks.

|>

|

| Of the six resident providers, I only have Internet Mail, Standard

| Shield and Web Shield running (although the Outlook/Exchange one is

| running as I type this - even though I use Tbird!). I have VRDB set to

| generate only when the system is idle and I don't have VRDB as a

| separate icon.

|

| There are one or two other little tweaks (exclusion of certain file

| types, etc.), but nothing which is likely to make any difference to

| performance.

|

| However, there is a known issue when you opt to do a scan of selected

| files and folders (rather than the whole drive), whereby your Explorer

| icons (in toolbar, systray, etc.) disappear afterwards and you have to

| reboot to get them back. Avast! don't seem to want to recognise this

| problem exists.

 

I like avast!. It takes its updated defs lots quicker than McAfee ever

did. Also, it takes them automatically once connected to the NET-- you

don't have to remember to do it! Occasionally, I will get an error

message that the defs came in corrupt. Then, the easy fix is to do it

manually-- R-Clk, avast!, Updating, iAVS Update. That fixes it every

time!

 

That problem of mussed icons doesn't happen-- if you don't close the

main avast! interface window. So...

 

(a) R-Clk Avast! in the tray, & select "Start avast! Antivirus".

(b) Click the "Folder Selection" button, & cancel it's requestor.

(Or, go ahead & select a folder & scan them.)

© Close Avast!.

 

If you never do ©, you never lose the icons. If you reboot having

never done ©, you don't lose C:\Windows\ShellIconCache, either, for

Windows to have to regenerate it.

 

Also, if you have just one folder to scan or even just one full drive,

you DON'T need the main interface to do it at all. Just R-Clk the folder

or drive in Explorer & scan it using avast!'s Explorer interface. The

only drawback is that the result won't be written to the .log-- "Simple

user interface.txt".

 

Here are other problems...

 

(1) Sometimes Avast! goes into self-extractable's to scan the files

inside-- & sometimes it DOESN'T! It goes into "WMP_v.7.1.exe", but not

into "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\1033\Manual\AR40ENG.EXE"-- yet

BOTH can be opened by WinZip. Also,

 

However, (before I excluded it) it went into "C:\Program

Files\RioPort\Audio Manager\Setupmdm.exe"-- & that one CANNOT be opened

by WinZip. But I guess it could be someone else's self-extractable.

 

I have no idea how well McAfee did with those self-extractable's,

though-- SO, it's hard to really complain. And I haven't seen avast!

fail to enter a .cab or .zip.

 

(2) It gives me a false alarm on "C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio

Manager\Setupmdm.exe". No other virus detector in the world says that

file has a virus! However, I was able to set avast! to exclude that file

from consideration after restoring it.

 

(3) After quarantining & restoring SetupMDM.exe, its date changed from

what I recall to be a 1999 date to...

 

C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager>dir setupmdm.exe

Directory of C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager

SETUPMDM EXE 195,716 06-25-07 3:31p Setupmdm.exe

 

And it SHOWED 1999 while in the chest! Damn! Other than that, the avast!

virus chest worked smoothly.

 

(4) I don't find avast!'s .log ("Simple user interface.txt") to be very

informative. It doesn't say what options were used to perform the scan--

which folders, whether archives were selected, or whether a Quick,

Normal, or Thorough was done.

 

Overall-- I'm very pleased with avast!. It scans quicker than McAfee

did, too.

 

| Still, I've been using Avast! for 4-5 years and am very happy with

| it. YMMV.

|

| HTH

|

| --

| Regards

|

| Nigel Stapley

|

| http://www.judgemental.plus.com

|

| <reply-to will bounce>

 

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

pcrrcp@netzero.net

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Sep 30, 6:26 pm, "PCR" <pcr...@netzero.net> wrote:

> Nigel Stapley wrote:

> | pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

>

> |> On Sep 29, 6:55 pm, Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com> wrote:|>> pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

>

> |>>> Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further checking, I

> |>>> see that it will not perform a real boot up scanning on Win98SE.

> |>>> Also there might be some proxy re-configuration in Avast because

> |>>> of 98SE, as well as, there might be a conflict with the Sygate

> |>>> Personal Firewall I am using.

