Hi,
Some of us or just me might have a what you might call a piece of shit of an computer.

Well actually it is an p2 with:
- Processor: 366Mhz
- System Memory/RAM: 128MB
- Video Card: Diamond Viper2 32MB
- Sound Card: ALS4000
- Network Card (Connected with the router)
- HD: 6GB
- Cd-rom & Floppy Drive

So uhhm, do any of you know how i can get something out of this and what Uility's I should
put on it like: the VirusScanner, Spyware-Remover/Gaurd & System Optimizer's.....???

hi,

i would say the hardware isn't so important for malware
i'm using kaspersky as an anti-virus scanner. i think it's the best
scanner you can get, but not freeware.
i haven't used any spyware-remover yet.

install linux and turn it into a pc router or something... that's about the best use of an old pc i can think of...

or it could be used as a fileserver

Is this the only computer you got?
If the answer is no, you can use it as a terminal

If you have more than 1 PC and if you want to turn it into a routeur/firewall PC I suggest you take a look at :

http://m0n0.ch/wall/


Really really good linux distro which makes everything you can dream of and don't worry there is a web interface to configure everything !!

yeah or install an ipcop (linux firewall distribution) or sensornet (proxy / firewall distribution)

I would strongly not recommend you to pump in optimizer(s), most of the cases they won't give you any performance increases not to mention that most of them mess around with system files and/or the registry.

Seeings you put this in the beginner section, im gonna assume you havent tried linux before ?

Its an old piece of hardware, so chances are Linux will support all your hardware w/o problems - give a Linux Live CD a try and see if everything works. If it does, throw in another NIC and use it as a router / firewall and have a play around with linux.

The monowall link pasted above wouldnt be a bad place to start, its FreeBSD - not Linux though, so perhaps have a look at ipcop instead.

If your running linux, this majorly reduces the risk of malware attacks - but they still exist so learn to keep your linux distro of choice up-to-date....

Wanna try linux but dont know where to start ? Install Debian -- Net Install (Business Card ISO) if you have an ADSL line, for a almost complete install over a 512kbps line takes me about 3hrs, but i dont have to update anything :P

An easy way to make th device into a firewall is to load up smoothwall on the device. The installation is short and sweet and will work nicely on the hardware specs that you have described.

hmm, sorry guys, but where the hell this user says he want's to use his pc as router?
especially you should have a look at this:

he already has a router.

i'm not sure if this old pc is the pc he's using or if it's a second one, because there are many people using a router although they only run one pc (though a router in this case also has advantages), but no matter if it's his second or only pc, his question is which AV software etc. he should use (=which AV software uses few resources).


hmm ok i'm not sure if he's just looking for a way to use his pc for sth. useful (e.g. router) or if he simply means it in terms of tuning.