Looking for a free antivirus program

J

jacatone

I always liked Malwarebytes for my antivirus but it no longer supports Win XP. Been trying some others but they either won't install or don't work. Does anyone know of a program that will? Thanks
 
I personally recommend Avast, specifically version 5.x (the oldest one which is still receiving virus definition updates) because of its significantly lower overhead/system requirements compared to AVG 2018 and comparable software. Here are a couple of links:

http://sdfox7.com/avast/5.x/ (look for "setup_av_free.exe")
https://www.avast.com/en-us/download-update (look for "Avast VPS update for versions 5 to 8")

I pray Avast will meet your antivirus needs!
 
I just now downloaded, from the link I gave you, and installed on my other xp sp3 32bit system and it installed fine and is running a scan now.

did you run the malwarebytes cleanup tool first?

here are 2 in a zip package, not sure which one I used but try both to remove all remnants of malwarebytes, reboot and try to install again.
 

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jacatone said:
I've already tried this legacy version of Malwarebytes, it won't install.
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The last version that installed for me is Malwarebytes Free 3.3.1.2183. I had Avira Free (don't recall the version) from MajorGeeks, with BgPKiller 0.96 to stop the constant ads. It worked well til Avira decided to pitch a fit about Malwarebytes, and pretty much everything else, about six months later. So I dumped it. Only had Malwarebytes for the last 6 months, and no problems. Anyway, you ain't got a lot of options (https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/all_in_one_anti_virus_suites.html).
 
In a world where everything changes day to day in new ownership, its hard to keep track, I love Eugene Kersperski, its amazing to me that when I go to his site, I get travel photos of nature instead of geek non sense, Eugene feels free to get past computing's endless hole, and get back to flesh and blood virtual real life.

But as McAfee has said, it takes only 24 hours now, to make a master hack program , in that light it is a testament to how good most folks still are in the world,
darkness always wants to seem "All immense and in control" buts it not.

I use Avast because they know if the free version fails to protect you they are lost selling you the upgrade, a corporate philosophy not all companies have.

have you watched any clouds lately. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I try to get out of the house every day and spend some time at the pool. It is always fun to soak up some sun rays & watch the clouds. Avast has been my first choice for an antivirus for more than a decade, & it is always my go-to recommendation for those seeking one.
 
jim davis said:
In a world where everything changes day to day in new ownership, its hard to keep track, I love Eugene Kersperski, its amazing to me that when I go to his site, I get travel photos of nature instead of geek non sense, Eugene feels free to get past computing's endless hole, and get back to flesh and blood virtual real life.

But as McAfee has said, it takes only 24 hours now, to make a master hack program , in that light it is a testament to how good most folks still are in the world,
darkness always wants to seem "All immense and in control" buts it not.

I use Avast because they know if the free version fails to protect you they are lost selling you the upgrade, a corporate philosophy not all companies have.

have you watched any clouds lately. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
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Speak of the devil and then he pops up! The day after I posted #7, Malwarebytes tried to secretly update itself, but I caught it in the act, and aborted the process. Don't recall which of my myriad programs tipped me off...guess I should of noted that. Anyway, right before I quit for the day, Malwarebytes sent a popup saying an update was ready, so this time (since they weren't being sneaky) I gave it a try. I'm now running version 3.5.1.2522, so far without any problems.
 
I'm glad it's working for you now! I had an odd thing happen when I updated to CCleaner 5.39 recently, and it happened on two separate XP installations: after applying my usual tweaks to the default settings (including disabling the check for automatic updates) and then closing out of it, when I started it up again it'd automatically been updated to 5.46. Not sure if it's just me or if this will happen with other folks too. It's strange--perhaps 5.46 is the final proper version for XP! It's working very well...not much slower than 2.36 (which is still great for Win98SE/ME), and it covers a broader range in the junk files it can clean up & account for.

Thanks again for the recommendation! I'm using it with BleachBit 1.8, Comodo System Cleaner 3.0.172695.53, and Disk Cleaner 1.8.1795. I've also got Defraggler 1.21 installed (the last in the 1.x series; I honestly can't find any reasons to use a newer version).
 
If 5.26 is doing what you need it to do, more power to you! Heck, I was happy with 2.36, but tried the newer one based on trimis's recommendation--it works fine even on my old Pentium 4, and does seem to have a few more tricks in its bag as far as de-crapping a PC.
 
Hello everyone and I'm so sorry if I was impolite. I'm Indonesian and my emglish is very limited.

I use Malwarebytes and SmadAV (for usb scanning) on my 32bit sp3 and so far so good. Actually Malwarebytes 3.5.1 build 2522 component package 1.0.365 still supporting windows xp as stated on their official forum (https://forums.malwarebytes.com/top...asked-questions/?tab=comments#comment-1243649) so i recommend you to upgrade to this version. Yes it won't recieve new component updates but you still have the virus database updates so I think it's worth a try.

Hope you guys stay safe and sorry again for my limited english..
 
I appreciate your recommendations very much, esyede! There's no need to apologize--you have done absolutely nothing wrong. I pray for happiness/safety for you and everyone in Indonesia!
 
cmccaff1 said:
I had an odd thing happen when I updated to CCleaner 5.39 recently, and it happened on two separate XP installations: after applying my usual tweaks to the default settings (including disabling the check for automatic updates) and then closing out of it, when I started it up again it'd automatically been updated to 5.46. Not sure if it's just me or if this will happen with other folks too.
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It happened to a lot of other people. Please see link below.
Elizabeth23 said:
5.26.5937 is the version I am using and have unchecked auto update, I have no problems with this version and do not plan to update. :)
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Here is something I came across that might help to remain safe from Avast:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ngs-and-forcing-update-to-latest-546-version/

At the bottom of the page you'll find "How to disable CCleaner automatic updates" and how to delete "CCleaner Update Scheduled Task"

Apparently Avast has been up to a lot of mischief with CCleaner. This is just a small sample:

https://forum.piriform.com/topic/52...-feedback/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-298509
 
Thank you for the information, Janice! It is always appreciated. It truly is unbelievable what these companies are doing now to force updates. Absolutely sneaky, gray-area-of-the-law stuff.
 
I'm sure lots of fellow forum members don't realize that CCleaner also has a portable version, distributed as a zip file:

https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds

The portable version is v5.48.6834, while the latest official exe version is 5.47.6716:

https://ccleaner.en.uptodown.com/windows

Here is the release log and the news page:

https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/version-history

https://www.ccleaner.com/news/release-announcements

Personally I always try to find a portable version of an application, to keep the registry and drive C as clean as possible.
 
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I don't blame you, Lex--portable apps do seem to solve certain problems of regular .exe installations. I will have to give the latest version a try!
 
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