Which version of Avast did you try?

Avast 4.6 can be configured to use very little system resources, without any graphical interface skins, annoying popups, and things like that. I do think it needs a bit more memory than 128MB though.

Another option would be to just disable the on-access protection services and only enable them when you're on the web.

Ahh ok, I used the latest one! I'm pretty sure I can scrounge up a spare SDRAM, maybe 256-512MB would do it. I haven't had 128MB since Windows Millenium...hated that OS.

jwt27, thanks for the advice! I tried v4.5xxx-something tonight and that seems to be adequate for now. I think I'll check in my folks' house next time I take my wife over there. I'm sure I left a spare RAM in my mom's kitchen, so I'll see if that isn't dead.

How it got there, I'll never know...

I'm sure ClamWin still runs on Win2000. It's not a realtime scanner, so it uses practically zero resources, and you just have to remember to "right click->scan" on files you think might be a bit suss.

That in mind, if you're only periodically downloading updates and stuff from reputable sites, you would be fine without any scanner at all.

I run W2K under Virtualbox on my AMD Phenom quad core system with 2GB ram allocated to W2K, and I also run W2K on a real AthlonXP 2000+ based system with 1GB and have the latest version of Avast loaded on both (v7) and they are both fine. The Athlon system feels a bit sluggish, but I think that's just me being spoiled by the speed of the Phenom and in reality it probably runs at about the same speed it did when it was my main PC a couple of years ago running Norton under WinXP. To be honest I think your main problem is that you don't really have enough RAM to cover everything you are running and adding another 128MB will make a big idfference. I also use Avast for my Win98 setup (again running under Virtuabox) and it works well. The last W98 compatible version is 4.8 and it looks as if Avast intend to keep support for that (in terms of database upates at least) for some time to come. That is one of the advantages of their policy of getting users to renew their free license anually. They know how many users still run the old version under W98!

SquallStrife wrote:

I'm sure ClamWin still runs on Win2000. It's not a realtime scanner, so it uses practically zero resources, and you just have to remember to "right click->scan" on files you think might be a bit suss.

That in mind, if you're only periodically downloading updates and stuff from reputable sites, you would be fine without any scanner at all.

I also recommend Clamwin for the Win 2K machine as well.