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Geek Culture / AV software for older computers?

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Phaelax
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Posted: 19th Feb 2014 22:01
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So now my mom wants her laptop fixed. I previously put Avira on there but it uses about half of her memory; only has 256mb.

What modern day AV program would run well on an old Sony Vaio R505?
P3 1.13GHz
256mb ram
30gb hdd
USB 1 (yes, version 1)

She doesn't want to buy a new one

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Van B
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Posted: 19th Feb 2014 22:31
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Well, I wouldn't! I'd just block as much malware as you can, like Cryptoprevent for example will stop a lot of it coming in. MalwareBytes anti-malware will fix a lot of issues as well. Thing that I notice is that people without a lot of experience will end up with spyware, fake AV's, and hijack malware more than what virus protection picks up. I'd get a nice clean install then back it up, setup DropBox or something for documents, then when the worst happens the laptop can be restored easily.

I know that Kaspersky6 would run on it, and you could get a license for whatever version and use it on that - but it would slow the poor thing down too much.

I am the one who knocks...
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easter bunny
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Posted: 19th Feb 2014 22:58
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I'd suggest a new computer......


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Phaelax
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 00:57
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She doesn't want a new one because this one died what she needs. Believe me I've been trying to talk her into a new one for years.


I've run every scan I can think of but nothing was found in the system, it's clean! A defrag wasn't even needed. Aside from it using 600mb of the available 256, I can't see anything else that would be causing it to run as slowly as it is.

Also, looks like the drive was replaced with 150gb at some point.

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Indicium
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 04:59
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Quote: "Aside from it using 600mb of the available 256,"


This is without a doubt the reason - it'll just be thrashing the disk surely?


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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nonZero
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 09:20 Edited at: 20th Feb 2014 09:21
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I agree with Van on the principal of prevention being better than cure. May I suggest a new OS:
- Bodhi Linux: Built from Ubuntu, it runs the Enlightenment (E17) desktop and looks and feels like a modern PC. It is optimised for older machines and can alledgedly run on a 128MB, 300MHz machine with ~2GB hdd space. It lacked many apps and Linux utilities if I recall correctly from my testing but the desltop environment was readily setup.
- Antix Linux. Another lightweight distro, also from the Debian family but no relation to Ubuntu. It may require a little config to get it non-geek-friendly. It comes with a choice of WMs including FluxBox. It boasts running on 64MB, 233MHz with a disk consumption of ~2GB. My distro of choice for older machines due to its excellent stability and compatibility. Additional desktop environments can be setup to make it non-geek-friendly or FluxBox can be seriously customized. Good news is that if you visit the Antix website, you'll see there's a new "branch" that's pre-configured with Xfce for those who don't like FluxBox. Apparently Xfce can be made to behave like Windows.

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easter bunny
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 09:30
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You can also try http://www.oldapps.com/


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bitJericho
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 13:17
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Lubuntu might run on it.

You might be able to upgrade the ram without having to replace the whole thing, and since it's so old, it shouldn't cost you more than 20 bucks to max it out. As for AV, spybot will do a great job at securing the computer so that you could almost safely run it without an AV, but honestly, you still should. If it's too slow, that's a good excuse to upgrade

As for AV on a modern computer, I'd recommend just using MS Security Essentials, there's absolutely no reason she would need anything hardier.

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 18:04
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Quote: "I previously put Avira on there but it uses about half of her memory; only has 256mb."


Does Windows run on that?



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nonZero
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Posted: 20th Feb 2014 21:55
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WinXP can run on 128MB iirc.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 21st Feb 2014 00:50
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Quote: "WinXP can run on 128MB iirc."


It might but you can't actually run it decently for under 256mb out of the box.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 21st Feb 2014 21:12
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Quote: "May I suggest a new OS:"


Newer versions of windows wouldn't run on this laptop. And my mom wouldn't want to learn a different OS. Her teaching software is likely only for windows anyway. She got an ipad from school, and now has an iphone. I would suggest a Mac, but again there's the software issue plus she wouldn't want to pay Apple prices.


I uninstalled Avira and the ram usage went down dramatically, to like 64mb used after startup. It's a lot more responsive. I'll just tell her it has security on it, she won't know!

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easter bunny
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Posted: 24th Feb 2014 06:22
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As long as as she doesn't use online banking


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bitJericho
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Posted: 24th Feb 2014 13:32
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You should try out MS Security Essentials. It's pretty decent and may run just fine.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 24th Feb 2014 17:17
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Security Essentials is what I removed from the last computer I fixed because it was constantly eating up the processor. I looked online and it seems to be a common problem for many people. It's like the program gets stuck in a loop when it scans itself.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 02:15
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I've seen that from two other different anti-viruses, but not Security Essentials yet. There's always linux.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 06:36
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Quote: "There's always linux."

