With development information technologies, computer and laptop has become an attribute of a person's daily life. Thanks to devices and the Internet, users can receive useful information, chat with friends and acquaintances, as well as relax after a hard day at work. Unfortunately, there is a high probability of “picking up” viruses. To protect your computer, it is recommended to install an antivirus.
When it comes to installing anti-virus software, many users don't know which anti-virus takes the least load on the operating system. To find a solution, you need to analyze several products. At the same time, do not forget that the characteristics of the computer play an important role.
Preparation for the experiment
To figure out which is the fastest antivirus, you need to install the defenders on your computer one by one, and then test it for a week. For the experiment, a laptop with the following characteristics will be used:
- Processor - 2.8 GHz;
- RAM - 2 Gb;
- Hard disk - 320 Gb.
The following products will be used as tested antiviruses:
- Kaspersky Internet security.
- Dr. Web.
- Avast.
- Qihoo 360 Internet Security.
- Microsoft Security essentials.
To conduct an experiment and determine which antivirus does not slow down the system, it is necessary to install a new product on the machine every week. It is important that anti-virus software is tested under the same conditions.
Antivirus testing
To determine the optimal anti-virus software, it is recommended to download the program as much as possible. During testing, games are downloaded to the computer, as they have big size, which means that the “defender” is forced to work as much as possible.
The second step of testing was the launch of games. In game mode, some antiviruses are practically inactive, while others, on the contrary, consume system resources to the maximum.
At the third stage of testing, work was performed with graphic editors. used Photoshop programs and 3D Max. These applications themselves consume a lot of resources. If the antivirus does not load the system, conversion, saving and processing are faster. In addition, the high consumption of resources by the "defender" affects the quality of the graphics.
Do not forget about visiting Internet resources. It is best to open such websites that have animation and pictures with good quality. Besides a good remedy for testing will be scripts and viruses masquerading on the pages of the website.
The next step is to copy large files from one folder to another. Some antiviruses begin to actively scan folders and files that are copied to a new location.
The final stage of testing will be scanning hard drive and virus detection. It should be noted that the load on the media directly affects the scanning time, as well as the consumption of resources.
Test results
After testing, you can see interesting results. When working with graphic editors, programs such as Kaspersky Internet Security and Dr. Web. Of course, this does not mean that antiviruses consumed all resources, but for correct work with Photoshop, it is better to temporarily disable them.
When copying files, Kaspersky loaded the system, as well as Microsoft Security. With the activity of these applications, the copy speed dropped sharply by 1.5 Mbit / s. When moving or making copies of small files, this is not critical, but when you need to copy a folder larger than 15 GB, this is already a problem, as the time increases dramatically.
Downloading files from the Internet has forced antiviruses such as Qihoo 360 and Kaspersky to actively absorb resources. When checking downloaded files, defenders load the system, consuming up to 75% of free random access memory.
During testing, websites loaded with content, as well as infected with viruses, were visited. Avast showed increased activity. In addition, he blocked even those sites that were not infected. At the same time, it consumed the most resources.
Concerning full check system, I was surprised by the result shown by Avast. This antivirus consumed the least amount of RAM, only 100-150 Mb. At the same time, it did not interfere with the work with other programs. Unfortunately, other defenders were absorbing too many resources.
In addition to all Dr. Web starts to check the system when the computer is idle. During this period, the system load is about 30%.
Which antivirus to choose
According to the experiments carried out, it is possible to distinguish . It turned out to be the fastest product that practically does not load the system. In addition, the defender perfectly copes with his immediate tasks. The application finds viruses both on the Internet and on removable media. Of course, such giants as Kaspersky or Dr. The web does a better job of protecting your computer, but unfortunately, they require serious resources.
Users with large amounts of RAM and powerful processor serious complexes should be considered, but for the “middle peasants” it is best to choose Avast or Qihoo 360.
Do antiviruses slow down the system
If we consider weak machines, then even an antivirus with minimal functionality will consume a lot of resources on them. Before installing antivirus software, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with its minimum requirements.
Of course, there are also products that unreasonably consume system resources. These Defenders include:
- Threat Track VIPRE;
- Quick Heal;
- norman security.
AV-Test laboratory tested 23 antiviruses on a computer with the following characteristics:
- Processor - Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz;
- RAM - 4 Gb;
- HDD - 500 Gb.
As a result, the best antivirus had a score of 5.1 points, and the worst 13.9.
