Best Performing (Speed and Memory Usage) Antivirus and Internet Security for 2010
Author: Raymond3 Feb
Antivirus software is the most important software you can have for your computer. It can be a very tough decision to choose the right antivirus program especially when there are so many of them and you can only have one on a computer. Late 2008 I did a test on 29 antivirus software to look for the free antivirus that is the lightest on system memory usage. I only checked the total memory usage during idle and during scanning. Other than that, I’ve also checked on the detection to see if it can detect the private trojan which I had at that time. Two years has gone by and I was curious to know if Kaspersky still do well or has been overtaken by Norton? After the new year, I’ve decided to do some tests on a total of 104 different types of antivirus and internet security applications. I’ve taken nearly a month, running the test day and night to finish this report. This is what that has been keeping me really busy the whole month of January 2010.
The test includes Application Launch Time, Boot Time Increase, Time to complete a Full Scan, Memory usage during Idle, Peak Memory Usage and Installation Size. Every test is done on the same clean Windows XP SP3 with all latest updates. Norton Ghost is being used to re-image the hard drive whenever I am going to test the next antivirus so that the test is fair. All antivirus tested had the latest versions, upgrades and updates and default settings being used. Here are the antivirus and internet security that is included in the test.
1. Avira AntiVir Personal v9
2. Avira AntiVir Premium v9
3. Avira Premium Security Suite v9
4. AVG Anti-Virus v9
5. AVG Internet Security v9
6. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition v9
7. avast! Free Antivirus v5
8. avast! Internet Security v5
9. avast! Pro Antivirus v5
10. a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5
11. Ashampoo AntiSpyWare 2.10
12. Ashampoo Anti-Malware v1
13. ArcaVir 2010 Antivirus Protection
14. AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0
15. Antiy Ghostbusters v6.5.1.4
16. Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security v8.1.3
17. BitDefender Antivirus 2010
18. BitDefender Internet Security 2010
19. BitDefender Total Security 2010
20. BluePoint Security 2010
21. BullGuard Internet Security 8.7
22. CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010
23. CA Anti-Virus Plus Anti-Spyware 2010
24. Command Anti-Malware v5.1
25. Comodo Internet Security v3.13
26. Digital Patrol v5.2
27. DriveSentry Desktop v3.4 and DriveSentry Security Suite v1
28. Dr.WEB Anti-Virus v5
29. Dr.WEB Security Space v5
30. eEye Blink Personal v4.5.1
31. eScan AntiVirus v10
32. eScan Internet Security Suite
33. ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4
34. ESET Smart Security v4
35. FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite v4.1.2
36. F-PROT Antivirus v6
37. G Data AntiVirus 2010
38. G Data InternetSecurity 2010
39. G Data Total Care 2010
40. IKARUS virus.utilities v1.0.166
41. Immunet Protect v1.0.22
42. iolo AntiVirus v1.5.3
43. iolo System Shield 3
44. KV AntiVirus 2010
45. K7 AntiVirus v7.0
46. K7 TotalSecurity v10.0
47. Kingsoft Internet Security 9 Plus
48. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010
49. Kaspersky Internet Security 2010
50. McAfee VirusScan Plus
51. McAfee Internet Security
52. McAfee Total Security
53. Microsoft Security Essentials
54. mks_vir v9.0
55. MultiCore AntiVirus & AntiSpyware v2
56. My Free Antivirus v2.2
57. Net Protector 2010
58. Norman Security Suite
59. Norton AntiVirus 2010 v17.1.0.19
60. Norton Internet Security 2010
61. Norton 360 Version 3.0
62. nProtect Anti-Virus Spyware 2007
63. Outpost Antivirus Pro 2009
64. Outpost Security Suite 2009
65. Keygold Secure Internet Security Suite
66. Panda Could Antivirus
67. Panda Antivirus Pro 2010
68. Panda Internet Security 2010
69. Panda Global Protection 2010
70. ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS v6.1.1
71. Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010
72. PC Tools Internet Security 2010
73. Prevx 3.0
74. Protector Plus Professional v9
75. Rising AntiVirus 2010
76. Solo Anti-Virus 2010
77. Spyware Terminator 2.6.5
78. Steganos AntiVirus 12
79. Steganos Internet Security 12
80. The Cleaner 2010
81. Security Shield 2010
82. The Shield Deluxe 2010
83. Thirtyseven4 Antivirus
84. Trend Micro Internet Security 2010
85. Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010
86. Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010
87. TrustPort Antivirus 2010
88. TrustPort PC Security 2010
89. Twister AntiVirus
90. Vba32 Personal v3.12.10.11
91. VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware
92. Vir.IT eXplorer AntiVirus v6.5
93. ViRobot Desktop v5.5
94. VirusBuster Personal v6.2.51
95. VirusBuster Professional v6.2.51
96. VirusBuster Internet Security Suite v3.1
97. Virus Chaser v5.0b
98. VIRUSfighter
99. Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2010
100. Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2010
101. Zondex Guard v5.4.2
102. ZoneAlarm Antivirus 2010
103. ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2010
104. ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010
105. F-Secure Antivirus 2010
106. F-Secure Internet Security 2010
Test 1: Application Launch Time
- 10 launches of a web browser (Mozilla Firefox) were timed. The average in launch time is shown in the graph below.
Test 2: Boot Time Increase
- Ten reboots were performed and the average boot time is shown in the graph below.
