Quote from Gil07 :

I've never gotten it...

Neither have I. I actually never ever get anything from AVG whatsoever. It updates itself quietly in the background and that's it. I've disabled the daily scanning and the e-mail scanning as I don't have a mail client. It does its job and doesn't bother me at all. If it wasn't for the fact that I remember installing it I honestly wouldn't even know it was on the computer

EDIT: currently AVG is using all of 4.5 MB of memory. I'd hardly call that "hogging resources".

I've been using Avast for years now and it has been working out well for me, atleast I don't get any viruses or stuff in.

I get the feeling AVG have backed down. Their forum was being flooded and they kept removing all the threads.

Not had a nag recently so only reason must be a climb down lol

I recomended Malware anti bytes

Quote from obsolum :

EDIT: currently AVG is using all of 4.5 MB of memory. I'd hardly call that "hogging resources".

Version 8.5? I think it uses a bit more than that. You have to combine the memory usage from all its processes. And try to browse a folder with lots of files in it, with and without AVG installed.

Quote from arco :

Version 8.5? I think it uses a bit more than that. You have to combine the memory usage from all its processes. And try to browse a folder with lots of files in it, with and without AVG installed.

Yes, version 8.5 and yes, I added up the memory of all its processes, even though those processes actually use shared memory so you souldn't really add them up.

I currently have my LFS skins_y folder open which has some 5.500 files in it. Screenshot attached

EDIT: even I am now beginning to think there's something wrong, or that I've missed processes belonging to AVG because it should use slightly more memory than that

after i uninstalled it, my "system" memory usage went from 75mb to 5-10mb. that doesn't include the 4 or 5 other exe's it runs. some of those were using up to and exceeding 30mb a piece.

plus, my atom doesn't lag on boot anymore, for a while there i had to log out and back in just to get the taskbar to display properly.

Quote from obsolum :

Yes, version 8.5 and yes, I added up the memory of all its processes, even though those processes actually use shared memory so you souldn't really add them up.

I currently have my LFS skins_y folder open which has some 5.500 files in it. Screenshot attached

EDIT: even I am now beginning to think there's something wrong, or that I've missed processes belonging to AVG because it should use slightly more memory than that

There's probably some services it runs that uses some memory too, which doesn't show up in the process list. When I said opening a folder with lots of files in it, I was thinking about AVG's slow realtime scanner. Especially a folder with exe files in it. That's where AVG went downhill after the 7.x versions. Its realtime scanner is just painfully slow now.

ive never had a problem using avg i have avg 8.5 and i paid for it so. i have it for a few years yet. it does hog system resurces for a little while then it gives up and its fine for me with files with lots of files in it i got a image folder with 7000 images in it and its just as quick as my dads laptop and he is running a better system and NOD32 so who knows.

i think its just old vista being vista.

Quote from arco :

AVG turned to a resource hog after the 7.x versions. It's sooo slow browsing files when it's installed. Avira is much better in that respect, and I prefer it to AVG, although it has a popup window when it's performing updates (Can be disabled though).

Thanks for that info about disabling the pop-up,love my Avira again

Quote from arco :

There's probably some services it runs that uses some memory too, which doesn't show up in the process list. When I said opening a folder with lots of files in it, I was thinking about AVG's slow realtime scanner. Especially a folder with exe files in it. That's where AVG went downhill after the 7.x versions. Its realtime scanner is just painfully slow now.

I don't know, maybe it depends partly on your system specs or something. Like I said, you wouldn't know it was on this computer. Browsing files works just fine, there's no delays surfing the net,... I don't really have a very high end pc, either. An Intel 2 Dual Core E6600 with 2 GB ram. That's only average, nowadays.

Quote from Dooonster :

(...)
it does hog system resurces for a little while then it gives up (...)

That seems to be right. Just now after booting I monitored its processes and avgrsx.exe did use about 30MB of memory (most I've ever seen it on) and a bit of cpu usage. But only for like 30 seconds or so, then it went down to 284K and 0 cpu usage. I guess it does a quick scan of certain files or sectors upon booting.

