AVG vs. Avast vs. AntiVir

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Can anyone tell me which of these free antivirus programs has the smallest footprint?

[ViperAFK]

I'd go with Avast! I get a lot of false positives with AVG and it often doesn't detect things avast and other av's I have used do. Antivir has the best detection rate but the downside is you get ads when you update. They all have a relatively small footprint. You can customize which modules you want to install avast i.e if you don't want im/p2p shield you can choose not to install them.

[Deletedforeverhaha]

I chose AntiVir. Avast! seems to be a memory hog while AVG has a history of lagging behind others security wise. AntiVir supposedly has one of the highest detection rates and it's light. NOD32 is the best to me since it's so light but it's payware and I don't want to waste money on "protecting" my system.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I would go with Avast. You can turn off some of the modules if you say do not use AIM or an IM program you can turn that off. I am using Avast and have been for years. It is using 5396K of memory.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Another one for AntiVir free. AVG7 free was okay but 8 got a bit too heavy resource wise, not to mention slowing down copies of Firefox with the link scanner. Same goes for Avast.

AntiVir puts about three processes in the background (avgnt, avguard, sched) which usually don't take up a combined 15 MB of memory. But personally I value CPU performance over memory usage, and of these three AntiVir had the least impact on the OS when performing ondemand scanning. Downsides are it flags too many false positives and the notifer window - the notifer window can be disabled, if you know which file to block and how to do it.

Also by default Avast is the only one of those three to offer updates without showing an annoying notifier window, but all three can be configured to hide the update progress window. (and Avast has funky "BLING! Virus database has been updated" and "OMG VIRUS ON YOUR COMPUTER" sounds. :laugh:)

[Imran Hussain]

Avira FTW! it doesn't even feel as if it's installed. the only (non) issue is the ad window it shows after updating itself but that's alright for the performance it gives.

[ViperAFK]

Yeah lmao, I was scanning for viruses while I was asleep one night, and I left my volume all the way up. Suddenly ALARM, A VIRUS WAS DETECTED ON YOUR COMPUTER!

scared the crap outta me lol

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Comodo Firewall + PeerGuardian 2 + AntiVir + Windows Defender + COMMON SENSE = Free Security

[ViperAFK]

Peerguardian is little more than a placebo

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Peerguardian is little more than a placebo

Better than nothing, eh? :p

[-Vivicidal-]

Peerguardian is little more than a placebo

Placebos have their use.

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Update: AntiVir uses ~9k memory.

The only "bugging" thing about AntiVir is the ad supported updater. Overall, it's a good program.

If anyone can give me results that say that Avast! is lighter, then take a screenshot of its memory usage.

Thanks.

[zerologic]

Update: AntiVir uses ~9k memory.

The only "bugging" thing about AntiVir is the ad supported updater. Overall, it's a good program.

If anyone can give me results that say that Avast! is lighter, then take a screenshot of its memory usage.

Thanks.

Create a new update job with a frequency set to "daily at a particular time".

You can also edit the existing update to this mode. Avira doesn't open the notifier pop up window anymore.

[eddycarp]

I provide ICT support to a number of residents that live nearby, when installing computers for them I remove there Norton trails and replace it with Avast. AVG Free has become bloatware, the link checker slows the internet right down.

[anarkhy]

Avira antivir here :)

You can disable the annoying ad by setting forbidden permission to read and execute for the avnotify.exe file

[The2]

I use AntiVir, I was using AVG but it missed some viruses and I switched to antivir. If you google, you can find a promotional link, so you can grab Premium version for a year :)

[Deletedforeverhaha]

Avira antivir here :)

You can disable the annoying ad by setting forbidden permission to read and execute for the avnotify.exe file

Wow, thanks. Now I have free antivirus without ads.

[Putin Uber Alles]

Hmm, seems like only one post has actually any numbers regarding memory usage.

[spaceelf]

Most commonly seen memory usage numbers are only part of the story anyway. Many apps are actually using significantly less than people believe, as they may be using a shared pool with other apps or other things...

I'm no expert in memory management mind you, but I've read enough.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Avast is good. I've never been a fan of AVG but with Version 8, I do like it. The UI is very clean. Antivir, is good, i've tested it a while ago, but was put off with the obtrusive update and lack of pop3 scanning.

[virgo89]

Haha, first three posts are the best

[ProiektHat]

i have tested the three....Avira is very good but i got this problem with updates:it just hang out at 50% CPU usage for awhile before completing the task.

Avast is really user friendly and you barelly notice in your system but somehow avast setup.exe decided to go on a continous loop eating 20% of CPU and no way to kill it even with process exlorer so,Avast off you go. Finally AVG 8.0....i am enjoying it so much. Updates are extremely fast...ok, i haven?t even notice them, but i know it is updated. It has no profund impact on your system performance has i tend to give priority to CPU sage over memory usage...i haven?t notice till now CPU hang out due to AVG....maybe now and then when you install a new program or move a large new file to you HD but not very obtrusive.

[spaceelf]

Haha, first three posts are the best

If you say so. It's not bloody likely that anyone has done an in-depth analysis of all three. Even if someone had installed all three, they still wouldn't likely have done a proper analysis.

Heck, it's not too likely many people have even done a basic analysis of all three, which is why you're seeing what you're seeing.

All I know is I REALLY hated Avasts interface.

[anarkhy]

^why? Its clean and functional.

I do hate programs with make up interfaces.

[anarkhy]

double post.