Looking for low resource/light impact antivirus

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Greetings Windows Lounge!

I have a low spec Windows XP Dell Dimension, and I have noticed that it has definitely started to bog down lately. Even after upgrading the RAM to maximum capacity (2GB) it still has incredibly slow start and shut down times, and it doesn’t handle multi-tasking very well. To combat this issue, I have swapped out many higher usage applications and programs for lighter, lower resource alternatives. For example, I swapped Firefox with Chrome, and iTunes with MediaMonkey. However, I am looking for a lighter antivirus program that is easy on an older, slower system like mine. I am currently using AVG, but I would be happy to hear of any other programs that might not use as many system resources. I have heard that Panda Cloud Antivirus is useful, as it stores all the antivirus definitions at a server (in the cloud) instead of on my computer. It also was ranked in the top 5 on the Consumer Reports’ list of free antivirus programs. On the other hand, I have heard that Avira is the most reliable AV, and it catches most viruses. Is it possible to have a lighter performing AV without sacrificing security? What do you think?

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Henry,

I’d suggest Microsoft Security Essentials {MSE}.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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[OPINION]
Unfortunately, AV software is not known for being “light weight” or easy on system resources.
If I had a system such as yours I would not have continuously active AV software at all. Your AVG will be fine as far as system resources go, just
disable all of it’s active functioning including self updates, and just do “spot” scans and updates when needed. You could supplement AVG by going on the
internet to reputable sites that offer “online virus scans”.

If you are knowledgeable & carefull with your browsing habbits and overall computer security you should manage quite nicely. Make yourself a known good hard drive image from time to time
and store them on an external drive or DVD disk(s).

If you absolutely have to have a continuously running AV program installed try MSE. Search the Security & Backups section of the lounge for
opinions on =1&st=50″]MSE and others.
Before you try any AV software make certain you have an imaged backup of your operating system to fall back on if things don’t work out.
This way you can trial many AV programs without the hassle of faulty uninstalls or other software related mal-interactions.

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If I had a system such as yours I would not have continuously active AV software at all.

To make that work, you also need to disconnect from the internet, because many reputable web sites get hacked and deliver malware via “drive-by download” or redirect to malware download sites.

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To make that work, you also need to disconnect from the internet, because many reputable web sites get hacked and deliver malware via “drive-by download” or redirect to malware download sites.

Yes, that is a risk. Some will find it easier to mitigate, others will not. It’s an option for some, …and workable too, as I have done it for years in XP & IE
with the occasional, but mostly minor annoyances now and then.
Disconnecting from the internet is a tad bit extreme and unnecessary though.

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Thank you all for your helpful replies! I wasn’t aware that MSE was available for XP; I thought it was Windows 7 only. That definitely makes for a nice change, as it won’t pester me with upgrade purchase notices. I will certainly try it, and if it doesn’t seem to make a huge impact, I might try Panda Cloud. In the end, if nothing works to free up speed on my comp, then I could always follow Clint’s advice and just turn off automatic updates and background scanning, and only scan it from time to time. I’m usually fairly safe with my Internet use, so I think this could be a viable option to free up some of my computer’s resources.

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I hate to pee on the parade but I’m gettting ready to uninstall MSE on my XP box because of the exact things that you are trying to avoid. Do a search for MsMpEng.exe and you’ll find out why everybody is complainig about MSE. I found out the hard way when System Mechanic kept locking up. My internet access has slowed down considerably and anything that attempts to look at a process gets slugged by MsMpEng.exe. Also…. read the T&C’s VERY carefully for MSE. You become a member of Spynet whether you want to or not. There is no way to opt out. I’m looking hard at Comodo for my next AV software. Oh yeah, I had to ditch Zone Alarm also because it would lock up the machine while doing updates. Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you when it comes to this AV software taking over the box. My 2 cents!

Bender

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Bender,

Sorry but I haven’t had a single problem with MSE on 4 different machines, all of which are or were dual boot setups, for over a year now! This includes both Win 7 (64 & 32 bit) and XP SP-3. As to the SpyNet if you choose basic it only sends info if malware is detected. YMMV – See below:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I concur on MSE. I have installed this fine product on at least 5 different PC’s without ANY problems. I do have to admit these PC’s all have Win 7 installed, so perhaps this app plays better with Win 7 than other versionss.

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Sorry but I haven’t had a single problem with MSE on 4 different machines

Does that mean the case is closed and we can all go home now? Am I not allowed to express an opinion different than yours?

