Anti-Virus with the lowest consumption of system resources.

[EiRaSAdoyC]

I have a 10-year old laptop, an Acer Aspire 4720Z. It's designed to run Windows XP effectively, though runs Windows 7. It's not that great to use for heavy work, since at the maximum frequency of 1.8 GHz, it's easy for the CPU to go up to 80 Celsius. It hasn't shut down or had any malfunctions because of that, but I have to keep making sure it doesn't over-heat.

With that out of the way, I'd appreciate if someone could recommend me an anti-virus with the lowest impact on system resources. I have used MSE, and while it didn't hamper much, it would easily consume a load of RAM and CPU at times. Now, I tried Avira, but the same thing happens. I understand that real-time scanners are heavy on the computer, but I can't let it hog the CPU all the time since the CPU gets hot and, as always, the PC gets unresponsive.

Therefore, I'm looking for an anti-virus which can run on this laptop without causing the CPU to go haywire. Help appreciated.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
On this old a machine have you ever changed the thermal paste on the cpu cooler ?
How about adding more case fans ?

As far a low resource free antivirus suites go :/
Panda free is pretty low I believe it sitting quietly at about 750kb
FREE and lightweight antivirus - Panda Security

 

[EiRaSAdoyC]

Thank you for the reply. It's a laptop, so adding fans is not possible. Opening the case is, however it'd require going to a computer repair shop, which is nowhere near my area. I will try Panda, though. Thank you.

 

[Layback Bear]

Some suggestions that might be helpful.

Amazon.com: laptop fan cooling pad

 

[whs]

I once compared MSE with Norton. I was amazed that Norton used a lot less resources than MSE.

 

[EiRaSAdoyC]

MSE usually doesn't hog the CPU, but at times, say when starting the PC or during opening files (sometimes, not always), it'd hog the CPU. Otherwise, MSE was running fine. Avira tends to hog the CPU all the time, which makes me wonder if they're making anti-viruses or CPU stress-test programs.

 

[ThrashZone]

MSE also takes a decade to scan
Panda is pretty quick
But in all cases on a low powered system it's best to do scans when you're not using the machine.

 

[RolandJS]

I have external usb-powered cooling assemblies for both laptops, they really help keep the temp down.

 

[ThrashZone]

Ha never thought of this type of device :/
Amazon.com: Tenswall 15''-17'' Laptop Cooling Pad with Dual Quiet 160mm Blue LED Fans, Ultra Portable Notebook Chill Mat Cooling Stand: Computers & Accessories

 

[EiRaSAdoyC]

Thank you for the replies. Will check Panda out.

 

[ThrashZone]

Good to hear
You don't have to associate an email account with it just click Later


Also you can turn off the news popups too easily,



Also you can turn off usb protection if you only use your own flash drives..

 

[Layback Bear]

EiRaSAdoyC
I notice your specs. You have 2 gig of ram.
Why both operating systems?

OS Windows 7 - Ultimate (x86 and x64)

 

[michael diemer]

I have found, to my surprise, that Norton is easiest on resources. Only MSE was comparable in my opinion. Even running music software, where Norton is still considered anathema, I had no trouble. I ran it as a free trial and was very tempted to stay with it. For paid AV, I think it is excellent. I found Panda caused slow startup. As did Avira. I stay with MSE, it seems to do the job and is light.

Definitely a cooler pad is a must! One with dual fans will keep you cool. Some of them also have USB outlets, a nice feature when your laptop is maxed out with the few they give you.

 

[EiRaSAdoyC]

Sorry...I'm not around much therefore reply slow. Been too hectic here, so not using the PC a lot these days.

EiRaSAdoyC
I notice your specs. You have 2 gig of ram.
Why both operating systems?

OS Windows 7 - Ultimate (x86 and x64)

I had a gaming system before and have used both 32 and 64-bit. Depends on the system I have available at a given time.

I have found, to my surprise, that Norton is easiest on resources. Only MSE was comparable in my opinion. Even running music software, where Norton is still considered anathema, I had no trouble. I ran it as a free trial and was very tempted to stay with it. For paid AV, I think it is excellent. I found Panda caused slow startup. As did Avira. I stay with MSE, it seems to do the job and is light.

Definitely a cooler pad is a must! One with dual fans will keep you cool. Some of them also have USB outlets, a nice feature when your laptop is maxed out with the few they give you.

For cooling, I'm tight on money, so for now, I've done a poor man's cooling - opening up the laptop's base panels and lying it inverted. That helps somewhat with getting the heat out, but I suppose I'll save up for a proper pad. As far as the anti-virus goes, I installed Panda and the first thing it did was delete BitTorrent and Daemon's Tools' files saying that they're viruses when they're not. It didn't even ask me...just deleted them before I could even get to the settings. I managed to restore the files from a backup, but this lowers my rating of Panda. Also, the GUI is laggy and slow and it uses the same CPU processing power as Avira did. I've kept it for now...but if it doesn't change, I'll go back to MSE. As Michael said, it really is light, compared to Panda and Avira.

 

[ThrashZone]

Oh yea got to have those torrents they don't use any resources

 

[EiRaSAdoyC]

Well, BitTorrent doesn't use any unless it's re-checking files. Right now, Panda's at a low resource usage, so that is appreciable, though it's not so much the resource usage as it is about deleting files without asking me.

 

[DavidE]

For cooling, I'm tight on money, so for now, I've done a poor man's cooling - opening up the laptop's base panels and lying it inverted. That helps somewhat with getting the heat out, but I suppose I'll save up for a proper pad.

As this laptop is 10 years old, has it ever had a "hardware dust cleaning" ?
If not, some cleaning might help with keeping the temperature down.
Can you feel warm/hot air coming out of the exhaust vent, so you know air is flowing through the laptop to help keep it cooler ?