RAM usage high

[Pilgrim1]

I am currently trying out ESET Smart Security 5.0.94.0 after having used Kaspersky Internet Security for many years. Overall, I am impressed with the GUI, features and security of this product. However, I am curious why ESS is using so much RAM compared to KIS? ESS, as listed in Task Manager, is using over 100 megs (ekrn.exe=106,500; egui.exe=7,100) vs KIS only used c. 37,000 total.

Currently only Outlook 2007 and IE9 w/2 tabs are running. I have no other AV programs running. KIS has been totally removed. MBAM is set to check for updates only, i.e., real-time protection is disabled.

System specs:
Vista Ultimate 32-bit
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Mushkin SP PC2-6400 4GB 4X1GB DDR2-800
Asus M2N-E MB
WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B (500 GB)

I've already read a couple threads which addressed this issue but found the answers to be less than satisfactory.

I am currently running the Trial version, but I have also purchased ESS and waiting on delivery.

[Marcos]

Did you also include VM size in the count?

[King Grub]

Doesn't ESET load the virus signatures into RAM instead of reading them from disk? This increases RAM usage, but also increases performance, as RAM access is much faster than any disk access.

[Pilgrim1]

Originally Posted by Marcos

Did you also include VM size in the count?

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking

What I do want to make crystal clear is that I have PURCHASED ESS after having been a loyal customer of Kaspersky for many years. Being a tech, I have installed "K" on literally 100's of PCs besides my own. What I want to avoid, which I have never bowed to is "brand loyalty" over fact. There is no perfect software and thus developers are constantly trying to improve their respective products.

My question is genuine and it comes from simply looking at "Memory (Private Working Set)" in Task Manager. It simply looks like ESS is using alot of RAM. In fact, on my system, it is sits at the top of the list over every other. Thus, I am wanting to know first... Is this 100 megs typical? If so, fine. If it is unusually high, then perhaps something needs to be investigated to figure out why.

As I mentioned in my first post, the 'answers' I read on the other threads were unsatisfactory for the majority of them were from those who apparently had a need to 'defend' ESET against any/all apparent disparaging remarks. As far as I'm concerned ESET needs no defense. What I am looking for is openness, frankness, and honesty... not hostility, which has not occurred... and hopefully it won't.

Come on people, this is my first real experience with ESS and the ESET community. First impressions are very important..... yes?

[zfactor]

while it uses a lot of ram check for things like disk i/o where you will see eset is very low. it just programmed different. where some av's uses little ram but constantly access the disk...i installed ess on a old system with only 512mb of ram with a p4 and it runs fine. i also tried that with nortons which normally only uses under 20mb of ram but it slowed this same system down A LOT which is not normal for nortons on a newer pc. also i noticed a decrease in ram usage after a few days not sure why but i went from almost 90mb to around 70 pretty stable now. also when i run a scan with ess the ram basically stays the same, with most others it more than doubles during a scan but yeah every av is different. i can say for me ess is imo a great choice

[Pilgrim1]

zfactor,

Thanks for responding. You have helped me to understand the difference between some AV's and their utilization of RAM... makes good sense. So, at least from your reply, it would seem that what I am seeing for RAM usage, things are quite 'normal'. Unless someone else chimes in and questions the figures I supplied as being abnormal, I'll rest easy.

[zfactor]

yeah i think you are fine. maybe a tiny bit high i normally get mid 80's but i think you are okay.also with eset you will notice lower cpu use than many others. doing a full scan i see 14-40% (40% in small spikes when it hits a bigger or compressed file) with some other av's i saw as much as 80 or higher on a current i7 equipped laptop. did you run a full scan yet? try doing that and then see how your ram is unless you did already.

[Pilgrim1]

Originally Posted by zfactor

did you run a full scan yet? try doing that and then see how your ram is unless you did already.

Haven't run a scan yet, but I will and take note of the both the CPU and RAM usage.

So far, ESS is running seemlessly. I'll be installing ESS on my wife's work PC also. The company she works for is one of my clients. Until now, KAV has been used on all the workstations, but methinks I'll be moving them over to ESET.

Thanks again for your quick, thoughtful and amiable responses. It means alot to me, anyway.

[Marcos]

It is important to check the virtual memory consumption, some programs pretend to allocate little memory but the overall consumption is high.