> |>> For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build 2710),

> |>> and it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

> |>>

> |>> --

> |>> Regards

> |>>

> |>> Nigel Stapley

> |>>

> |>>http://www.judgemental.plus.com

> |>>

> |>> <reply-to will bounce>

> |>

> |> Nigel. Do you just use the default settings in Avast, when running it

> |> with Sygate 5.5 2710, (the version Sygate suggests for Win98SE) in

> |> Win98SE? Thanks.

> |>

> |

> | Of the six resident providers, I only have Internet Mail, Standard

> | Shield and Web Shield running (although the Outlook/Exchange one is

> | running as I type this - even though I use Tbird!). I have VRDB set to

> | generate only when the system is idle and I don't have VRDB as a

> | separate icon.

> |

> | There are one or two other little tweaks (exclusion of certain file

> | types, etc.), but nothing which is likely to make any difference to

> | performance.

> |

> | However, there is a known issue when you opt to do a scan of selected

> | files and folders (rather than the whole drive), whereby your Explorer

> | icons (in toolbar, systray, etc.) disappear afterwards and you have to

> | reboot to get them back. Avast! don't seem to want to recognise this

> | problem exists.

>

> I like avast!. It takes its updated defs lots quicker than McAfee ever

> did. Also, it takes them automatically once connected to the NET-- you

> don't have to remember to do it! Occasionally, I will get an error

> message that the defs came in corrupt. Then, the easy fix is to do it

> manually-- R-Clk, avast!, Updating, iAVS Update. That fixes it every

> time!

>

> That problem of mussed icons doesn't happen-- if you don't close the

> main avast! interface window. So...

>

> (a) R-Clk Avast! in the tray, & select "Start avast! Antivirus".

> (b) Click the "Folder Selection" button, & cancel it's requestor.

> (Or, go ahead & select a folder & scan them.)

> © Close Avast!.

>

> If you never do ©, you never lose the icons. If you reboot having

> never done ©, you don't lose C:\Windows\ShellIconCache, either, for

> Windows to have to regenerate it.

>

> Also, if you have just one folder to scan or even just one full drive,

> you DON'T need the main interface to do it at all. Just R-Clk the folder

> or drive in Explorer & scan it using avast!'s Explorer interface. The

> only drawback is that the result won't be written to the .log-- "Simple

> user interface.txt".

>

> Here are other problems...

>

> (1) Sometimes Avast! goes into self-extractable's to scan the files

> inside-- & sometimes it DOESN'T! It goes into "WMP_v.7.1.exe", but not

> into "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\1033\Manual\AR40ENG.EXE"-- yet

> BOTH can be opened by WinZip. Also,

>

> However, (before I excluded it) it went into "C:\Program

> Files\RioPort\Audio Manager\Setupmdm.exe"-- & that one CANNOT be opened

> by WinZip. But I guess it could be someone else's self-extractable.

>

> I have no idea how well McAfee did with those self-extractable's,

> though-- SO, it's hard to really complain. And I haven't seen avast!

> fail to enter a .cab or .zip.

>

> (2) It gives me a false alarm on "C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio

> Manager\Setupmdm.exe". No other virus detector in the world says that

> file has a virus! However, I was able to set avast! to exclude that file

> from consideration after restoring it.

>

> (3) After quarantining & restoring SetupMDM.exe, its date changed from

> what I recall to be a 1999 date to...

>

> C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager>dir setupmdm.exe

> Directory of C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager

> SETUPMDM EXE 195,716 06-25-07 3:31p Setupmdm.exe

>

> And it SHOWED 1999 while in the chest! Damn! Other than that, the avast!

> virus chest worked smoothly.

>

> (4) I don't find avast!'s .log ("Simple user interface.txt") to be very

> informative. It doesn't say what options were used to perform the scan--

> which folders, whether archives were selected, or whether a Quick,

> Normal, or Thorough was done.

>

> Overall-- I'm very pleased with avast!. It scans quicker than McAfee

> did, too.

>

> | Still, I've been using Avast! for 4-5 years and am very happy with

> | it. YMMV.

> |

> | HTH

> |

> | --

> | Regards

> |

> | Nigel Stapley

> |

> |http://www.judgemental.plus.com

> |

> | <reply-to will bounce>

>

> --

> Thanks or Good Luck,

> There may be humor in this post, and,

> Naturally, you will not sue,

> Should things get worse after this,

> PCR

> pcr...@netzero.net

 

Nigel, Dan. I sent another message to the AVG forum essentially asking

them to continue supporting AVG Free for 98SE. They say that because

Microsoft is no longer supporting 98, especially updates, security

issues, that they cannot continue to support 98 as well after August

2008.

