Memory Usage Test to See Which is the Lightest Antivirus Software

[jamescv7]

From Raymond.CC blog

Tested conduction varied from system to system

One of the most common things users do to try and keep their computer running as smooth as possible, is keep control over which programs start with Windows. Having just a few memory or processor hungry programs loading into the system tray on boot can have an adverse affect on the performance of your computer. One of the most common applications that will load with Windows and stay resident in the background while the system is on, will be your chosen antivirus software. Have you ever wondered which are the lightest antivirus packages available and which ones don’t do so well on memory usage?

Spoiler

Avast and Webroot are not really surprise in terms of Memory Usage test and its proven until now.

 

[DrBeenGolfing]

One of the most common things users do to try and keep their computer running as smooth as possible, is keep control over which programs start with Windows. Having just a few memory or processor hungry programs loading into the system tray on boot can have an adverse affect on the performance of your computer. One of the most common applications that will load with Windows and stay resident in the background while the system is on, will be your chosen antivirus software. Have you ever wondered which are the lightest antivirus packages available and which ones don’t do so well on memory usage?

Read more: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/#ixzz2SBOWvoTK

---

Oops, sorry Jamescv7 - didn't see your post in time.

 

[DrBeenGolfing]

From Raymond.CC blog

Tested conduction varied from system to system

One of the most common things users do to try and keep their computer running as smooth as possible, is keep control over which programs start with Windows. Having just a few memory or processor hungry programs loading into the system tray on boot can have an adverse affect on the performance of your computer. One of the most common applications that will load with Windows and stay resident in the background while the system is on, will be your chosen antivirus software. Have you ever wondered which are the lightest antivirus packages available and which ones don’t do so well on memory usage?

Spoiler

Avast and Webroot are not really surprise in terms of Memory Usage test and its proven until now.

My Bitdefender runs a bit less in memory than Raymond's does - a lot less.

[/img]

 

[Littlebits]

From Raymond.CC blog

Tested conduction varied from system to system

One of the most common things users do to try and keep their computer running as smooth as possible, is keep control over which programs start with Windows. Having just a few memory or processor hungry programs loading into the system tray on boot can have an adverse affect on the performance of your computer. One of the most common applications that will load with Windows and stay resident in the background while the system is on, will be your chosen antivirus software. Have you ever wondered which are the lightest antivirus packages available and which ones don’t do so well on memory usage?

Spoiler

Avast and Webroot are not really surprise in terms of Memory Usage test and its proven until now.

My Bitdefender runs a bit less in memory than Raymond's does - a lot less.

[/img]

Raymond used Process Explorer which will give different results then Task Manager.

Also note this is just a system memory test which may or may not affect system response time. Process I/O (reads writes) will have more effect on system lags.

Thanks.

 

[DrBeenGolfing]

OK, thanks. Never ran PE before, just downloaded it and results were about as Raymonds were. Neat tool, will keep it.

 

[McLovin]

Who would of known that Trend was so far down. I've always had no problem with them.

 

[Malware Man]

No surprise avast! has the lowest memory usage. I am currently using it and it's sitting now at around only 6mb, it's incredible.

 

[Littlebits]

No surprise avast! has the lowest memory usage. I am currently using it and it's sitting now at around only 6mb, it's incredible.

Avast may use less memory but there are other solutions that don't cause an increase in system response time. How much memory is used by a product doesn't indicate how light it will run on your system.

MSE/Windows Defender, AVG Free and Avira Free hardly ever cause system lags compared to Avast. Even if they use more memory.

Don't get me wrong I use Avast Free because of its features but it is not the lightest antivirus. It just uses less memory not the lightest AV.

I wished testing sites would stop testing memory used by software because it is not a accurate way to see how light a software will run.

Testing Process I/O (reads writes) will give you much better accuracy on how light a program will run.

Thanks.

 

[Spirit]

Does it Matter ?

In my personal experience it does not matter

Maybe I am wrong.

I find Eset lightest among the others which use 1/4 of less memory consume by eset

Thanks

 

[Payback]

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be Eset Smart Security or Kaspersky. Or I'll cut my...censored off.

 

[tapoo]

isn't it depends also on CPU usage at the particular time ???

 

[GA4E1]

I wonder where does Microsoft Security Essentials falls in terms of the topic being discussed. Both while on scanning procedure an when on idle.

