I am dealing with an old, slow computer running Win-98.
It's an IBM Aptiva with a 533 MHz Celeron. (Vintage c. 1998-9)
This machine has seen virtually NO maintenance since it was originally installed.
The owner "Just uses it to get e-mail..."

I am trying to rehabilitate the machine and get it back into running condition but I do not have the original installation CDs for Win-98.
The owner does not want to pay for a new operating system. Furthermore, I seriously doubt this computer's ability to run anything more ambitious than Win-98.

If it was my druthers I'd wipe the hard drive and install Ubunu but the owner is a dyed-in-the-wool FUD-er.
(i.e. - Afraid to use anything but M$)

So, with no installation disks, no budget and no ability to make substantial changes to the system, basically, I have to repair everything in-situ.

Here's what I've done so far:
1) Dug some old sticks of PC-100 out of the bottom of my junk drawer and maxed out the RAM at 256 MB from its original 32 MB.
(See! I KNEW I'd have a use for them some day! )

2) Defragged the HD. It took almost 12 hours but it worked! I don't think the thing had ever been defragged in its life of >10 years!

3) Spent the better part of an afternoon deleting old junk, un-installing old, useless apps and resetting the system.

4) Installed ClamWin and scanned. Found several dozen problem files. Quarantined them all. Will delete them and clean the registry when I get time.

These four actions have improved the computer's performance immensely! It's almost like a new computer!

But, aside from the fact that it's free, here's why I chose ClamWin: It does NOT have an on-access scanner.
A computer that's as old and slow as this one really does not need to be bogged down with that kind of work. It needs every ounce of computing power it has. IMHO, an on-access scanner is not indicated in this case. Don't you agree? ClamWin can scan individual files from the contextual menu. That's almost as good. Besides, we can schedule ClamWin to do a scan of the system on a regular basis.

In this case, I really believe ClamWin is the right tool for the job.

Now I need a good strategy for scanning and taking care of problems when they arise.

I have already set the scheduler to scan the entire C: drive every Sunday.
I have set ClamWin to send me an e-mail if it finds a problem.
However, I think a better scheduling strategy can be worked out. Remember, this computer is old and slow. A complete scan of the entire system every day would be too taxing. Besides, I don't think a scan of the entire system is called for every day. Do you?

I think it would be better to scan only certain parts/folders of the system every day. Then scan the entire system once per month.

Something like this:

Scan "Part A" on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:00 Noon.

Scan "Part B" on Tuesday and Thursday at Noon.

Scan the entire system on the Sunday evening.

The rationale is that a short scan that occurs every day at the time when most people are out eating lunch, instead of using their computers, won't be noticed. If a scan has to be stopped because the user wants to use it, that's okay because it will run again the next day. At the end of the month, the entire system is scanned just for luck.

So...
What areas of the system are most likely to show up with viruses?
What areas of the system are least likely?

How can I schedule ClamWin to get the maximum amount of benefit for the least amount of tax on the system?

If the owner will be using the computer on the Web and downloading stuff, I suggest a daily scan, but you probably don't need to scan everything on the computer. Here's my suggestion: configure ClamWin's filters to scan only matching filenames with extensions (format *.exe, etc.) of exe, scr, pif, sys, com, eml, pdf, swf, php, htm, html, vb, vbs, js jsp, bat, inf, asp, wsh, lnk, ssl, cmd, ppt, cpl, reg, and dll. Add ini files if Win 98 uses them. And, of course you need to scan all downloaded files before they are ran/installed. As for directories to scan, most viruses I see are somewhere in the Windows directory and in the Documents directory (usually the default user's Local Setting subdirectory under Documents).

This strategy isn't perfect, of course, but it should give you decent protection unless the owner visits a lot of porn sites, cracked software sites, and clicks on everything available on the Web.

Regards,

Very good! Thank you!

The owner IS one of those people who tends to click on every thing they see on the internet.

Previous to this, I installed Thunderbird and Firefox as the e-mail client and browser. It took a lot of kicking and screaming to get them to use it but, after about a week, they settled down and started using it. When they found out that it was actually cool to use Firefox they even ended up liking it.

Using FF and T-Bird with appropriate settings and with extensions such as "NoScript" seems to help with the "click on everything" problem.

I don't think it will be too hard to teach them to right-click and scan any new file with ClamWin before they activate it.
Many people seem to get psychological satisfaction from "checking for viruses." The contextual menu scan feeds into that. Besides, I have warned them. If they get a virus that I can't remove, I will be FORCED to erase the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. And, since I don't have a legal copy of the installation disks, I will not be able to reinstall Windows-98. That computer is not capable of using Windows-XP. Even if it can be coaxed, it will be painfully slow.

I have laid down the gauntlet: If they get a virus and I have to reinstall the system, the only thing I will be able to do is convert them to Linux.
(Okay... That's a little white lie. I secretly imaged the entire HD. If there is no physical damage I will probably be able to get a running operating system by restoring the image. Not 100% safe but better than nothing.)

Anyhow... Enough chit-chat. How about a strategy like this?

• Mon-Wed-Fri: Configure the filter to scan - exe, scr, pif, sys, com, eml, pdf, swf, php, htm, html, vb, vbs, js jsp, bat, inf, asp, wsh, lnk, ssl, cmd, ppt, cpl, reg, dll and ini.
  
  
• Tue-Thur-Sat: Configure it to scan C:/Windows/ and C:/.../Documents/, etc.
  
  
• Sunday: Scan everything.
  

I've already got ClamWin set to e-mail me if it finds anything. If the computer is not running on a particular day it will just do it on the next day. If it finds any potential viruses, it will warn me.

Honestly, I am NOT a very good anti-virus worker.
Up till this time, the ONLY viruses I have ever witnessed in person were the old "Sevendust" virus that used to infect Macintosh systems (Pre-OS X days.) and one copy of the "Sasser" worm that sneaked into my computer while somebody else was using it. I don't have any experience fighting viruses (virii? ) because I rarely, if ever, encounter them.

I guess my next task will be to find a good registry cleaner. Eh?

Thanks again for your advice! You've been a big help!