Advice Request Is it true that WD really is lighter and faster than most other AVs?

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

But, then what will we all argue about until we are red in the face!?

Hehe!

I know, this peace is too much for me. I guess we will have to debate whether Star Wars, or Star Trek is better.....?

GO!

I have an old laptop with HDD and WD works fast or should i say it doesn't slow PC as much as Kaspersky free or BD free.

Your post highlights my point of view exactly. Despite some back and forth saying WD is garbage on HDDs and you require SSDs, it just shows your experience is different. Again, we can argue till the cows come home, end of the day everyone's experience with any AV will be different, so use what works for you.


As to the HDD vs SSD legacy thing, all I will say is that from a "technology" standpoint, yes SSDs are newer and HDDs can be considered legacy IMHO. Heck standard SSDs may even be considered legacy with NVME and such. However, HDDs still have their place and are still very relevant. As good as SSDs are, they still cannot compete when it comes to purge storage space. I mean a 4TB SSD will probably run you close to $800-1000, where as an HDD of similar size will run you around $100. So until SSDs can offer the same storage per dollar, HDDs will still be around. Last I checked servers still need a lot of storage space.

Anyways enough going off topic.

 

[blackice]

Hehe!

I know, this peace is too much for me. I guess we will have to debate whether Star Wars, or Star Trek is better.....?

GO!

Well the answer is obvious, and if you disagree with me you are a monster.

 

[Tutman]

HDD technology was created in 1980. The status is determined by age, not prevalence. The industry does consider it legacy but continues to use it primarily as a cheap data storage solution.

But here I can come back to you and say ... well the PC is legacy! The technology was created in the 1980's for the Micro (Home) PC. So it's ancient.
But that does not make it so. Now you see the comparison of your statement? (Mic drop!)

 

[AXYZE]

I have 10 year old laptop running Windows 10 and Windows Defender. It has Pentium III, 5200 HDD and 3 GB RAM.

I have excluded large folders and WD runs fine. There is no slow down. I put Bitdefender or Kaspersky on it and it becomes very slow.

Pentium III was released 21 years ago and it won't even run Windows 10 because of missing instructions. You must have different CPU

 

[Cortex]

I really don't see the big deal with WD - The are more than half a dozen decent alternatives some pay some free, for me WD isn't particularly configurable & prefer a different firewall , why there are so many threads regarding WD eludes me, I suspect the main reason because its free.

As for SSD I've updated quite a few PC's from spinners to a SSD lately due to working from home people (usually Crucial) - The difference esp on a laptop due to drives small size as one said astonishing - Unfortunately word gets around so I' ended up keep few spare in my cupboard - Some lappys can be a pain to get into esp if they are old as the case is reluctant to open, welds itself closed.

 

[Kamer]

My experience has matched this test. WD is ok, but it doesn't have the optimizations that avast has, for example, so there is no "file cache"
or settings to scan important files, everything is scanned.

Performance Test April 2020

Performance Test April 2020 for Microsoft Windows 10 security products released, 17 products' impact on system performance was tested

www.av-comparatives.org

 

[Tutman]

My experience has matched this test. WD is ok, but it doesn't have the optimizations that avast has, for example, so there is no "file cache"
or settings to scan important files, everything is scanned.

Performance Test April 2020

Performance Test April 2020 for Microsoft Windows 10 security products released, 17 products' impact on system performance was tested

www.av-comparatives.org

Yes I posted this in my other thread where I am using my ISP's free McAfee and to me WD is heavy! Just the facts.

 

[MegenM]

I have used McAfee in the past. Switched to other programs as McAfee used much of my system resources.
Currently using Bitdefender and Avast on one of my older systems without any issues. I think the performance mostly varies from system to system and type of disks. i.e SSD or HDD.

 

[mlnevese]

I have used McAfee in the past. Switched to other programs as McAfee used much of my system resources.
Currently using Bitdefender and Avast on one of my older systems without any issues. I think the performance mostly varies from system to system and type of disks. i.e SSD or HDD.

You're using both Bitdefender and Avast at the same time? You shouldn't run both at the same time as it may cause all kinds of problems.

Regarding the topic I tested WD on two of my notebooks and it clearly slowed down boot and folder access. AS usual experience may very from user to user in any security software so test it for yourself.

 

[MegenM]

You're using both Bitdefender and Avast at the same time? You shouldn't run both at the same time as it may cause all kinds of problems.

Regarding the topic I tested WD on two of my notebooks and it clearly slowed down boot and folder access. AS usual experience may very from user to user in any security software so test it for yourself.

Nope, using on different machines. Avast on a very old system where Bitdefender didn't install as the minimum requirements were not fulfilled.

 

[Local Host]

HDDs are not legacy and are pretty much supported, used and manufactured with newer processes nowadays (most suppliers are even expanding their HDD production and that includes Samsung).

Not to mention demand for HDDs was on all time high in Q3 2019.

Legacy is when a product is no longer supported, and that is not the case of HDDs, Microsoft also has no saying on what is Legacy and isn't (outside their projects and hardware).

Kaspersky runs way lighter than Windows Defender on my systems.

 

[brigantes]

HDDs are not legacy and are pretty much supported, used and manufactured with newer processes nowadays (most suppliers are even expanding their HDD production and that includes Samsung).

The definition you are using is not correct.

This is the industry definition of legacy hardware - and it has nothing to do with support. It has everything to do with the technology the hardware uses.

Legacy hardware definition
https://malwaretips.com/javascript:void(0)
Term used to describe old software or hardware that is still in use.

