Updated: June 12, 2021 Home » Computer and Internet Security » Download Free Antivirus [ Windows / macOS ]
If you’re looking for an antivirus that is light on memory during idle and scanning, here are the top antivirus that you might find useful for your slow computer. Remember, light doesn’t mean better detection rate, vice versa, heavy on memory usage doesn’t mean it is a good antivirus either.
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The best antivirus is the one you feel most comfortable in, the one that allows you to play Dota or Diablo without lagging it. Then again, in today’s ample computing world, lagging is mostly due to your broadband internet speed.
For your information, Norton may not be the fastest but it is still one of my favorites. With today’s computing power, processing consumption used by most anti-viruses is not an issue. However, if you are on a very old and sluggish system, selecting an antivirus with the least taxing on the system is a must.
Below is the complete list of some of the most popular antivirus and its usage on system resources. The table does not include detection rate and features. For those in the dark, some antivirus has a ‘gaming mode’ where it will reduce the resources required when you are playing Dota or Counter Strike.
Do you find this information useful? Remember to share this with your friends on Facebook and twitter. Thanks. Below is a complete list of some of the most popular antivirus and its usage on system resources. The table does not include detection rate and features. The top 5 lowest resource grabbing antiviruses based on my own test are.
↓ 01 – Top 5 Lightest Antivirus On Memory (Idle)
- Avast Free Antivirus – 9KB
- AVG Antivirus Free Edition – 9.8KB
- Norton Antivirus – 10KB
- Norton 360 – 11.5KB
- Kaspersky Pure – 14KB
↓ 02 – Top 5 Lightest Antivirus On Memory (Scanning)
- Avast Free Antivirus – 62KB
- TrendMicro Internet Security – 67KB
- CA Antivirus Plus – 78KB
- Norton Antivirus – 77KB
- Kaspersky Pure – 82KB
| Memory Usage (MB) smaller better | Scan Speed (MB/s) bigger better | |
|---|---|---|
Avast Antivirus Pro | 6.6 | 20.0 |
Panda Antivirus Pro | 9.8 | 16.4 |
Norton Antivirus | 9.9 | 36.3 |
BitDefender Antivirus Pro | 15.7 | 35.9 |
Avira AntiVir Premium | 22.9 | 35.7 |
Kaspersky Antivirus | 23.0 | 34.4 |
AVG Antivirus | 29.6 | 32.4 |
Trend Titanium Antivirus | 42.2 | 27.2 |
F-Secure Antivirus | 42.6 | 23.1 |
McAfee Antivirus Plus | 53.2 | 27.9 |
↓ 03 – Top 10 Most Devastating Computer Viruses
↓ 04 – Top 10 Antivirus Market Share
Global market share held by the leading Windows antivirus application vendors in January 2014, this includes both free and paid, which explains why Microsoft is dominating the computer security market with their free antivirus.
Image source: Statista
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Which FREE Antivirus is the Lightest on System Memory Usage?
koria pure security>>
what the F is koria pure security
koria pure security bro, you know =)
C’mon bro, Ahmed recommends it
i first hear about it
Thnx bro!
Top 10 Lightest Antivirus On Memory (Scanning) Avast Free Antivirus ?
It really aint, took a whole gb of ram when I last used it. Now my bitdefender is acting funny and I have to change again
Fastest PC & Mac Virus Protection
What is the Least RAM Intensive Virus Protection Software?
I would try Clamwin
ClamWin doesn’t have on-access (real-time) protection. It mentioned in it’s website.
Zoner is the best.
kaspersky was using 100% cpu when scanning, and slowed my computer down too much in general so i just removed it
And i was have three days before big security isue with KAVFree.
Found virus trojan and need buy full version of KAV for changes in OS. <<< WTF Kaspersky???
And now i have very slow OS starts (with or without Malwarebytes, this is not issue of slow start) Then i install Malwarebyte trial and that found FIVE other viruses!
KAVFree is for me now untrusted AV. And i take many years KAV like best secuirty choices.
I think this is on purpose from Microsoft directly, to discourage peoples to use KAV, due to
politics reasons.
On some workstations i use free AVses, where is low security risk. Few month ago i was
very delighted with free version of KAV, and now that issues :(
I can confirm, I have been having this problem for last few months now. KasperSky uses 100% disk usage whenever it scans, updates in the background or does anything really.
AFTER scanning the file system the AVG 2020 Free scanner process was using 465 MB. So much for “light memory usage”.
Most antivirus are like that. Try using them for days without restart (usually I just hibernate my computer for faster startup), they will consume hundreds MB of your RAM.
I think Panda antivirus is the lightest and with the simplist interface…
i think eset is fairly lightweight.. j always liked it although my subscription ran out.. i used it for a year with no prolems
where is Webroot ??
Webroot Secure Anywhere is ligher AV on World
I remember minimal RAM consumption was AVIRA but with really objectionable 1/6 screen adverts. But be aware if you finding low mem consuption, you must find alternative which
have good virus checking test ;-)
Well, this was paid for. Norton in the top 100 even? it will consume 2 gb if it can
Webroot is untouchable regarding low footprint.
your review is a joke AVAST / AVG / others you list are some of the heaviest on the market
That’s right . Those are the most ram hungriest antivirus in the world
AVAST is a lead anchor in the PC’s. I’m searching here because I have it installed in a laptop with 2Gb RAM and it seems to be doped turtle
Using Bitdefender Free, and it sucks more than 2GB on file transfer activity. WTF!
Bitfender?
Why many website include avast and avg, every time theres a light antivirus review? Paid?
Do they even have a paid review program? No affiliate links too. I can bet you if the list is some other antivirus, there will someone just like you complain about it.
How about Webroot Antivirus?
I have Eset for our two PC home network. Looking in Task Master with my PC at idle and no apps open. Eset is using 71MB of memory. Definitely a Hog!
To be honest, a good antivirus loads its fingerprint database in memory to be able to scan faster. Memory usage for me is less important than detecting a virus before it can do any harm. In fact, if AV programs store their database in swap, it will slow down your PC overall, and it would allow a virus to do harm before it would be detected.
Check for good AV at https://www.av-comparatives.org/ and https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/
use smadav if you want lightweight effective antivirus with usb security and real time protection its free. 2.3mb ram usage only
Norton Antivirus 2011 ???? is this comparison 8 year old ?
When I am in the middle of teaching a Zoom class, a message will pop up from Norton saying that while my computer is “idle” it’s going to perform background tasks. And it does! Sometimes using so much of my resources that my audio completely goes out.
The best and lightest free antivirus software is NAS!!
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NAS -> No Antivirus Software! :-)
use Ram Antivirus it works smooth ,multitasking,light weighted and use machine learning technology to detect new born malware best antivirus for windows 8 and windows 10
does windows defender uses high ram
which is free antivirus use less ram ?
with nothing else running, avast runs my fans and 100% on win7……how to fix constant fan running!! pleasssssssssse make it quiet again.
I can confirm, I have been having this problem for last few months now. KasperSky uses 100% disk usage whenever it scans, updates in the background or does anything really.