The importance of an antivirus
In the computer field, a virus is considered a malicious program that copies itself to another program, file, or even the boot sector; In turn, it affects the performance of the computer, and there are many ways in which the virus can spread; It can be done via e-mail, when running a specific program, or via a USB device.
Special software called anti-viruses is used, which is concerned with dealing with various types of viruses by preventing them, detecting them, and removing them from the computer or the computer network. To deal with various types of malicious programs, in addition to viruses, such as spyware, and advertising-supported programs.
The best powerful and lightweight antivirus
Expert Reviews website has made comprehensive evaluations of all famous antiviruses, taking into account the most prominent features of each antivirus. Bitdefender Internet Security 2018 was rated as the best antivirus for 2018; Pointing out that this program was able to detect all viruses that the program was subjected to in a check carried out by the "AV comparatives" website, and he also indicated that this program is very fast and light, and when the Autopilot feature is activated, it will take Decisions related to devising security are automated, except in serious cases.
Avast Free Antivirus was also rated as the best free antivirus; As it was able to detect 99% of the virus samples that it was subjected to while checking the “AV comparatives” site for it, the site also indicated that this antidote has little impact on the performance of the device and its resources, but it may annoy the user of the device with some ads, and requests to purchase the paid version of it, The program also installs a web browser add-on, which informs the user of the best prices available for online shopping.
A comparison of the most famous antivirals in terms of capacity
A load of antivirus is defined as the amount of random access memory (RAM) it consumes on a computer. The capacity of random access memory has a significant impact on its general performance, and the amount of consumption of the antivirus varies, depending on whether it is in idle mode, or it is under scanning for viruses. It is necessary to pay attention to both cases when comparing antiviruses; In order to know the lightest load on the device.
In 2013, the Raymond website compared 25 free antiviruses; According to the amount of memory consumed, when the antibody is in an idle state, in addition to its state when scanning for viruses, and the following are mentioned in no order:
- Panda Cloud Antivirus Free
- Avast! Free Antivirus
- Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10
- Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013
- Norton AntiVirus
- Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2013
- Immunet
- UnThreat AntiVirus Free 2013
- AVG AntiVirus Free 2013
- Comodo Antivirus Free 6
- Microsoft Security Essentials
- ZoneAlarm Free AntiVirus + Firewall 11
- F-Secure Anti-Virus 12
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus 13
- ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6
- NANO Antivirus Free
- Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus
- VIPRE Antivirus 2013
- Avira Free Antivirus 13
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
- Ad-Aware Free Antivirus
- Dr.Web Anti-virus 8
- McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2013
- Emsisoft Anti-Malware 7
- Quick Heal AntiVirus Pro 2013
The most prominent results of the tests were the following:
- When running antivirus inactivity tests, “Webroot SecureAnywhere” got the best result, with an average consumption of only 2,726 kilobytes, followed by “Avast! Free Antivirus” with an average consumption of 4,290 kilobytes, and for the worst memory-consuming antivirus in the world. In idle mode, "ZoneAlarm Free A/F + Firewall" was the worst, with a consumption rate of 191,472 KB, followed by Sophos Endpoint Security and Control, with an average consumption of 192.4 KB, and it is worth noting that ZoneAlarm includes a firewall program, which may increase its memory consumption.
- When running antivirus tests while scanning for it, Avast! Free Antivirus is back; It zeros its memory consumption every 10 seconds; Which keeps its consumption very little compared to others, followed by Webroot SecureAnywhere, with an average consumption of only 7.6 kilobytes, while Emsisoft Anti-Malware was the worst, with an average of 240.7 kilobytes, followed by Quick Heal AntiVirus Pro, with an average consumption of 227.4 kilobytes.
In 2015, the Gecko & Fly website conducted another test; The most famous anti-viruses, including Avast, AVG, and Kaspersky, were classified according to their memory consumption, in addition to their speed in the scanning process, and the results were as follows:
- When running antivirus idle status tests, Avast outperformed, with an average consumption of just 9MB, followed by AVG, with an average of 9.8MB.
- When running tests measuring consumption during a virus scan, Avast also outperformed, with an average consumption of 62 MB, followed by TrendMicro Internet Security, with an average consumption of 67 MB.
- In scanning speed tests, Norton Antivirus 2015 topped the list, at 36.3 Mbps, followed by BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2015, at 35.9 Mbps, while Panda Antivirus Pro 2015 was the worst, with 16.4 Mbps. Then Avast followed, at 20 Mbps.