Not to mention demand for HDDs was on all time high in Q3 2019.

For servers and not consumer systems as you are implying. Spinning the facts to fit your agenda.

 

[Local Host]

The definition you are using is not correct.

This is the industry definition of legacy hardware - and it has nothing to do with support. It has everything to do with the technology the hardware uses.

Legacy hardware definition
https://malwaretips.com/javascript:void(0)
Term used to describe old software or hardware that is still in use.




For servers and not consumer systems as you are implying. Spinning the facts to fit your agenda.

Is far from incorrect, as it defines usage of unsupported hardware (same as using a Pentium 4 on Windows 10, that is Legacy and unsupported by both Intel and Microsoft).

Windows 10 supports and functions perfectly fine on HDDs, you won't find SSDs on 90% of the companies worldwide either (Microsoft isn't dumb enough to optimize their Software for SSDs only).

Plus demand for HDDs was not specific to servers in Q3 2019, but was the demand overall for all the markets (HDDs are still widely used by OEMs).

Not to mention the HDDs of today are built on newer tech, with newer varients getting released almost every year, so they can't even be considered old, we even have hybrids with cache that take advantage of flash memory.

 

[Andy Ful]

I think that this white paper can help (from the year 2014):
" Twenty years ago, control systems were built with proprietary technology with a lifecycle of at least 15 years. Today’s open technology world has other rules. Operating systems undergo major changes at least once every three years, while hardware platforms change even more rapidly. Changes in CPU, memory, and storage technology enforce changes in operating systems to support this new technology. However, this evolution simultaneously creates gaps in the serviceability of the older systems. Legacy operating systems do not provide the system software to support the new technology, and legacy hardware platforms do not provide the performance and technology to support the new operating systems "

https://www.honeywellprocess.com/library/marketing/whitepapers/cyber-security-legacy-systems.pdf

It seems that when we think about performance, then HDD is a legacy technology. The HDD with MBR is also a legacy one (no UEFI support). But, the new HDDs formatted as GPT are still used on many machines with UEFI, so there is no reason yet to name HDD technology as a legacy. Anyway, HDD technology will be legacy soon.

 

[brigantes]

It seems that when we think about performance, then HDD is a legacy technology. The HDD with MBR is also a legacy one (no UEFI support). But, the new HDDs formatted as GPT are still used on many machines with UEFI, so there is no reason yet to name HDD technology as a legacy. Anyway, HDD technology will be legacy soon.

The internal combustion engine is considered legacy technology. Even with all the latest engineering and gizmos.

Legacy technology is that which is obsolete in one way or another. It can still be in use. It has nothing to do with support or scale of usage. Going forward there is very little improvement or growth. That's the industry definition of legacy. However, people here want it to mean something else.

HDD is only around today due to low cost. Just like cars, HDD OEMs have squeezed out tiny incremental gains in performance which meet the usage requirements (mostly data backup), but at the end of the day, HDD is like running in wooden shoes.

 

[Andy Ful]

brigantes,
You insist to follow the definition which is not widely accepted (even if you think so).
If one will follow the below definition:

Managing legacy technology

These principles describe how the government should manage legacy technology.

www.gov.uk

then the HDD is not a legacy technology. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the definition " old software or hardware that is still in use", but it is not especially precise (the wheel is a legacy technology?). So, let's agree that many people can consider HDD a legacy technology, and many can think that it can be a legacy technology soon.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

brigantes,
You insist to follow the definition which is not commonly accepted (even if you think so).
If one will follow the below definition:

Managing legacy technology

These principles describe how the government should manage legacy technology.

www.gov.uk

then the HDD is not a legacy technology. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the definition " old software or hardware that is still in use", but it is not especially precise (the wheel is a legacy technology?). So, let's agree that many people can consider HDD a legacy technology, and many can think that it can be a legacy technology soon.

Yeah it won't be a legacy technology at least till optane can replace HDD on price per TB (probably a decade or half)

 

[Andy Ful]

Who knows.
There are also (non-legacy) tape drives (very good durability/price ratio), and this technology is much older than HDD. The advances in technology can be surprising.
Anyway, we have spent too much time on the legacy topic here without much input to the lightness of WD.

 

[Chuck57]

Legacy or not, HDD will be around for a long time because they're cheap, they hold terabytes of data now, and your average computer user will buy them because of it. They look at Super Whiz Bang laptop with 8G RAM and 500G SSD for $899, and Average laptop with a 10 terabyte HDD and 8G RAM for $599. First, they ask what SSD means because they know nothing about computers or drives. Then they'll ask what is the difference because they don't know what gigabytes and terabytes are. Then, after being told, they'll buy the HDD because it holds more data than they'll ever need, and most important, it's $300 cheaper.

 

[Cortex]

Most server rooms continue to use traditional drives & many of those drives have been in use an awful long time & chatter away with no issues - I have a 5TB drive in this new desktop & a 500 GIG SSD that I use for Windows & most data that's created often - The spinner has music/video/16 years of photographs etc.

The cost of the Crucial SSD was just over 50 UK pounds, maybe $60 - I cannot see a reason why anyone would use a spinner in a laptop as cloud can be used for excess data, start-up time alone & accessing data makes IMHO a SDD well worth the ever decreasing costs of a SSD - A 240 SSD £25 - Most if not all new laptops in the UK have a SSD.- Spinning drives have their place but for me it's not for C:\ - Used 2.5 inch spinners drives can be used for backup with a cheap enclosure with a USB connection.