So I just took the plunge, uninstalling AVG, (disconnecting from the

internet first), then installing Avast Home Edition Free. The install

+ all the things you were mentioning Nigel, went smoothly, then I re-

connected to the internet, got all the virus + program updates,

configured the program settings to my liking. I was sent a

registration key be email which I entered as part of the install

process. This license goes for 14 months, at which time I just re-

register, yearly, that's how they keep statistics about program usage.

On my first "C" drive scan Avast found 6 viruses that AVG missed.

Avast goes much further than AVG, providing protection for instant

messaging, P2P, also works perfectly with Sygate 5.5 2710. The forum

is very useful, very informative, one of their people helped me with a

couple of configuration issues. I'll try Avast for the next while

making sure that everything is working properly. Even the online user

+ professional reviews for Avast are very positive. Nice to know that

I can continue to use 98SE for the foreseeable future.

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was disappointed

with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU cost of AVG and how it

removes registry entries when the program is removed. I hated all the

auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do you think?

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

The whole security and safety issue is a lie according to me, secunia and

Chris Quirke, MVP. I will stick with AVG since hackers are not targeting 9x

consumer source code like they target NT (New Technology that lacks a

maintenance operating system like DOS) and Microsoft has tied Internet

Explorer with their operating systems which is a huge mistake like the United

States Justice Department pointed out in 1990 and hopefully the European

Union can finally set Microsoft straight because although I like and respect

the company --- Microsoft does so much better with competition. Remember

Netscape and Internet Explorer and now we have Opera and my current favorite

of Mozilla Firefox. I think Microsoft should ship the operating system bare

of the browser and include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera on a

cd to consumers. Microsoft needs to make another flavor of Vista and XP

Professional and XP Home without the browser and with a cd of at least three

browsers with theirs being the browser they want you to install of course.

Microsoft should do this because of all the ad ware and garbage on the

Internet that may stop legitimate users from using either Mozilla Firefox

and/or Opera and/or Internet Explorer. In my opinion, Apple also needs to

stop shipping their web browser Safari and make the same commitment as

Microsoft and ship with Mozilla Firefox as well since it supports Apple too

and has 256 cipher strength compared to the now weak in my opinion 128 cipher

strength. I know 128 bit cipher strength is not weaked but it can be hacked

with the time and right tools. Sorry, I have not attempted to do this and

was just relaying my experience with my APS (Albuquerque Public School) email

at webmail.aps.edu being hacked. I have heard that APS has now improved

their security with webmail and VPN access but I cannot yet prove it and I am

only reporting what I know. Have a nice week.

 

http://cquirke.wordpress.com/

 

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile=8ee44ddb-6550-4400-966d-9827b1a109b8

 

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11573761&postID=3065010928190918746

 

http://www.spywarepoint.com/forums/t26963-p7-microsoft-zero-day-security-holes-being-exploited.html

 

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB07-267.html

 

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/dod.mspx

 

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/default.mspx

 

http://secunia.com/product/13/?task=advisories (windows 98 second edition)

 

http://secunia.com/product/22/?task=advisories (xp professional)

 

http://secunia.com/product/11/?task=advisories (I.E. 6)

 

http://secunia.com/product/12366/?task=advisories (I.E. 7)

 

http://secunia.com/product/12434/?task=advisories (Mozilla Firefox 2.x)

 

Please check out these web sites if you like and really see how much more

safe 98 Second Edition is than XP Professional. If you search about XP Home

you will see that as well and even safer than Windows 2000. The public must

demand from Microsoft another Windows 9x product for consumers who want to

play their old DOS games and educators who want to teach your children using

older programs like Space for Windows 3.1 that will not run on 2000, XP Home

or Pro. and certainly not on Vista. I await the comments and those that are

upset that 98 Second Edition is safer and Mozilla Firefox is more secure than

Internet Explorer because it uses 256 bit cipher strength (A.E.S.) encryption

that supports back to Windows 98. Why do you think the top government

agencies put important stuff on computers not connected to the Internet and

less but fairly important stuff behind at least 256 bit AES cipher strength

encryption. I await everyone's comments on this long post with lots of

weblinks and now I get to be like PCR and his many web-links. Have a great

week. <grin>

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Oct 1, 1:42 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was disappointed

> with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU cost of AVG and how it

> removes registry entries when the program is removed. I hated all the

> auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do you think?

