Anti Virus

[#1]

At the moment I am using Microsoft Security Essentials for my protection on my computer can anyone recommend a free anti virus something that will not slow startup.

[#2]

They all slow it up to some extent
This http://www.anti-malware-test.com/?q=node/167 shows that Avira is the best

[#3]

And in my experience most "commercial" products are slower than MSE.

[#4]

I agree with HP, Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the least bad examples of security software for slowing down computers.

[#5]

Would you like to comment on the report I linked to http://www.anti-malware-test.com/?q=node/167 which says different and also this one http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/avc_per_201111_en.pdf

[#6]

Quote from: Oldjim

Would you like to comment

Not really.
I'm basing my opinion on literally hundreds of real-world domestic and small-business installations, all different, covering almost all commonplace anti-malware products.
None of these was in a test lab, most were systems run by relative IT novices.
MSE has very few problems and is less intrusive (but also less "comprehensive").
That said I did see a problem the other day which required a removal and reinstall to resolve - it wouldn't update by any of the available methods.

[#7]

I've used AVG, Avast and Avira in the past but now I tend to stick to MSE. It's what gets installed on friend's/family member's PC's too when they get referred to me in various states of disrepair. My home machine's running the Windows 8 Release Preview at the moment which has the functionality of MSE built into Windows Defender. Must admit, it was quite novel doing a format reinstall of a Windows machine without having to worry about antivirus software afterwards

[#8]

Quote from: Oldjim

Would you like to comment ....

I used to favour AVG but newer versions run terribly on older computers and their marketing has become increasingly aggressive.  On the other hand, I have installed MSE on old computers running Windows XP  with only 512MB of RAM dozens of times without experiencing much adverse impact.  And I know if I come back 15 months later then MSE will not have tried the trick the user into installing a paid-for version.

[#9]

MSE is the best antivirus for not slowing system down.  I have used them all and have seen them on customer's PCs/Laptops. 
The ones I find the slowest are:-
1.  Norton (a bloody nightmare, remove this from your system if you have it.  Apart from slowing your system down Its also not a very good anti virus)
2.  McAffe
3.  Kaspersky
4.  Bit defender
I favour:-
1. MSE
2. AVG
3. AVAST
4. Symantec corporate edition
5. Avira
6. Sophos
7. Panda

[#10]

Must agree with most here MSE number 1  Ok it may not be the best , but it is the least obtrusive
for the past year i have never advised using anything else on all PC i have built

[#11]

The comments about Norton are completely wrong and suggests that your experience is from several years ago.
Rather than relying on anecdotal reports often referring to the older versions I recommend looking at actual test results as linked to in my earlier thread
A final comment on MSE - it may be light and unobtrusive but all the tests by professionals organisations show that it is much less effective than the competition

[#12]

my next door neighbor has bought and paid for norton  and i can honestly say it absolutely murders his PC especially the norton Ghost , i know its a fairy old machine winXP , but have convinced him that when his time is up to try one of the free ones  .
a lot of these test are no doubt run on fairly modern machines with plenty of memory ETC , a lot of it also has to do with what type of surfing yo do  if you intend to go on these spurious sites i would expect no surprise to find a trojan or a virus  but for everyday normal browsing MSE all the way JIM 
PS yes i have had norton myself ,also avg,avast , Kaspersky which i found to be good but slows down my pc 
MSE + malwarebytes +CC & the odd running of hijack this is excellent 

[#13]

I wouldn't touch Norton Ghost with a bargepole - it is even worse than Acronis running in the background.
On that subject I backup the C: drive occasionally with Acronis but via a boot CD and I don't have it running on any of my machines. I also backup all the user files automatically every evening via the network onto a separate computer
Regarding memory I have often wondered about that as looking in Task Manager I find that Kaspersky takes less than 100MB total admittedly I have upgraded all our PC's to at least 2GB - including an old XP machine and I don't see any problems
i agree about safe surfing - or more exact unsafe surfing - but I consider the bigger risk is via emails as there have been a number of occasions where trojans have got past the Plusnet system and have been picked up by Kaspersky. There is also the problem where reputable sites have been hacked.
For this reason I purchase two 3 user licenses for KIS every year (usually from Amazon) which works out at less than £8 per user per year and I consider that a small price to pay for security

[#14]

Quote from: Oldjim

all the tests by professionals organisations show that it is much less effective than the competition

Out of (genuine) interest how do you (or the testers) define "less effective"?
For many of my customers, especially those with older systems "effective" is a balance of risks and capability and has to include not slowing or intruding unacceptably and that's a common complaint rarely seen with MSE.

[#15]

There are several criteria
The ability to detect viruses and trojans using signatures http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/detection-test/76-file-detection-test-march-2012
The ability to detect via heuristics etc. - this can be seen from zero day tests http://www.blog.mrg-effitas.com/ and http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/retrospective-test
The ability to detect phishing sites http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/anti-phishing-test
Not slowing down the system too much http://www.anti-malware-test.com/?q=node/167 http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/performance-tests
This gives an overview from a different site http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/janfeb-2012/