Webroot

What is most lightweight antivirus i can install on old computer (1.2 ghz pentium 3 with 512 mb ram).
I need something more lightweight than avast, avira, nod, mse... Is webroot secure anywhere most lightweight av i can find (or is there something more lightweight than webroot)?

 

I have Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete running along with the Windows 7 firewall and I can tell you it has zero impact on system resources. There is no way you'll find anything else that runs so light. No impact on boot times either. It's all in the cloud. You can configure WSA so it will ask you on all outbound traffic if you want to allow just once or every time. WSA is supposed to be a companion AV and you can theoretically run it with another AV, but why bother? It does a great job all by itself, and if lightness is a primary goal, then you are just defeating the purpose by adding another AV. Not to mention the fact that you will not need another AV if you have WSA. The product does a phenomenal job at protecting a clean system from infection. Comodo and Norton employ similar strategies. With WSA even if a baddie did initially slip through it's really a moot point. The rollback feature it has will restore the system to its previous safe state. Ask guest Polaris here in this forum about WSA because he runs it on his laptop I believe. He knows as much about WSA as anybody and he knows what will run well along side WSA if you choose to add another AV. Good luck! Oh by the way. If you look around right now you will find some very good deals on WSA. In general it's a bit pricy but check around because it's on sale at Amazon and through some other online merchants.

 

It is super light , but it makes my video player - potplayer startup very slow - almost 3-5 seconds

 

...,and it´s working with e.g. Virtual Clone Drive,but it´s killing Daemon Tools paid/free and Alcohol 120 % / 52% virtual drives...One more thing : on medium heuristics ( a bit stronger than "normal") it´s flagging part of my Asus MB BIOS as a rootkit.Other than these annoyances ,it is very light.

 

Ok, thanks

 

ESET and Webroot are the only ones that runs fantastic on my PC with 512MB of RAM. Just FYI

 

webroot is as light as it gets. im second to eset ess which is VERY light for a suite. for me the annoying thing i have with webroot is being part of mozilla ux it still flags the updater as being a trojan and i have sent it to support on a few occasions and is still flagged. no other av does this. and of late i have had a few more false positives from it. nothing out of hand though.

the only other reall annoyance for me is with the firewall when it detects something on just one website it will kill ALL internet connection. meaning if you have say 3 things downloading and you are browsing around and hit a site that webroot flags (which is a different site then your downloads are coming from) it will entirely kill your connection briefly which then kills all the downloads and you have to start them all over again.

when i know im going to be downloading a file now i have learned to either shut off webroot (which i know is not the best solution but it can be aggravating) or let the download finish then continue on my way.

otherwise im a huge fan and so far i have yet to be able to get infected with it and i actually tried to purposely on a few occasions. it stopped everything i threw at it by either stopping it from running or killing it on reboot.

 

Yes WSA is very light. I installed it and for a few days all was good. Then it began to cause my entire system to freeze. Not uncommon as a search will reveal. A hard reboot was required more than once. Also it flagged Shadow Defender as malicious and took action-in the process damaging my ability to install Windows updates and use System Restore. Took days to repair. ( foolishly no image had been taken) I loved it for that short period but eventually it was unusable. Back to Avast for now. Will perhaps try again in the future.

 

Originally posted by topper10.

Years ago Webroot Spysweeper caused some issues with Windows freezing up. There were also a few complaints about browser freeze ups with WSA installed back a few years ago. Neither issue was wide spread and not common to WSA. I use Shadow Defender (have for years) and have never once received a FP from WSA flagging it as malicious. In fact I have never had a single issue with FP's while running WSA for the last two years and change. No browser issues either. Proper configuration can be an issue, too, especially if WSA is being run alongside another AV. It's a companion AV but it still has to be configured differently as compared to running it all alone. Even then I have noticed that it plays nicer with some AV's than others. I personally don't like to run but one AV even if it is supposed to be a companion AV like WSA or EAM. Then there are always the varied surfing habits of different users that are not being accounted for in every instance. Throw into the mix a bit of misunderstanding as to how WSA works. If you have an issue, Webroot's customer support is second to none in response time, and helpfulness, not to mention a complete and utter lack of snotty, condescending attitude I also mentioned that forum member guest Polaris probably understands how WSA works as well as anyone. He has a terrific configuration guide that shows step by step how to configure WSA with another AV or all by itself. It's a fine product, but you will always find someone who had a less than satisfactory experience, but that goes for every security solution. You can find a 1 year 3 device license for WSA 2013 at Amazon for $10.99. That is a very good deal!

 

Yes, go with WSA

 

You need to do your own evaluation; it's no good asking other people for opinions because their preferences and experiences may be different to yours. Whatever you go for, if it's paid software it's always best to take advantage of the trial period before buying.

 

I think it should be pointed out that cloud computing by its very nature is extremely light and i think WSA have pioneered some great technologies in its product.

A large majority of av users are still using standard resident protection and im no exception.
My personal user habits dictate i dont need the power of cloud computing as i rarely download any software and all my apps are whitelisted locally.

 

I also use WSA IS and would recommend it. You can trial the product(s) here:

http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-trials.html