According to the result, the leading position was taken by antivirus kaspersky Internet Security and Bitdefender.
Conclusion
System performance plays an important role, but do not forget that anti-virus systems are primarily aimed at protecting your computer. In addition, paid solutions have advanced functionality, and, accordingly, they consume more resources.
In order to avoid problems with the antivirus, it is best to consider its minimum system requirements, as well as how he copes with protection. After careful analysis and comparison, you can make a choice.
Which antivirus loads the system the least
The results presented by AV-Comparatives in this antivirus performance comparison report only show the impact on system performance (mainly real-time/on-access protection components) of various antivirus programs under given conditions.
Users are encouraged to try antivirus program on their own computer and see how the antivirus works on a particular system configuration.
For a similar performance test in May 2017, budget computers with hard drives were used. HDDs(instead of SSD). In September 2017, computers with SSD drives were used.
Test computer
Testing for the performance of antiviruses was carried out on Lenovo laptop E560 with processor Intel Core i5-6200U CPU, 8 GB (RAM) of RAM and SSD drive. Operational testing was done on a clean and fully updated Windows 10 64-bit (English version) system and then with an antivirus program installed (with default settings). The tests were run with an active internet connection to ensure the real impact of cloud services and features.
Tested antiviruses
The following antiviruses took part in this comparative testing for performance and speed (default settings were used):
Tested antiviruses
- CrowdStrike Falcon Prevent 3.4
- eScan Corporate 360 14.0
- Seqrite Endpoint Security 17.0
AV-Comparatives laboratory specialists used the latest antivirus versions available at the time of testing (September 2017). The test includes products from both the "Antivirus" category and the "Internet Security" category - all of which are marked as "security programs". The laboratory has tested products that vendors provide for the main test series. Please note that the results of the report only apply to individual product versions listed above (i.e. a specific version for a specific system architecture, such as a 64-bit OS). You also need to take into account that different development companies offer different functions (and their number) in their antiviruses.
The following types of operations/tests have been performed on a computer with Latest updates OS Windows 10 64-Bit:
- Copying files
- Archiving / Unarchiving
- Installing / Uninstalling Applications
- Application launch
- Downloading files
- Website visits
- PC Mark 10 Professional Testing Suite
Test Methodology
Measures have been taken to minimize third-party factors that may have affected test results and/or system compatibility. The optimization technologies used in the products were also considered - this means that the results represent the impact of the product on the system after some period of use of the product by the user. The tests were carried out several times (with and without optimization technology enabled) to obtain average values and eliminate measurement errors. After each launch, test computer was defragmented and rebooted 6 times. The researchers simulated various types of file operations: copying clean files from one location to another, compressing files into archives, decompressing archives, downloading files from the Internet, and launching applications (opening documents). For individual tests, the Windows Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (Windows ADK) was used with the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT). This toolkit is widely used in the industry to measure performance. computer systems. This tool makes it easy for vendors to replicate results and discover what is causing slowdowns. In order to prevent possible optimization of products for the test, our own drivers for the ADK were implemented. These tools allow you to assess the impact of products on performance in individual subtests, independent of other tests.
The lab used a third-party industry-recognised test suite (PC Mark 10 Professional) to confirm system impact during real-world use. Users are invited to evaluate various products on their own systems (results may vary depending on software conflicts, user settings, and various system configurations).
Antiviruses should be loaded in the system at an early stage to ensure maximum protection - such loading affects the computer startup time. Accurately measuring download times is a difficult task. The biggest problem is determining the system's fully ready state, because in many environments startup activity continues for some time after the system has become fully responsive to the user. It is also important to consider when antivirus protection is fully active, because this can be an important criterion for completing the download process. Some vendors implement very late boot for their products - in this case, the system may be slow for a while after it has fully booted. In fact, the product simply loads its services and processes late, leaving the system vulnerable for a while. The laboratory believes that this situation can be misleading, which is why load times are not published in reports.
Test results
AV Comparatives score
- file copying- Copy files
- archiving/unarchiving- Archiving / Unarchiving
- Installing/uninstalling applications- Install / Uninstall applications
- Launching applications- Launch applications - Download files
- Browsing Websites- Website visits
- Slow- slow
- Mediocre- average
- Fast- fast
- very fast- very fast
Overall score based on the PC Mark test
Assessment of the impact of the antivirus on the system (less is better)
Performance test. What is the fastest antivirus?
