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96 Responses for "Which FREE Antivirus is the Lightest on System Memory Usage?"

1. xman July 11th, 2008 at 3:11 pm 1

   very good!!!

2. Dushyant July 11th, 2008 at 3:24 pm 2

   Kaspersky is Best ; )

   Light On memory
   Hard on Virus

   ha ha ha…………..

3. technoholics July 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm 3

   yup KIS 09 is damn gud.

   hey Ray, I was wondering what I should do when Barclay’s license expires in a year – may be u’ll come up with another workaround

4. Coolkid July 11th, 2008 at 3:38 pm 4

   Did u test Bitdefender with the gamer mode on?

5. Alin July 11th, 2008 at 3:40 pm 5

   To much ram on nod32 on your test.It’s 30000 k while idle,with all features on,and kaspersky ,you mean 1 avp only 6000k?????????..I agree with you ,i think nod 32 it’s not what it’s used ,i’ve seen it miss to many nastys from p2p.
   I use Avira free also and i got about the same result as yours,(the premium version with webguard,mailguard )uses about 25 000 k which is very good also.

6. Raymond July 11th, 2008 at 4:12 pm 6

   @Coolkid: No I did not test BitDefender in gamer mode. The settings are default settings after installation.

   @alin: I forgot to mention that I use process explorer to check all the running process that belongs to the AV. For Kaspersky, there are only 2 process running and both adds up to 6565K.

7. jeff July 11th, 2008 at 4:19 pm 7

   cool. i got kaspersky.

8. Łukasz July 11th, 2008 at 4:37 pm 8

   I’ve got NOD32 and myportal.pl speed-x (it’s great memory optimizer) and in idle nod32 usage only 1,4 -2 MB

9. Łukasz July 11th, 2008 at 4:38 pm 9

   I’ve got of course XP SP3

10. Raymond July 11th, 2008 at 4:49 pm 10

    What kind of antivirus only takes 1-2MB? Are you sure you know how to check the memory usage?

11. Alin July 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pm 11

    I also use process explorer.Ws private bytes is memory usage in Process Explorer AFAIK.Last time i checked kaspersky 8, 2 weeks ago it used about 22 000 K(i tested the suite),which is great considering that the program is a malware destroyer and it’s got fetures that no av has.I have xp pro sp3.

12. utkarsh30june July 11th, 2008 at 5:25 pm 12

    Kaspersky- Light on PC,
    Hard and brutal on Viruses!!!!!!!LOL

13. Only July 11th, 2008 at 5:43 pm 13

    no Łukasz, nod32 use ekrn.exe (35~40 mb) and egui.exe (2~5 mb)

14. Raymond July 11th, 2008 at 5:47 pm 14

    That’s right. From my records, egui.exe 6012K and ekrn.exe 34352K.

15. Rohit July 11th, 2008 at 6:30 pm 15

    Why dont u try Quick heal Antivirus!

    Really looking forward for your comments on Quick heal !

16. digArt July 11th, 2008 at 6:49 pm 16

    You are always better
    Thank you size your effort

    Kind Regards

17. technoholics July 11th, 2008 at 7:29 pm 17

    quick heal isn’t that good – have tried it

18. technoholics July 11th, 2008 at 7:32 pm 18

    Ray, please remove the Barclay\’s offer \”HOT TIP\” link.
    I think that\’s not working now. Barclays page has changed.

19. Jacky July 11th, 2008 at 7:50 pm 19

    What a good comparision for antivirus! I have been using Antivir for more than a year and it really detects virus. Have an umbrella in your tray icon list!

20. tuxplorer July 11th, 2008 at 7:59 pm 20

    Please please pleas pls pl test Windows Live OneCare 2.5. I’m interested in how it turns up.

21. Mojo July 11th, 2008 at 8:04 pm 21

    On my XPSP2:
    Windows Tasks manager: egui.exe 1 MB, ekrn.exe 7 MB
    Process Explorer: egui.exe 1,5 MB, ekrn.exe 25 MB.

