Which would you guys recommend?

I've been racking my brain on this one for a few weeks and while I didn't want to post an A vs B, I'm going to try to tailor this to my specific situation...

Win8 x64 machine 8GB RAM, SSD etc...

Most of what I do on this machine is gaming, I'm picky about startup times and browser slowdowns and potential FPS loss in game.

Here's what I've got available to me, which one should I go with?

Kaspersky 2013 IS
Kaspersky 2014 Beta
ESET v6 Smart Security
F-Secure 2013 Beta test IS
Panda 2013 GP
Panda 2014 Beta
Webroot 2013 Internet Security Complete

I'm flush with AV/IS choices right now, but I need an opinion here...

 

since youre main purpose is gaming then best choice FROM THAT LIST is webroot.

 

Avast 8 free, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition, Avira 2013 free.
All Windows 8 compatible.

 

I have a gaming laptop an ASUS G75VX with W8 64bit and I'm currently using a complete free COMODO Internet Security 6.1.276867.2813, it has everything you need all in one package and it doesn't cost you a single dime.

http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/free-internet-security.php

Or you can installed Avast Free AV 8.0.1489 and used you're W8 Firewall already build-in you're OS and you can install a Windows Firewall Control together with your W8 Firewall, with Windows Firewall Control you can control both traffic inbound & outbound with this little add-on software.

Avast Free AV for information about this software http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html

Direct Download link for Avast free http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe

Windows Firewall Control software see two links

BiniSoft.org http://www.binisoft.org/index.php
SphinxSoftware http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html

 

None of them is in the OP's list

I can't help it but to say that, the best you can do is to test them all out for couple of days, and then pick the one that suits you best. Since it's very hard to recommend just one, as I am pretty sure that all of them will behave differently on your PC, some will impact the boot time more than the others, and you will most likely feel a bit of a slow down while browsing with some of them too.

But FYI the ones with the least impact on system performance (for me) on that list is Webroot and ESET.

I usually feel stupid responding to these types of threads as everyone will recommend all kinds of stuff anyway. But as I said try the ones that you are interested in and then pick one.

 

Kaspersky would be a deff choice for me

 

I know.

 

There is nothing lighter than webroot.

 

Of course there is...Brain AV Freeware....

 

Webroot... unsurpassed lightness and excellent protection

 

Is this not A versus B?

 

I would choose kaspersky.

 

My voice is for Kaspersky 2013 IS. I don't know how's their betas are stable. Kaspersky is very light and strong.

 

Yeah, I kind of want to go with one of the choices I mentioned because I've tried them before (except Kaspersky 2014), and in one way or another, have an active license for them. Had little problems with all of them really, but just looking for a consensus between the members of this community.

 

You'll hardly get any consensus. So try, install and forgot.

 

Since you're into gaming (and most gamers seem to be very demanding about performance), I doubt an IS/security suite will be the best choice. Since you've tried most of them before, you should have a general idea of how they fare and which one suits you best. Hope you find what you're seeking

 

In my findings,
Any version of Panda slowed down my browser startup times like crazy and blocked Steam from updating its client...

Kaspersky 2013 had super long startup times after reboot

ESET was really good. It runs with the highest RAM usage in the background but I've got plenty of RAM.. I'm leaning this direction

F-Secure basically had no uninstall routine, and that bugged me. It had protection for VM's though, which was a bonus.

Webroot kept FP on my Macbook so I got ~ Snipped as per TOS ~ and took it off both WIN and MAC computers. Also it had a weird habit of slowing down game installs on Windows. It kept pausing and restarting the install. Also doesn't have its own firewall.

Hmmm

 

FYI that's because all the signatures and modules are loaded into the RAM to increase the system performance, and to keep CPU and I/O read/write (HDD) usage to a minimum.

And you basically confirmed what I said regarding that some would probably cause slowdowns in some areas while others won't, so it's good that you tried them all out.

 

I would choose Webroot or ESET.
Both are light and very effective.

 

Which really makes a lot of sense since these days for any modern laptop it is CPU and I/O which are the bottlenecks.

 

Yes and ESET has done it this way since I first started using them when version 3.0 was released, and possibly even in version before that. I personally wouldn't mind if more vendors would do it, except full cloud AV's like WSA of course.

 

All are acceptable choices, but I WOULD NOT run any of the beta products listed.

 

The best advice: "do not use any AV!"

 

I see from your signature that you use bitdefender.
Maybe you should practice what you preach.

To advise against using an av is pure guff in my opinion.

 

Wsa and eset are light. I doubt this thread is of much use.