Certificates issued based on the performance rating of antivirus programs with default settings in Windows system 10 64-Bit:
(6) AV-Comparatives suggests that products with the same award have the same impact on system performance.
You can read the full report at this link.
Found a typo? Press Ctrl+Enter
WITH computer viruses sooner or later, every Internet user faces, and if this has not happened to you yet, then everything is still ahead. Not too optimistic, right?
But, nevertheless, in 2019, we are now in a better position than our predecessors, because at a time when antivirus software just began to appear on the market, computer viruses quietly and freely hosted in computers, sometimes causing millions of dollars in damage.
Some 5-10 years ago, the only way to get rid of viruses was hard formatting disk, which means the loss of all data stored on it. Today, even the most inexperienced user personal computer, who is very poorly versed in computer protection methods, can oppose viruses with a serious rebuff and get rid of these malicious aliens.
Rating of the best free antiviruses of 2019 (TOP-10)
This article provides an overview the most popular today 2019 and some tips to keep your computer safe. Naturally, to protect your PC, the first step is to find good antivirus.
#1
A very worthy anti-virus program of domestic development, which has the ability to find and deal with any threat your computer and is one of the leaders in the CIS countries.
He responds to the threat very quickly and immediately eliminates it. This program can automatically updated, its interface is quite simple and clear, management is not complicated. This program will also be a worthy protection for your computer.
Her only flaw is that she quite heavy load on the computer, consuming a lot of resources.
#2
Latest Versions antivirus package Avast! 2019 possess high level efficiency virus detection. The core engine used in the program has been certified by ICSA, constantly tested by Virus Bulletin and consistently wins awards.
The program has a very simple and very understandable interface even for a beginner, which allows even a not very experienced user to configure scanning parameters. There is also a great opportunity to quickly tune appearance programs. In addition, it is possible setting up a schedule for scanning computer.
Avast protection! It uses a powerful module that can prevent the effects of a virus before it infects your computer. The system is capable update yourself. Summing up, it can be argued that the presence of this program on your computer allows you to feel much calmer.
#3
360 Total Security- antivirus which will help you protect and optimize the operation of your computer.
It provides protection against many threats that could steal your personal information, from malware, junk files, privacy risks, viruses and more. Simple and user friendly interface makes using the antivirus very enjoyable.
This application also allows you to get rid of applications that slow down your computer by automatic search slow startup programs and unnecessary files.
#4
NANO Security NANO AntiVirus 2019 is relatively new product in the huge market for free antivirus software. He offers integrated, modern protection from computer viruses, trojans, malicious and suspicious programs. It monitors web traffic, checks your email and keeps the system secure in real time.
He also scans RAM for infections and may even detect viruses in encrypted and compressed files such as archives or backups. Unlike many other free antiviruses, it does not limit the user's options, but provides full feature set for free.
#5
This very popular Avira antivirus software allows you to protect your computer from various virus threats. Antivirus has the technological ability to detect novel viruses and eliminate them.
It also has the advantage of being able to automatically updated and do not consume large system resources. It is a very effective virus detection tool that can guarantee the security of your computer.
#6
AVG Antivirus Free is constantly being improved to protect your computer even better.
It currently includes real-time security updates, problem and malware and performance scans, and even catches downloads of malicious files before they reach the computer.
A very popular antivirus among PC users.
#7
Comodo Antivirus is an excellent tool for scanning and detecting Internet threats. Antivirus scans any drive or file, including unknown untrusted or suspicious mail files.
If the program identifies any files as attackers, viruses or worms, the system will identify and eliminate them. Comodo Antivirus checks the system for viruses automatically so as not to interrupt you from working at your computer.
#8
BitDefender Antivirus Plus 2019 has sophisticated style of PC protection, which includes simulation of a computer inside a computer on which program segments are activated in order to get time for pre-scan for viruses and other harmful things.
Powerful search engines BitDefender Antivirus accesses the most remote and unused areas of your computer to detect any possible problems that might be there.
Viruses are removed from minimal data corruption, with the ability to restore damaged documents before deleting them. Web traffic filter prevents malicious files from entering your computer.
#9
panda antivirus brings together cloud computing with antivirus, so it is an excellent solution, which reduces the requirements for local resources PC and creates reliable protection.
The flip side of the coin is that a potential attack on the developer's servers could interfere with the protection of computers, however, this is highly unlikely. Thus, its advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
#10 ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall
ZoneAlarm provides protection with flexibility for users with an average level of computer knowledge.
