Best Light Weight AV?

I used ESET for many years before moving over to Kaspersky. I'm not sure why I left them to be fair. I thought they were great!

Webroot, used it for 15 years on 3 machines.

CannonRebel said:

Webroot, used it for 15 years on 3 machines.

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Ive seen this suggested by a few here. Would you council using it in addition to my setup of Defender and MalwareBytes Pro? I would you be suggesting to replace MB with it?

No. Stick with Defender and occasional use of Malwarebytes.

FWIW, I've been using MS Defender and Malwarebytes for years. So far, so good. :)

That being said, while obviously protection is very important, at least as important is reliable and well protected backups. Truthfully, at least IMO, the backups are probably even more important!

I have a multi-tier backup scheme with several layers that are totally off-line unless actually being updated. My first couple layers of backup are totally automated to separate physical disks and to a NAS system. The next layers are external drives that are only connected for a backup and then disconnected. Finally, I have a cloud backup of all important data.

Finally, I have a secondary computer that is normally powered off unless being updated or pressed into service because of a failure of my primary system. Both run Win11 Pro and use the same motherboard and processor.

I'm sure there's some way I could be compromised, but it ain't gonna' be easy to do!

Backups are great but may not protect if you get a silent malware infection. We all need a layered protection.

kelper said:

Backups are great but may not protect if you get a silent malware infection. We all need a layered protection.

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True, but I did say that malware protection is important. :) However, the best malware protection is moot if something slips by and gets you in spite of your excellent malware protection.

I run across a ton of people that never even consider proper backup, hence my emphasis on it.

Check performance test results in various sites, like


Don't forget to check malware and real-time protection, too.

The lightest free versions with best protect are for me, in order of features available, Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Avira.

The lightest one of the lot is for me Kaspersky. For the missing feature, a third-party firewall, try Windows Firewall Control (which is also free).

Popups advertising upgrades may appear for free versions. I think it's easier now to deactivate them for Avast, and easiest for Bitdefender. They'll appear once every two months or so for Kaspersky.

For paid versions, ESET, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender.

For the cheapest, Kaspersky: I got Standard for one year and three devices for less than US$12 from one online store (but I had to use a free VPN set to the country of the store to activate the serial). If I find another good deal a year later, I can stack the serial to the account; otherwise, I can let the AV revert to the free version.

Finally, backups are needed in all cases, but they don't reverse data theft. In addition, it's possible for malware to remain hidden in systems, stealing data but not affecting performance. They might also appear in legitimate websites, servers that legit websites access, and legit software.

monkeylove said:

Finally, backups are needed in all cases, but they don't reverse data theft. In addition, it's possible for malware to remain hidden in systems, stealing data but not affecting performance. They might also appear in legitimate websites, servers that legit websites access, and legit software.

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I'm curious why you reply like I didn't clearly state that both malware protection and backup are necessary. Yes, both are necessary, I think we can all agree on that point.

for me Defender it's good for system monitoring

echo2446 said:

I switched to Windows Defender and used the recommended configuration from ConfigureDefender, along with some one-time scanners daily.

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How exactly did you configure it? I don't want time-consuming, system-wide scans. Just real-time changes scans.

thecaretaker said:

I'm currently happy with Eset Nod 32, just the basic without all the add-ons.

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Yeah, just the basic anti-virus (Essential), not the full-blown Premium or Ultimate suites with VPN, banking, password protection, smartphone protection, yabada....yabada....yabada....which then turns into useless, expensive bloatware. And yeah, you can get discounts for ESET Essential through places like Newegg.

For now, I'm using ESET on my Windows 10 machine and Defender on my two Windows 11 machines.

There are so many AV apps out there, I tend to switch but currently using Sophos now for about 2 years.

braaphub said:

for me Defender it's good for system monitoring

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How does this work? (for system monitoring)

cheaterslick said:

How exactly did you configure it? I don't want time-consuming, system-wide scans. Just real-time changes scans.

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Choose a predefined configuration setting, Default, High or Highest. Or you can choose one predefined setup, and add or subtract some individual features, e.g. individual ASR rules. All of these options change only real-time scans. Very simple, easy to use, portable app.

Method said:

Ive seen this suggested by a few here. Would you council using it in addition to my setup of Defender and MalwareBytes Pro? I would you be suggesting to replace MB with it?

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I don't know anything about Malwarebytes so I can't say. As far as Defender, Webroot takes over malware control, but works with Defenders firewall. My machines have picked up a few viruses over the years, and it was fun watching Webroot destroy them. Plus, my computers have always benched at higher speeds with Webroot, as opposed to Defender, Avast, Kaspersky, and Norton. I just renewed for another two year subscription.

I'm having trouble drawing conclusions here but this is an open question for me too.

I've been using Avast Free for years, but it's becoming more and more of a pig. My latest system has plenty of horsepower, so I don't notice any degradation, but if I add up the memory usage, it's around 400mb total. I do like that it protects me against malicious web sites. I don't hit many, but every once in a while it stops one. I very much like it scanning email, even though I have better habits than most, it's good that it removes much of the nasty stuff. Checking downloads is a fast and easy right click.

Still, I'm wondering if something lighter is enough. I have a free download of Webroot with my new system. There's also MS Defender, which seems to be getting more respect. I confess to running with UAC disabled, but I could enable it if you convince me to.

So, Defender and Webroot? Is that enough? Something else? Just stick with Avast and stop studying?

On my machine MWB Pro + Defender at idle runs using about 1/2 gb ram and only a smidgen of cpu so you can't get much lighter on resources than that. I haven't measured it during scans. But even if my arrangement used more ram, as the owner I have a responsibility to add more if needed. The two play really well together and have protected me for many years.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best protection one can have is common sense and using it to practice smart browsing habits. Ultimately YOU are your best protection.

Don't click on the first links of a web search. Go to only official sites. Go to ONLY reputable sites, not some off-the-wall place that sells stuff at what your think is a real "bargain"or some obscure place you've never heard of. Be cautious about any ads you click on and don't click on ANY ad on social media sites. Don't click on ANY email links unless you are absolutely sure of their validity. All these are ways you get exploited.

Do not EVER, EVER give anyone remote control of your computer unless your are 100% sure who you are dealing with.

All the AV apps in the world will not protect you from hackers. The user is most times responsible if he/she gets hacked. Make passwords, especially those to sensitive financial sites really, really difficult and use @2FA on those sites. This includes sites like Amazon who has your payment information stored. Most of these sites use passkeys. Use them if possible. Better yet, use a good password manager so you don't have to keep passwords on a tablet in your desk drawer. With a PW manager you'll have to remember only ONE password.(Mine one password is 22 digits long) You get more bang for your buck with a good password manager than you will ever get from paying for an AV app. Don't duplicate passwords. Change passwords on sensitive sites at least once every 6 months. (Yes, your email password, too and don't make it the name of your dog with a "1"after it or your kid's name)

Want to cut down on junk mail? Do not under any circumstances give your primary email address to websites or sign-ups for whatever. Create a throw-away email address for that purpose.

Last, but not least, if your data is important to you...Back...It...Up.

Webroot is using only 30MB of ram so it is much lighter than defender!

kelper said:

Webroot is using only 30MB of ram so it is much lighter than defender!

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It's not Defender using that 1/2 gb of ram. MWB uses most of it.

OK, I uninstalled Webroot. Defender is using 150 - 500 MB of RAM.