AV-Comparatives: Performance Test - April 2021

AV-Comparatives: Performance Test - April 2021

Chart:
https://www.av-comparatives.org/com...=2021&chart_month=4&chart_sort=1&chart_zoom=0

PDF:
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/performance-test-april-2021/

 

...and Windows Defender comes in last... At least it's free.

 

Ahh MS in last place. Not surprised based upon my experiences with it.

 

Yes, if you view the linked pdf, the biggest impact is in file copying, archiving /unarchiving and installing /uninstalling applications.
For launching applications, downloading files and browsing websites there is alsmost no impact.
That's why not everybody has the same opinion about the performance of Microsoft Defender.
It is not noticeable by "normal" day to day operations, except for power users and IT staff...

 

I agree
When maintaining computers (backup data and similar) I always disable MD. Speed increase is significant.

 

F-Secure stopped participating, surprised how Panda went to first place

 

We use it at work and it's fast indeed. Too bad that it doesn't detect much and that it produces a lot of FPs.

 

True, most of the slowdown I see is when opening a network share. It seems to take figuratively forever to list the files in the folder.

 

Yes, Defender is relatively slow in opening zip files, but not unduly. Having a fast SSD mitigates that a lot. It's just fine for my purposes.

Re: Panda's performance over security. Probably that factor keeps some people using it.

 

t, care to elaborate your experience with it?

 

well done, kaspersky.
the results are consistent with my experience.

 

Nothing different than what anyone else has mentioned here. Slower to open large files, zip files. Forget about copying or moving data across a network. I also noticed some browsing slow downs as well. I want to like it and keep it but I just can't.

 

i see. i never experienced slow down in browsing speed.

 

You'd probably have to disable SmartScreen to notice the difference there. I don't think it actually gets turned off with a 3rd party replacement so you would have to deliberately disable it for it to happen.

 

Exactly. Try it with it off.

 

oh, i never tried that. i'll give it a try when i'm home. thanks.

 

will do. thanks, t.

 

Yes I guess so, because I don't see any slowdown on my Windows 10 system, Win Defender works just fine. So no problems when installing apps, browsing the web and copying and pasting files.

 

If one doesn't know how his system performs WITHOUT WD, then in their head, there is no slowdown. I have tested it on 10s of systems, it is the heaviest AV out there. you see the laptop in my signature?

I have a folder called software. In that folder, it has many subfolders of portable apps such as CCleaner, Tor browser, etc. I have set a custom icon for every folder to make them standout. If I had Windows Defender enabled, every time I access that folder, the icons start loading one at a time in slow motion despite me having a super fast laptop as you see in my specs and an SSD.

Additionally, installation of programs and launching them is significantly lower but many people don't even wanna bother trying other options just because this is built in and free. I would take Panda Free Antivirus any day of the week over Windows Defender.

it should be the lightest logically since it comes from the people who built the OS. the biggest problem with Windows Defender is it has no whitelisting feature. Modern AVs such as ESET NOD32, Kaspersky, Emsisoft Anti-Malware, once they scan a file, they put like a whitelist stamp on it so they don't need to keep scanning it every time UNLESS its digital file hash/ has changed. Windows Defender keeps scanning the files and entire contents of a folder upon every access.

 

As we all know everyone's computer is different and what happens on one does not mean it will happen on all.

I have the same problem when opening a folder with a lot of programs, I don't care, an extras 3 seconds watching my icons light up ain't going to ruin my day.

Installing and launching programs I have no difference compared to when I used Emsisoft. If there is its negligible and I can't tell.

It may be heavy in some instances , but really, a second here, two seconds there, I got more to worry about. Your mileage may vary.

 

Do they have the actual numbers anywhere and not those meaningless cell-phone signal looking icons. The difference between the products could be so small that they had to use that iconography to make it look like there was a massive difference between two products, but I suspect it's one of those marketing things where they say there's a 50% difference in speed between the products and in actual fact the difference in loading and copying files is that one takes 0.001 of a second and the other takes 0.002. There's concrete numbers in every single other test test they do. 96.6 from PC mark vs 97.6... what does that even mean in the real world? Where are the real world benchmarks?

The advantage to using a product like Windows Defender is that it's literally on every Microsoft computer, at least for a time. Bugs and janky interaction with other software are fixed way quicker than with third party vendors. And a big part of that is Microsoft is generally more competent that AV vendors.

 

Well I did test my Lenovo IdeaPad 3 laptop without WD enabled and I didn't notice any huge speed improvement, so that's why I leave it enabled. But yes, it does need a whitelisting feature. But if it's true what you say, then third party AV's have been improved quite a lot in the last years, because I actually stopped using them for 10 years because they were so slow and bloated. And Win Defender on Win 8 was also a joke.

 

True, Windows Defender has come a long way. I remember back in the day when it first came out, people used to say you might as well not use an AV if you're gonna use Defender, Now it's very secure and has cloud optimization and whatnot coupled with SmartScreen it's a solid solution out of the box. But I'm very picky about performance that's why.

 

Not just relatively quiet- a lot more quiet than many of the most popular. That alone for me is a major benefit that few of the others can offer.

 

And to those who have still concerns about WD performance,
please compare KIS and WD, side by side on av-test.org

KIS:
https://www.av-test.org/en/antiviru.../kaspersky-lab-internet-security-21.2-211112/

WD:
https://www.av-test.org/en/antiviru...february-2021/microsoft-defender-4.18-211115/