ME Compatibility??

Question

I have a problem that I hope someone can help me with.  My mom has a Dell Deminsion L800R running Windows ME.  She has AVG AV but, I cannot find a firewall that will install and work properly on her computer.  Anything I have found I have had to remove.  Mom lives a couple of towns from me and I can't always get to her when she has a computer problem. (she is 75)  I do what I can by phone and sometimes it goes OK while other times I can confuse her beyond her understanding.  I would like to find a free firewall that is compatible with her computer that will be easy for her to deal with...which would be for her not to have to do anything.  I do the up keep when I am at her place.  We really need to find a firewall as she is getting long distance charges to her phone bill that she is not making.  We have yet to find out for sure that it is because of hackers but, I used an online anti virus program that found a hacker in her computer last month.  She is telling me to take out the Internet and be done with it but, the Internet is all she has for keeping in touch with friends and family who live in various parts of Canada.  I pay her Internet and can't afford paying for AV and firewall for two computers.  Any help you may be able to give me will be very much appreciated.

Bugbatter · Answer

Newer ZA versions do not work on ME. ZoneAlarm 4.5.594.0 (4.8 MB) seems to work well on ME and 98. You can find it here:
http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=zalarm

Your mom would probably be a good candidate for the FireFox browser as well. IE7 does not run on WinME, so using IE 5 or 6 has certain vulnerabilities. I'd keep IE as her default, but teach her to use Firefox most of the time. You have SpywareBlaster. How about SpywareGuard? Ad-aware? Spybot? You could remind her to check for updates about once a week.

darberg · Answer

Thanks for the help.  I was getting ready to leave for mom's and decided to check my email first...glad I did.  Her computer is very tempermental, I guess that could be her IE.  I am not sure which one she has, but it is either IE5 or 6.    Will also take the old version of Zone Alarm along too.  I tried installing it last year but, I am sure it was the newest version for that time and it wouldn't let her online.   Your help is so appreciated.  I don't know what I would do without you guys and I know mom will be thankful.   Darlene

Bugbatter · Answer

You're welcome. The version of ZA that I suggested is several years old, so you may have had one of the newer ones that did not do well on ME.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that all goes well for you and Mom.

dalem29 · Answer

I realize that finances might be tight, but if there is enough in the budget to buy a used compter that has XP on it might be a feasible solution. Then, more up to date versions of Zone Alarm and the free antivirus and anti spyware programs would most likely be compatible. There also would be the issue of Windows updates and having SP2 installed, but that problem could be solved when you come to it.

Virus & Spyware

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