# Which free Anti-Virus uses the least resources. <-Thats not a question.



## newtekie1 (Dec 12, 2010)

I figured I do a quick test on a few of the most popular free anti-virus programs out and see which really uses the most resources.

Test Method:

I used a fresh install of Windows 7 x64 Pro.  After installing Win7, drivers, and all Windows Updates I made an image of the machine.  Then I installed each anti-virus, re-applying the image between anti-viruses to make sure each one gets a equally clean slate.  After the AV was installed, I let the computer sit for 30 minutes to make sure it goes through its initial update process.  The AVs were idle when I took the readings, these are not scan resources, but your scan should be set to run when the computer isn't in use anyway.

The resources I'm worried about is the RAM usage of each program.  To figure this out I used ProcessXP which just makes it easy to pick up what processes belong to the AV software.

Results:



AVG|81MB
Avast|34MB
Avira|110MB
Comodo|145MB
MSE|158MB
Short and sweat.  But really, any system with reasonable amounts of RAM(2GB or more) probably won't even notice the difference.


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## VulkanBros (Dec 12, 2010)

KIS v. 11.0.2.556 on Win7 Pro 64bit







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## newtekie1 (Dec 12, 2010)

VulkanBros said:


> KIS v. 11.0.2.556 on Win7 Pro 64bit



But it isn't free, so it doesn't matter.  It is pointless to pay for anti-virus.


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## MoonPig (Dec 12, 2010)

Is this with the program doing a scan? or idle?


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## newtekie1 (Dec 12, 2010)

MoonPig said:


> Is this with the program doing a scan? or idle?



Idle.  I'm not to worried about scanning resources, because scans should be set to go when the computer isn't in use.


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## NdMk2o1o (Dec 12, 2010)

I see no Panda cloud AV in there, I think the client uses a few MB's that said it did something to my conenction when I tried it a few days ago, uninstalled and then couldnt log on as a standard user, would click to log on and it wouldn't even get to desktop then just switch to logging off, also stopped my 360 from connecting to the pc. Uninstall didn't fix it either I had to do a system restore :shadedshu


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Dec 12, 2010)

for comparison

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/anti-virus-virus-scanner-performance,2777.html


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## garyinhere (Dec 12, 2010)

I normally use a combination of three diff anti-virus programs to be safe. All low impact and free... If you torrent it would be a mistake to rely on only one imo. Because a good virus will disable MSE The two biggest factors that i use is: does it do it's job(real time and scan) and what is the annoyance factor(does it have stupid pop ups and crap) But even with that many virus softwares a virus is inevitable and i do a fresh install when i catch one. With all that said thanks for the info newtekie!


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## MoonPig (Dec 12, 2010)

This is what i get idle:

http://img.techpowerup.org/101212/Untitled994.jpg

Windows 7 64bit (Formatted last Tuesday).


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## Radi_SVK (Dec 12, 2010)

garyinhere said:


> I normally use a combination of three diff anti-virus programs to be safe.



isnt generally known that using even 2 antiviruses isnt recommended?



newtekie1 said:


> Avast	34MB



my Avast! Pro use max of 10MB of memory idle,in 2 processes,so I dont know whats up with yours..

EDIT:..uhm,strange,checked on Process XP too and there it shows 30.7MB..while in Windows taskmanager its much less...obviously is sort of up and down all the time,but I've tried to refresh both windows of Process XP and Taskmanager at the same time and in Taskmanager it shows always roughly half of what it shows in Process XP..


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## garyinhere (Dec 12, 2010)

Rado D said:


> isnt generally known that using even 2 antiviruses isnt recommended?



obviously not at the same time... have one running real time and when i pick up a virus i run each individually...


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## Radi_SVK (Dec 12, 2010)

garyinhere said:


> obviously not at the same time... have one running real time and when i pick up a virus i run each individually...



ahaaa


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## Peter1986C (Dec 13, 2010)

I run McAfee Antivirus Plus in realtime and Malwarebytes in case of doubt (for example in case of possiblle false positives). And BTW, I use that McAfee product because it's *cheap* (actual price 25 euros, but cheaper for me personally because I simply share a license with my dad decreasing the price for me even more) and because *I need a good firewall* (the Antivirus scores better than the free ones in some Dutch tests, though the false positives can be annoying).


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## newtekie1 (Dec 13, 2010)

MoonPig said:


> This is what i get idle:
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101212/Untitled994.jpg
> 
> Windows 7 64bit (Formatted last Tuesday).



MSE is taking about 75MB in that screenshot.  With all of them they jump around a lot, so it is kind of hard to get a definitive exact number, I just took what they were at when I looked.



Rado D said:


> my Avast! Pro use max of 10MB of memory idle,in 2 processes,so I dont know whats up with yours..
> 
> EDIT:..uhm,strange,checked on Process XP too and there it shows 30.7MB..while in Windows taskmanager its much less...obviously is sort of up and down all the time,but I've tried to refresh both windows of Process XP and Taskmanager at the same time and in Taskmanager it shows always roughly half of what it shows in Process XP..



That is why I used ProcessXP, it seems to be more accurate about memory usage.  So take my results as a worst case.


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