bitdefender antivirus really makes me headache and also annoying. WHen they upgrade the patch, they can boot down your system even u are working something on your pc.

Norton Antivirus 2006 is out
http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?categor...ftware&id=30711

I haven't tried the latest Norton but Norton already made me feel heartsick with it.....

BitDefender I never use before but heard from my friend it's damn effective

I personally used AVG 7.0 Free Edition... Quite okay but not so effective, user friendly and quick scan....

I changed to Avast! Home Edition.... not bad but scan damn slow, wait for the whole day...

So i changed back to AVG... and now I am using Kaspersky Personal.... Seriously, I am very satisfied with it... I might switch to BitDefender to try it personally.. but before that, I am gonna proceed with Kaspersky Personal Pro first

For those who have ultimate curiosity regarding the resources and 'what's the lightest and what's the heaviest' sorta question, may want to check out this post (taken from one of 'ehem' security website, and considering it requires registration to browse the site, I paste the whole post here): (credits to mob from freesec forum)

Hello everyone.

I have tested a couple of AV's to see how much memory each one takes up and how many processes they run. Below you can see my results.

I tested each AV on a clean install of Windows XP SP2 on a Virtual PC with 700mb of ram.

Each AV was installed with it's typical, unaltered default settings. I havn't tweaked any of the AV's, the results you see below were all taken with all the default out-of-the-box settings that the AV installs with.

Furthermore, I recorded the memory usage while the PC was at an idle state. So this means, the results you see below are probably as low as they can be... and you should expect the memory usage to be higher during normal use of the PC.

Ok, here are the results, in no particular order:

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AntiVir
AVGNT.exe (2,168 k)
AVGUARD.exe (11,836 k)
AVWUPSRV.exe (2,096 k)
Total: 16,100 k

My comments:
Antivir is very light on resources. I didn't play around with this AV for too long but I am sure you can get rid of one of the processes if you turn off the automatic updates.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
McAfee
McShield.exe (18,988 k)
Mcdetect.exe (5,076k)
McTskshd.exe (2,468 k)
mcvsshld.exe (5,136 k)
mcagent.exe (6,108 k)
McVSEscn.exe (4,756 k)
oasclnt.exe (2,012 k)
Total: 44,544 k

My comments:
Stay away from this AV. It is horrible on resources. Even after you uninstall this AV, it leave a process called 2005812111156_mcinfo.exe that loads on startup and takes about 2,348k-5,768k. This is unbelievably ridiculous.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Panda Titanium Antivirus
PSIMSVC.exe (2,268 k)
AVENGINE.exe (42,828 k)
prevsrv.exe (2,748 k)
PAVSRV51.exe (7,824 k)
PavPrSrv.exe (1,012 k)
PavKre.exe (3,092 k)
pavFnSvr.exe (5,228 k)
APVXDWIN.exe (6,512 k)
Pavfires.exe (5,724 k)
WEBPROXY.exe (1,240 k)
PAVPROT.exe (3,460 k)
Total: 81,936 k

My comments:
WTF were they thinking?!? This is the biggest hog of them all. My PC was running significantly slower. Stay away!
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F-Secure AntiVirus 2005
FSAV32.exe (1,748 k)
fsdfwd.exe (2,596 k)
FAMEH32.exe (1,240 k)
FCH32.exe (1,944 k)
FSMB32.exe (884 k)
fssm32.exe (11,828 k)
FSMA32.exe (884 k)
fsbwsys.exe (2,548 k)
fsgk32.exe (1,380 k)
fspex.exe (2,808 k)
fsgk32st.exe (124 k)
SERVIC~1.exe (2,344 k)
FSM32.exe (4,908 k)
fsguiexe.exe (3,560 k)
Total: 38,796 k

My comments:
Too many processes for me to deal with. I can't deal with things like this. It's not the greatest on resources either.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kaspersky Personal Pro 5.0.200
KAV.exe (4,556 k)
kavmm.exe (38,128 k)
Total: 42,684 k

My comments:
Only 2 running processes, which is nice. But it does eat up your memory. Too much for me... I wouldn't run this as my real time protection.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kaspersky Personal Pro 5.0.383
KAV.exe (1,616 k)
kavsvc.exe (25,452 k)
Total: 27,068 k

