AVG-Free Alternatives?

[drogo]

I have an older (2003-vintage) Pentium 4 PC running XP, protected (as was the machine it replaced) by Spybot since the beginning. I also had AVG free since the beginning, and was happy with it until they started forcing new versions upon one, about two years ago. These proved to be very intrusive, and interfered with normal operation (by using entirely too many of the limited resources on this old machine), including a mysterious trick of inactivating Tea Timer. A few months ago I uninstalled AVG and temporarily installed the pathetic Microsoft Security Essentials as a temporary alternative. This has exhibited similar behaviour, slowing down or even freezing ordinary operations, while it carries out its convoluted processes, most of which have little to do with protection. Can any of the experts recommend a serious free alternative to AVG? I don't engage in risky internet behaviour, and I expose very little personal or financial information on line, so only fundamental protection is required. Any suggestions based on personal experience? Many thanks!

[shelf life]

The open source Clamwin (http://www.clamwin.com/) is light on system resources, the reason is that it is (or was) a on demand scanner. It does not run in the background, scans of files have to be started manually. It also isnt integrated into the MS Security Center for that reason. All this may have changed though in the later versions.
Another one is Panda (http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/) "Cloud" AV which may be a little lighter on system resources than a traditional AV.
Try one for a few days then uninstall and try the other one. I don't recommend any particular AV over another or make claims to which is the 'best'.

[drogo]

Thank you, shelf life, for your recommendations. I shall most certainly try both and see which of the two offers the greatest level of protection without adversely impacting performance. My time on Windows PCs is somewhat limited, nowadays, and I do most of my work on a Mac (these have their own repertory of irritations) but I do need to use the PC for certain things. Once again, many thanks!