    I don’t get it, what’s the difference between Windows TM and PE?

22. Ishaan July 11th, 2008 at 8:29 pm 22

    Hey I prefer Avira free is is damn good i m using it…………… and really satisfied.

23. Stephen July 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm 23

    This is strange. I always thought ESET NOD32 3.0+ uses less resources than Kaspersky Antivirus…I guess I\’m wrong. Has there been a test run to try Kaspersky internet Security? How did that turn out?

24. Dan July 11th, 2008 at 9:17 pm 24

    Unfortunately, I’ve had nothing but problems with Kaspersky… BSOD’s, applications crashing all the time.

    My vista reliability monitor took a huge drop after installing Kaspersky IS 2009.. it made it down to 1.5 before I decided to reinstall AVG and Comodo firewall – now it’s approaching 6 with no issues at all.

    I had suggested KIS 2009 to several friends and family and they have had the same issues.

    I’ll stick to something that uses slightly more memory, AND keeps my computer reliable!

25. mike July 11th, 2008 at 10:00 pm 25

    thanks a lot Raymond, i’ve wanted to test this for a long time now

    by the way, you know if pc-tools is free for commercial use also ?

26. Raymond July 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm 26

    I will test QuickHeal, KIS 2009 and Windows Live OneCare. Check back for the updates.

27. Stephen July 11th, 2008 at 10:13 pm 27

    ESET Smart Security 3.0.669 VS. KIS 2009 please

28. Raymond July 11th, 2008 at 10:27 pm 28

    @Mojo: I checked at my desktop and both Process Explorer and Windows Task Manager shows the same amount of memory usage… Perhaps something is wrong with your Windows Task Manager

    Will also be testing ESET Smart Security.

29. brayden July 11th, 2008 at 11:51 pm 29

    when i had avg it averaged 50 MB when idle in task manager, as for Kaspersky it right now as i type is about 31 MB even when i have utorrent and like 7 tabs in firefox now that is good quality for something that is tough on viruses big or small

30. Plank July 11th, 2008 at 11:57 pm 30

    Great !! excelent job Raymond

31. Merlin_Magii July 12th, 2008 at 12:08 am 31

    Many thanks Raymond,
    This posting illustrates why you are a Prince among tech sites. Thank you.

32. Rajib Ghosh July 12th, 2008 at 1:14 am 32

    Commendable work. Would have taken considerable time (time=money), but the results are priceless.

    Thanks.

33. ahmad maher July 12th, 2008 at 2:33 am 33

    am using zone alarm …. can not see it in the list lol , but i know it is not bad and it is light on the ram too

    thanls anyway for the list

34. florin139 July 12th, 2008 at 3:01 am 34

    Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 v8.0.0.357 (shareware) Kaspersky

    Total memory usage during idle: 6565K
    Total memory usage during scanning: 50892K

    ESET NOD32 Antivirus 3.0.669 (shareware) eset nod32

    Total memory usage during idle: 40364K
    Total memory usage during scanning: 46012K

    So eset is using lees memory than kaspersky and lets be serious about the..Cannot detect private trojan…eset like kaspersky has also heuristics and advanced heuristisc in real time protection.
    Raymon honestly if you like kaspersky so much don’t be too hard on eset.There are viruses an trojans which if one detects the other doesn’t.
    In my opinion kaspersky and eset are the best…both for 1st place

35. Hammad July 12th, 2008 at 4:01 am 35

    kaspersky is the best

    good job raymond

36. bardy July 12th, 2008 at 4:05 am 36

    This a good info. I am using KIS 2009 and its very light in my XP sp3. Kaspersky is the best. For the freeware antivirus, you’re right Raymond, Avira AntiVir – is the best. Light on memory usage, has a better defection than other free antivirus.

    Keep up the good work. Thanks for the info.