Just because some of you have glowing results with the usage of MSE doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the world enjoys the same level of satisfaction. I’m happy to know that there are some folks that are having positive results from the product. I believe it is necessary to also point out any negatives, so that anyone who is entertaining the idea of using this product, can make an informed choice. Is that ok with you guys or should we just brush the bad stuff under the rug and pretend it isn’t there?

Yes, MSE behaves quite diffferantly on a Win7 box than it does on XP. This thread is about an XP installation.

As far as the disclosure of personal information and the participation in SpyNet, not one of us knows exactly what type of infomation “could” be shared with Microsoft. You’re just guessing. My point is you cannot opt out from this feature.The product is free and I suppose MS thinks it has the right to overrule your desire to privacy. That’s something worthy to note. Some of us are a little less cavalier about sharing information. Is it ok that we feel that way?

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Bender,

I agree entirely. That’s what I was doing…expressing my opinion. That’s why the YMMV {You’re Mileage May Vary} tag was on the end of the post.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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All of us who run Windows operating systems have to come to terms with the nature of the beast. Microsoft has a great challenge to produce an OS that will run reasonably well on an incredible number of hardware and software configurations. Considering the sheer number of computers in the Windows install base, they do a pretty good job. As long as we use Windows, our mileage will vary (and I certainly do not advocate abandoning Windows). The only way we can know for sure if an application or driver will run well on our own personal computers is to simply try it. If it does not work out, and we are unable to isolate the incompatibility, then there will likely be another option to explore that will work for us. I have had excellent results running MSE as well as Avast Free Home on our computers (on different computers of course), but obviously not all hardware and software mixes are the same for everyone.

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It appears in reading through most of the threads in these forums that problems with most apps, not just MSE or Avast or Norton, etc, are due to a particular system setup and incompatabilities of hardware or software. Sometimes a problem with the app in question is found, but far more often the problem lies in how the hardware/installed software acts and reacts to the app in question. As Gerald and RG state you may have problems based on what’s already on your PC. I try many different things on my PC’s, but our home PC’s are for pleasure rather than work. We don’t have large volumns of data to contend with, we don’t render graphics all day, or any of that stuff so our layout of our systems is relatively simple. Perhaps this is why we have had zero (0) problems with MSE or Office 2010 or Win 7 or whatever app is presently being discussed. Most of these discussions are based on our personal opinions and experience with said apps and as RG so eloquently states, YMMV!!!

That said, in my opinion, MSE is an excellent AV/AM app that is provided free by MS. For most people it works very well, but YMMV depending on your particular system. MS, and most reputable app suppliers try to make their apps compatible with the largest number of PC’s they can, but due to the multi-millions of setups, it is impossible to make the app compatible to all configurations.

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On Windows Secrets recommendation I installed MSE on my 2 desktops and my laptop. One desktop and the laptop run normally, but I finally had to take MSE on my other desktop and go to AVG. With MSE installed, I first noticed that my desktop icons took almost 10 minutes to come up and during that time, I was unable to start e-mail, Internet, or any other program. In Task Manager I found that MsMpEng.exe was utilizing 99% on my CPU time. It would keep fluctuating between about 45% to 99% CPU time with 99% most of the time. The icons on my desktop would begin loading at about one ever 30 seconds. When I ended the process, MSE would stop running so I r ealized MsMpEng.exe was tied to MSE. When I uninstalled MSE, MsMpEng.exe was gone and my desktop icons loaded immediately and I was able to open any program right away. Googling MsMpEng I found this process has been causing the same problem with other users for years. I didn’t know MSE had been around that long, but there were posts going back years. I tried several suggested remedies, but MsMpEng remained a CPU hog.

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I just saw this same post in another thread. So I’ll give the same reply.

In Task Manager I found that MsMpEng.exe was utilizing 99% on my CPU time. It would keep fluctuating between about 45% to 99% CPU time with 99% most of the time. … I tried several suggested remedies, but MsMpEng remained a CPU hog.

These .exe was in Windows Defender and Windows Live OneCare, so there are indeed a lot of past posts about it. Not sure if the old advice remains applicable, but they boil down to three potential issues: (1) conflict with other real-time scanner, (2) malware hit (true or false), or (3) bug relating to a particular file format.

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Tom,

The old post on MsMpEng were for the old Windows Defender the predecessor of MSE. Why they didn’t change the name I don’t know.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I don’t know what the cause was, but AVG was my prebious AV. It was complerely removed before MSE install. I have no other scanners or malware programs. I know MsMpEng is connected to MSE because when I end the process in Task Manager, MSE shuts down.

