Which FREE Antivirus is the Lightest on System Memory Usage?

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Jul
11
2008

Few days ago I got an email from Jalil asking me which would be the best free antivirus program to use on an old pc which won’t slow down the computer. There are easily 10 types of free antivirus and I couldn’t really tell which one is the lightest on memory usage because I’ve never really compared all of them. I know for sure the latest AVG FREE 8.0 is bloated and it takes up a lot of memory and I could only guess “maybe” Avira Antivir Personal is the lightest. Let’s not guess and put those antivirus to the memory test. Actually this question has been on my mind for quite some time now and I’d be glad to know the answer.

Today I will be testing 27 types of antivirus programs for their memory usage. At first I only tested the free antivirus but then I wanted to know the memory usage for some of the commercial antivirus and I ended up testing so many of them. So check it out, I am sure you’ll be surprised by the results!

The test was made on my desktop computer which is running a clean Windows XP SP3 plus all the latest hotfixes on a Pentium D 2.80GHz, 2048MB DDR RAM. All antivirus tested had the latest versions, upgrades and updates and default settings being used. I made an image of my partition using Macrium Reflect and after finish testing an antivirus, I will restore the backup image to get the clean system back to continue testing the next antivirus. I will only be testing the antivirus memory usage when the system is idle and also during scanning. I know that this test is not perfect but it does give me some idea on how heavy an antivirus is towards memory usage. I will also be testing the antivirus with one private version of undetectable trojan.

The free antivirus that I will be testing are: AVG, Avira, Spyware Terminator, PC Tools AntiVirus, BitDefender 10, Rising, DriveSentry, avast!, Comodo, Moon Secure and Blink.

As for commercial antivirus: KAV, Bitdefender, Norton, CA, NOD32, Panda, McAfee, F-Secure, Trend Secure, TrustPort, G Data, Smart Security, ZoneAlarm, One LiveCare, KIS, Norman and QuickHeal.

The results are arranged from the lowest memory usage while idle to the most memory usage.

1. PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition 4.0.0.26 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 5680K
Total memory usage during scanning: 23948K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/

2. Norton Antivirus 2009 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 6000K
Total memory usage during scanning: 51312K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.symantec.com/norton/antivirus

3. Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 v8.0.0.357 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 6565K
Total memory usage during scanning: 50892K
Detects private trojan through heuristic method, not through virus definition
Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_anti-virus

4. Spyware Terminator v2.2.3.444 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 7624K
Total memory usage during scanning: 64292K
Unable to detect virus with the built-in antivirus. However when tried to run the trojan, HIPS picks it up as a threat
Uses ClamAV for antivirus protection
Link: http://www.spywareterminator.com/

5. Norton AntiVirus 2008 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 8424K
Total memory usage during scanning: 78008K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.symantec.com/norton/antivirus

6. BitDefender 10 Free Edition (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 9668K
Total memory usage during scanning: 42492K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://download.bitdefender.com/windows/desktop/free/final/en/bitdefender_free_v10.exe

7. Avira AntiVir Personal 8 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 10072K
Total memory usage during scanning: 70072K
Detects private trojan through heuristic method, not through virus definition
Link: http://www.free-av.com/

8. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 v8.0.0.3578 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 16180K
Total memory usage during scanning: 44216K
Detects private trojan through heuristic method, not through virus definition
Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_internet_security

9. Rising Antivirus 20.44 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 16252K
Total memory usage during scanning: 59704K
Cannot detect private trojan through virus definition but blocks it from executing
Link: http://www.freerav.com/

10. DriveSentry 3.1 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 16992K
Total memory usage during scanning: 18504K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.drivesentry.com/

11. avast! 4 Home Edition (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 23100K
Total memory usage during scanning: 63416K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

12. CA Anti-Virus 2008 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 37756K
Total memory usage during scanning: 47556K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://shop.ca.com/virus/antivirus.aspx

13. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.138 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 38244K
Total memory usage during scanning: 88244K
Detects private trojan through virus definition. Maybe they got a sample of the private trojan and added the detection to its virus definition
Link: http://free.avg.com/

14. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 3.0.669 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 40364K
Total memory usage during scanning: 46012K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php

15. ESET Smart Security 3.0.669 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 42640K
Total memory usage during scanning: 39284K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.eset.com/smartsecurity/

16. Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2008 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 42608K
Total memory usage during scanning: 63704K
Able to detect private trojan as suspicious activity and blocked it from executing
Link: http://apac.trendmicro.com/apac/products/personal/antivirus-plus-anti-spyware/

17. ZoneAlarm Antivirus 7.0.483 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 52772K
Total memory usage during scanning: 97200K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/zonealarm_antivirus.jsp

