The most effective antivirus for battery usage under Windows 10? (laptops/tablets)

[cătălin]

As the title says, under Windows 10, which antivirus is more efficient on battery? Are there tests for this? Did you do some tests for that?
I own a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 4 gb ddr) and I'm interested in a balance between protection and battery consumption.
Wich antivirus is the best in this regard?

 

[cruelsister]

The most efficient would be those AV's that only will respond to files that the User would initiate (like most free AV's). But even for those AV products that will do constant scans I would doubt that they would make a dent on battery life- certainly a good deal less than using a browser or watching a movie or playing a game.

As far as testing is concerned, you will never see any such test as there are too many variables involved to make such a test meaningful.

 

[Ink]

Antivirus software with default settings are usually balanced between good protection and performance. Increasing protection may have a negative effect on performance.

Ideally no Antivirus is better, but humans are unreliable.

Web Browsers
"Microsoft claim that Edge is better than Chrome for battery usage"
All browsers battery-hungry software. The more extensions/addons active, the more resources are consumed in the background, and watching videos on Facebook and YouTube are sure to drain the battery faster.
- Disable unnecessary extensions (Keep your adblocker enabled).
- Avoid resource heavy websites

Turn off Background Apps
Similar to Android and iOS, the Windows 10 OS allows Background Apps which may drain the battery.
https://www.howtogeek.com/241752/how-to-stop-windows-10-apps-from-running-in-the-background/

Battery Saver
How to Use and Configure Windows 10’s “Battery Saver” Mode
- Lower screen brightness
- Use black wallpaper on OLED/AMOLED displays
- Terminate unnecessary software from running (ie. Skype, Spotify etc).

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

Answering directly to your question, I would say Cylance Smart Antivirus, but there are many other factors wich may impact battery life of laptop.

Is it scanning files slowly? I only see a handful scanned.

Cylance Smart Antivirus - Home Security, Powered by AI

 

[kylprq]

not a antivirus

 

[Deleted member 178]

As the title says, under Windows 10, which antivirus is more efficient on battery? Are there tests for this? Did you do some tests for that?

ummmm...ummmmmm....
1- the one reading/writing the less on the drive
2- no
3- no

I own a Surface Pro 3 (i5, 4 gb ddr) and I'm interested in a balance between protection and battery consumption.
Wich antivirus is the best in this regard?

Any, just disable scheduled scans and set the real-time engine to scan only on execution (means it won't scan perpetually any files you access but only those you execute), so less drive spinning , less power consumption.