37. Senic July 12th, 2008 at 6:04 am 37

    My NOD32 also uses way less memory. Check they URI

38. Stephen July 12th, 2008 at 7:32 am 38

    I read somewhere a few months ago that ESET Smart Security 3 uses less resources than Kaspersky Internet Security 2009. Can anyone verify if this is indeed true?

39. Amirz July 12th, 2008 at 8:21 am 39

    Very surpised! before this, i was to think AVG always lighter than Kaspersky especially for their AV free editions. Thanks for your information, Raymond!
    Btw, the Demonoid account really rocks! regards-Amirz

40. Raymond July 12th, 2008 at 2:21 pm 40

    This post has been updated with KIS 2009, ESET Smart Security, Windows One LiveCare, ZoneAlarm and QuickHeal.

    Check it out!

41. Ammar July 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm 41

    Thanks Raymond.
    You have done a great job.

42. Asif July 12th, 2008 at 6:17 pm 42

    KIS is the best!!

43. Ed July 12th, 2008 at 10:35 pm 43

    I never see this before:

    > Norton AntiVirus 2008 (shareware) Norton Antivirus
    > Total memory usage during idle: 8424K

    Seems much too low. Maybe they hide more program code in dll or other type that is not showing in regular display?

    BTW, great job Raymond on the many tests and systems restores

44. X July 13th, 2008 at 6:22 am 44

    Dear Raymond,

    Which FREE Antivirus less slow down the System?
    Lightest on System Memory Usage, does not necessary meaning a faster system, when you access a file, different Antivirus use different amout of CPU. Which FREE Antivirus less slow down the System, is the answer they all want to hear… And me to.

45. X July 13th, 2008 at 6:27 am 45

    Norton AntiVirus 2008 (shareware) Norton Antivirus

    Total memory usage during idle: 8424K
    Total memory usage during scanning: 78008

    Show exactly the same usage of memory as

    Avira AntiVir Personal 8 (freeware) Avira

    Total memory usage during idle: 8424K
    Total memory usage during scanning: 78008K

    Did you make a mistake?

46. Remus Gabriel Juncu July 13th, 2008 at 7:38 am 46

    Well i have Nod32 version 3 and:

    ekrn.exe > Mem Usage: 23,084 K | VM Size: 26,980 K
    egui.exe > Mem Usage: 3,940 K | VM Size: 1,532 K

    Windows XP Pro Sp2 ( 32 bit )

47. CH July 13th, 2008 at 9:01 am 47

    From reading their blog, Eset people are bunch of pricks. I checked it out after downloading their free SysInspector app which is actually really good but I would never give them any money.

48. Steve Mills July 13th, 2008 at 9:10 am 48

    Raymond,

    As usual – good stuff. I have been using AVG for many of my customers, but my “sense” is 8.0 puts more of a strain on the computer. The Chinese program you recommended seems to just do its job with little fanfare, but I feel better with Antivir.

    My experience with Kasperskey runs the gamut. It seems to suck some systems dry and spike CPU usage to 100% regularly and other, seemingly similar boxes, run like nothing is there – I dunno.

    On question – no one ever seems to mention Clamwin. Bad stuff??

    steve

49. Raymond July 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am 49

    Sorry X. I did a mistake on Bitdefender Free Edition and Avira Antivir. It has been corrected. Thanks for telling me.

50. Ed July 13th, 2008 at 10:44 pm 50

    I also see people using Norman AV

51. Amarjeet Rai July 14th, 2008 at 4:30 pm 51

    Raymond you must have this wrong.

    My KIS v8 (2009), has a commit size of 4,864 K under my username and ~45,000 K under SYSTEM. I got this data using task manager.

    But that might be virtual memory, I am not sure about physical memory.

    I believe you should do this test again, taking into account both virtual and physical memory.

52. Raymond July 14th, 2008 at 4:58 pm 52

    No I am not wrong. I mentioned very clearly that this is tested on a clean Windows XP SP3 without any software installed. Running more software might cause antivirus memory usage to go up.

