Windows 98 ME anti-virus and security configuration

By Jerry Winegarden, Duke University and RTPnet.org
Last Revised 03/07/03

  1. Disable System Restore (Win98 ME only)

    Many viruses hide there, get re-installed automatically, and are difficult to cleanly remove. 

    
   ==>Start ==>Settings ==>Control Panel ==>System
   ==>Performance ==>File System ==>Troubleshooting
   ==>Disable System Restore  (click to check the selection box)
   ==>OK ==>Close
   Restart? ==>Yes

    This will empty out the (hidden) directory C:\_RESTORE. Although it will mean not being able to restore the system to a previous state, it will also remove a significant source of virus problems. When the system restarts, there will be two files in the upper level of C:\_RESTORE, but the hidden subdirectories there, especially TEMP, will be truly empty. (By the way, Windows Explorer will not list files in C:\_RESTORE\TEMP.)

    In case you have troubles removing or emptying C:\_RESTORE, then boot from a floppy and use DELTREE.EXE: (deltree removes whole directories, even if they have files in them; rmdir or delete only works on empty directories.)

    1. Insert Windows ME startup disk
    2. ==>Start==Run==>XCOPY C:\Windows\command\deltree.exe a:
    3. ==>start==>shutdown==>restart
    4. ==>deltree C:\_RESTORE
    5. remove floppy, reboot

  2. Obtain, install, run AVG anti-virus software (free version)

    AVG from www.grisoft.com is free for personal use, with free updates available. (If you want to use Norton or something else and are willing to pay for updates every year or six months, go ahead. However, whatever you use, you MUST GET UPDATES often, since new viruses come out daily!)

    1. download AVG from www.grisoft.com 
      
      ==>http://www.grisoft.com
      ==>Free downloads
      ==>Download AVG Free edition  
              (note: in future, Download Free Updates)
      ==>Download AVG Fee Edition (button at bottom of page)
	   Note:  do NOT click on "30-day Trial version of AVG 6.0
               Standard Edition"   and
               do NOT click on "30-days AVG TRIAL version of AVG 6.0
                  AVG Professional"
               (Unless, of course, you want to pay them for those products.
		Note that the license for the free avg allows you to run it
		on only 1 machine.  If you have several machines, you should
		either buy the Multi-License AVG Professional for the number
		of machines that you have (1,2,5,10,20,30,50,100), or you
		can purchase someone else's product (e.g. Norton Anti-Virus).

      License agreement:   Suggest you actually read this one! ;-)

      ==>Yes, I agree

      Fill in personal information  ("*" indicates required fields):

      First name:*
      Last name:*
      Email Address:*   (Make sure this is your real e-mail address :-)
      Street Address Line1:*
      City:*
      State:
      Country:* (select from list)

      ==>Continue

      ==>Please click here to start the download process...

      save it to C:\downloads (create it if you haven't yet)
      file name:  c:\downloads\avg6459fu_free.exe

      This is an installer program for AVG (anti-virus program).

      NOTE: before you run this installer, you will need to write down the product SERIAL NUMBER, which you will receive in the mail from Grisoft in response to the registration you did as part of the download process. (That's why you needed to use a real e-mail address).

    2. install AVG
      It will prompt for the serial number, which can be found in the email message you received from Grisoft as a result of your registration when you downloaded avg. You can view Grisoft's AVG instructions here.

      Do a complete test.

      Note: if it tells you that it has found a virus, it will move it to the "Quarantine folder". You can then get it to delete from the quarantine (or you can get it to try to "Heal" the files in the quarantine, which means it will try to remove the virus part of the file if it can.

      Note: if it tells you that it cannot remove a virus:

      1. write down the file name(s), including the full path: (e.g. C:\_RESTORE\TEMP\A0012345.CPY)
      2. put in win98 ME startup floppy and boot from floppy
      3. delete files from the list (e.g. del C:\_RESTORE\TEMP\A0012345.CPY)
        Note: you can use deltree to delete a whole directory if necessary
      4. remove floppy and reboot

      It will start running automatically upon system startup

  3. Download and install anti-adware program: adaware from lavasoft:

Anti-virus anti-spyware security steps to perform often