 

Dan. From my preliminary attempts with Avast, I find it quite easy to

use. You can make a lot of the automatic scanning manual (which I set

for the updates), as well as, set how complete you want the scanning

to be. Not being of the computer generation, I just want something

that works problem-free. Certain features of Avast will not work on

98SE, none that are significant, so as long as Avast continues to

support 98SE, easy for me to navigate, I'll continue using it. I also

use Firefox 2.0.0.7, have about 25 extensions which takes browsing,

for me, to a vary high level. I also use CCleaner, AdAware, Spyware

Blaster, Hijack This, Reg Seeker, MRU Blaster) so I feel that my

computer is just about as safe as can be.

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

I do not like Ad aware because of false positives in the past so I no longer

use it on my dual-boot with 98 Second Edition on one 80 gig. Western Digital

hard drive and one 120 gig. hard drive that is also Western Digital and they

actually are 2 seperate hard drives. The 120 gig has Windows XP

Professional. Unfortunately, I did not study up on Cisco VPN access so it

completly messed up my computer by having problems between it and 98 Second

Edition as well as a potential hacking of my computer. The ASUS motherboard

is still being repaired. Hopefully, I will get it back within 3 weeks or

less from today.

[Guest Dan]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

I forgot to add that I will continue to use AVG Free until August 2008 or

around that date because I see no reason to switch since this is still almost

a year away.

 

"pixturesk@gmail.com" wrote:

> On Oct 1, 1:42 am, Dan <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was disappointed

> > with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU cost of AVG and how it

> > removes registry entries when the program is removed. I hated all the

> > auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do you think?

>

> Dan. From my preliminary attempts with Avast, I find it quite easy to

> use. You can make a lot of the automatic scanning manual (which I set

> for the updates), as well as, set how complete you want the scanning

> to be. Not being of the computer generation, I just want something

> that works problem-free. Certain features of Avast will not work on

> 98SE, none that are significant, so as long as Avast continues to

> support 98SE, easy for me to navigate, I'll continue using it. I also

> use Firefox 2.0.0.7, have about 25 extensions which takes browsing,

> for me, to a vary high level. I also use CCleaner, AdAware, Spyware

> Blaster, Hijack This, Reg Seeker, MRU Blaster) so I feel that my

> computer is just about as safe as can be.

>

>

[Guest PCR]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

pixturesk@gmail.com wrote:

| On Sep 30, 6:26 pm, "PCR" <pcr...@netzero.net> wrote:

|> Nigel Stapley wrote:

|> | pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

|>

|> |> On Sep 29, 6:55 pm, Nigel Stapley <u...@judgemental.plus.com>

|> |> wrote:|>> pixtur...@gmail.com wrote:

|>

|> |>>> Hi Dan. I also am re-thinking using Avast. Upon further

|> |>>> checking, I see that it will not perform a real boot up

|> |>>> scanning on Win98SE. Also there might be some proxy

|> |>>> re-configuration in Avast because of 98SE, as well as, there

|> |>>> might be a conflict with the Sygate Personal Firewall I am

|> |>>> using.

|> |>> For what it's worth, I use Avast! with Sygate PF (v5.5 build

|> |>> 2710), and it doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

|> |>>

|> |>> --

|> |>> Regards

|> |>>

|> |>> Nigel Stapley

|> |>>

|> |>>http://www.judgemental.plus.com

|> |>>

|> |>> <reply-to will bounce>

|> |>

|> |> Nigel. Do you just use the default settings in Avast, when

|> |> running it

|> |> with Sygate 5.5 2710, (the version Sygate suggests for Win98SE) in

|> |> Win98SE? Thanks.

|> |>

|> |

|> | Of the six resident providers, I only have Internet Mail, Standard

|> | Shield and Web Shield running (although the Outlook/Exchange one is

|> | running as I type this - even though I use Tbird!). I have VRDB

|> | set to generate only when the system is idle and I don't have VRDB

|> | as a separate icon.

|> |

|> | There are one or two other little tweaks (exclusion of certain file

|> | types, etc.), but nothing which is likely to make any difference to

|> | performance.

|> |

|> | However, there is a known issue when you opt to do a scan of

|> | selected files and folders (rather than the whole drive), whereby

|> | your Explorer icons (in toolbar, systray, etc.) disappear

|> | afterwards and you have to reboot to get them back. Avast! don't

|> | seem to want to recognise this problem exists.

