I have just upgraded my Avast! anti-virus to ver 7.0.1407.

Now, while using MS IE v 8.0, I have three green bars
on my "File" "Edit" "View" Favorites" toolbar.

Also, when searching with Google, I now have three green bars
to the right of each search result.

Not sure, whether this slows down my T30 or not.

Any comments from other Avast! users???

I ditched Avast and use MSSE. No problem with green bars here.

You can disable/uninstall it under "Additional Protection/Browser Protection" if you don't want it.

Ah! There it is. Thanks.



Lately, I have leaving my T30 on the breakfast table for browsing the internet. Every other morning, I am awakened to the pleasant sound of a lady's voice saying "Avast! database has been updated!".

Yesterday, I was browsing my e-mail messages, when I came across an e-mail supposely from YouTube telling me that my latest video has been downloaded successfully.

My GF glanced over my shoulder and admonished me for wasting time downloading videos on the internet. I sternly replied, I have never downloaded any videos on YouTube. It must be some sort of SPAM as I reached for the "Delete" button.

Before, I could delete the message, my GF grabbed the mouse and clicked on the "link".

The typically pleasant voice of the the Avast! lady, suddenly turned stern and somewhat masculine as she immediately shouted "Threat has been detected!!!!"

...Startling my GF, almost causing her to spill her coffee.

For very old computers, Avast performs far better than MSSE. The OP's T30 is probably just old enough to be considered "very old".

I have experienced a lot with MSE, Avast, Avira, McAfee, Eset Nod32 & Kaspersky.
Avast is now my antivirus of choice, over Kaspersky as second.

Avast consistently gave me the best overall result :
Detection is great (So far only Avast & Kaspersky never failed me).
I found it to be the the easiest AV to maintain
(by good maintenance I mean no pop ups, ads, error message (MacAfee), protection that stop working suddenly (Avira), very slow update server (Kaspersky), incompatibility with other programs, over alarming alert message (MSE), etc.)

I recommend installing Avast as a custom installation, so you can remove the Avast Web Plugin & Gadget.
Then in Option select "Silent/gaming mode" : no more pop ups, ads, or annoying audio message.
I also disable the Auto Sandbox and the icon animation, and hide the icon in the hidden icons tray, so the program is completely out of the way.

I did a fresh install of XP/SP3 and Office 2003 for my neighbor on a machine with Athlon 64 X2 5600 with 3GB RAM.
Installed several other business programs and games, then Avast Free, and everything was working great.
Then a day later madam herself installed M$ Works 2007 on top of it (Why? ). Disaster!
Avast claims the main Works program is a 'baddie' and sticks it in its 'sandbox'. After that the PC bluescreens.
Avast also does not allow this program to run as an exception.
Only solution: OUT with Avast, IN with AVG Free.
Everybody happy again.

Most of security risks can be prevented by using non-admin account, installing important updates and DEP. Relying on anti-virus software is typical "security by obscurity" solution. They might work for wide spread already known older attacks but it does not help if you get an unknown variant of the virus and run the vulnerable process with administrator rights.

Typically all applications interpreting a data downloaded from the Internet (web browser and its plugins like video player, Flash, Java runtime etc.) are vulnerable because of many buffer-overflow bugs made by lax developers. Using limited user account and DEP can mitigate these attacks by design. Watching Secunia alerts you can find that Adobe Flash Player is very likely the most vulnerable software ever considering its small complexity and frequent number of critical security holes

You can disable the Sandbox in additional protection options.
I always do that -it creates more problem than it solves-.
Also, you would really benefit from upgrading to Windows 7 - Windows 7 is much more secure than Windows XP.

Why ? The only reason might be UAC but you can supply it in Windows XP by limited user account and relogin as an administrator only if you need to install an update.