Serious Discussion What's your Antivirus/Internet Security memory usage?

[toto_10]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious to know how much memory your antivirus or internet security uses on your system. I'm currently using Windows Defender with minor tweaks.

• Antivirus: Windows Defender
• OS: Windows 11 [24H2]
• Spoiler: Memory usage

  

Looking forward to your insights. Let’s see how they compare across different setups

 

[brambedkar59]

I don't mind the RAM usage for AV. It's the slowing down of apps/high CPU usage that annoys me. Kaspersky Free here is pretty light and I am on Win 11 24H2 as well.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

I'm using (ESET endpoint advanced, hitmanpro.alert,comodo,symantec) and they all together feel lighter than (defender , kaspersky,trellix etc )alone from my experience
the combo ram usage is about average and ESET is taking the most out of the security software performance in my system( ram,cpu etc)
if i had more ram in the system, i would have gone with ZoneAlarm over ESET

this is the config I use At-Risk - Vitali Ortzi Main laptop Security Config 2024 (fined tuned settings for performance and made exclusions in every security software )

 

[MartyC]

 

[oldschool]

I'm using Bitdefender Free ATM, but if you don't like Defender's RAM usage, you won't like BD. @brambedkar59 is correct about memory usage. More memory usage is good in that it translates to better overall performance, if used properly.

Only real issues most users see is in copying large numbers of files with MS Defender. Many gamers prefer it.

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

I'm using Bitdefender Free ATM, but if you don't like Defender's RAM usage, you won't like BD. @brambedkar59 is correct about memory usage. More memory usage is good in that it translates to better overall performance, if used properly.

Only real issues most users see is in copying large numbers of files with MS Defender. Many gamers prefer it.

indeed defender decreases io of certain operations more then the top solutions and it keeps all signatures in ram wich has performance benefits only when you have 200+ mb to spare but fortunately its only an issue for those with low ram machines

 

[outlawxtorn]

 

[roger_m]

I've got no idea how much RAM my antivirus is using and I'm not going to check, as I don't care because it doesn't matter. I've got 28GB of RAM and currently RAM usage is at 33%. Unless RAM usage gets close to 100%, I don't care how much RAM any app is using. An antivirus using less RAM than another, does not mean it will be lighter and in some cases it will cause greater system impact. Having said that, if you have very little RAM installed in your PC, then RAM usage of apps in general, not just antiviruses will matter, as system performance will slow down when RAM usage is very high. But in such cases, where possible, it's better to just add more RAM.

 

[Minimalist]

 

[bazang]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious to know how much memory your antivirus or internet security uses on your system. I'm currently using Windows Defender with minor tweaks.

• Antivirus: Windows Defender
• OS: Windows 11 [24H2]
• Spoiler: Memory usage

  View attachment 287092

Looking forward to your insights. Let’s see how they compare across different setups

 

[Miravi]

This is the latest ESET Smart Security Premium running. I have 32 GB of memory with fairly nice hardware, so it's not a big concern for my setup.

 

[simmerskool]

0 RAM running Linux_VM atm, the Host has 8 DeepInstinct agents running total of 313 mb RAM. Host is using 24% of its memory which includes memory going to VM and 12 processes running on Host along with 82 background processes.

 

[Kongo]

 

[TairikuOkami]

It would be better to use process explorer or system informer, since task manager shows it differently. Besides there are actually 3 indicators: CPU/RAM/DISK and their overall history.

 

[simmerskool]

View attachment 287102

@Kongo, interesting & curious, my DeepInstinct seems to be using a lot more RAM than yours. The 2d DI agent in my list is its Static Analysis Service is running 204.9 mb, but I do have some stuff open. I assume the list is ordered the same in task manager on both our machines. My last one is also DeepInsUI. You're using more in 6th down from top, CI Service.

 

[simmerskool]

It would be better to use process explorer or system informer, since task manager shows it differently. Besides there are actually 3 indicators: CPU/RAM/DISK and their overall history.

View attachment 287103View attachment 287104View attachment 287105

"System Informer is the official successor to Process Hacker and was originally created in 2008 by Wen Jia Liu as an open source alternative to programs such as Windows Task Manager and Sysinternals Process Explorer."
I did not know that -- I used to run Process Hacker! I have Process Explorer running v17.04 -- I think sysinternals has an update.

 

[harlan4096]

I have 64GB of RAM:

 

[roger_m]

Something to consider, is that RAM usage for some antiviruses will increase with more free RAM. So on your computer, an antivirus may use more or less RAM than what has been posted here.

 

[Shadowra]

 

[zkSnark]

Default Windows Defender and Kaspersky Endpoint Security on Windows 11 24H2