|>

|> I like avast!. It takes its updated defs lots quicker than McAfee

|> ever did. Also, it takes them automatically once connected to the

|> NET-- you don't have to remember to do it! Occasionally, I will get

|> an error message that the defs came in corrupt. Then, the easy fix

|> is to do it manually-- R-Clk, avast!, Updating, iAVS Update. That

|> fixes it every time!

|>

|> That problem of mussed icons doesn't happen-- if you don't close the

|> main avast! interface window. So...

|>

|> (a) R-Clk Avast! in the tray, & select "Start avast! Antivirus".

|> (b) Click the "Folder Selection" button, & cancel it's requestor.

|> (Or, go ahead & select a folder & scan them.)

|> © Close Avast!.

|>

|> If you never do ©, you never lose the icons. If you reboot having

|> never done ©, you don't lose C:\Windows\ShellIconCache, either, for

|> Windows to have to regenerate it.

|>

|> Also, if you have just one folder to scan or even just one full

|> drive, you DON'T need the main interface to do it at all. Just R-Clk

|> the folder or drive in Explorer & scan it using avast!'s Explorer

|> interface. The only drawback is that the result won't be written to

|> the .log-- "Simple user interface.txt".

 

UPDATE: Actually, even using the avast! Explorer interface, you may

select multiple folders (using the SHIFT or CTRL keys) & hand them to

avast! for a scan.

 

|> Here are other problems...

|>

|> (1) Sometimes Avast! goes into self-extractable's to scan the files

|> inside-- & sometimes it DOESN'T! It goes into "WMP_v.7.1.exe", but

|> not into "C:\Program Files\Microsoft

|> Works\1033\Manual\AR40ENG.EXE"-- yet BOTH can be opened by WinZip.

|> Also,

|>

|> However, (before I excluded it) it went into "C:\Program

|> Files\RioPort\Audio Manager\Setupmdm.exe"-- & that one CANNOT be

|> opened by WinZip. But I guess it could be someone else's

|> self-extractable.

|>

|> I have no idea how well McAfee did with those self-extractable's,

|> though-- SO, it's hard to really complain. And I haven't seen avast!

|> fail to enter a .cab or .zip.

|>

|> (2) It gives me a false alarm on "C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio

|> Manager\Setupmdm.exe". No other virus detector in the world says that

|> file has a virus! However, I was able to set avast! to exclude that

|> file from consideration after restoring it.

|>

|> (3) After quarantining & restoring SetupMDM.exe, its date changed

|> from what I recall to be a 1999 date to...

|>

|> C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager>dir setupmdm.exe

|> Directory of C:\Program Files\RioPort\Audio Manager

|> SETUPMDM EXE 195,716 06-25-07 3:31p Setupmdm.exe

|>

|> And it SHOWED 1999 while in the chest! Damn! Other than that, the

|> avast! virus chest worked smoothly.

|>

|> (4) I don't find avast!'s .log ("Simple user interface.txt") to be

|> very informative. It doesn't say what options were used to perform

|> the scan-- which folders, whether archives were selected, or whether

|> a Quick, Normal, or Thorough was done.

|>

|> Overall-- I'm very pleased with avast!. It scans quicker than McAfee

|> did, too.

|>

|> | Still, I've been using Avast! for 4-5 years and am very happy with

|> | it. YMMV.

|> |

|> | HTH

|> |

|> | --

|> | Regards

|> |

|> | Nigel Stapley

|> |

|> |http://www.judgemental.plus.com

|> |

|> | <reply-to will bounce>

|>

|> --

|> Thanks or Good Luck,

|> There may be humor in this post, and,

|> Naturally, you will not sue,

|> Should things get worse after this,

|> PCR

|> pcr...@netzero.net

|

| Nigel, Dan. I sent another message to the AVG forum essentially asking

| them to continue supporting AVG Free for 98SE. They say that because

| Microsoft is no longer supporting 98, especially updates, security

| issues, that they cannot continue to support 98 as well after August

| 2008.

| So I just took the plunge, uninstalling AVG, (disconnecting from the

| internet first), then installing Avast Home Edition Free. The install

| + all the things you were mentioning Nigel, went smoothly, then I re-

| connected to the internet, got all the virus + program updates,

| configured the program settings to my liking. I was sent a

| registration key be email which I entered as part of the install

| process. This license goes for 14 months, at which time I just re-

| register, yearly, that's how they keep statistics about program usage.

| On my first "C" drive scan Avast found 6 viruses that AVG missed.

| Avast goes much further than AVG, providing protection for instant

| messaging, P2P, also works perfectly with Sygate 5.5 2710. The forum

| is very useful, very informative, one of their people helped me with a

| couple of configuration issues. I'll try Avast for the next while

| making sure that everything is working properly. Even the online user

| + professional reviews for Avast are very positive. Nice to know that

| I can continue to use 98SE for the foreseeable future.