18. BitDefender Antivirus 2008 v11 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 56440K
Total memory usage during scanning: 73720K
Able to detect private trojan as threat
The free version uses BitDefender v10 and the shareware version uses the latest v11. So I had to make a comparison on both BitDefender products.
Link: http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-2194-en–BitDefender-Antivirus-2008.html

19. Comodo AntiVirus 2.0.17.58 (freeware)

Total memory usage during idle: 56668K
Total memory usage during scanning: 76668K
Unable to detect virus through its virus definition. However when tried to run the trojan, HIPS picks it up as a threat.
Link: http://antivirus.comodo.com/

20. Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 (shareware)

Total memory usage during idle: 59140
Total memory usage during scanning: 79688K
Able to detect private trojan as suspicious activity and blocked it from executing
21. F-Secure Anti-Virus 2008 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 61972K
Total memory usage during scanning: 178824K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/products_a-z/fsav2008.html
22. Moon Secure Antivirus 2.2.2.163 (freeware)
Total memory usage during idle: 71528K
Total memory usage during scanning: 71528K
Cannot detect private trojan
No changes in memory usage during idle and scanning
Uses Clam Antivirus engine and definition
Link: http://www.moonsecure.com/
23. Panda Antivirus 2008 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 76344K
Total memory usage during scanning: 101416K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.pandasecurity.com/malaysia/homeusers/solutions/antivirus/
24. McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 87632K
Total memory usage during scanning: 140484K
Detects private trojan as backdoor program
Link: http://us.mcafee.com/root/package.asp?pkgid=276
25. Norman Antivirus & Antispyware (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 99856K
Total memory usage during scanning: 201660K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.norman.com/Product/Home_Home_office/NVC/49922/
26. Windows One LiveCare 2.5 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 102868K
Total memory usage during scanning: 107868K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
27. eEye Blink 4.04 Personal Edition (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 117972K
Total memory usage during scanning: 131412K
Cannot detect private trojan
Free 1 year license for US/Canada residents
Link: http://www.blinkfree.com/
28. G DATA AntiVirus 2008 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 130544K
Total memory usage during scanning: 175176K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.gdata.de/trade/US/productview/819/16/
29. Quick Heal AntiVirus Plus 2008 v9.50 (shareware)
Total memory usage during idle: 151660K
Total memory usage during scanning: 201660K
Cannot detect private trojan
Link: http://www.quickheal.co.in/small-desktop-edition-win.asp
There you have it. Now you know which antivirus to recommend to your friend if they ask you which one doesn’t slow the computer down. For me, I think that the best for shareware would be Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 and as for freeware, Avira Antivir. Both is light on memory usage and has very good heuristic detection to detect unknown threats that is not on the virus definition. As for NOD32, it takes up 40MB memory usage on idle and 46MB during scanning. Even the latest major update version 3 couldn’t detect the private trojan. I do not have anything against NOD32 nor hate it but I judge it according to the test results.
Again, I’d like to stress that this test is not perfect but it should give you an idea on how much memory does an antivirus needs on a clean Windows XP SP3 during idle and scanning. I once noticed that my friend has Firefox and a few more application running, one of AVG process went up to more than 100MB.