My comments:
This is the latest version of KAV as of 8/13/2005. What a HUGE improvement over the previous version. It still only uses 2 processes which is great. I was impressed to see kavmm.exe has been replaced with the new kavsvc.exe which seems to be a lot better on memory usage. Even KAV.exe looks like it has been improved over the older one as it takes up about 1/3 the memory of the old one. I can tell that KAV is working hard to decrease resource usage with each new release. The way things are going now, version 6.0 looks promising! Who knows what the future holds for KAV, but as long as they keep going in this direction, I'm sure it will be a bright one.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Web
drwebscd.exe (2,572 k)
spiderml.exe (6,680 k)
spidernt.exe (1,600 k)
spidernt.exe (1,960 k)
Total: 12,812 k

My comments:
Wow! What a light AV! And powerful too!. This AV impressed me with its low resource usage so much that I gave it some extra attention that I didn't give the others. I was able to disable drwebscd.exe which is just a scheduler to schedule automatic scans. And I disabled spiderml.exe which is just a real time email scanner which I don't really need. All I had left was the two spidernt.exe processes which totals 3,560 k for excellent real-time protection! Nice!
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOD32
nod32kui.exe (720 k)
nod32krn.exe (15,724 k)
Total: 16,444 k

My comments:
Amazing! You would think that NOD32, with it's top of the line protection would take up some serious ram. Well, think again! NOD32 has only 2 running processes with a total of 16,444 k of memory usage, which is beautiful. You can have excellent top of the line protection and still not use up any ram. For the average computer these days, NOD32 will feel like it is not even there.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
F-Prot
F-StopW.exe (1,828 k)
F-Sched.exe (2,700 k)
fpavupdm.exe (2,576 k)
Total: 7,104 k

My comments:
OMG! The lightest of them all! And this is a pretty good AV too! Just like Dr. Web, I gave f-prot some extra attention too. I emailed Frisk and asked about the running processes for F-Prot. With their reply I was able to disable F-Sched.exe which is just a scheduler that most people don't need. and I disabled fpavupdm.exe which is only a proccess that checks for definition updates every hour or so. What I had left with was ONE running process, F-StopW.exe which uses less than 2,000 k!! Beautiful!

For those of you who don't know, F-prots real time protection is not like all the other AV's. There are no options. Its real simple. All it does is scan all files on contact and if the file is infected it will block it's execution and tell you to run the on-demand scanner. Simple, and effective.... but some people might preffer an AV that lets you clean/delete/quarantine a file right from the real time protection prompt.

Anyways, Frisk is developing the real time protection for f-prot and they say it will be greatly improved with the next release. Lets wait and see.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BitDefender 8 Standard
bdswitch.exe (1,336 k)
bdnagent.exe (892 k)
bdmcon.exe (9,640 k)
vsserv.exe (4,312 k)
bdss.exe (15,832 k)
xcommsvr.exe (3,084 k)
Total: 35,096 k

My comments:
Well, I added this AV by request. I used the standard version because it is just an antivirus (which is what I am testing). The Pro version has a firewall and an anti-spyware built in. Anyway, there are too many processes for me to handle here. You wouldn't catch me using this AV... although I do hear good things about it all the time.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Avast! Antivirus 4.6 Pro
ashWebSv.exe (384 k)
ashMaiSv.exe (908 k)
ashServ.exe (7,420 k)
ashDisp.exe (4,116 k)
aswUpdSv.exe (192 k)
Total: 13,020 k

My comments:
Amazing results as far as memory usage goes. The only thing I hate is that it has 5 processes loaded. I like antiviruses to be as small as possible, and for me at least, anything over 2 processes is too much. Aside from that I was totally impressed with the memory usage... only 13,020k total!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AntiVir Professional Edition
AVGNT.exe (868 k)
AVGUARD.exe (11,184 k)
AVWUPSRV.exe (2,096 k)
AVESVC.exe (2,900 k)
Total: 17,048 k

My comments:
I added this AV by request. The main difference between this one and the free version is that this one has an added process called AVESVC.exe. This professional edition is supposed to have extra protections against viruses worms and trojans. My test shows that there is only about a 1mb difference in memory usage between the free version and this one. For people using the free version, I'd recommend upgrading to this version as you will get better protection for basically the same amount of memory usage.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Symantec Antivirus Corporate 10
VPTray.exe (5,040 k)
ccApp.exe (5,956 k)
Rtvscan.exe (21,260 k)
DefWatch.exe (1,520 k)
ccEvtMgr.exe (2,568 k)
ccSetMgr.exe (3,632 k)
Total: 39,976 k

My comments:
This was added by request. I don't have much to say about it other than the obvious. Way too many processes and memory usage.... at least for me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please, lets not start a "which AV is better" war. Just because an AV is low on resources doesn't make it GOOD! And just because an AV uses a lot of resources that doesn't mean it is BAD!

