AVG, AVAST, or AVIRA

I'm curretnly using avg, and i've had it for quite some time. However, i'm thinking it uses up way too many resources. There is a ton of stuff on here and I don't really know what to make of it, so I figured I'd ask for help.

Currently, AVG is running 6 tasks in my processes, and it total to using about 20,000 K, whatever that means.

I was considering getting nod 32 or kapersky, but I don't want to pay yearly fees. If it was a one time fee for the program, i'd be all for it.

So, out of the free programs it seems AVG, AVAST, and AVIRA are the best free programs.

1) Which program out of the three provides the best protection and uses the least in resources?

2) Do the other 2 programs use more resources than AVG?

3) If i were to delete AVG, should i just do it by the add or remove program feature or is there some other way I should be deleting an anti-virus program?

Thanks for all your help!

 

1) depends on who you ask- but comparing avast and avg imho avg uses the least resources, while avast provides a little better protection.

2) don't know about avira, i think avast uses slightly more resources.

3) i use revo uninstaller to uninstall stuff. scans the registry for stray keys. but add/remove programs should work fine.

let me list my avast processes to help you compare;

........................mem usage...........VM size
ashdisp.exe...........1,208..................2,376
ashmaisv.exe...........692..................3,428
ashserv.exe.........20,536................18,200
ashwebsv.exe......14,616................17,716
aswupdsv.exe..........204.....................452

only ashserv.exe and ashwebsv.exe have any CPU time, so the rest aren't used much, just sitting in memory.

does avg have a boot scan? the boot scan is one of the reasons i went with avast...

 

I have tried all of them and seem Avast make boot up time a bit longer.
Avira is great among them and uses the least resources....my 2cents.

 

I agree, but i'll divulge a little more. Antivir uses less resources than AVG or Avast, with Avast being the most resource intensive(hog). Antivir and Avast provide pretty much the same results and are better than AVG. Your best bet would be with using Antivir. Also, to uninstall AVG, just do it from add/remove.

 

thanks for the replies, here is another question i wanted to ask.

I've been reading reviews about windows defender and people says its not a terrible program. The strange thing is that i've never had windows defender locate spyware or anything else. I didn't even know it was running in the background until today, and when I checked the history of spyware it found, there was nothing on the list.

Is it common for windows defender to find no spyware on a computer that is about 7 months old? What is the use of the program if it doesn't find anything. I turned off the real-time protection and daily scan option...I didn't even know those options were enabled.

M

 

If you considering free version Avira is defenately the best out of these 3. It uses less resources than any of these. But it's not very noticable. I have Celeron 2400 1gb DDR (!) system (thank God I`m getting new one soon ) and i didn`t notice a big difference in terms of performance between AVG and Avira. If your PC is better, than mine, then there is no point of switching antivirus, unless you are not happy with yours. But according to reviews I`ve read Avira is the best free antivirus for now. I personally use NOD32 v3.0 atm, and very happy with it. Have been using NOD32 + agnitum firewall for about 4 years now and had no infection what so ever. Also didn`t have any false alerts. So, i would recommend NOD32, even tho you would have to pay for it. But 60 euro for 2 years is not that much to pay for your security I think.

P.S check this site out www.virusbtn.com one of the best sites about security. P.P.S Need free registration to read the reviews.

Oh...yeah...nearly forgot You just uninstall antivirus through Uninstall programms menu, like any other software.

 

I think windows defender is crapware but if you want to use it that's fine. I disabled it along with the default vista firewall a little while ago and my internet speed has been a lot faster.

 

Don't be put off by a yearly fee. I've been using NOD32 for over a year and it's the best antivirus application I've used. I'm very happy with it, and I highly recommend it.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but windows defender is one of the worst anti spyware software you can find. I think it was in PC Advisor's test where it scored 0 (!)

 

that's the score it deserves in my opinion, but I've been reading reviews that say it's decent.


By the way, I've uninstalled AVG and installed avira. It definately is using less resources. Thanks for the help!

 

No problem, any more questions?

 

I actually have 2 other questions, sorry for being a pain....

1) Does avira have an email scanner?

2) Why does it say license valid until 5/31/2008? I'm positive I downloaded the free version.

 

1: Nope

2: It's free but it has some kind of license thing, don't worry. It updates to a further time at that date.

 

No offense to all AVG users. Right now I have my friend's laptop. There're so many viruses/trojans, I didn't care too much. I run AVG latest update and scanned all drives. But..hey, there're some viruses still left and AVG couldn't detect them
Finally, I uninstall AVG completely and installed Avira FreeEdition. Yes, it works very well Then, I scanned again using NOD32 via LAN cable and found no viruses. So I am sure Avira did get its job very well.
Again, I'm using NOD32 ($39) and am not Avira user, but I remembered in the past that Avira was great free AV before using NOD32..

 

Just a suggestion, especially for the folks who prefer the free AV apps: try using ThreatFire along with the AV. It's another excellent free program and will help preclude the problems described by skywalker.

 

Yup, very good. For the time being, it's better than comodo firewalls defense+.

 

Your opinion is groundless. I hardly notice resource usage with windows defender.

 

It runs as a service not an .exe so task manager doesn't display it, and then there is the fact that even if you're infected it won't do anything.

 

Avira AntiVir is the best out of the free antivirus proggies out there.

I heard that Avira AntiVir uses the Kaspersky engine! which makes it even clearer that it's the way to go

 

Does NOD32 have an email scanner? I have used AVG in the past as well and had so so results. I would love low resources with the email scanner...