53. abhishek July 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm 53

    symentic anti-virus corporate edition is pretty good when it comes to memory usage…but it is not free

54. Melone July 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pm 54

    thanks for this raymond helps out alot letting people know what to use when they havent got any…

55. sokadol July 17th, 2008 at 1:27 pm 55

    thanks for this raymond helps out alot letting people know what to use when they havent got any

56. Michael C. July 18th, 2008 at 10:07 pm 56

    Wow!!! An antivirus would use 150 MB of RAM when idlea? That\’s a lot!!

57. Karin July 18th, 2008 at 10:20 pm 57

    Could you also test Norman AV? It doesn\’t use much memory in my experience.

58. Raymond July 20th, 2008 at 12:21 am 58

    Added Norman to the test.

59. Justin July 20th, 2008 at 1:50 am 59

    how about avira premium, can u test it?

    thx a lot Raymond..

60. Jeff C. July 20th, 2008 at 5:12 am 60

    I have 4GB of memory so not so concerned with that. But what concerns me more is the CPU resource utilization when you are working on the computer and the antivirus kicks in.

    It would be very interesting to see which of the free ones use the least amount of CPU when running in the background and monitoring your PC activity.

    It would also be interesting to how that compares to the commercial NOD32 since most computer geeks out there always refer me to NOD32 since it uses very low system resources. Although those referals were based on NOD32 2.7 and I hear the newer 3.0 version does use a bit more resources.

61. AV July 20th, 2008 at 11:55 am 61

    I think you forgotten to take into consideration all the components used by the antivirus.

    Therefore the list above is quite inaccurate.

62. Raymond July 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pm 62

    @AV: I’ve already mentioned that the settings are default as most users do not even know how to configure their antivirus programs. I did mention that this test is not perfect but it does give us an idea on how much memory does a default installed AV uses on clean Windows XP.

63. philips14c July 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm 63

    KAV7 is even lighter! I really don\’t like KIS 8 that much! What ever happened with the \”training mode\” setting for the firewall in KIS 8?
    And yeah! After testing all major anti-viruses myself I can say without a doubt that Kaspersky is still the best!
    

64. monitorsecurity July 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm 64

    I Have been using DriveSentry. Dont agree that kasperski is the best. dont understand why DS could not detect the private trojan?? where all protectons in place when it was ran!?

    DS is the way forward with its massive black and whitelist

65. pdan July 24th, 2008 at 7:15 am 65

    would be nice if you also will test cpu usage of resident shield while scaning a file, an archive, a packed executable, aso.

    10x

66. syxx July 26th, 2008 at 8:35 am 66

    raymond is there anyway u can evaluate the best media burning program that is not a resource hog like nero

67. u August 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm 67

    all Linux distros (Free)
    idle: 0k
    scanning: 0k

    all BSD distros (Free)
    idle: 0k
    scanning: 0k

    Had to be said.

    Most ppl still havent upgraded to normal security.

68. Roman August 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm 68

    ABOSLUTELY INACCURATE!

    ESET Smart Security V. 3.0.669 x64 on Vista x64

    Memory idle: 1560K
    Memory while scanning: 4736K

    …the lightest and most efficient engine on earth!

69. GUY August 11th, 2008 at 9:05 pm 69

    Avast pro only takes 4mb

70. Jani August 21st, 2008 at 12:08 am 70

    the “experts” have been recommending nod32 all the time, because the eset team boast (or at least they used to) on their homepage, that nod32 has the smallest memory footprint.
    Then I have tried it 2 years ago to see the why is the hype for, and I can say, in Idle mode it had 4-5 different processes running at the same time and making my system clogged completely. It maybe wasnt so hard on the memory (in the past at least) but it feasted on cpu.
    I have uninstalled it immediately.
    nod32 team is and has been only boasting around without any merit on relevant usability level.