ZoneAlarm 2019 is an easy-to-use program that protects your computer from threats posed by viruses and other potentially dangerous programs for personal information that you have stored on your computer. Free version ZoneAlarm includes daily updates.
In addition to everything, there is a function firewall , which includes spyware and phishing protection; the user can manually determine which program to provide "Trust Level".
Additional antivirus protection
But, in addition to having a good antivirus program, the user must take into account a few more elementary rules:
- Do not access websites unless you are confident in them. reliability;
- Can't download from internet unnecessary you files, even from known sources;
- You can not open and read letters sent to you from unknown recipients, since it is through mail that various viruses often enter your computer.
What Antivirus do you use?
Have you encountered a situation where you need to install an antivirus on an old, weak computer by modern standards? It seems a pity to throw it away, because you can watch movies, listen to music, surf the Internet on it, but some popular antivirus latest version will gobble up all the remnants of productivity, which is already in short supply.
Especially for this case, I prepared this article. Here are collected the easiest antiviruses, in my opinion, from both the paid and free sectors. Programs are selected based solely on their load on the system, but sometimes the ease of antivirus comes at the expense of its reliability. There are also such programs here, but I left a note about reliability. The best antiviruses in terms of protection level will be collected in another separate article.
And so that you do not have to rely solely on the opinion of some left-handed dude from the Internet, for each antivirus I have indicated its official system requirements. And so, let's go.
Lightweight Free Antivirus 2016
Panda Free Antivirus 2016 (link to review). Free cloud antivirus with a minimum of protective components. Not very reliable, but paid programs seems to be the easiest.System requirements: 300 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM.
Qihoo 360 Total Security Essential 8(link to review). A popular free antivirus from Chinese developers. Reliability at the level of the best paid products, except for the trouble with web protection and support for 64-bit systems.
Very lightweight when using only native cloud engines. But even when one additional engine is connected, the load increases insignificantly. Personally, I have such an antivirus on an old computer with an Athlon XP 1.9 GHz processor and 1.2 GB of RAM, an additional Avira engine is connected. Using a computer is quite comfortable.
System requirements: 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM.
FortiClient 5.4(link to review). Underestimated antivirus, free, including for the corporate sector. not cloudy, good level signature detection, full web screen and system parental controls. Proactive protection, unfortunately, is missing.
System requirements: Pentium-like processor, 256 MB RAM for Windows XP and 512 MB for Windows 7.
Lightweight paid antivirus 2016
Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 9(). In my opinion the most light antivirus from everyone on this page. Consists of one file, consumes 3 MB of RAM when idle. Cloud-based, ultra-light, with proactive protection, including against keyloggers. But the level of reliability is extremely low, there is no web screen, the performance of some components has not been confirmed by tests.System requirements: processor family Pentium, Celeron, AMD K6, Athlon, Duron; 128 MB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended for Windows 7.
Norton Security 2016(link to review). One of my favorite paid antiviruses. Focused on cloud technologies, has everything you need to fully protect your computer.
System requirements: Windows XP - processor with a frequency of 300 MHz, 256 MB of RAM; Windows 7 - 1 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for x64); Windows 10 - 2 GB RAM.
Eset NOD32 smart security 9 (link to review). Complex antivirus, which I did not remember either for its lightness or reliability. However, its official system requirements are more than democratic, so you should not forget about the "little green man".
System requirements: Windows 7, 8, 10 - 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM; Windows XP SP 3 - 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM.
Attention! For complete and high-quality work cloud antiviruses an active internet connection is required.
But even if these antiviruses seem heavy to you, there is only one way out - to install Puppy Linux).
Almost every owner weak computer, be it a laptop or a stationary, at least once thought about how to speed up its work. In a separate article on our website, we talk in detail about optimizing Windows 10. And in this article we will consider the question of which is the easiest anti-virus program to choose for a weak computer. Since the vast majority of owners of old low-power computers are unlikely to be eager to buy software, then in this article we will consider free antiviruses.
Let's start with the fact that there is no unequivocal answer to the question of which antivirus is the fastest in operation. Different labs that study and compare antivirus programs use different evaluation methods, and it is likely that they have their own unspoken preferences. In this variety, it is difficult to choose the results of which anti-virus programs can be trusted.
However, at present, data from a very authoritative source have appeared on this issue. Roskachestvo released its serious study of antiviruses. This autonomous non-profit organization was established by the Government of the Russian Federation to carry out independent quality checks of goods and services sold in Russia. The state funding of this organization and a wide range of activities suggest that the results of its research have every chance of being more objective than those of other companies that make up antivirus ratings.