 

Email protection provides control of email communication received through the POP3 protocol. Using the plugin program for Microsoft Outlook, ESET NOD32 Antivirus provides control of all communications from the email client (POP3, MAPI, IMAP, HTTP). When examining incoming messages, the program uses all advanced scanning methods provided by the ThreatSense scanning engine. This means that detection of malicious programs takes place even before being matched against the virus signature database. Scanning of POP3 protocol communications is independent of the email client used.

 

I use NOD32, it's the best! and lowest on resources as well!
And yes i DOES have an email scanner

 

As Calvin said, the free version doesn't, but the paid version does. But if you decide to pay, go with NOD32 or Kaspersky. If you want a free AV software, use Avira Antivir.

 

MSAScui.exe is the process related to windows defender. It runs as a service too. I am pretty satisfied with windows defender as far as it doesn't detect some cookies as spyware/adware as some free scanners do.

 

You may be satisfied but i'd recommend Spybot S&D for someone who wants spyware protection.

 

I'm assuming you're talking about false positives, but is sounds like you're saying "I'm satisfied with Windows Defender because it doesn't detect cookies as spyware/adware as some free scanners do".

I had Defender running for the past 2 months on my laptop to see if it would do anything, and during those 2 months, it didn't block a single thing. When I ran Spybot and a-squared, they always detected the tracking cookies while Defender hadn't detected anything. Not acceptable.

I have since disabled Defender and run spyware scans periodically.

 

Uh... why do you want it to detect cookies? That's what annoys me about AdAware... it flags all my browser cookies.

I agree with coolguy on the cookie issue. If you don't want cookies, why don't you just turn them off in your browser?

 

Sorry I didn't really communicate well because that's not exactly what I meant to convey. I don't want Defender to block cookies, that wouldn't be useful at all. It's just that Defender has a much lower detection rate, other programs work much better IMO.

As for the cookies issue, I use CCleaner to delete my cookies every now and then and have exceptions set up for certain sites (like NBR).

 

Spybot S&D doesn't have real time protection. It's like opening the door for spyware to come in. Tracking cookies are harmless and can be deleted in browsing history. What do you mean by "defender didn't block a single thing"?. Not every site you visit has to have spyware/adware.

For real testing go to www.spysheriff.com and download their software. Your antispyware shouldn't even allow the download and warn you. If nothing happens you don't have real time protection.

Note: Do not run this program.

 

I use Threatfire for my real-time protection.

 

I third threatfire, more effective than defense+ of comodo pro firewall at the time being.

 

hey calvin.. i have comodo pro v3.0.16.295.... you still recommend threatfire to the defense+ of the version?? i've been reading lot of mixed reviews abt defense+... so again.. which do you recommend?

 

Some people say defense+ is fixed in the new version, but personally, it broke my system. I recommend you turn defense+ off and use threatfire just to be safe.

 

cool thnx..

 

AVG is really good. It's also NOT a memory hog like Norton and the like. But it's known for false positives.

 

Avira has a much better detection rate.

My source:
Go to http://www.av-comparatives.org/
click on "Comparatives" on the left toolbar
Then view the 2 latest "Online Results" (Dated August and November 2007)

EDIT: Also, you can take a look at this.

 

Haha
I would link directly, but it doesn't work with their website... I tried.

EDIT: oh I get it, there are no December 2007 results, it was a typo . Fixed that post

 

And much higher false positives too. This is worser than having an actual virus- a review stated.

 

Well I disagree. I would rather have my antivirus software detect all the viruses and some false positives than not all the viruses and no false positives because I can always google the programs that avira finds. Or, I can send them the information and they'll let me know if it's a false positive.

A small price to pay for having a much higher detection rate. Besides, in later updates, Avira has had a much lower rate of false positives than before, so it's improving.

 

I agree with crash, could you give a link to the review? I'd like to see what reviewer (if they have common sense) would say that.

 

I found this in wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avira#Detection_ability

 

The two links to the first review are dead and the last one needs citation. I'm deleting the links and the section all together. Stuff like this polutes wikipedia.

 

I like Avast, because it has much nicer UI than other two - and it isn't very bloated after you turn off few functions. Plus, it did pick up some viruses (and false positives). I am bit tempted to try Comodo antivirus after seeing a friend running it though..

 

avira is probably best out of the three. ive tested avg and avira on my recycler infected desktop. only avira was successful in cleaning it up, avg did nothing.

 

I've tried all three and Avast is the best for me. I don't mind that it takes the most resources out of the three, I have enough that I don't see any slow down besides a sec or two at boot up. It detection is great IMO.

Avira seemed good but the free version was too limited for my taste compared to the free versions of Avast & AVG.

 

do you guys delete or qurantine any malware u detect?

 

If it's an important system file, i'll quarantine it to see if i can get it cleaned. Otherwise, it gets deleted.

 

I tried to unistall AVG free, but it won't uninstall fully. This forced me to do a system restore because the vista security center reported that AVG is on even after uninstalling. So I tried to install avira personal classic edition.

Avira is one of the slow pokes in antivirus that won't even update even when you force it to. I unstallled it in less than a day.

These are some of the problems you will encounter with any free antivirus program. Now I am thinking of trying Norton Antivirus 2008.

 

Sorry to hear you had problems with Antivir.

 

Did Antivir update immediately after installation for you? For me it said "job started in the events page" and this continued forever. I can't any updates.