Hello. I have laptop Pentium III, 500Mhz. Memory 256. Video memory 8.

I have installed avg free and COMODO free firewall. Is there anythng else that is decent and hongs less resources?

Programs these days get bigger and bigger as they have a need to combat and seek out ever-increasing amounts of malware from the Internet. Therefore anything that is "light" probably isn't any good. Your laptop isn't particularly fast and so to that degree whatever you put on it anti-virus wise will slow it down.

BIGDOG-


MY machine is similar to yours (Celeron 600MHz), and I recently upgraded from192MB RAM to 512 and it made a BIG difference..(Also make sure your paging file is big enough),
UNfortunately, most PCs now only have two slots for RAM rather than four as in the olden days, so you can't simply(cheaply) ADD memory anymore, you have to Upgrade it... and old PC100 RAM is more expensive than DDR2 at the computer store! However, I got a good deal and paid only $60 US for 2 X 256MB (512MB total) and it was well worth the investment. Buying 2 x 512MB would have set me back $150, and given the price of new bargain-basement PCs, it wouldn't really be worth it...... but from a reputable seller on eBAY, this would surely be the way to go. My pagefile (HDD space used as virtual memory) runs about 1GB so the max RAM would be a great idea if the price were right, but I have no trouble running Firefox with a dozen add-ons, and a boatload of AV/AS apps..All the heavy number-crunching I do *at work* via online connect.
Older PCs can be made to work..

--SteveFAL

PS--Also, graphics take up a lot of processing, just wiggling the cursor makes my CPU usage jump from 25% to 60%,-try un-doing some of the superfluous Windows animation like shadows under windows, shadow under cursor, sliding menus and tooltips, etc. It made a small but noticeable improvement for me--(your mileage may vary)...
It's under start>settings>control panel>system>advanced>performance>settings

If for some reason, you can't get more RAM, uninstall AVG 8.0, which is rather resources hungry, and go for one of these:
- Avira free antivirus: http://www.free-av.com/en/download/index.html
- Avast! free antivirus: http://filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/

Comodo is an excellent firewall, but if resources are at stake, you may just stay with Windows firewall.

Ummm, just a little counterpoint...
I have never read anything positive about Windows firewall at this site, is that just because it only protects incoming and not outgoing or is it really all that porous? Of course anything is better than nothing, but
COMODO is pretty darn light at least according to task manager... I'm reading 5,240K right now and another 2024K for their "safe surf" module totaling a skosh over 7MB total; pretty minimal compared to the 100MB or so for a browser, and even compared to the 3 to 15 MB for each of the 7 Avast! modules (I only require 3 or 4)...Or does it (COMODO) get really resource-heavy when it's actively filtering stuff?
Task Manager is a great tool when using an older machine......

That's true. I use Comodo, as well. Try to get rid of AVG, and see what happens.

windows xp firewall - protects incoming and not outgoing

vista firewall - protects incoming and outgoing

Geeks To Go Rocks! Thank you for the great help you offer. Whenever I'm at a loss, Geeks to Go is my first and last stop.

I'm now in need of a bit more help.

I'm visiting my mom who lives 1000 miles away. She's been complaining about the snail pace of her computer so I thought I would give a look.
Here's what she has:

DELL Dimension 2400, Pentium 4, 2.66ghz, 256MB RAM

I realize that alone explains it but she's 86 and making too many changes without being here longer will only make things worse because answering her questions long distance is impossible.

Here's what I've found so far:
No current AV program
Bits and pieces of old Symantec, McAfee, AOL safety and security
Windows Firewall
Charter Communications Broadband connection
XP Home SP3

Here's what I know:
She uses Word 2000 A LOT
Uses AOL free with Broadband for e-mail (several hours a day)
Pays bills online and occasionally shops online
Has a new All In One printer - not hooked up yet - to use mostly for COPY and FAX and occasional scanning
An outdated version of AOL Safety and Security constantly runs

Here's what I've done so far:
Ran TFC and cleaned off 1000s of files
System Restore Point
ERUNT
Ran MBAM - found and discarded 13 low risk

Here's What I need:
1. An AV that won't hog her computer and is user friendly - free or paid
2. Spyware recommendation
3. Should I stick with Windows Firewall?
4. How do I know if I've gotten rid of ALL old AV and Spyware?
5. How do I tell if she has any other firewalls?

The following are probably not for this post but maybe you wouldn't mind guiding me to the right one:
1. How do I know which programs to get rid of that run in the background or on startup?
2. How do I know what I can safely uninstall?

Thanks for your help. next rrip it's a new computer!

I'm probably bringing some storm over my head, but I have to disagree with this:

There are ways to manually enable some sort of outbound protection, but Vista firewall is not two-way firewall by default.
Unless I see some source of the above statement.

There is a lot of info supporting my point of view, but if any doubts...
Some time ago, I ran extensive Vista firewall "leak tests", and it failed most of them: http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com/index....=vista+firewall

Here's what I will suggest on your Moms computer. As I write this, I will probably forget something, but its a start.

You will need AV protection. Recommended is Avira or Avast. I dumped AVG when it went to version 8.5 because of it being heavy on resources.

You will need a firewall. I only use windows firewall at present. I am considering zone alarm again. It is also very good. I tried comodo and found it difficult to use and configure, but that is probably me.

I would also suggest adding more ram. You can go to Crucial or 4 All Memory for an automatic scanner of the system. You can also put in your own specs to get what you need. You do not have to buy from them.

You should also clean off the old renmants of the old AV programs. Almost all of the AV providers have uninstallers. There is a link in my signature.

Continue to use MBAM. That is a good program.

Also, I suggest using Spyware Blaster for preventing spyware.

As for the programs that run in the background, you should look at the msconfig (startup programs). Go to start.....run....type in msconfig. Go to the startup tap. All you need to do is uncheck the ones you do not want to start up when the computer starts. They do not get uninstalled by doing this, so you can go back in a recheck if needed. The ones to have automatically start are your firewall and AV/ malware programs. You just have to look at them and decide.

I will add that Erunt is a good preventitive choice to use.

Make sure that the windows updates are up to date also.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

123runner