Battle of the Browsers in CPU and Memory usage

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xman
very good!!!
Dushyant
Kaspersky is Best ; )
Light On memory
Hard on Virus
ha ha ha…………..
technoholics
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
Coolkid
Did u test Bitdefender with the gamer mode on?
Alin
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.
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
@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.
jeff
cool. i got kaspersky.
Łukasz
I’ve got NOD32 and myportal.pl speed-x (it’s great memory optimizer) and in idle nod32 usage only 1,4 -2 MB
Łukasz
I’ve got of course XP SP3
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
What kind of antivirus only takes 1-2MB? Are you sure you know how to check the memory usage?
Alin
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.
utkarsh30june
Kaspersky- Light on PC,
Hard and brutal on Viruses!!!!!!!LOL :)
Only
no Łukasz, nod32 use ekrn.exe (35~40 mb) and egui.exe (2~5 mb)
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
That’s right. From my records, egui.exe 6012K and ekrn.exe 34352K.
Rohit
Why dont u try Quick heal Antivirus!
Really looking forward for your comments on Quick heal !
digArt
You are always better
Thank you size your effort
Kind Regards
technoholics
quick heal isn’t that good – have tried it
technoholics
Ray, please remove the Barclay\’s offer \”HOT TIP\” link.
I think that\’s not working now. Barclays page has changed.
Jacky
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!
tuxplorer
Please please pleas pls pl test Windows Live OneCare 2.5. I’m interested in how it turns up.
Mojo
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?
Ishaan
Hey I prefer Avira free is is damn good i m using it…………… and really satisfied.
Stephen
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?
Dan
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!
mike
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 ?
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
I will test QuickHeal, KIS 2009 and Windows Live OneCare. Check back for the updates.
Stephen
ESET Smart Security 3.0.669 VS. KIS 2009 please :)
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
@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 :P
Will also be testing ESET Smart Security.
brayden
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
Plank
Great !! excelent job Raymond
Merlin_Magii
Many thanks Raymond,
This posting illustrates why you are a Prince among tech sites. Thank you.
http://www.rajib.com Rajib Ghosh
Commendable work. Would have taken considerable time (time=money), but the results are priceless.
Thanks.
ahmad maher
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
florin139
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
http://www.itechmax.com/2008/07/10/itunes-77-download-released-just-1-day-before-iphone-3g-launch/ Hammad
kaspersky is the best :D
good job raymond
bardy
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.
http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nod32rk1.gif Senic
My NOD32 also uses way less memory. Check they URI
Stephen
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?
Amirz
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
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
This post has been updated with KIS 2009, ESET Smart Security, Windows One LiveCare, ZoneAlarm and QuickHeal.
Check it out!
Ammar
Thanks Raymond.
You have done a great job.
Asif
KIS is the best!!
Ed
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
X
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.
X
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?
http://www.313DesignStudio.com Remus Gabriel Juncu
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 )
CH
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.
http://www.foxvalleycomputerservices.com Steve Mills
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
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
Sorry X. I did a mistake on Bitdefender Free Edition and Avira Antivir. It has been corrected. Thanks for telling me.
Ed
I also see people using Norman AV
http://amarjeetrai.co.uk/ Amarjeet Rai
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.
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
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.
http://www.technixupdate.com abhishek
symentic anti-virus corporate edition is pretty good when it comes to memory usage…but it is not free :(
Melone
thanks for this raymond helps out alot letting people know what to use when they havent got any…
http://sokadol.com.my sokadol
thanks for this raymond helps out alot letting people know what to use when they havent got any
Michael C.
Wow!!! An antivirus would use 150 MB of RAM when idlea? That\’s a lot!!
Karin
Could you also test Norman AV? It doesn\’t use much memory in my experience.
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
Added Norman to the test.
Justin
how about avira premium, can u test it?
thx a lot Raymond..
Jeff C.
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.
AV
I think you forgotten to take into consideration all the components used by the antivirus.
Therefore the list above is quite inaccurate.
http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond
@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.
philips14c
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!
:)
monitorsecurity
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
pdan
would be nice if you also will test cpu usage of resident shield while scaning a file, an archive, a packed executable, aso.
10x
syxx
raymond is there anyway u can evaluate the best media burning program that is not a resource hog like nero
u
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.
Roman
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!
GUY
Avast pro only takes 4mb
Jani
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.
http://simplesamples.info Sam Hobbs
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.
ikkeee
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
Alan
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??
Solaris
@ Everyone:
Comprehensive list of useful Antivirus/Antispyware:
http://www.raymond.cc/forum/t3128-Useful-Antivirus-Antispyware-Tools-Comprehensive-List.html
jayson
hey haven’t you tried protector plus?
Ashish
My KAV 2009 uses about 25 mb of memory in idle…. Is something wrong. All the settings are in default…
zyberakuma
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.
zubi
add me for norton product key
http://www.paranormal-marketing.com PJCNET