 

Very good! Keep us informed on any peculiarities you may notice. By the

way,...

 

(a) D-Clk avast! in the Tray.

(b) Highlight "WEB Shield" in the Installed Providers box.

© Visit a WEB site or two.

 

Do you see the "Scanned Count" number increasing?

 

 

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

pcrrcp@netzero.net

[Guest PCR]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

Dan wrote:

| Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

| disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

| cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

| removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

| you think?

 

Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did have

occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It may have

left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to delete &

perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo a tweak I had

myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing it provided a

better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually undone. After

that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

 

Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

 

For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan it

with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

scanned & are virus-free!

 

 

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

pcrrcp@netzero.net

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

PCR wrote:

> Dan wrote:

>> Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

>> disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

>> cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

>> removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

>> you think?

>

> Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did have

> occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It may have

> left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to delete &

> perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo a tweak I had

> myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing it provided a

> better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually undone. After

> that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

>

> Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

>

> For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan it

> with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

> scanned & are virus-free!

 

I couldn't even use the later version of AVG Free (7.5), so I went back to

an older one. Version 7.5 wouldn't allow me to finish booting up! It

would lock up the computer as windows finished booting up. But I am

content with the somewhat older version (7), as it does not hang up my

computer, and is pretty lightweight, even though admitedly it's a bit out of

date.

 

I'd consider Avast, but the idea of being forced to register it each year -

sucks. And I gather it's not as light on the system as AVG Free is.

And I really appreciate the lightweight apps. :-)

[Guest PCR]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

Bill in Co. wrote:

| PCR wrote:

|> Dan wrote:

|>> Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

|>> disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

|>> cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

|>> removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

|>> you think?

|>

|> Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did

|> have occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It

|> may have left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to

|> delete & perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo

|> a tweak I had myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing

|> it provided a better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually

|> undone. After that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

|>

|> Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

|>

|> For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan

|> it with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

|> scanned & are virus-free!

|

| I couldn't even use the later version of AVG Free (7.5), so I went

| back to an older one. Version 7.5 wouldn't allow me to finish

| booting up! It would lock up the computer as windows finished

| booting up. But I am content with the somewhat older version (7),

| as it does not hang up my computer, and is pretty lightweight, even

| though admitedly it's a bit out of date.

|

| I'd consider Avast, but the idea of being forced to register it each

| year - sucks. And I gather it's not as light on the system as AVG

| Free is.

| And I really appreciate the lightweight apps. :-)

 

Well, I tracked avast! during the install using InCtlr5...

 

Keys added: 170

Values added: 196

Values changed: 39

Folders added: 19

Files added: 199

Files changed: 17

 

That's actually a LOT less Registry usage than McAfee used, but perhaps

more files. But avast! does not slow down Explorer & other apps like

McAfee did when I had its Auto-System scan running. And I have avast!'s

On-Access setting on High!

 

It was painless enough to register it.

[Guest pixturesk@gmail.com]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

On Oct 1, 4:48 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

wrote:

> PCR wrote:

> > Dan wrote:

> >> Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

> >> disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

> >> cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

> >> removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

> >> you think?

>

> > Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did have

> > occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It may have

> > left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to delete &

> > perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo a tweak I had

> > myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing it provided a

> > better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually undone. After

> > that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

>

> > Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

>

> > For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan it

> > with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

> > scanned & are virus-free!

>

> I couldn't even use the later version of AVG Free (7.5), so I went back to

> an older one. Version 7.5 wouldn't allow me to finish booting up! It

> would lock up the computer as windows finished booting up. But I am

> content with the somewhat older version (7), as it does not hang up my

> computer, and is pretty lightweight, even though admitedly it's a bit out of

> date.

