Will Avast run correctly on 400MHz processor?

[jammer09]

Heilsa! I have decided not use Norton due to complications. I am wanting to install Avast 4 home edition on an Sony, Windows98, 400MHz processor. I looked at the system requirements for Avast 4 home & it said it required an 486 processor. Can I still use it with the 400 or will it not work, bog everything down etc...

[oldman]

It should work, I've used it on a 500, and now a 600, with no problems. There isn't any real noticable difference with avast on or off.

[chocholo]

Basically, 486 is ancestor of Pentium processors, it is type of the processor and not its frequency (486 had ~20Mhz).

[RejZoR]

20MHz ? Are you sure? I remember 486 running at 60MHz, later there were Pentium CPU's with 80Mhz with TURBO button setting them to 100MHz iirc. Lol, what numbers. And now we're running dual core CPU's at 3GHz

[Hard_ROCKER]

486 cpu's went up to 133mhz. I can clearly remember that(i had a 120mhz version).

[Vlk]

We're getting off-topic here, but just for the record -- 486 started (back in 1989) with the DX version on 25MHz (together with stronger 33 and 50 MHz variants), soon to be followed by the weaker 486SX model (which was running as low as 16 MHz in its basic configuration).

Of course, later on, 486 frequencies went much higher (up to 133MHz if I remember correctly).

But anyway, if the original poster has a 400MHz processor it should be way enough horsepower to run avast (but keep in mind that CPU frequency is not everything - size of RAM tends to be a key factor in these older systems).


Cheers
Vlk

P.S. for a brief history of the Intel CPU's see here: http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/quickrefyr.htm

[Spiritsongs]

   Hi :

  I am the Person who suggested Jammer09 ask his Question here after the
  Issue arose on another Forum ; IF the "486" was changed in our System
  Requirements to its minimum MHz Equivalent, perhaps it would remove an
  area of possible confusion !?
 

[jammer09]

Heilsa! SpiritSongs & everyone else who replied so quickly. Thank you for your help as I to thought that 486 was a type & not the speed but wasn't sure. I am going to use Avant. Thank you again, I will install and let you all know how it goes later. I think I'll stick around to if you all don't mind.

Pay all debts, pull your own weight, always hear & consider all sides. Treat all others with equity & fairness. Expect the same.

[RejZoR]

Well i was running Norton AV (2000 through 2002) on Celeron 333MHz, so avast! shouldn't be a problem on 400MHz CPU.

[Vladimyr]

Of course, later on, 486 frequencies went much higher (up to 133MHz if I remember correctly).

But anyway, if the original poster has a 400MHz processor it should be way enough horsepower to run avast (but keep in mind that CPU frequency is not everything - size of RAM tends to be a key factor in these older systems).

Cheers
Vlk

Hi jammer09.
I'm currently lookling at an old K6-2 400mHz PC with maximum 64MB RAM (limited by m/board memory controller) and Avast! 4.7 (only "Standard Shield" running) and the only thing obviously slowed is the updates. More RAM would improve this.

Maybe for maximum clarity, it's time to change the Avast System Requirements to something like:

For a computer running Windows® 95/98/Me:
Intel 486, Pentium class or later, processor , 32MB RAM and 50MB of free hard disk space.

BTW, a 486 class processor's speed is not directly comparable with a Pentium/AMD K6 due to architectural differences.
E.g. 486 has 16 bit memory interface whereas Pentium is 32. Most Pentium class have dual pipelines, all 486 are single.
An AMD 486 133mHz (commonly called a '586') was considered to be roughly equivalent to a Pentium 90.

[jammer09]

Heilsa! Problem Solved. I installed Avast 4 Home on the Sony, Windows 98, 400MHz last night with no problems . Didn't have time to run a full scan will do that soon. Thank you all again . Again, I had thought that the mention of 486 was an type not speed. I just wanted to make sure. Oh, on that PC we have 192MB of RAM. I think thats enough. How do I mark this thread as Answered? Or do I?

[jammer09]

Heilsa! I finally got to run a full scan on that old Sony with Win.98 on it and came up with 17 infections . It recommended that I put them in the virus chest, so I did. Some look like stuff to do with the system. I don't think this computer ever had any firewall or antivirus software on it before accept the old Norton5.0 anti virus, that I put on it just so it would have something on it, with the year 98 definitions on it. It was on the internet before I got it too. And I put it on the internet also. I had found an adware on it called Cowabanga by OIN that I think I took care of. What do I do with these infected files in the virus chest? Do I try and repair & then restore them?

[Tarq57]

Whether they are repairable depends entirely on what they are. System files affected by a virus sometimes are. Trojans/malware executables are not; they are malwares in themselves.
What are the infected files? (Names/paths)
Will do no harm to leave them in the chest; they won't escape.
Given the state of the machine, it might pay to download http://www.superantispyware.com/ (free or paid) (works with '98) and scan with that, too.

[jammer09]

Heilsa! Tarq57 I have been terribly busy but if you are here or if anyone else would like to take shot at this, this is what is in the Avast virus chest on my old Sony, Win98.

!update.exe          c:\WINDOWS\TEMP               Win32:Adware-g...
bqiyhcc.dll            c:WINDOWS\SYSTEM            Win32:Agent-RY...
chkdsk.exe         c:\Program Files\Common Files\ucbo     Win32:Adware-g...
dexplore.exe       c:\Program Files\Common Files\ucbo      Win32:Adware-g...
gpq.dll               c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM                        Win32:Agent-RY
IEHelperMiddleMan.dll    c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM               Win32:Spyware-...
iufclg.dll                c:\windows\system                   Win32:Agent-RY...
msiexec.exe          c:\Program Files\ucbo                 Win32:Adware-g...
netdde.exe           c:\Program Files\ucbo                 Win32:Adware-g...
OiUninstaller.exe     c:\Program Files\Outerinfo          Win32:Adware-g...
postinfo.html         c:\Inetpub\wwwroot                  HTML:Malware-gen
r[1].exe            c:\WINDOWS\TEMP\Temporary internet...       Win32:Trojan-ge...
setup.exe           c:\Temp\psh                                Win32:Trojan-ge...
setup.exe            c:                                              Win32:Spyware-...
setup[1].exe        c:\WINDOWS\TEMP\Temporary Internet...     Win32:VB-APN[trj]
tsad.dll                c:\WINDOWS                               Win32:Adware-g...
winlogon.exe        c:\WINDOWS\ucbo                       Win32:Adware-g...
wsetup.exe          c:                                             Win32:VB-APN [trj]

This is in the virus chest off of the first full scan with Avast 4 Home I believe.
I definitely need help. This is out of my league.

[Tarq57]

OK. This is a little out of my league, but from what I've read and understood, none of those files should be restored.
Somebody has had a go at removing malware from this machine in the past, as the OI Uninstaller is a specific removal tool.

What I'd do is definitely run Superantispyware, and get some second opinions via additional security programs. Dr Web's Cureit is a good stand alone scanner, runs from the download location, no installation, no need to disable Avast while using it.
http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/
I'd also download and run Asquared antimalware. http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

Anything found that you're not sure of (there can be FP's) can be submitted to  http://www.virustotal.com/ for about 17 second opinions.

That should be a safe way to proceed till the experts reply. Avast appears to have done its job well, these extra precautions are in case anything is left over. Leave those files in the chest, for now.