I use ClamWin as antivirus, supported by Clam Sentinel to provoke checks on newly written files. Not real time but have had no problems.
I have no idea if the original poster is still checking this thread, but to answer the question about A/V software for win-98, I have 2 answers.
1) You don't need to run A/V software on a win-98 system. Win-98 is inherently much less vulnerable to remote-code exploitation than NT-based windows. It's just a fact. If any malware code (like pdf or heap-spray or user-escalation exploits) actually find themselves running on a win-98 system, they simply die without doing anything.
2) if you can find an old copy of Norton System Works 2002 (or Norton Anti-virus 2002, which is part of NSW 2002) then you can install that on a win-98 system (even win-XP) and then you download something called "intelligent Updater" file from Symantec. The file will be called symcdefsi32.exe or symrapidreleasedefsi32.exe. That file will update the NAV scan engine and malware definition files.
The NAV line of A/V typically had a 1-year functional period after being installed, but to get around that you simply find and delete the file "catalog.livesubscribe" and then un-install and re-install NAV to reset the 1-year clock. NAV was known for it's bloat and slowing down your computer, but that only started to happen with NAV 2003 and higher. NAV 2002 was pretty light in terms of using system resources.
1) You don't need to run A/V software on a win-98 system. Win-98 is inherently much less vulnerable to remote-code exploitation than NT-based windows. It's just a fact. If any malware code (like pdf or heap-spray or user-escalation exploits) actually find themselves running on a win-98 system, they simply die without doing anything.
2) if you can find an old copy of Norton System Works 2002 (or Norton Anti-virus 2002, which is part of NSW 2002) then you can install that on a win-98 system (even win-XP) and then you download something called "intelligent Updater" file from Symantec. The file will be called symcdefsi32.exe or symrapidreleasedefsi32.exe. That file will update the NAV scan engine and malware definition files.
The NAV line of A/V typically had a 1-year functional period after being installed, but to get around that you simply find and delete the file "catalog.livesubscribe" and then un-install and re-install NAV to reset the 1-year clock. NAV was known for it's bloat and slowing down your computer, but that only started to happen with NAV 2003 and higher. NAV 2002 was pretty light in terms of using system resources.