Test 3: Idle Memory Usage
- Allow the computer to idle for 10 minutes and then the memory reading is being taken.
Test 4: Peak Memory Usage
- Allow the computer to idle for 10 minutes and then the peak memory usage is being taken.
Test 5: Installation Size
- The installation size of each Antivirus program before any updates were downloaded.
Test 6: Detection
- Bifrost trojan being crypted with Incognito to avoid detection. Theoretically it should bypass all antivirus scan time because each stub is nearly 100% unique, thanks to the polymorphic generator. This test will show how good is the runtime scan of an antivirus (heuristic).
Test 7: Full Scan Time
- Scan Times shown below are for default settings for each Antivirus program. 13.23GB of used hard-drive space was scanned with each virus scanner.
Note: To me, the idle memory usage readings is no longer accurate because a lot of antivirus is able to clean its memory usage bringing it to a really low number when the computer is idle. Do take a look at the peak memory usage instead. If I would to compare between the few giant antivirus brands such as Avast, Avira, Norton and Kaspersky, I’d say that Avast is the lightest of all. As for Kaspersky, it is also very light but it took longer to run Firefox and this is caused by the Kaspersky URL Advisor plugin. If you remove the plugin from Firefox, it only takes about an average of 0.79 seconds. As for Avira, it has one of the fastest launch time but the peak memory usage is pretty high and the boot time is slower than Kaspersky and Avast. From the charts, I also found out that Outpost did pretty well. It is able to successfully block the crypted Bifrost trojan by detecting memory injection/modification.
Update: Added F-Secure (duh not sure how I missed that one) in the test report and also included full scan time test which I suppose to attach but somehow it got left out. Make sure you hit the Refresh/Reload button to see the latest bar graph.
[tags]antivirus, security, review, benchmark, 2010[/tags]
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218 Comments to “Best Performing (Speed and Memory Usage) Antivirus and Internet Security for 2010”
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mcafee official reply for not detecting trojan :
“I can’t see from the article whether or not the test included our Artemis technology, which may have made a difference to the results, but without further information about the file it hard to say for definite.”
so raymond , can u clarify whether u used Artemis or NOT??
wow, this is what i call test!!! gr8 job bro
Folks, when it comes down to it, detection rate is what counts. KV and Prevx were the winners hands down. Threatfire would also be a great suggestion. I’m currently running Windows 7 32bit Build w/ Avast 5, Threatfire 4.7.0, Prevx 3.0.5.161 and OA 4.0.0.44 free.
I am confused enough.
Can anybody please suggest me which antivirus should I opt for:
I dont care about Boot time increase, Installation size and Full Scan Time.
Other parameters I have prioritised them:
Detection And Blocking: Priority-1
Application Launch Time: Priority-2
Idle Memory Usage: Priority-3
Peak Memory Usage: Priority-4
Wow, this is great.. this is very much helpful. i always use eset nod32 smart security for the past few years. and now i will try to use avast and see for itself. thanks a lot for the awesome review.
I’m just using MS Security Essentials. For surfing the net, I Downloaded VBox and installed a Linux distro. Since then I’ve running without any problem and the host machine is quicker. But then it doesn’t much anymore for work as I got used to the free Linux tools for almost everything.
Nonetheless, anytime I need to test small bits of software for MS Windows, I also have virtual machines with XP and 7 installed and it’s as simple as making a system’s snapshot, test, delete the snapshot and there it goes again.
Although I like Prevx a lot, Hitman Pro 3.5 is a really great AV too. No real time scanning, but I’m fine with it. Would it be possible to put it in your tests? I wonder how it would compare to the others…
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Hello Raymond,
No doubt, its an ultimate article. How can I thank you I don’t know. Well, I’m really happy using KIS 2010 (Upgraded to 2011) on Win 7. I’m just loving it. Still I needed one for my old desktop with XP and I will try some of these light ones like Prevx 3.0. KIS 2010 also works fine with minimum 512 MB RAM. But, the lower the memory usage, the higher the detection rate, makes me happier than before :D.
Njoy!!
Thanks.
Regards
Abhijeet
waiting for Symantec Endpoint 11 (big corporations) and Symantec Endpoint 12 (small business )
Nice article, however, I must really ask: Does it really matter how much memory an A/V program really uses? Most modern day systems have at least 2 GB of RAM if not more, so a few MB of memory use is rather trivial. I have KIS 2011 running and the 2 process that belong to Kaspersky only take up a combined total of 5 MB, this is on a 4 GB system, explorer takes up more RAM then the A/V. Now as far as boot times go, I have been using Soluto to test boot times, and I know that KIS 2011 takes 28 seconds to load at start-up, sure that is a long time for a computer, but it does not affect the overall performance of the system at all.
Anybody knows, when there will be results under the changed tests?
Hey Raymond,
Amazing effort and great work. Could you upload the csv file for this as well. As these AV’s are fairing differently in different tests, it would help to evaluate the best one as per needs. :D
Great Work Raymond, very interesting reading.
Have you done any tests on the ram usage while updating. We have 1200 odd low ram devices and its when an AV updates that we are having issues and I would love to know which of your list is the lightest when updating. Cheers
thank you so much for taking the time to do all this research. I need one that takes up little memory with the programs I run and you had both I was considering in your testing. Thank you
Just another grateful reader wishing to thank you for this post. Awesome work.
nice work
Thank you very much! A much needed comparison!
thanks for your effort to compare which is the best anti virus.. it helps a lot.