The comments I have written are all my own opinions. They are based only on my own testing and they are not meant to be offensive or to start any type of argument. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and we all have different opinions. The important thing to remember is that nobody is right and nobody is wrong.

All I wanted to do was find out which AV uses the least amount of resources... not which one is better.

Remember, every PC is different. Just because I got these results doesn't mean they will be the same for you. It depends on a lot of factors including all the other things you have loaded other than your AV.

This post has been edited by Dookie: Oct 6 2005, 01:02 PM

I used Norton last time (quite some time ago)... Frankly, norton is not really that nice. It do slow down your computer alot especially during startup if you got lots of sorftware loaded in your com.

AVG Free Edition 7.0 is satisfactory despite it's a free av. It's fast, easy to use. But sometimes, it fail to remove certain viruses. Overall, it's above average in my personal opinion.

Try using avast! Honestly, I am currently using avast! "davidlow7" says that it takes a long time to scan. It will greatly depend on the number of files, disk size and also not to forget, the scanner's selected sensitivity. For me, it will take around 45 minutes to scan the local drives.

I'll say no to bitdefender. It's so annoying and slow during startup.

It would be your own choice to choose a suitable AV. The above mentioned is based on my opinion and experience only.

great effort from Dookie. thanks. if add detection percentage would be nicer.

AVK2005 - its an antivirus kit wif dual-layer scanning engine -removed-

review HERE

This post has been edited by shockw@ve: Sep 30 2005, 02:45 PM

kapersky will make the booting part sangat laggy, i terus buang ia add remove prg.

i wanna try Dr. Web
&
NOD32

This post has been edited by super macgyver: Sep 30 2005, 11:21 AM

I've been using Norton AV since I first had my first PC and that was ~6 years back. I've tried Kaspersky, AVG, and Avast and all these shareware/freeware antivirus are very similar, most of them don't remove virus, they simply delete the file or block access to it and you're required to download a separate file to remove the virus. McAfee is good too but it scans too slow. Always use those long established ones like Norton, McAfee and PC-Cillin, you'll never be wrong. I've been hearing how many ppl say Norton AV is a resource hog but I didn't experience them. Not that my comp is top of the line either.

i try to scan from http://housecall60.trendmicro/en/start_corp.asp but then msg pop up "your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page.As a result,the page may not display correctly."

I suppose to do?

lol i understand ur feeling.. u fell unsecure if not use norton right

What browser are you using?
No other browser than Internet Explorer supports ActiveX

And if you're already using IE, make sure that it is not disabled

You are just lucky!

Hey, you did a great job!

I am using NOD32 and never regret to use it since the uninstallation of Avast 2 years ago.

Well, i am a bitdefender user, however, i disable it from running. Even disable background running program by start-->ctrl panel -->administrative-->service, total of 4 background running.

I did around monthly scan(if i am busy) or weekly scan if i am free.. It just hook up too much memory for my pc(only have 768 ram) better save for more gaming and winamp session

The best ever post in the thread. good job i must say
i have also thought of doing some test / experimental like you, but it's just too time comsuming.. Glad that there is people like you appear to save the community..

Good job


--------------

well, (personaly idea) use anti-virus if only
1. surf porno alot
2. download serial / cracks often
3. surf alot of unknown website often
4. experimental with different different software download/bought from pirated shop alot
5. lack of computer knowledge(very basic 1 mean)
6. often deal with e-mail attachment
7. Not gaming often(if you dont have 1g memory and above in total)
8. not sure, others comment plsq

I think dookie was quoting other people posting from freesec forum, unless dookie and the original poster are the same person, all the credits should go to the original poster

emm nothing much.. first time added my comment..

AVG the greatest + lightweight program = didn't kill system resources at much..
NAV the badass + heavyweight program = take at least 30% ur system resources..
both AV has the same quality to prevent those crap entering the system..

you've the right to choose..
~enjoy~

In my humble opinion, Kaspersky Antivirus Pro is the best AV in killing and protecting but it uses lots of resources By the way, NOD32 do a very good job in protecting and killing but it is unable as powerful as KAV Pro

Please do correct me if I am wrong.

i agree too.. hehe currently using it..
very happy with it//

bitdefender sucks. always auto reboot pc when people doing something on the pc. It really annoyed me. I need to turn off the auto update. I already check the box wait for reboot instead of prompting. No msg promt out. kanineh. All my work done on the pc gone and need to redo again. This bladdy bitdefender AV sucks in auto update.