What Is The Cheapest, Lightweight, Antivirus Software

[Neemobeer]

If I need to emphasize credentials. I've worked in almost every area of IT for the past 20 years including desktop support, telecom, networking, systems administration, and for the past few years in cyber security supporting a multitude of security tools. Researching, evaluating and deploying said tools is a large portion of my current role. I also have experience in pen testing, malware reverse engineering, software development, application security and vulnerability management.

 

[kurteb]

Hello all,

I lately been trying to find a simple, lightweight antivirus program for my PC and my Android phone. Many antivirus programs have all of these features now like VPN, child/parent watching, encrypt files/vault storage, password managers and so on. All I want is a antivirus that protects you on the web, scans your storage for viruses and maybe even a firewall which would be nice.

But I also want it to be lightweight so not hard on my PC since I have a gaming PC and I used some antivirus programs such as Norton and Avast and they end up slowing down my PC. I heard there is a new way to solve this which cloud computing antivirus which runs in the cloud so your device doesn't use much of its resources which I would like to get.

I don't care if its free or requires a subscription but along it has privacy in mind and does not harvest data from yourself. I understand if it may discover a new virus and wants to grab it from the user to review it but many online services like Google I stay away from since they live off your data.

Any suggestions and tips will be most helpful!

I use Windows for Windows, key factor is how many times does the software update definitions, good firewall protection, Defender does it better. Had payware, not worth the cost. A good browser like DuckDuckGo doesn't spy on you, and I use Glary cleaner, gets rid of the clutter best, in my view. NoRoot free VPN and firewall is great for Android use, with DuckDuckGo.

 

[Hermitkrab]

Microsoft Defender works fine for me, even though there are some who are negative about it. In the past, I've used Norton, which seemed to work OK. I've gotten no infections using Defender for a few years, though. I'm tending to agree with those who feel there's no need to pay for an AV program when it's already built into Windows 10, but to each his own.

Toshiba laptop with Windows 10 Pro