I need a free antivirus program for Windows 98 system!

[Lima Jaric]

I have a very old system running on Windows 98. I do not want to format the same and upgrade that. As there is a accounting application which I am using it on this system from long time and the that application is discontinued. There was a free antivirus I do not remember the name. It is not working right now. It is neither scanning or finding any virus in the system. I had tried to locate some updates and patches but nothing worked there. Can anyone provide me some old edition of a decent firewall that can scan and locate basic threats.

[Wolf K]

Yes there are still old antivirus available for Windows 98. You can download and run the setup. As you said the system is very old, then it might affect the system performance to some extent. I am still using Avast. I had upgraded to Windows XP and it looks to be working fine. Today it might be a bit difficult to locate the edition of Windows 98, but you can find it. I had seen some site offering ClamWin as better solution for Windows 98. You can schedule the scan to keep your system safe. It is recommended not to use the system when the antivirus is scanning.

[Jacob.M]

Yes you can go for any old antivirus that is quiet popular and safer. There is a old system at our library which has Windows 98 and there is a application which keeps info on all the books. Now we cannot format or upgrade that directly without getting the right data backup. The limitation of that application that it does not export the data in readable format. I had installed AVG in that and it stopped downloading the virus definition. The issue does not lies with finding a antivirus but with antivirus definition. It is being completely discontinued and I think the antivirus companies had stopped providing virus definition for the same.

[Diggs]

My uncles system has AVG 7.5. It is also a Windows 98 system. Somehow it too stopped receiving fresh updates. There are number of alerts about some files which were malicious. Now the antivirus does not has any update so there is no way it can detect those virus. The best thing I did is disconnected that system from web. So till we can find a better alternative the system can function and will not die completely. If you want to keep your old system safe then do not use any external storage on them.

[Illeana]

I am trying to download manual virus definition from web. But for edition on 98 there is no way locate new files for it. It is right that some antivirus companies do not provide virus definition for such old OS and due to which you are not able to getting new files. So you can simply ignore that. Windows 98 is a ancient os and you cannot do anything in that. You can just keep your system safe with your existing antivirus and practising some safe things. Like as mentioned above do not insert any infected floppy drive or any thing that can cause virus.

[Eithne]

I am having Comodo in Windows XP. I had used the same setup in Windows 98 which failed to work. I thought there would be some way to run the setup and it will be working properly. The mistake I did is removed my internal antivirus to install this new one and no my system is entirely unsafe.

[sah]

I found that AVG 7.5 is not supported on older Windows edition. Also the same thing is applicable for AVAST. There can be temporary solution by adding some antivirus which we never heard. You can keep the firewall on for the protection and if you are using the system on LAN then you can initiate some lan antivirus which will block the threat from source. Moon Secure is one of compatible antivirus which works for Windows 98. It is lighter and perform a bit well also. You must not go for new or popular antivirus. There is no way to locate the older edition.

[Han$naH]

Thanks for the reply. I am too looking for a antivirus that can secure my old Windows 98 system. I cannot just through it away. I found the download on sourceforge and it works fine. With the internet connection I was able to update the same. The issue with this antivirus it there are tons of offers and ads which areon the screen for the trail edition. The antivirus sometime takes time to launch

[Diggs]

To save your system from virus you can simply follow some steps. Windows 98 is a quiet old OS and there is no way I think we can find a right antivirus for it. Even if you found the updates are not available for it. This platform lacks a good quality of antivirus software. And also you do not need to worry much. I think there are less virus available for this edition of Windows. There are some top antivirus that you can download and use them for minimum security. With the existing update it has you can simply keep your system secure.

[Illeana]

There are some cracked antivirus on torrent and I am not sure whether they work or not. I had also seen the bundle of virus definition with the same. There are some old windows community which provides you trial edition with minimum security. Somehow you can download this on a system which is protected and then run the setup in oldest edition. I had seen some of the old system which are using Nod32 but it is also not updated. So the issue is quiet common among all those who are trying to find a updated edition of antivirus for 98.

[Stuartl]

What I know that if your system is connected to internet then you need a much better support for security. Because virus mostly spread from internet and among this few years spamming has increased. AVG is the only powerful antivirus solution that I had seen to be working well for such issues. I am not able to find the right aspect of dealing with this issues. There should be some alternative which must be capable of giving a nice result.

[Jason A]

There is a alternative for that. But it is a manual process. For that you have to create a bootable disc for antivirus. There are some ready to use bootable drive that comes with antivirus scanner in them and you just need to update the virus definition in that. Burn the disc and then scan your system with that. It will detect any malware in the system and will clean it. You just need to run the scan manually after a regular break or simply run when it is needed. It is a much powerful option and you can run any latest antivirus scan through bootable disc.

[Lucile]

Try some trail ware if they are available. Bootable disc is a nice solution, but as it is a manual process you cannot schedule any scan in that. I had checked some paid software which promised to have compatible support for Windows 98 also. I had not tested. If this worked I will surely list the information over hear.

[Brandy]

I think going with bootable scanning is much better option. I never thought that will work. There are tons of things we can do here. I had found a bootable disc that offers inbuilt antivirus solution. You can download the updates and burn it on the disc. There are many rescue disk that you can try out.