dislike all Av's

Anyone else feel same?, not a light one i found that doesn't slow a pc down in some form?. I wish there was something like the old AVG 7.5 that ran so nice. Now its full of bloatware

 

Avast AV PRO is the lightest if you install it via custom install and select nothing but the file shield and behavior shield. give it a shot

 

Could you make list of which one you have tried and if possible which version? Might be easier for those that want to recommend to something.

Also bloatware in itself doesn't mean the AV will slow down your PC

 

hey, madz, just go av-free, you'll love it and won't look back.

 

The last three av's I've tried have all been light and never slowed down any of my computers. They are McAfee, Trend Micro, and Eset.

 

+1 it is what i do on one of my system.

 

Have you tried Panda, Tencent PC Manager or recent versions of 360 Total Security or ESET products? They are all extremely light and have very little system impact, even on older systems.

I've used just about every antivirus there is and find the vast majority of antiviruses to be too heavy for my liking, but the ones I listed are are among the few that are exceptionally light.

 

any free AV is advertising somehow, get paid.
but there is nothing wrong to make your own experience without ANY antivirus OR only on-demand scanners like malwarebytes. but you need other layers to defeat malware and that always mean to learn and to change anything in behavior.

panda is no good, eset is lighter, tencent and 360 are chinese crap, be aware.

 

http://www.immunet.com/index
Try Immunet and disable the following settings:

• Monitor program install
• Blocking mode
• Monitor network connections
• Enable ClamAV engine
• Allow definition updates

 

Comodo Cloud Antivirus...light and strong with sandbox

 

I wonder what specs your computer have
Avast, AVG, Panda ..... are all light.

 

Yes, I loved the old AVG, it was light as a feather, the new one is just terrible, just like most AVs. The only light AVs out there are cloud ones, but unfortunately they lack in detection.

 

The main issue with AVG is when they kept on buying our companies and bolting on more and more without integrating it.

 

Cylance is very light.

 

How is BitDefender free these days? Still light?

 

@maddawgz ,

I´m using the latest version of Eset Internet Security. It probably slows down the computer a bit, but I don´t notice it.
NOD32 is probably lighter. Older versions of Eset are lighter if memory serves me.

I wonder if the AV is really your problem. Have you perhaps installed and uninstalled several security programs ? IMO, that´s asking for problems. I´m not sure how well modern computers and operating systems hold up with that these days, but it didn´t work out too well for me on Windows XP prior to 2010 ...
You could do: either back up your important data , format and reinstall all your software OR restore an old ´clean´ image that has never been ´infected´ with security software.

You also mention ´bloatware´. I wouldn´t use a free AV. I also wouldn´t install all sorts of freeware that comes with adware, programs that load themselves at startup or any other crap ...

 

I haven't tried it recently, but I didn't find old versions to be particularly light, even though some others did. It's probably best to try it for yourself, considering how much system impact can vary from one computer to the next.

 

Yeah good point. Was asking for a friend who was using Avast, but did not care for it.

 

Good question.
I think most problems are born of bad utilization like install/uninstall constantly and other practices.
Clean install and Macrium Reflect. And learn the ins and outs of the OS and the Web.

 

+1. Since I've installed this on all my systems, I haven't looked back. Light and works great. No issues and no advertising or anything. Couldn't ask for anything more for free.

 

+1 but you`ll still need something like Comodo firewall or OS Amour to run with it.

It would still be a very light on resources setup anyway.

Regards Eck

 

This is a major reason that my desktop and laptops are now all Unix.

 

+1

I have Windows only for MS Office and testing softwares for companies.
My most used machine is on Linux MX.

 

I seem to recall some saying they just use use windows built in firewall with a system hardener like https://www.novirusthanks.org/products/syshardener/ or https://github.com/AndyFul/Hard_Configurator and leave it at that.

That may work but would suggest also using a good DNS like OpenDNS with it's filtering, perhaps even a good firewall appliance with builtin anti malware.

 

Classic home users don't need tons of security apps, what is built-in in Win10 is more than good enough for most (if they care to learn how to use them).
Just use a backup soft if things go south.

If you don't download or click on crap, you don't have much risks.

I have tightly setup a noobish friend's machine who used to often be infected, now will be 2 years, I don't see infections on his system.
The only things I added is SUA and some OS tweaks automatized by NVT SysHardener.

Then just made him a list of "Don't do" and told him to stick with this.

Security forums feed paranoia and stockpiling of apps, instead of teaching safe practices and how to use what is offered by the OS.