Alternative to Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016

[CMLew]

Hi,

I'm new here. Wish to seek for advice.

Recently purchased an ultrabook; ASUS UX305 (Core-M, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Win10)

I'm having issue of not resource usage. I installed the Bitdefender AV and realised it sucked up the RAM close to 350MB and I'm having close to 45% RAM usage in total. I'm a heavy browser user.

I wonder if there is any alternative to lessen my problem?

I heard Webroot is good for that? What should I pair with? Voodoo Shield or Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit?

Any suggestion would be good.

Thanks!

 

[Kate_L]

I recommend ESET, Kaspersky or Avast.

Beside Webroot you can also try HitmanPro.Alert.

 

[Online_Sword]

I heard that Bitdefender has a technology called "Photon".
It will try to learn the pattern of user's daily operation, and then adapt the resource usage of itself to the user's habits.
So the RAM usage may be very high in the first several days, but it may go down after that.

I agree that both Webroot and ESET are very light.
In addition, you can also consider Norton.
When I use Norton Internet Security, I can only find two processes of it, each of which only uses 8 ~ 9 MB RAM.

The following thread discusses some security softwares that can complement webroot:
nvt exerp, spyshelter, voodooshield, appguard, hmpa, mbae: which one to complement wsa on win10? | Wilders Security Forums

 

[Jack]

Hello @CMLew

Well, looking at the latest AV-Comparative Performance results (May 2015) - Performance-Test - AV-Comparatives - Avast would seem the obvious choice.. Not only because it got the best rating, but also because they have a very good FREE antivirus. - Avast | Download Free Antivirus Software

Spoiler

These tests evaluate the impact of anti-virus software on system performance, as programs running in background – such as real time protection antivirus software – use some percentage of system resources. Taking these tests as reference, users can evaluate their anti-virus protection in terms of system speed (system performance).

I've had Avast on my computer and it feels a little heavier than ESET in real life, however I see that you have a SSD so you shouldn't experience this minor difference. On the other hand, Bitdefender has always had the "reputation" of being a resource hog on computers, so there's no surprise there...

What operating system are you using? Are you looking for a paid or free antivirus? When was the last time you've got infected with malware?
I would recommend that you start a thread in this forum: Security Configuration Wizard as we need to know more about the machine and your level of experience before being able to suggest a security product.

 

[Rajat]

There is some problem with Bitdefender 2016. Earlier versions were Fairly Light.

 

[CMLew]

Thanks all for the response.

I have posted my own security config as suggested by @Jack

Feel free to advice/suggest for any improvement. As i have limited budget resources, preferably a freeware would do otherwise I do not mind paying a reasonable amt got great ones.

 

[hjlbx]

Hi,

I'm new here. Wish to seek for advice.

Recently purchased an ultrabook; ASUS UX305 (Core-M, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Win10)

I'm having issue of not resource usage. I installed the Bitdefender AV and realised it sucked up the RAM close to 350MB and I'm having close to 45% RAM usage in total. I'm a heavy browser user.

I wonder if there is any alternative to lessen my problem?

I heard Webroot is good for that? What should I pair with? Voodoo Shield or Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit?

Any suggestion would be good.

Thanks!

Webroot uses very low resource usage (both RAM and CPU). Something like 0.1 % on average.

It is good to pair Webroot with NoVIrusThanks Exe Radar Pro (freeware) or VooDooShield (beta is freeware). Get both at WIlders threads. NVT ERP and VS use about 1.5 % RAM on average.

EMET is better than MBAE free in that it offers more comprehensive protections. However, it uses about 50+ MB RAM.

 

[Der.Reisende]

I run Qihoo 360 TSE (including Bitdefender and Avira engines, both enabled) in combination with HitmanPro.Alert, running fine with no issues.
RAM usage see screenshot.

EDIT: I use the paid version of HitmanPro, whose key can be used for HitmanPro.Alert too (no extra charge), HitmanPro.Alert layers protect against ransomware, exploits... in real-time.

 

[vindiesel]

KIS 2016, Emisoft or ESET. For my best. What happens is that you have a problem Windows 10 steals your data, you have already installed an undetectable keylogger.

 

[jamescv7]

Avast Free and Norton AV are pretty good on system impact which does not sacrifice the overall protection. Same goes to cloud based like Panda Free Antivirus which is light on system too.

Regarding to VoodoShield and MBAE, they have different outputs.

You may use them both, VS acts like UAC that prompts for possible malicious based on numerous engine from Virustotal while MBAE to protect against vulnerabilities attacks to your common programs.

 

[CMLew]

Thanks all for the advice.

