What is the fastest, lightest resource, best AV software?

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tangoseal

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So what is the fastest and lightest load on the system yet best Antivirus suite out there.

I have been depending on Windows Defender but the more I have been using the more I have learned just how poor it is.

Opinions? Ideas of the better software out there?
 
I use Norton Security Suite because it comes free for 6 devices through my ISP but If I was looking for lightweight and effective I would go for Webroot Internet Security Plus. It has a lite weight install at 3843KB, takes approx 3MB of memory resources, scans quickly using under 10k KB and overall effective. There is no perfect AV, but of the liteweight AV's out there like AVAST, Panda Cloud, Windows Defender which as you point out you already have with Windows, Immunet and F-Secure, Webroot rates as one of the top 6 AV overall and is lightweight seems to me what you may be looking for. GL
 
Vipre!
Have used for over 10 years, never a problem and uses very little resources!
 
BitDefender. It will actually analyze and modify itself upon install depending on your system’s resources. It’s also been the top AV several years in a row.
 
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I’ve always been fond of eset NOD32 Antivirus. Going on 4or 5 years that I’ve been running it, not a single complaint.

lightweight and dependable. Only down side is it’s not free
 
Thanks some more..the good thing is that they all have trials so I can try them out.
 
Just make sure you have uninstalled any previous trial before installing another.
Running 2 anti-virus programs on the same computer at the same time results in a lot of really strange things happening to Windows!
 
Nosnam321 said:
I would recommend BitDefender
Click to expand...
The BitDefender Box is also nice. It provides anti-virus protection to every connected device in the house, even if it can’t use an anti-virus ... such as a smart toaster or your TV. And it allows the installation of the anti-virus software itself on unlimited devices, including both Macs and PCs. It prevents suspicious behavior like if one device is trying to communicate with another device when it should never be. It’s currently $180 with a free year of the anti-virus then $100 a year after that, which is a good deal if you need it on a crapload of devices. I’m not trying to sound like a shill but I’ve tried every anti-virus on the market and finally found one to settle into.
 
Does the box act as a router or can you configure it just for pass through mode and allow another device to do the routing?
 
Still using Microsoft Security Essentials after all these years, still never had one infection and I assure you I go places "online" that would have some folks worried, got no issues with it. The problem with of third-party AV/malware products is they only know so much about how Windows actually works 'cause Microsoft never allows those devs for third-party tools to know everything there is to know about their code. Since Microsoft is the only one that really has access to that deeper level of how every single API and every single component of Windows happens to actually work, I decided long ago to just trust they'll protect their code - since end users are only licensed to use it, not own it - with their ForeFront technologies which was their server AV software which then morphed into Security Essentials.

I can run any anti-virus or malware checker even today on this machine of mine I'm currently using, it won't find a damned thing except perhaps 1 single tracking cookie if even that. And I do that, on a somewhat regular basis, a handful of tools like MalwareBytes, HitManPro, TrendMicro HouseCall, Eset's standalone NOD32 offline scanner, and several others, and none of them ever find anything even in spite of my ventures into the deeper darker aspects of the World Wide Web.

You know, for research purposes. :D
 
I second MSE and occasionally I will manually run Malware Bytes. Used in conjunction with common sense.
 
Jumping on this a bit late, but a combo of Webroot and Malwarebytes is more than a user with common sense will need, and webroot is by far the lightest AV out there. Eset is also a great (and light) product as well.

I'd avoid Vipre, Bitdefender, and others that use the Bitdefender engine, personally. People either have a great time with BD, or it slows their computer to a crawl. There's no rhyme or reason to it. It's one of the buggiest pieces of software I've ever used.
 
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