>

> I'd consider Avast, but the idea of being forced to register it each year -

> sucks. And I gather it's not as light on the system as AVG Free is.

> And I really appreciate the lightweight apps. :-)

 

Bill in CO. Since Avast is the only free fully featured (some minor

functions will not work in 98SE) anti virus that will continue to

support Win98SE for the foreseeable future I was not hesitant in the

slightest to use it, I like 98SE, want to continue using it without

having, without choice to upgrade to Win XP. I say thanks to Alwil

Software for giving us Avast free of charge. Having to re-register

each year is not even worth mentioning.

[Guest MEB]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

 

 

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

news:eGP39qGBIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

| Dan wrote:

| | Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

| | disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

| | cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

| | removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

| | you think?

|

| Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did have

| occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It may have

| left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to delete &

| perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo a tweak I had

| myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing it provided a

| better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually undone. After

| that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

|

| Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

 

Yes, it will scan those files. I presently have five files in the vault

[which I use for testing, one is a false positive {stub}, two are trojans

(one downloader), two worms] three different types of executables [zip, rar,

WI] and two zips. AVG has two settings - all files or file extensions

configured to scan.

 

Sorry to see it go, perhaps I'll check on the site and see why ....

 

|

| For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan it

| with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

| scanned & are virus-free!

|

|

| --

| Thanks or Good Luck,

| There may be humor in this post, and,

| Naturally, you will not sue,

| Should things get worse after this,

| PCR

| pcrrcp@netzero.net

|

 

--

MEB

http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com

________

[Guest PCR]

Re: Support for AVG Free after August 2008

 

MEB wrote:

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message

| news:eGP39qGBIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

|| Dan wrote:

|| | Have you tried AVG, PCR? I tried Avast after AntiVir and was

|| | disappointed with it. I was so pleased with the low overhead CPU

|| | cost of AVG and how it removes registry entries when the program is

|| | removed. I hated all the auto-scanning defaults of Avast. What do

|| | you think?

||

|| Well, I am overall pleased with avast!, as I wrote earlier. I did

|| have occasion to uninstall avast! briefly, & it did very well. It

|| may have left one/two empty Registry key(s) behind that were easy to

|| delete & perhaps one empty folder on the HDD. Also, it did not undo

|| a tweak I had myself done (possibly on Stapley's urging) believing

|| it provided a better avast! WEB Shield. But that was easily manually

|| undone. After that, I did reinstall avast! & am overall very pleased.

||

|| Does AVG make any attempt to scan inside self-extractables?

|

| Yes, it will scan those files. I presently have five files in the

| vault [which I use for testing, one is a false positive {stub}, two

| are trojans (one downloader), two worms] three different types of

| executables [zip, rar, WI] and two zips. AVG has two settings - all

| files or file extensions configured to scan.

 

I think there are three...

 

........Quote an avast! help screen........

SETTING THE SENSITIVITY

 

After you select the area to scan, a bar with a slider appears. Moving

the slider, you specify the scanner sensitivity. There are three levels:

 

1. Quick Scan.

Only the possibly dangerous files are scanned, according to their

extension. It means that the files with extensions EXE, SCR, COM, DOC,

etc. are scanned. Within the file, avast! looks only for those viruses

that infect the corresponding type of file. It means that macroviruses

are not searched for in EXE files etc.

 

2. Standard Scan.

Only the possibly dangerous files are scanned, according to their

content. The file extension is ignored. Again, only the viruses

corresponding to the particular file type are searched for.

 

3. Thorough Scan. All files are tested, against all viruses.

.......EOQ...............................................

 

Usually, I do the Standard. I'm not sure -- but probably -- that setting

will hold when using avast!'s Explorer interface to do the scan, instead

of the main avast! interface.

 

| Sorry to see it go, perhaps I'll check on the site and see why ....

 

What has gone?

 

||

|| For instance, I can R-Clk "WMP_v.7.1.exe" in Explorer, chose to scan

|| it with avast!-- & shortly I will discover 856 files of 42.2 MB were

|| scanned & are virus-free!

||

||

|| --

|| Thanks or Good Luck,

|| There may be humor in this post, and,

|| Naturally, you will not sue,

|| Should things get worse after this,

|| PCR

|| pcrrcp@netzero.net

||

|

| --

| MEB

| http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com

| ________

 

--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

Should things get worse after this,

PCR

pcrrcp@netzero.net