 

[Malware Man]

No surprise avast! has the lowest memory usage. I am currently using it and it's sitting now at around only 6mb, it's incredible.

Avast may use less memory but there are other solutions that don't cause an increase in system response time. How much memory is used by a product doesn't indicate how light it will run on your system.

MSE/Windows Defender, AVG Free and Avira Free hardly ever cause system lags compared to Avast. Even if they use more memory.

Don't get me wrong I use Avast Free because of its features but it is not the lightest antivirus. It just uses less memory not the lightest AV.

I wished testing sites would stop testing memory used by software because it is not a accurate way to see how light a software will run.

Testing Process I/O (reads writes) will give you much better accuracy on how light a program will run.

Thanks.

I get what you mean. But I've always used Avast since version 4.8 and when it had those alarm sounds. It saved me a lot back then because I didn't know what I was doing. Now I have more experience. So I don't get infected much at all.

I trust Avast a lot more than MSE/Windows defender. Avast has a much better detection rate. Even if I am using Windows 8. I still trust Avast more and it doesn't slow down my laptop at all. It has never given me issues.

I wish they would stop to. You cannot judge a AV on it's memory usage. Eset uses about over 100mb of RAM and it doesn't impact system performance. Now Zone alarm on the other hand is a complete joke with it using 200mb+ of RAM.

 

[Littlebits]

Does it Matter ?

In my personal experience it does not matter

Maybe I am wrong.

I find Eset lightest among the others which use 1/4 of less memory consume by eset

Thanks

If you have a newer system with at least 2GB of RAM and a multi-core processor, then it doesn't matter about how much memory your AV uses because 2GB of RAM is more than enough to run just about any AV. Unless you are a gamer or run large memory consuming programs.

Back in the days of Windows XP where most platforms were 32-bit, basic installed RAM was only 512MB and only had single core processors, memory usage was very important for AV's.

So unless you are still using an ancient system, memory usage should not be considered when choosing an AV.

According to Raymond test, ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall used the most memory but I have it installed on my other system with 2GB of RAM, multi-core CPU with Windows Vista 64 bit and it runs extremely light. No system lags at all, whereas with other AV's listed on Raymond's test that used much less memory caused this system to lag and have slow response time when starting up programs or using Windows Explorer.

So it is not true for newer system that memory consumption by AV's makes them more heavier.

Thanks.

 

[Spirit]

In old days where machine was not so powerful even Avg used to slow down but now bitdefender/kaspersky is not much noticeable.

My Point is Even on the same system with same hardware/software I think it does not matter if antivirus use more memory than other antivirus,still you feel av which consume more memory is lighter than using less.

Simple examples are Eset & Mse.

 

[phyniks]

Avast may use less memory but there are other solutions that don't cause an increase in system response time. How much memory is used by a product doesn't indicate how light it will run on your system.

MSE/Windows Defender, AVG Free and Avira Free hardly ever cause system lags compared to Avast. Even if they use more memory.

MSE is not faster than Avast.....it slows down windows explorer

check latest av-comparatives for performance and you ll see MSE is not that good

 

[Littlebits]

MSE is not faster than Avast.....it slows down windows explorer

check latest av-comparatives for performance and you ll see MSE is not that good

It all depends on how many files are in that folder and what type of files they are, don't believe testing sites test it yourself.
If you have a lot of executable files in a folder then Avast will lag a few moments. If you open a folder full of only pictures or audio files, then no lag at all.

Thanks.

 

[Rolo]

RAM usage is only one small part of performance testing that I wouldn't even call this an indicative test. One can argue that a small memory footprint would hinder performance as it would have to load code/data into memory at the same time you're using it rather than be ready.

Additionally, minimising RAM isn't your goal; your goal is to browse, copy, game--whatever your computer does and that is what has to be measured.

 

[Vipersd]

What is so interesting about memory usage on PC with 2 and more GB of RAM memory, better to use RAM then Virtual memory (pagefile), more interesting is excess CPU usage with useless bloat features that is installed alongside AV and firewall.

 

[jamescv7]

RAM is good for maximizing the applications to run but not to maintain the applications resource usage, processor and number of cores should take care the overall handle. A myth that should be vanish and avoid misinterpretation by the media