Best free antivirus for an old PC

[BobsArmory]

So I have an older PC that is pretty slow. I am looking for a free antivirus that will consume the least amount of resources. Currently using Bitdefender, I like it but it's just so slow while running it.

Any ideas?

 

[Zee09]

I try everything that comes out. A hobby of sorts.
I know what others will say already but Panda Dome free av. Is very good.
No resource drain and it quietly sits in the background.

 

[Drew99GT]

I have Panda Dome currently and like it; had problems in the past with Panda interfering with some software (can't even remember what it was, something stupid like a printer driver), but it's working great now. Definitely the easiest on resources, and I have tried them all. Bitdefender was pretty good but it started lagging bad on a recent update, and a clean reinstall didn't fix it, so I went back to Panda and am happy.

 

[mazdamonky]

I find Avast is really low on resource usage past the initial boot. On initial boot it can use up quite a bit of disc and be slow for the first 2-3 minutes. But it improves heavily if you just leave the pc running most of the time.

 

[JLawrence08648]

Panda is very good, I use Avast, I wouldn't recommend Norton's or AVG.

Do you have a virus or Junk ware?

 

[Dave1027]

Check with your ISP. Mine, Comcast provides free Norton.

 

[928]

How old is the PC? You would be surprised what $150-200 in the used/ refurb market will buy you. Just wipe the drive & transfer your stuff over. No need to put up with a slow pc anymore.

 

[BJD78]

I like Avast (free) just fine, but AVG and Avira are also good. AVG and Avast are the same company anyway. Have Avast on our big PC and Windows defender on our 2 laptops. Still do a Malwarebytes(free) scan every 2- 3 months and so far have never found any malware, but do it just in case something might slip through.

 

[zzyzzx]

Is Linux an option here?

 

[csandste]

"AVG and Avast are the same company anyway."

Been happily in Linux only for about five years, but this really surprises me. When did that happen?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: BJD78
AVG and Avast are the same company anyway.


Yup, in 2016 Avast purchased AVG.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Another vote for Panda Dome Free.

I was fine with Avast UNTIL it started interfering with my Network setting. Especially had trouble when WIFI was active on my laptop. It would find a way to slither into my desktop and knock-off it's Ethernet connection randomly. Even when I swapped and used WIFI on the desktop and Ethernet on the laptop, same thing would happen.

Once I got rid of Avast on both computers, all my internet connections are fine now. Avira and AVG slowed down my surfing speeds. Bitdefender is not a friend of Firefox sometimes. One or two other antiviruses I tried included their Firewall and I like Windows Firewall instead.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Another vote for Panda Dome Free.

I was fine with Avast UNTIL it started interfering with my Network setting. Especially had trouble when WIFI was active on my laptop. It would find a way to slither into my desktop and knock-off it's Ethernet connection randomly. Even when I swapped and used WIFI on the desktop and Ethernet on the laptop, same thing would happen.

Once I got rid of Avast on both computers, all my internet connections are fine now. Avira and AVG slowed down my surfing speeds. Bitdefender is not a friend of Firefox sometimes. One or two other antiviruses I tried included their Firewall and I like Windows Firewall instead.


My testing of those exactly mirrors yours-exactly. Nice!

 

[badtlc]

bitdefender is the lightest/fastest and better scores all around for protection.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted By: badtlc
bitdefender is the lightest/fastest and better scores all around for protection.



I never had good luck with it. Takes forever to install and slows down everything.
I read what you spout, but I've loaded it into many computers and I dump it quickly.
It's most likely a bunch of paid for fluff.

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted By: Zee09
Originally Posted By: badtlc
bitdefender is the lightest/fastest and better scores all around for protection.



I never had good luck with it. Takes forever to install and slows down everything.
I read what you spout, but I've loaded it into many computers and I dump it quickly.
It's most likely a bunch of paid for fluff.


I did my own tests. Bitdefender on my old fleet typically used about 150 MB less ram than the others and had faster boot times by about 10 seconds. The only paid version I compared against was Kaspersky but bitdefender was better for my older machines than Kaspersky too.

 

[camrydriver111]

What PC/OS?

In my experience old PCs tend to struggle with modern AV.

 

[BobsArmory]

Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
What PC/OS?

In my experience old PCs tend to struggle with modern AV.


Sorry about being absent from my own post. Been pretty busy at work launching the new cars after change over and such.

It's a Dell Optiplex 330 Intel Pentium Dual CPU @2 GHZ with 4 GB of RAM running Windows 10 Pro

I have tried some of the suggestions listed here and I think you are right.

I would go to Linux but I don't think Turbo Tax supports that OS.

 

[AandPDan]

Windows 10 comes with it's own antivirus - and it's a lot better than the older version.

You really don't need a "free" solution.

As for Linux, do it!!! You could likely run Turbo Tax in WINE.

 

[DBMaster]

If you're feeling lucky just go naked. When I had my Windows 2000 PC I went for several years without AV because the thing was just too slow. I have a Windows 7 PC now (I could list the specs because I built it, but that's TMI). If Windows Defender does anything, fine, but I run no AV software on it, either.