I need help choosing an antivirus - It must be extremely light!

[roger_m]

I'm looking for help in choosing an antivirus. I was using Tencet PC Manager for a while, but uninstalled it to try to new beta of AVG. I decided not to stick with the beta, and uninstalled it. While PC Manager, on the whole works very well, I feel like trying something different.

It must have the option to prompt for action to take for every single threat found, and give the option to ignore the threat. Some antiviruses will only prompt for some threats, and auto quarantine others, which is not want I want.

It also must be extremely light. I don't care about RAM usage, I just don't want it to ever noticably slow down my computer.

I find most antiviruses to be too heavy, even Windows Defender. After uninstalling PC Manager I can say that I barely notice any difference in speed now that I'm not running any antivirus (not even Windows Defender). compared to when I was using it. I'm looking for something just as light. I tried NOD32 10 last night, and was impressed by how light it was. However, I don't like that you have manually add exceptions for some files. If you configure it to prompt for an action whenever a threat is found, for some things detected you have the option to add them to the ignore list from the alert popup, but for some others you can't do that.

In theory Qihoo's 360 Total Security would be a good choice, but for some reason I haven't been able to pinpoint as of yet, I get some slight lag when typing when I have it installed - even when I disable the realtime protection. I could fix this by doing a clean install of Windows, but that's not something I am prepared to do. I also get similar lag with Webroot SecureAnywhere, but not with any other antivirus.

 

[Svoll]

Emisisoft or Norton are the only two that comes to my mind on allowing you to configure prompts while being light.

Can't remember but most AV will auto delete or auto quarantine if it detected a known virus or malware unless you set an exception.
Norton did allow me an option for high risk and low risk, but its either log, delete or quarantine only for high risk, Guess that is for the consumers protection.

 

[motox781]

First thing that comes to mind would be Avast w/ Hardened Mode. When it detects a file not on the white list, it prompts you and asks if you want to add it to the exception list.

Pretty strong security w/ Hardened Mode. As far as light, you'll have it test it out on your system.

 

[roger_m]

Emisisoft or Norton are the only two that comes to my mind on allowing you to configure prompts while being light.

I may try Emisisoft. Norton will always auto quarantine some files.

First thing that comes to mind would be Avast w/ Hardened Mode. When it detects a file not on the white list, it prompts you and asks if you want to add it to the exception list.

Pretty strong security w/ Hardened Mode. As far as light, you'll have it test it out on your system.

I've found Avast to be light too. However, there is no option to ignore when a file when its detected by the real time protection. I don't think hardened mode is an option for me, as the things I want to ignore are detected by Avast's defintions (however they are harmless PUPs).

 

[Atlas147]

Most AVs auto quarantine threats, I think it'd be better for you to focus on AVs that have less FPs and just trust it to do it's work

 

[roger_m]

Most AVs auto quarantine threats, I think it'd be better for you to focus on AVs that have less FPs and just trust it to do it's work

I'm not concerend about false positives if they're occasional. However, I have quite a few programs installed which some AVs classify as PUPs and want to delete them. Increasingly antiviruses auto quarantine threats. However, I choose to not use any AV which does that.

 

[Venhiem]

Check this thread, you might find it helpful (I did)

Help Me Decide - Software for a non security enthusiast?

Personally I recommend Emsi, it's very light and performs well.

 

[motox781]

I've found Avast to be light too. However, there is no option to ignore when a file when its detected by the real time protection. I don't think hardened mode is an option for me, as the things I want to ignore are detected by Avast's defintions (however they are harmless PUPs).

Will this pic help you. Seems Avast has an "Ask" option for detection:

 

[roger_m]

Will this pic help you. Seems Avast has an "Ask" option for detection:

yes, it does, but when it prompts you, there is no option to add the file to the ignore list like you can do in 360 TS for example.

 

[motox781]

yes, it does, but when it prompts you, there is no option to add the file to the ignore list like you can do in 360 TS for example.

Ok. Sorry, never tried to do what you are trying to achieve. Good luck finding something though

 

[Purshu_Pro]

Try Webroot Secure Anywhere. Extremely light as you requested. Alternatives can be ESET and Emsisoft.

 

[Atlas147]

I'm not concerend about false positives if they're occasional. However, I have quite a few programs installed which some AVs classify as PUPs and want to delete them. Increasingly antiviruses auto quarantine threats. However, I choose to not use any AV which does that.

I see, well you can configure your AV to exclude whatever it is you have installed on your PC rather than find a AV that asks what you want to do with the threat. During the first scan of your system just select the threats you want to exclude and it will keep the settings while doing real time scans as well.

Alternatively you can upload the program you have to virustotal and check to see which antivirus does not detect that as a threat, since you will be using a lot of the programs similar to that, it would be nice to have an antivirus that is friendly to the program that you are using. Just a thought.

