Which Antivirus should i get?!

LenovoY50Owner

Commendable
Jun 20, 2016
4
0
1,510
Hello TomHardware users!

The last month i have used 5 different antiviruses.
I am a gamer, and thats what i use my pc 75% of time for.(Gaming)
As you can see from my name, i use a Lenovo Y50.
CPU: I5 4210-H 2.90GHz (some turbo-boost too)
GPU: 2GB Gtx 960m
RAM: 8gb (1600mhz, something like that)
Hard-Drive: WD 1TB 5200rpm (i know its not the fastest, but i will probably upgrade sometime in the furute)
(sorry for all the use of brackets)

Should i even bother with antiviruses?
I need a antivirus that doesnt use much CPU power and ram.
I really need help!

Thanks for all the help!
-LenovoY50Owner
 
Solution
Best Answer award reset at the OP's request.

For my money (already paid to Microsoft) Windows Defender is sufficient in Windows 10 and supporting Microsoft Security Essentials in the earlier versions.

I'm no fan of MS (and they know it) but my rationale is their product gets attacked, it finds it first. Does anyone seriously think they'll phone McAfee, Norton and the Czecks and Russians to warn them or update their own product first and prevent a recurrence at the same time?

Just my £0.02.

LenovoY50Owner

Commendable
Jun 20, 2016
4
0
1,510
Dont say Avast! I downloaded it and it made my computer slower the moment it was done.. I deleted it instantly it now its faster. I thought it wasnt like that(Avast). Maybe it just was an error, or something
 

MarkW

Distinguished
Dec 7, 2009
196
0
18,710
Best Antivirus Software and Apps 2016
by TOM’S GUIDE STAFF Jun 1, 2016, 8:15 AM

Click the link above to see what the best antivirus programs are out there. Below the first row of recommendations is a Best FREE PC Antivirus link (in gray).

I would highly recommend that you have at least 8GB of memory in your computer so that you do not constantly have to worry about memory usage. 8GB alone sells for about $30 right now, with 16GB selling for under $60.

A good antivirus program is always going to need some memory to store the signatures of the millions of viruses that exist out there. And of course, they are also going to need to use some processing time to check things as they come in. With nearly all computers having 4 or more cores these days, you should not see much, or any, slowdown due to a good antivirus program.
 
Best Answer award reset at the OP's request.

For my money (already paid to Microsoft) Windows Defender is sufficient in Windows 10 and supporting Microsoft Security Essentials in the earlier versions.

I'm no fan of MS (and they know it) but my rationale is their product gets attacked, it finds it first. Does anyone seriously think they'll phone McAfee, Norton and the Czecks and Russians to warn them or update their own product first and prevent a recurrence at the same time?

Just my £0.02.
 
Solution

Jugeum

Commendable
Apr 26, 2016
36
0
1,610
My gaming computer runs AVG, and if you really don't like Avast, your other options would be Avara and Microsoft Security Essentials. BUT, if Avast is slowing down your computer too much, I would suggest maybe doing a malware scan with malwarebytes or something because generally, once it's installed and fully updated, it shouldn't be bogging down your computer until it's time to scan or update again.
NOTE: Currently, online games are currently bigger targets for malware / viruses because those computers tend to have more online usage.
Another thing to help keep things from slowing down a gaming PC is to disable automatic updates on EVERYTHING and do them manually once every (or every other) week as you feel comfortable as random server pings from software is the #1 cause of intermittent lag.
Hope this helps!