71. Sam Hobbs August 31st, 2008 at 9:47 am 71

    Another relevant test is the amount of memory required to update. I have XP Pro and Panda 2008. My motherboard can use a maximum of 256 MB. Panda requires about half an hour to update virus signatures, during which time the system thrashes (uses virtual storage a lot) and is useless for anything else. Panda also insists upon doing the automatic update while the system is booting, which makes the boot process horrific. I turned off the option for automatic updates and only do updates when I don\’t need the system for half an hour.

72. ikkeee September 1st, 2008 at 3:24 am 72

    Hoe in godsnaam hebben jullie dit berekend ?!?

    Antivirus van BitDefender 2008 v11 (shareware) Bitdefender

    Totaal geheugengebruik tijdens nutteloos: 56440K
    Totaal geheugengebruik tijdens aftasten: 73720K

    Ik kom niet eens hoger dan 10000k!?!
    Volgens mij hebben jullie gewoon alle standaard opties aangezet dat niet eens nodig is om een pc te beveiligen waardoor het nu lijkt dat bitdefender erg zwaar is. Nod32 heeft voor mij gefaalt, bitdefender vond meer virussen dan nod32.

    Kaspersky zal ook zeker en vast goed zijn, maar is helemaal niet beter dan bitdefender, ook niet qua snelheid. kaspersky en bitdefender is krak hetzelfde! Als je me niet geloofd, dan zullen we even een afspraak maken. Stuur maar een email als u bent ge

73. Alan September 9th, 2008 at 8:56 pm 73

    WHAT A GREAT BLOG!! You have single handedly produced a test which I have been looking for. I didn\’t want a big review of each test, just the fine points which you have created here. Excellent work!!!!!!!

    ps. have you done one for Anti-Spyware programs??

74. Solaris September 9th, 2008 at 11:35 pm 74

    @ Everyone:

    Comprehensive list of useful Antivirus/Antispyware:
    http://www.raymond.cc/forum/t3128-Useful-Antivirus-Antispyware-Tools-Comprehensive-List.html

75. jayson September 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm 75

    hey haven’t you tried protector plus?

76. Ashish October 2nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm 76

    My KAV 2009 uses about 25 mb of memory in idle…. Is something wrong. All the settings are in default…

77. zyberakuma October 28th, 2008 at 8:15 pm 77

    im using the latest nod32 AV of the moment and here\’s the memory usage:

    egui.exe = 3,036K
    screenshot: http://i2.tinypic.com/6sq4yex.png

    ekrn.exe = 4,968K
    screenshot: http://i13.tinypic.com/6tk6w7d.png

    NOTE:
    Tested in idle mode.

78. zubi October 29th, 2008 at 4:49 am 78

    add me for norton product key

79. PJCNET November 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm 79

    The problem is when checking the memory used by the various virus software, you are only taking into account the main executable. Many virus scanners, like Norton have Windows Services and/or other tasks too that also take up memory. For instance Norton Anti Virus is actually heavy on resources in comparison to most when one counts everything including services, yet your list show it as one of the best. One needs to run the test again, this time checking how much free memory is available before and after installing the virus software after a clean boot. As you said this test still isn’t perfect as the usage often varies throughout, E.g. I used Drive Sentry and the memory usage seems to grow with use.

80. Ahinigami December 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm 80

    Wow , the test is showing eset to use up to 4xxxx …. I really dont understand why the difference is so big compared to mine …. I tested it now with process explorer and task manager when eset is in idle

    Process explorer
    ekrn.exe:0.580k
    egui.exe:2264k
    The highest memory process running now in my computer is this process explorer and this bastard IE7

    Windows Task Manager
    ekrn.exe:20,048k
    egui.exe:8,996k
    The highest memory process is still the damn IE7 with 59k

