While I find my AV is pretty much redundant most of the times that I just feel that I need that extra layer of security. I also find that my avast only seems to use 3.5mb of RAM on my system so it's not like it's draining my set up.
I don't run on my home pc,but i have Avira Premium on work laptop.. I don't think Av's are useless but i don't like them..I don't think they progressed much.. For ex:I was copying a few dozens PDF's from one partition to another...The real time scanner pop ed at 30-50% CPU continuous during this operation.. I think is stupid ...
This is not typical behaviour for antivirus software these days. You should switch to a lighter antivirus. Even if CPU use was halved, I would still look for an alternative.
Yup by all means. Try a dozen more until you get one that doesn't eat that much CPU. I found mine but can't break the forum rules.
Ah, ol' memories. Just so you all know that I love MSE and Avira not because of a baseless fanboyism (okay, maybe a little ).
No at least not just yet. Windows 8 smackware will surely make their appearance at some point but untill such time it demands necessity a solid HIPS supported by Light Virtualization apps = ShadowDefender + Sandboxie will do. Simple routine scans via online AV's are sufficient for now i think.