 

[TheMalwareMaster]

You may try VoodooShield. It's not an AV, but it's an anti-executable that connects to VirusTotal. If set in smart mode (Application whitelisting mode) you will get a prompt each time a dangerous file is about to run. Unfotunately, since it's an anti-EXE, it's not able to remove malware that are already active in the machine before installing it. Since it seems you have installed and uninstalled many products, you may want to do a clean install of your operative system to restore the previous performance. Voodooshield is free for home use.

 

[roger_m]

Try Webroot Secure Anywhere. Extremely light as you requested. Alternatives can be ESET and Emsisoft.

Yes, WSA is extremely light. However, as I mentioned in my first post, it causes keyboard lag for some reason. Also, NOD32 requires me to manually whitelist some files.

I just tried Emsisoft, but found it slowed down my computer a lot. It was using up to 80% CPU time when running a scan.

 

[roger_m]

I see, well you can configure your AV to exclude whatever it is you have installed on your PC rather than find a AV that asks what you want to do with the threat. During the first scan of your system just select the threats you want to exclude and it will keep the settings while doing real time scans as well.

That's not really an option as I'm regularly installing new software.

 

[motox781]

That's not really an option as I'm regularly installing new software.

Could you elaborate a little more on what you are using your PC for? Might help a little

 

[roger_m]

You may try VoodooShield.

I've got it installed buy no longer use it. I found it to be too buggy for my liking when I stopped using it a few months back. Also, I find the delay of a few seconds when launching unknown programs while VS scans them to be somewhat annoying.

I've got a SSD, and my system still runs quite well, so at this point in time, I don't want to do a clean install.

 

[OokamiCreed]

For Avast, I recommend setting everything to ask, ask, then third to send to virus chest. Ask allows you to determine your own action, ask again will allow another option if first ask fails (this choice should be different from first), send to virus chest/quarantine will allow you to get into the chest and restore/exclude and continue on your way. Norton is very similar except it allows on quarantine/delete to restore file and at the same time, asks you if you want to exclude (which is very reliable).

If any drives contain backups or other information that should be left alone, excluding folder/drives after installation prevent any hair pulling. Unfortunately all AV have false positive despite results of AV test labs showing some with zero - a bit misinformative.

Moving onto recommendation (for light but strong AV in the non-traditional sense) Norton, Kaspersky, Emsisoft, Bullguard (similar to Bitdefender but far lighter and no web problems - especially when using Adguard to filter HTTPS), and Comodo but keep in mind it doesn't focus on signatures much at all but is probably top 3 in dynamic detection and doesn't seem to have any real web protection (Adguard is great combo to cover for that weakness though - you could also use Bitdefender Trafficlight, McAfee Web Advisor, adblock malware domain filters, etc).

Of the one I listed, I'd recommend Kaspersky for set and forget, low false positive, and (on my system at least) almost zero performance impact. Also well above average configuration for power users - AV doesn't have IS HIPS type feature or firewall so prompt for action on AV will not annoy the user and so I recommend using that for very easy exclude on detection to minimize production time loss while still maintaining quite a bit of set and forget functionality. Keep in mind that it does force install Kaspersky Secure Connection (VPN) on AV, IS, and TS. It will auto start on boot up but is standalone and very easy to uninstall - it is annoying nonetheless.

I use Adguard with HTTPS filtering and Kaspersky, ESET, and a few others tend to make trouble for each other if they also scan HTTPS - this also can affect other software that filter HTTPS. To fix some can add exclusions but only turning off HTTPS scanning fixes it for me. Doesn't seem to affect security level - at least not for the casual user.

Norton will always auto quarantine some files.

It's worth to add some file are deleted permanently without option to restore. It's not common however and some of those files were false positives but then again, I use Norton on most aggressive settings possible (excluding boot protection) so unsure if that had anything to do with it.

 

[roger_m]

Could you elaborate a little more on what you are using your PC for? Might help a little

I use it mostly for web browsing, and some very occasional gaming. However, I am testing new sotware all the time, and have a number of programs installed as well as downloading and testing software which some antiviruses will classifiy as PUPs.

 

[motox781]

Gotcha. Sounds like my habits + more gaming ;P

I still don't understand why Avast w/ Hardened Mode wouldn't work. Pure white listing (believe it avoids BB on non-blacklisted files) and allows you to exclude blocked files directly from the prompt. I also find the white list to be very large and has low FPs. When something is blocked, I use VirusTotal Uploader to get a second opinion.

I love Avast personally b/c it allows me to password protect Hardened Mode which most AVs don't allow such a thing (great for friends, parents, etc who try to add exclusions).

You can even increase HIPs to MAX which works independently from Hardened Mode.

Maybe some other software you can try:

Secureaplus
Trustport (very complex settings)
Panda
Dr. Web

I don't know if any of them work, but it's worth a shot.