Yea, I'll just give my mom your number to call then when she can't figure something out in it!

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nonZero
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 08:20
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KDE is very user-friendly but good luck running it on that rig.
LXDE pretty much is the windows layout. However...
Quote: "And my mom wouldn't want to learn a different OS"

I think that pretty much covered everything earlier.

Moms are tough. Mine was prepared to go Ubuntu once I replaced that ghastly Unity with LXDE. However, she's still terrified of most new things like Android phones, etc.



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bitJericho
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 12:53
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I'd troubleshoot linux over windows any day of the week!

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The Zoq2
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 13:18
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Linux is really nice, to bad a lot of things still require you to mess with terminals which makes it a bit less user friendly for "casual" users

Say ONE stupid thing and it ends up as a forum signature forever. - Neuro Fuzzy
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bitJericho
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 22:39
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Quote: "Linux is really nice, to bad a lot of things still require you to mess with terminals which makes it a bit less user friendly for "casual" users"


Such as?

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The Zoq2
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Posted: 19th Mar 2014 23:31
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Changing the owner of files and launching some programs. On ubuntu gnome I have not found a way to change the owner of a file without using chown in a terminal and the only way I have found to launch some programs (like sublime) is to do ./programname in a terminal. I may not have looked deep enough since im fine with using the terminal but I can immagine it would be an issue for others

Say ONE stupid thing and it ends up as a forum signature forever. - Neuro Fuzzy
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bitJericho
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Posted: 20th Mar 2014 17:45 Edited at: 20th Mar 2014 17:45
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Well that's two things your mom would never actually do XD

My uncle's been on Ubuntu for years and he does way more on it than he would have ever done on Windows. I do have to troubleshoot or upgrade it for him at times but I'll tell you what my mom calls about her issues with windows 7 and now 8 way more often.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 20th Mar 2014 19:11
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Even if I could convince her to try linux, I believe her teaching software and gradebook is Windows only. The school is a bit behind on technology, despite the fact they make every kid purchase an iPad for school.

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nonZero
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Posted: 20th Mar 2014 20:36
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They make students buy an iPad!?!
What, like in a sci-fi story?
That's it, I'm officially old



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Phaelax
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 03:40
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It's a private highschool. All students must have ipads, ya know, for note taking and whatnot.... But the school provides the ipads for the teachers.

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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 04:31
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I would hate to be required to take notes on a tablet. I like to have an actual writing utensil, physically in my hand, and I like to rub it over a physical piece of paper to make marks, that are of my own customization.

Touchscreens take so much of that away.

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nonZero
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 14:09
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I agree, paper + pen is faster than iPad. Actually, a laptop would be best. Still, paper lets you do more than just write (eg: throw it at Fat Ronnie when the teacher ain't looking). You can doodle too. I'm old fashioned so I'm still for killing trees. But I guess each generation feels like this about change.



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The Zoq2
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 15:40
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You could throw an ipad and a laptop aswell, and it would probably be more effective aswell. I do agree that tablets are terrible for taking notes though

Say ONE stupid thing and it ends up as a forum signature forever. - Neuro Fuzzy
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Seditious
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 16:21
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Quote: "I agree, paper + pen is faster than iPad."


Do you even stylus bro?
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nonZero
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 18:39 Edited at: 21st Mar 2014 18:40
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Quote: "Do you even stylus bro?"

Yeah, I lift I got a Wacom. But I find that stylus-style (+10pts) HIDs just don't feel good for scribbling. Pen+paper is faster because I can squeeze things in, insert stuff, etc and I'm not hindered by resolution or display size. I like being able to fold, flip and manipulate-in-general my paper. I suppose it may be just "what I'm used to"-syndrome, but I do believe there's some truth to it too. Like why some people are better with std keyboards (like me, I don't like keyboards with gamer/coder -centric layouts). It would be an interesting experiment to benchmark a stylus and a pen user (or users and do an average).

Quote: "You could throw an ipad and a laptop aswell, and it wouldprobably be more effective aswell"

Yes but paper is cheaper to replace. Quality vs quantity: in this case qty wins due to budget, easy storage and faster reload speeds.


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Seditious
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 19:58
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Quote: "But I find that stylus-style (+10pts) HIDs just don't feel good for scribbling. Pen+paper is faster because I can squeeze things in, insert stuff, etc and I'm not hindered by resolution or display size. I like being able to fold, flip and manipulate-in-general my paper. "


Very true points. I think it'll be a long time before anything can really outperform the simplicity and speed of pen and paper.
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Dark Java Dude 64
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Posted: 21st Mar 2014 22:12 Edited at: 21st Mar 2014 22:12
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Another thing, when I'm writing, I HAVE to rest my hand on the paper, so touchscreens don't work too well, even with a stylus. Even worse as I am left handed.

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