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Thomas, I think both Rg and Jeff were pointing out that the posts you quoted about MsMpEng were most likely from Windows Defender, which is a much older app than MSE. In your case it very well could have been tied to MSE, but the much older posts you mentioned were pertaining to Windows Defender. Anyone that still has Windows Defender will find it is automatically disabled by MSE.

You also might check the newer MSE v2. The interface to Windows has been improved and perhaps this would solve your problem.

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For antivirus software that is light on resources, ESET NOD32 Antivirus is well regarded in that respect. I’ve been using it for three years with XP Professional and have not had any problems. They offer a free trial, but make sure you uninstall your AVG before trying another antivirus, otherwise the two may conflict with each other.
http://www.eset.com/home/nod32-antivirus

Are you sure the sluggishness of your computer is due to the antivirus software? Do you perform regular maintenance on your computer, such as cleaning out temporary files and defragging the hard drive? Part of my weekly computer maintenance includes running the free maintenance software CCleaner. It does a good job of cleaning out most of the junk files. The only thing I still have to clean out manually is the Temp folder under Local Settings. Just be careful if you use the Registry Cleaner; I check all the registry parameters, except Unused File Extensions, and never had any trouble, but the registry is a tricky area. http://www.piriform.com

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I have tried MSE 1 and 2 (among others) on a few XP puters. For me MSE has been a Memory and CPU hog. Brings systems to a crawl.

I am now using the FREE version of AD-Aware on my XP puters . compare the results of memory and cpu usage on your own systems.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware free is available here ……
http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php

choose the free version on left hand side.

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I have tried MSE 1 and 2 (among others) on a few XP puters. For me MSE has been a Memory and CPU hog. Brings systems to a crawl.

High CPU usage by MSE usually is attributable to a software conflict. Other threads on that here.

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If you go into SETTINGS on MSE 2.0 you can uncheck the spynet option..

And if that still doesn’t satisfy you then there are plenty of free alternatives out there to replace MSE…

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I don’t know why the cpu would be high if you are not running a scan…I just checked mine and it moves between 0 and 5%..

It uses quite a bit during a scan though..

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Take a look at this
Its not antivirus but its lightweight and free
I run it and you conceivably go without antivirus
http://www.sandboxie.com/
So far there is no malware trojan virus rootkit that can circumvent the protection. You select what you save to the hard drive and take out of the sandbox.

First read about it on the newsletter!

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I run it and you conceivably go without antivirus

No one should run without anti-virus. Remember the principle of defense in depth! Also known as not putting all of your eggs in one basket.

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I agree you should have an antivirus, but conceptually this product could make antivirus obsolete.
I use ESET NOD 32 to protect the OS, but now having used Sandboxie for about a month, its impressive.

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Here’s an actual test of the Lightest A/V’s, including MSE version 2. It covers 18 categories.
http://www.raymond.cc/antivirus/

My favorite is the free Avast. A couple of tips for using it.

You can turn on the “Silent/Gaming Mode” to avoid popups. The only popup I get is the program updating its definitions each day. To enable this, right-click Avast icon and check Silent/Gaming Mode.

Avast 5 has a new feature called Persistent Cache for faster scanning. (I doubt the test had it enabled) To enable it – Open Avast interface, then Scan Computer, Full System Scan, Settings, Performance, check “Speed up scanning by using the persistent cache”.

About Persistent Cache – http://blog.avast.com/2010/04/25/how-to-make-the-full-system-scan-6x-faster-in-10-days/

Avast version 6 will be available soon after beta-testing is finished. You can use it now if you like. They’re still working on ironing out the final parts…but I’ll just wait on the new version to come out.
Beta 6 forum – http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=70655.0

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Jeez… after posting this there seems to be issues with some computers with the new Avast 6. For now, I’ve switched to Avira Free, it consistently rates a bit better than Avast in detection rates and is usually in the Top 5 of all AV’s in that aspect and is pretty light. MSE sounds like a good bet but I question their detection rates. Check out CNET for more reviews. (Avast 6 getting some bad reviews until the kinks are worked out). AVG free is a mess, many people having issues.

Tests – http://www.av-comparatives.org/ (Performance is lightness/system impact — Whole Product is overall AV)
Free AV Feature Comparison – http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread/?t=290691
Roundup of AV Tests – http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread/?t=291821

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