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.
Ahinigami
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
nfsmexico
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!
alie
nice comparison.
http://harry.cckerala.com Harry
THANK YOU, Raymond! You\’re a life-saver! You ROCK!
http://VipreAntivirus Rockmadhavan
Why don”t you guys try Vipre Antivirus+Antispyware
Its only using 1% memory and the detection rate is also good
kane
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 .
Rudyg
Can you also test Panda Cloud Antivirus, supposedly its the lightest on resources.
hddgh
Check Bitdefender GameSafe
Idle : 100k – 250k
Scanning : 500k – 650k
Thats NAIS!
hddgh
Or Panda Cloud
Idle : 50k – 180k
Scanning : 630k – 660k
Thats NAIS! ( Too)
reset
what about the cpu then?
Dr.xyz
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.
Stuart Ridgley
“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!
Steve Mobley
Panda Cloud??!! Thanks very much! I am certainly going to check it out!
henry young
Panda Cloud Antivirus is the best for ram, 812K good old cloud
Dragonfly
THanks SO much for this study. I really needed this.
Brian
Thanks guys for the info. Kaspersky is Best …. I’ll never used Norton again….. +
Bibek
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.
Fransy
Thanx Raymond,
This is nearby a degree. I’ll hope you’ll repeat it often with the new versions
Thanx mate
Frans
http://Interestingresults Doon
Thanks for doing this test Raymond. The test is not perfect as you said, but it’s a whole lot better than anything else I’ve seen out there for this type of information. I know it takes a lot of time and patience to test them all, but I do hope that you’ll repeat this test with the updated versions sometime soon. Have a good one.
Catscam
Thanks a million for the test I have been wondering about this for some time, it would be great if when you do a new test to include Panda Cloud Antivirus.
Zipper
Great job but like many have mentioned if you update this please test Microsoft Security Essentials (AKA Morro) & Panda Cloud Antivirus.
http://www.hariram1.co.cc Hariram
ESET Nod 32 is the best.All other antivirus are waste
Darkone99
Tested and Tried for almost 4 years now..
ESET smart security 3.0.669.0 rules the skies… :P
Currently running on slow computer and doesn’t even feel
it running and almost prevented all kinds of viruses and trojans..
ESET:
Egui.exe – 1,5 MB
Ekrn.exe – 46 MB (stays that way all the time.. :P)
ESET uses the same cpu usage and maintains it so that
it can run a scan without consuming anymore of the free memory.. :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CPU 2.0Ghz(Intel Celeron)
256MB Ram
32Video Card
And runs like heaven till now… :P
bill
Thanks for all the work testing. It was informational and a great service. I do not understand why some of responders have a need for put-downs. Maybe they are green with envy.
An update on Kasperkey 2009 might be in order. I used your link and was taken to Kasperkey 2010, which is not free or shareware. The only option was three computers for $60.
Reaper
Unfortunately youve presumed that windows isnt lying to you ;-)
I am trying to get 1 working on an old 160mb laptop, and for example avira although it says its only using 7-8mb as a process, the total memory used has risen from 105mb with no virus killer to 177 with avira installed.
and when doing a system scan it rises to 253mb used.
so avira uses 72mb installed on default options, and 148 mb when scanning. Others are probably similar.
You might want to double check how much is used with a before and after comparison.
Other than that nice work :)
Klondike
If everyone looks at the title it’s called “Which FREE Antivirus is the Lightest on System Memory Usage?” Other virus checkers were included just to complete the survey. Enough about ESET Nod 32, Kaspersky or Norton there not free & charge monthly rates & are more than likely responsible for the majority of the viruses out there today just to sell their programs. When you here such & such checker was the only one that found such & such virus that’s more than likely because such & such virus company created the virus & is the only one that knows about it. Screw the pay virus checkers we need more info on the hand full of free virus checkers that were left out of this survey.
Thanks for the info I hope you update it soon.
vortex222
avg also bloats the System prossess in windows XP to sometimes well over 100mb at idle. It also slugs the computer silly sometimes.
smith
Raymond,
You are SPOT ON!
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article,
I’ve trying to fix it all day, and your post helped me out a lot.i have tried quick heal and its good enough for me.
By the way check out the professional training and Certification for Ethical Hackers from EC-Council here
http://www.eccouncil.org/certification/certified_ethical_hacker.aspx
Dagnose
Which one would you prefer for my old notebook
Intel Celeron 1.4GHz
256 MB RAM
Thanks in advantage
Marcio Cracel
You did an impressive work; however instead of checking the amount of memory used by each program you have to check the CPU usage. For example: in your test you found PCtools the best in memory usage, however I changed from PCtools to AVG because my computer was in slow motion. The AVG 8.0 consumes very few resources from the CPU. I recommend you do the test again with the CPU usage. This was what your friend asked you to do.
Best Regards
pritam
as bcz freeware ,kasper is taking update?what is the key?
http://coreykaye.com Corey
Looking for an alternative to MS Security Essentials which reports about 70Mb at idle.
Your list is helpful, thanks!!!
Vnzla1ElGuato
Good article. I have tested those Free Antivirus but i dont have tested The Pc Tools Antivirus. See you after a little test.
http://www.cloudantivirus.com/ Iqra
You forgot to mention Panda CLOUD antivirues.
Its the best i have tried.
karina
thanx a TON for this info!! you rock!!
Blac
Hi please update this page to 2011 (today) antivirus’s…
Hacker Mail
don’t install pc tools antivirus it is fake and will slow down ur pc
Anonymous
The latest version of AVG 2012 brought my legacy system to a complete standstill, I wouldn’t advise using it. I use an old Dell 1GHz 512MB 60MB HD for using older software and testing development tools. After installing AVG 2012 the system was a slow as can be. I uninstalled AVG and it now works great again!

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Which FREE Antivirus is the Lightest on System Memory Usage?

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

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