Since I have an old laptop, I will use it to play around and tweak to see if it is good for me.

Currently trying on Exe Radar Pro and Window Firewall Control. Voodoo Shield just give me too much problem on my Windows 10 system.

 

[hjlbx]

Thanks all for the advice.

Since I have an old laptop, I will use it to play around and tweak to see if it is good for me.

Currently trying on Exe Radar Pro and Window Firewall Control. Voodoo Shield just give me too much problem on my Windows 10 system.

@CMLew

NVT ERP is much better than VS all the way around. The interface is much more user friendly. The user can white-list command lines much more easily with NVT ERP. This is essential capability if you have external hardware - such as external drive, printer, etc.

Just remember, if you see a block notification for rundll32.exe, then you'll want to white-list the command line - and not the process. That's important.

Just make sure you're white-listing items on a clean system.

 

[CMLew]

@CMLew

NVT ERP is much better than VS all the way around. The interface is much more user friendly. The user can white-list command lines much more easily with NVT ERP. This is essential capability if you have external hardware - such as external drive, printer, etc.

Just remember, if you see a block notification for rundll32.exe, then you'll want to white-list the command line - and not the process. That's important.

Just make sure you're white-listing items on a clean system.

Thanks @hjlbx ,

By far the only notification i got is cmd.exe for ASUS InstantON thingy... been popping up non-stop.
I just changed to Learning Mode and allow it temp. And then no more pop up.

By the way is sandbox essential for heavy browsing/online shopping/downloading?

I installed sandboxie, now playing ard with the settings. Quite complicated for a beginner like me...

 

[Online_Sword]

then you'll want to white-list the command line - and not the process

Whitelisting the process will not do much harm.
For vulnerable processes like rundll32.exe, ERP ensures that they will still be prompted or prevented even if user adds them into the whitelist.
For them, "whitelist the process" is just equivalent to "allow once".
I think this can be viewed as a "Poka-yoke" (mistake-proofing) merchanism.

 

[hjlbx]

Whitelisting the process will not do much harm.
For vulnerable processes like rundll32.exe, ERP ensures that they will still be prompted or prevented even if user adds them into the whitelist.
For them, "whitelist the process" is just equivalent to "allow once".

You have to white-list the command line, otherwise - if you white-list the process - NVT ERP will prompt every time the command line is executed. Not white-listing the command line will be very annoying... and will block the proper functioning of hardware that heavily utilize rundll32.exe.

 

[Online_Sword]

You have to white-list the command line, otherwise - if you white-list the process - NVT ERP will prompt every time the command line is executed. It's annoying...

Yes, I know. In fact I have already whitelisted many command lines, for dismhost, scheduled backup, and my printer.
My last post just wants to say that we do not need to worry about whitelisting vulnerable processes by mistake -- it will not do much harm.

 

[hjlbx]

Yes, I know. In fact I have already whitelisted many command lines, for dismhost, scheduled backup, and my printer.
My last post just wants to say that we do not need to worry about whitelisting vulnerable processes by mistake -- it will not do much harm.

Yes, you are correct. As long as a process is kept on the Vulnerable Process list, even if you white-list it, ERP will block and alert when it is executed. My point is the way to avoid this is to white-list the command line for better usability...

 

[hjlbx]

Thanks @hjlbx ,

By far the only notification i got is cmd.exe for ASUS InstantON thingy... been popping up non-stop.
I just changed to Learning Mode and allow it temp. And then no more pop up...

If, after using Learning Mode, the alerts return... compare the command lines. If everything is essentially the same, except for a few items, you can replace the changing field characters with wild-cards. * for any range of characters or ? for a single character. Substituting wild-cards for repeating strings with different characters very often fixes the issue you are describing.

For example,

12345
99857
74885

You can use * or ?????

If it's something like this...

3420
09
0909tw
99jc
clkos209mco

NOTE: You can only use wild-cards at one point in a command line.

You'll want to use * and not ???????????

 

[hjlbx]

Thanks @hjlbx ,By the way is sandbox essential for heavy browsing/online shopping/downloading?

I installed sandboxie, now playing ard with the settings. Quite complicated for a beginner like me...

Sandboxie is an essential soft for optimum online security.

Just take your time and learn to use Sandboxie. There is always help here at MT. There is other forums as well. If you have questions and\or problem, just perform online search and 90 % of the time the search results will lead you to answers. IF you can't find answers then post on forums...

Don't mess with the COM interfaces !!!!

 

[CMLew]

Would EMET works with Bitdefender Antivirus Plus?

Since I got antivirus, ublock and Sandboxie, would want to try EMET and see how would it affect my laptop performance and RAM usage.