    Im running eset smart security 3.0.672.0

81. nfsmexico December 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am 81

    no pz si esta chido estas pruebas, pero el problema es que te fijaste en la seccion donde estan los procesos y la cantidad de memoria que muestra ahi no siempre es la correcta.
    Como saber realmente cuanto esta utilizando el antivirus??

    es facil, solo se hace una comparacion con el administrador de tareas en la seccion de Rendimiento, ahi es cuando se nota cuanto esta ocupando el antivirus, por ejemplo:

    el otro dia instale en una maquina el Avast Antivir Premium y segun decian no pesaba mucho
    al iniciar el sistema sin antivirus tenia cargado 130 Mb
    luego de instalar el antivirus ya habia llegado a los 240 Mb :S y de volada lo quite porq estaba consumiendo muchos recursos, eso quiere decir que el antivirus taba consumiendo 90 Mb y si lo checas en la pestaña o seccion procesos solo aparece unos cuantos megas, por eso yo no agarro los valores de memoria que menciona en esa parte.

    Saludos!

82. alie December 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm 82

    nice comparison.

83. Harry March 25th, 2009 at 6:12 am 83

    THANK YOU, Raymond! You\’re a life-saver! You ROCK!

84. Rockmadhavan May 1st, 2009 at 11:23 pm 84

    Why don”t you guys try Vipre Antivirus+Antispyware

    Its only using 1% memory and the detection rate is also good

85. kane May 26th, 2009 at 11:45 am 85

    hey rey,
    esset nod 32 is really a good one , once i got a file named awTTSpfx.dll (i stil remember the name ) . the file grew from some 200 kb to 2.5 MB in 15hours i tried kaspersky,bitdefender,mcaffee(mcaffee claimed to have deleted but not deleted it) then i got undll.exe from nod 32 & it really wiped out the pig(awTTSpfx.dll) from my system .

86. Rudyg June 22nd, 2009 at 6:17 pm 86

    Can you also test Panda Cloud Antivirus, supposedly its the lightest on resources.

87. hddgh July 7th, 2009 at 9:49 pm 87

    Check Bitdefender GameSafe

    Idle : 100k – 250k

    Scanning : 500k – 650k

    Thats NAIS!

88. hddgh July 7th, 2009 at 10:19 pm 88

    Or Panda Cloud

    Idle : 50k – 180k

    Scanning : 630k – 660k

    Thats NAIS! ( Too)

89. reset July 11th, 2009 at 3:20 pm 89

    what about the cpu then?

90. Dr.xyz August 8th, 2009 at 12:30 am 90

    Memory usage is irrelevant, we all have more than enough. It´s that CPU usage and the number of file operations that matters.

    So, useless test.

91. Stuart Ridgley September 6th, 2009 at 1:59 pm 91

    “Memory usage is irrelevant”?? RUBBISH! Speak for yourself, man! Many of us are running PC’s with just enough memory. I am, for one, because my motherboard will not take any more than a certain amount. So, don’t assume that everyone is going to rush out and waste money to keep up with the Joneses!

    Thank you, Ray, for this superb study. I am using PC Tools along with the fabulous behavior-based Threatfire. My PC is rock solid!

92. Steve Mobley September 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm 92

    Panda Cloud??!! Thanks very much! I am certainly going to check it out!

93. henry young September 15th, 2009 at 5:27 am 93

    Panda Cloud Antivirus is the best for ram, 812K good old cloud

94. Dragonfly September 25th, 2009 at 6:19 am 94

    THanks SO much for this study. I really needed this.

95. Brian October 19th, 2009 at 1:58 am 95

    Thanks guys for the info. Kaspersky is Best …. I’ll never used Norton again….. +

96. Bibek October 31st, 2009 at 5:14 pm 96

    hey,try nod32 v2.7
    it uses very low resources even in my outdated computer.

    in my uncles laptop it took about 3 seconds to start and get it working to full potential.

    his is a dell inspiration 1525 with 1.83ghz processor

    it took about 6 seconds to log in and the laptop was ready to use.