good Antivirus software that doesn't hog resources

Status
Not open for further replies.

nst6563

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Messages
4,023
Can anyone recommend me some decent Antivirus software that isn't a friggin' resource hog like McAfee? I've been using McAfee for the last 5 years (because I get it free from where I work) but each release gets worse and uses more resources than before.

Example (all of these are loaded and visible in TaskManager..if some are disabled or killed, the system then acts squirly):
Mcaffe FrameWork service : 5.2Mb
Mcshield : 25.04Mb
shstat : .5Mb
UpdaterUI : 1.59Mb
VsTskMgr: .5Mb

Total memory used is 32Mb...just for the damn virus scanner to be in the background.

I've read good reviews of BitDefender and PC Cillin, but can someone give some more insight please?
 
I'd recommend TrendMicro 2005. Looking at the amount of memory the program uses isn't a good comparison in my eyes. I've used Norton for several years and it used around 25MB of RAM. Currently I'm using TrendMicro Security suite and the whole thing is using around 50MB. The big difference is that the code doesn't run like a bloated pig like the rest of them, the program itself is very responsive and it doesn't slow me down on the with the stuff I want to run.

You can snag a legit copy off of ebay for around $19 too.
 
I second Trend Micro PC-Cillin IS 2005. It's the best AV software I have used. I have switched all of my systems to it with no issues.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll give PC Cillin a shot then. I looked at their site...do they have an option to not use the other features and just use the antivirus? I've already got a hardware firewall, a software firewall (linux router), spam filters, ad filters, etc on a seperate machine (linux router...gotta love linux).
 
BitDenfender. had no problems with it since i installed it.i had problems with Trend,Mcafffe,Norton and Panda.
 
My vote is AVG Free edition. Before you think "You get what you paid for" I used to be a Norton fan until my version expired. I just couldn't bring myself to buy 2005 when I saw first hand how much of a hog it was.

I switched to AVG a while ago and have never regretted it. My laptop is clean and it's caught every nasty bug I've run across. I went to a site that I surfed with Norton and AVG caught a couple of spyruses the site was pushing down that Norton never reported!

It's fast, it's free and it updates like mad.
 
I agree with The_Mage18 , FreeAVG all the way, you wont turn back :D
 
The_Mage18 said:
Yeah you rich bastards would vote for NOD32! :p
Just for that remark, shade91 and I are going to pitch in and buy you a new Land Rover. What color would you like? ;)
 
NOD32 is the only piece of software on my system that I actually paid for. The rest is FOSS.
 
shade91 said:
NOD32 is the only piece of software on my system that I actually paid for. The rest is FOSS.
We didn't become rich bastards by wasting money did we? :D

Actually, I don't know about shade91, but I'm not a rich bastard...asshole maybe. ;)

Anyway, finding money for NOD32 is a smart thing because it works better than anything else at stopping any virus that comes your way, and it is very, very easy on resources...not to mention that it won't litter your registry like some competing programs do.

You guys don't mind shelling out the big bucks for a video card, yet you put on software that hits your system resources. What is wrong with that picture? Look at NOD32 the same way you would look at a CPU upgrade. All these programs that bite into your resources are taking away from your hardware investment. NOD32 won't do that, so you should consider using some of your budget to make certain that your software is top-notch, and that it can keep up with your hardware. That only makes sense. Think about it.
 
mosin said:
Actually, I don't know about shade91, but I'm not a rich bastard...asshole maybe. ;)

Just your average college student here :D.

You guys don't mind shelling out the big bucks for a video card, yet you put on software that hits your system resources. What is wrong with that picture? Look at NOD32 the same way you would look at a CPU upgrade. All these programs that bite into your resources are taking away from your hardware investment. NOD32 won't do that, so you should consider using some of your budget to make certain that your software is top-notch, and that it can keep up with your hardware. That only makes sense. Think about it.

When you're finding free software the likes of OpenOffice.. you can't help but try and find the same in the form of an antivirus. I could go all Linux and never need an AV but Windows has functions that are critical to what I do that Linux has yet to provide.
 
