Need a good AV for a XP laptop

I bough a dell latitude c640 laptop that has 512mb of ram and it has reinstalled windows xp install that is pirated .No worries i just installed a fresh install of a XP Home dell oem reinstalliation cd that i got from a old dell desktop that no longer exists at my house.So the laptop was never online since i need a good and a antivirus that doesnt eat ram like cheese

 

https://www.root4pc.com/panda-free-antivirus-offline-installer/

you might try above, I had one with 512 or ram and 360TSE would only run with the normal 3 engines and not all five. Even with just the 3 engines it was not very fast, but according to panda's website they are still supporting xp.

 

A fine recommendation from Elizabeth, no question about it! My personal recommendation would be to try Avast 5.x, which is the oldest version that still gets regular virus definition updates. Alternatively, you could also try Avast 4.8 if you want something even more lightweight in terms of RAM usage (and when you only have 512MB to work with you want to keep as much free as you can), but the last vpsupd.exe for that version was issued in March of 2017. Here are some links to help you get Avast 5.x set up/working:

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")

If you would rather give Avast 4.8 a try, then here are some other links:

http://sdfox7.com/avast/4.x/ (look for "setupeng.exe" and "vpsupd4.exe")

I am not sure if there are ways to get the newer 5.x-compatible updates working on Avast 4.8 or not. In any event, I hope this helps!

 

I remember installing avast 5 on a xp vm and i runned the vps updater and itit said that avast is currently downloading updates and avast was stuck at initializing....

 

Ah, okay. I tried installing Avast 5.x on my spare laptop today, and had the same issue. For 512MB I can't recommend any antivirus more highly than Avast 4.8, but as was mentioned earlier its last update was in March 2017. That should still be good enough to keep your computer well protected, but if you would rather use a version of Avast that is still supported then 7.0 or 8.0 are both fine choices. 7.0 is one of the best Avast versions ever made, and 8.0 is the last one to officially support Windows 2000. They're living on borrowed time now but they both still get regular updates as of October 2018. Here are some links that should be helpful:

http://sdfox7.com/2000/avast/avast_free_antivirus_setup_7.0.1474.exe (Avast 7.0)
http://sdfox7.com/2000/avast/avast_free_antivirus_setup_8.0.1489.exe (Avast 8.0)
https://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php (free registration key for old Avast versions)
http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/vpsupd.exe (manual update module for Avast 5.0-8.0)

Both should work okay with 512MB RAM, but chances are you'll get better performance with 7.0, so I strongly recommend that one.

 

Ok will try 7.0 then .By the way i remember seeing avast 4.8 on my old xp school computer in first grade and i said to myself:wow this av is has a, cool UI! My school now uses eset since they said that they are „100000% protected”

 

Avast 4.8 was my favorite Avast version of all time. It was the last one to support Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, 98SE, and ME, and because of its low overhead/system requirements (it requires only a 486 with 32MB of RAM and 50MB of HDD space!) it was a fine choice for older, slower computers and modern, faster ones alike. As you mentioned, its UI was also fantastic. Clean lines, small size, & a slick blue motif. It was EVERYTHING an antivirus should be. I wish it was still supported, but it's amazing that it was still getting updates as of March 2017. Hopefully someone will find a way to get the newer updates working with 4.8. For now, 7.0 is still a fine option for XP.

 

Computers with avast-4.8 where still fast unlike the new avast that his gui eats a lot of ram.

 

Very true. The latest Avast is beyond horrendous, which makes me even more grateful that Avast 5.x-8.x are all still receiving updates. Avast 7.0/8.0 are probably the best fully-featured/regularly-updated antiviruses anyone could use in 2018, at least in my opinion.

 

Yeah.by the way I tried avast 7 and i got that error again i even disabled auto updates in avast 7

 

Sheesh! I'm not sure what it is...it's starting to look like Avast 4.8 may be a better option after all, even if it is behind on vps updates. Did you test 7.0 in a VM, or go for it on your target hardware?

 

I tried on the laptop and still same thing

 

Probably the closest modern equivalent to Avast 4.8 in terms of ease of use and being lightweight on RAM is the last XP-compatible version of MSE, which is still getting updates as of October 2018. It can be downloaded from here:

https://filehippo.com/download_security_essentials_xp/ (look for "Download Latest Version (10.61MB)")

For 512MB, it's either Avast 4.8 (which is still the best for 95/NT 4.0/98/98SE/ME despite not getting updates anymore) or MSE, the way I see it now. Two other good options may be Comodo Internet Security (make sure to customize the installation to avoid built-in free trials) and also CleanMem:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/comodo_internet_security.html
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/cleanmem.html

I'm not an expert on these sorts of programs--I don't normally use them, because in all but the rarest cases I don't really need them. I'm not trying to mislead anyone, only speaking from the realm of experience I have. Ultimately, it's your call, and sometimes it takes trial/error to get a good setup. Believe me--I've been there...