The study of anti-virus programs was carried out by Roskachestvo together with the International Association of Consumer Testing Organizations. This fact also testifies in favor of the impartiality and maximum objectivity of this examination. In the course of semi-annual tests, experts in the field of computer security thoroughly examined the work of the most popular 24 security programs in Russia from 18 anti-virus laboratories. All antiviruses (both paid and free) were evaluated according to more than two hundred indicators, but the main criteria for checking were three: the level of security provided, ease of use, and the impact on the speed of the computer (lightness of the product).
Since the topic of our article concerns fast antivirus for a weak computer, then we will first of all consider the results of testing anti-virus programs precisely in terms of their performance.
We will not walk around for a long time, but we will immediately announce the winner in terms of speed. By the impact on the performance of a computer or laptop the lightest free antivirus, according to Roskachestvo experts, has become a product Avira Free Antivirus. The speed of his work on a PC was rated by experts at 4.62 points out of 5.5 possible. Next among the free products is the Free version of the Kaspersky Lab program with a score of 4.28. The third place in performance among free antivirus programs was taken by Avast Free Antivirus with 4.08 points. Free products from other companies scored less than 4 points. Recall that we do not consider paid products, so we excluded them from the rating below.
Rating of free antiviruses by their impact on computer speed:
(The higher the score, the better. Only free products are selected in the list!)
- Avira Free - 4.62
- Kaspersky Free - 4.28
- Avast Free - 4.08
- AVG Free - 3.99
- Bitdefender Free - 3.73
- Windows Defender - 3.69
As you can see from the last paragraph, "Windows Defender" installed in operating system by default, it takes the 6th place in terms of performance among all the free antiviruses reviewed. This indicates to us that for a weak computer or laptop, it is still preferable to install a faster and lighter third-party antivirus. Standard protection will slow down the system more than other antivirus programs. In addition, the protective properties of the built-in antivirus are far from ideal. This can be seen from the rating below.
Rating of free antiviruses by their ability to protect against various kinds of dangers:
(not for speed)
- Bitdefender Free - 4.95
- Avast Free - 4.58
- Avira Free - 4.43
- AVG Free - 4.31
- Kaspersky Free - 3.73
- Windows Defender - 3.49
Comparing both ratings (both in terms of security and speed) of all the free antivirus programs studied, we can conclude that Avira Free is not only the fastest, but also a very safe program. She takes 1st in speed work and 3rd place in safety among all free products. Let's add that in terms of influence on the speed of the computer, Avira overtook even all paid antiviruses. It ranks first in performance among all 24 antivirus programs studied. Based on this, for a weak laptop or stationary it is best to use Avira Free. Avast Free also got a high score in both cases (3rd in speed and 2nd in security among free solutions). We can say that this program ranks second in terms of speed and security among all free products. This program can be installed if Avira Free is not suitable for some reason.
Recall that within the framework of this article, only free antiviruses studied by Roskachestvo are considered. However, if you still study the paid options for security programs, then the best options the combination of speed and security will be Kaspersky Internet Security (protection - 4.61 and speed - 4.2) and Norton Security Deluxe (protection - 4.74 and speed - 4.3). Overall rating paid and free antiviruses is presented in the picture below.
We also mention that among the free anti-virus programs, the best in terms of the level of security provided by Roskachestvo was recognized Bitdefender Free. She took 3rd place among all (free and even paid) programs. This indicates that the preferred option free antivirus in terms of security, it is Bitdefender. Unfortunately, this product does not have a Russian-language interface. In terms of speed, this program is far from ideal. According to this indicator, she takes 18th place (3.73 points). We repeat that in terms of speed, Avira Free has gone far ahead.
If we compare these two programs specifically, then Bitdefender has higher security than Avira (4.95 vs. 4.42), but in the case of speed, the opposite is true (4.62 vs. 3.84).
conclusions
- The fastest antivirus program is Avira Free(among paid and free).
- The best level of security ever free programs provides Bitdefender Free.
- The best options for paid programs in terms of speed and protection are provided by Norton Security Deluxe and Kaspesky Internet Security.
Links
AVIRA Free official website(choose "Download only antivirus" to avoid installing a lot of rubbish in the form of paid add-ons)
AVAST Free official website
Bitdefender Free official website
Norton Security Deluxe official website(there is trial version for 30 days)