OldMX said:
I agree with The_Mage18 , FreeAVG all the way, you wont turn back :D
QFT.

AVG Free user since time began! It is the only A-V program I will run on my machines, AND, it is the only one I put on customer builds (home users only, of course! :) ).
 
Lothar said:
I second Trend Micro PC-Cillin IS 2005. It's the best AV software I have used. I have switched all of my systems to it with no issues.

I have had nothing but problems with Trend Micro 2005 and ended up having to fully uninstall it and switched to Avast. The firewall kept making my internet connection bounce, the antivirus was causing bizarre errors with my sons games and it also caused my machine to massivly slowdown (it was the night before they futzed up the update which brought ALL machines to a crawl). Trend Micro is a pile of garbage in my opinon.
 
The_Mage18 said:
Yeah you rich bastards would vote for NOD32! :p

Free = AVG
Pay = NOD32

I'm just wondering this. I know a lot of people that use Norton and McAfee.
Norton and McAfee is about $50
NOD32 shows to be about $40 (Which i haven't used but might check out)

Now how is that so much?

And on another note: Is 25MB of memory usage really a big deal when we are building systems that have 1GB of RAM? IF your spending 400-500 for the Videocards. I'm betting your running 1gb of ram. Just wondering.
 
ok, I was a norton user for a while - till they made you pay pay pay pay thru the nose for updating...
I then tried Mcafee and was disappointed.
I then started looking at freeware programs -
avast! (their ! not mine.)
antivir
avg
of these I recommend the last 2 - as the antivir caught 12 viruses that a fully updated mcafee didnt see - and 4 over norton - (my own testing without intentionally loading viruses on the system)
and avg - cause it catches the java based malware quickly.
both run on xp pro - avast is good too but wont run on my system (I assume its due to my use of xp Pro)
Strangely enough, I can use both avg and antivir in the background scanning, and have far less overhead than norton or mcafee - (just make sure to turn off avg's e-mail scan if you want to use both at the same time - as the e-mail scanner doesn't like another scan being active @ same time.)
and no problems duing this - viruses still caught - and the two av proggys dont fight (try this with mcafee or norton and they wont even install if they detect each other)
 
raksasas said:
And on another note: Is 25MB of memory usage really a big deal when we are building systems that have 1GB of RAM? IF your spending 400-500 for the Videocards. I'm betting your running 1gb of ram. Just wondering.

Actually, for those of us that prefer efficiency over poorly written bloatware (which is unfortunately most of windows software these days), it is a big deal. I didn't build a fast system to have a single program (which is almost a necessity these days) slow it down.

I don't have a problem if it uses 25mb and only uses 2-3 processes...but when it uses over 32Mb with 5 seperate processes (I've seen Mcafee approach the 50Mb mark and above when scanning) and causes a noticeable slowdown when it's doing anything...it's a bit rediculous.


fwiw, I just d/l NOD32 and it already found a couple trojans that Mcafee never found.
 
I will also recommend NOD32 for straight up kicking huge amounts of ass and using few resources doing it. If you won't drop the $40 for it, I really like Trend Micro.

Trend DOES allow you to install just the AV
It is very responsive and seems to be unobtrusive
I have NEVER had another scanner detect a virus after Trend scanned clean.
Trend can be had for $10 at newegg right now (after a rebate) and I have seen it for $20 elsewhere.
 
I use avast pro. I like it alot. Never bothers me. Doesn't hog the system.

Hasn't detected anything since I've had it but thats mainly my usage habits. I dont need an AV just being cautious.
 
The Bryophyte said:
I will also recommend NOD32 for straight up kicking huge amounts of ass and using few resources doing it. If you won't drop the $40 for it, I really like Trend Micro.

Trend DOES allow you to install just the AV
It is very responsive and seems to be unobtrusive
I have NEVER had another scanner detect a virus after Trend scanned clean.
Trend can be had for $10 at newegg right now (after a rebate) and I have seen it for $20 elsewhere.

