Advice Request Lightest Free antivirus for lowend laptop

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

navidlukas

New Member
Thread author
Jun 15, 2022
2
Looking for the lightest free antivirus that takes up low memory for a low end laptop. Just looked at the task manager, and saw MS Defender taking up 128MB, and contanctly hogging the cpu and internet because of the sumbit sample function etc....I really dont need all this fancy stuff on a low end laptop.

A bit of googling says Kaspersky free is very low on memory....didnt try it yet. Looking for something small and simple....bitdefender free? Whats your opinion guys...

this also looks usefull

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: CyberTech and Nevi

ScandinavianFish

Level 7
Verified
Dec 12, 2021
317
Task manager isnt accurate, you need Process Explorer or Process hacker to reveal the actual memory usage.

Considering its an laptop there is not an single antivirus that will not take up all the resources, especially if it has no SSD.

I would never trust any of these "test" results by these "independent" labs, they arent trustworthy anymore ever since they began testing Potentially Unwanted Programs, with the results being not only highly misleading but also varying way too much to be an accurate source of information.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nevi

Captain Holly

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
Jan 23, 2021
227
Bitdefender Antivirus Free. Of all the free av's I have tried BD Free is by far the least worrisome. It does occasionally send you tips about data leaks and hacked sites and offers you to upgrade to a paid version but those are not very frequent. RAM usage does not really factor in to an AV but BD will use more RAM in the beginning but it will settle down after it learns your system. I like BD because it is a set and forget solution with very strong protection that stays out of my way.

C.H.
 

ScandinavianFish

Level 7
Verified
Dec 12, 2021
317
Bitdefender Antivirus Free. Of all the free av's I have tried BD Free is by far the least worrisome. It does occasionally send you tips about data leaks and hacked sites and offers you to upgrade to a paid version but those are not very frequent. RAM usage does not really factor in to an AV but BD will use more RAM in the beginning but it will settle down after it learns your system. I like BD because it is a set and forget solution with very strong protection that stays out of my way.

C.H.
Bitdefender uses 600-700 megabytes of RAM...
 

oldschool

Level 81
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,044
Bitdefender Antivirus Free. Of all the free av's I have tried BD Free is by far the least worrisome. It does occasionally send you tips about data leaks and hacked sites and offers you to upgrade to a paid version but those are not very frequent. RAM usage does not really factor in to an AV but BD will use more RAM in the beginning but it will settle down after it learns your system. I like BD because it is a set and forget solution with very strong protection that stays out of my way.

C.H.
Users may turn off special offers and "Recommendation notifications" in settings, but otherwise I agree with you. Definitely stays out the way.
 

pxxb1

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
Jan 17, 2018
436
Looking for the lightest free antivirus that takes up low memory for a low end laptop. Just looked at the task manager, and saw MS Defender taking up 128MB, and contanctly hogging the cpu and internet because of the sumbit sample function etc....I really dont need all this fancy stuff on a low end laptop.

A bit of googling says Kaspersky free is very low on memory....didnt try it yet. Looking for something small and simple....bitdefender free? Whats your opinion guys...

this also looks usefull


WiseVector StopX. It has a thread here on the fora. Extremely light, extremely potent.
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top