I guess you didn't get caught in their SNAFU a few saturdays ago when they released an update that bogged down every single machine it was on.
 
I've Used the AVG Free Edition, Works Great, but When I had it on my system it would NOT let me run most exe files for some odd reason.... took AVG off.. everything runs fine... Running Symantec Corp ver 9 right now.
 
I've been running Avast! for a couple of months now on several computers. In my experience, it only slows down your computer a bit right after you install it- especially when you launch a program, because Avast! scans it. After a while (and after disabling VDRB generation) the performance hit is minimal. I might have to try NOD32 though if it's really that good...
 
raksasas said:
I'm just wondering this. I know a lot of people that use Norton and McAfee.
Norton and McAfee is about $50
NOD32 shows to be about $40 (Which i haven't used but might check out)

Now how is that so much?

And on another note: Is 25MB of memory usage really a big deal when we are building systems that have 1GB of RAM? IF your spending 400-500 for the Videocards. I'm betting your running 1gb of ram. Just wondering.

Another NOD (rimshot) for NOD32. The best scanner I have ever seen / used. If you're going to go free, I like AVG. It's on one of my systems at the moment and is pretty quiet about things. The only thing that I don't like as much with it is the extra time it takes to scan outlook atttachments, but that could be a setting of mine.

$40 / year? Not too much at all if you ask me. Competetive all the way around with the "big boys" in the industry and if you look at what you get, a much better value.

In this case, you're correct. 25MB of RAM isn't that much when systems are running 512MB+. I think, though, that straight RAM usage isn't the issue. It's more processing overhead and the (subjective) "feel" of the system. Retail NAV is notorious for being an overblown system hog. I witness it everyday at work where we use the retail version (don't ask) on all our machines. I can't tell you how much slower my machine runs now.

 
NOD32 and KerioPF are my avg/firewall apps of choice. If you can spend the money for it, it's definitley worth the price. If you're living on the cheap, then just go w/AVG.

 
raksasas said:
I'm just wondering this. I know a lot of people that use Norton and McAfee.
Norton and McAfee is about $50
NOD32 shows to be about $40 (Which i haven't used but might check out)

Now how is that so much?

Cause it costs money and you have to pay each year for updates. :p

raksasas said:
And on another note: Is 25MB of memory usage really a big deal when we are building systems that have 1GB of RAM? IF your spending 400-500 for the Videocards. I'm betting your running 1gb of ram. Just wondering.
I'm poo. I'm so broke I can't afford the r let alone a $400 video card. I'm still using a hand-me-down ORIGIONAL Radeon A-I-W. Of course maybe it's because I'm so cheep... ;)
 
I dont use an Anti Virus anymore because I dont get Viruses plus, no matter how fast my system is, adding an antivirus always makes it feel slower.... however, what I reccommend is NOD32.
 
I use anti-vir its free and in a review it beat avg and ez-trust. I use to use AVG and EZ-trust until i read the review. Macafees just annoying and so is norton.

THe review was on dslreports.com u can search there.


My firewall is kerio and my router.....
 
Can anyone recommend me some decent Antivirus software that isn't a friggin' resource hog like McAfee? I've been using McAfee for the last 5 years (because I get it free from where I work) but each release gets worse and uses more resources than before.

Example (all of these are loaded and visible in TaskManager..if some are disabled or killed, the system then acts squirly):
Mcaffe FrameWork service : 5.2Mb
Mcshield : 25.04Mb
shstat : .5Mb
UpdaterUI : 1.59Mb
VsTskMgr: .5Mb

Total memory used is 32Mb...just for the damn virus scanner to be in the background.

I've read good reviews of BitDefender and PC Cillin, but can someone give some more insight please?
Years ago I asked for a recommendation on this very website and was given replies from several that Eset nod 32 was the best. I went with them then and never changed, although I think they just go by Eset security now. I have it on my tablets, laptops and my pc.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top