It's always been like that with antivirus programs, though. Some work for some people while they are absolutely terrible for others For a part it probably depends on how you set it up, too, I think. With some you have to pay attention to disable certain services or processes that you don't really need, which you means you have to be at least somewhat computer savvy, and others have a pretty good default installation.

I'll stick with AVG so long as I'm satisfied with it

Antivir only gives a screen when you update. If you update every day you will get a screen every day, but i get one once a week.

To the guy (Xcuse) who said he doesn't have anti virus and doesn't get any problems.
The obvious question would be how would you know you don't have any malware on your machine ?
Do you think malware is going to show any obvious symptoms?

Most of the current infections give you very few clues to their existence.
Many are trojans that install hidden applications to allow people to use your machine as part of a DOS attack botnet or as a relay for Spam email. Unless you are keeping a close eye on you network traffic, how would you know if your machine had one of these types of infection?
There are many other things such hidden keyloggers that will steal your personal details and passwords, and having done some testing with various free tools such as SPybot etc.. I can tell you they don't find some of the keyloggers once they are installed.

I would never suggest you run an internet connected PC without decent protection.
I would liken it to living in a crime ridden tough part of a city with a Neon sign above your unlocked door saying please enter and do what you like.

My recommendation would be to pay for a decent security suite. My personal preference is for Eset Smart Security or Avira.

If I was going for a free one I would choose AVG or Avira, and if you set them up correctly none of them should interrupt your gaming sessions.

For free tools to help get rid of infections I would recommend MalwareBytes anti malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/
and SuperAntispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ but bear in mind the free versions do not proactively protect you, they just enable you to find and sometimes remove infections you already have.

Quote from JackSun :

blah blah

I have no antivirus too, and I have no viruses too.

How do I know?

1. I monitor all my traffic using wireshark when I suspect something. Happened 1-2 times only, and it was Apple software updater
   
2. I very oftenly use sysinternal's autoruns to check if something added itself to autoboot.
   
3. I know what to and what not to download.
   
4. I don't turn off UAC.

And that's completely enough.

Ok if you feel safe doing that it's your call. But autoruns will not inform you of rootkit infections and not everyone has Vista or Windows 7 with UAC.

I have not antivirus nor firewall and UAC is disabled.

Quote from JackSun :

..
The obvious question would be how would you know you don't have any malware on your machine ?...

Because my computer has no problems. So, even if I have some malware, as long as it works fine, I don't care. Anyway, in case I get a virus, I'm able to remove it by myself. And obviously I would be a complete retard if I had virus problems and not use antivirus

Quote from JackSun :

...But autoruns will not inform you of rootkit infections...

That's why autorun is disabled in all my computers

Antivirus are fine for noobs though

So you have never heard of drive-by infections. Websites can be hacked and infected with programs like these. You would only have to click on an innocent looking link and without any protection it could install without you knowing. And it's not only dodgy sites that get hacked, some quite high profile sites have also been compromised in this way.
I also do not download anything I consider "Fishy" or open email attahments, but I still would not run without any security software.

Quote from Shadowww :

1. I don't turn off UAC.
   

I would rather run an AV than have UAC turned on, every time.

In fact I would almost, but not quite, rather have a Virus than have UAC turned on

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I would rather run an AV than have UAC turned on, every time.

In fact I would almost, but not quite, rather have a Virus than have UAC turned on

UAC is much less annoying than AV and uses no resources.

Quote from JackSun :

So you have never heard of drive-by infections. Websites can be hacked and infected with programs like these. You would only have to click on an innocent looking link and without any protection it could install without you knowing. And it's not only dodgy sites that get hacked, some quite high profile sites have also been compromised in this way.
I also do not download anything I consider "Fishy" or open email attahments, but I still would not run without any security software.

blah blah

Clicking on link just CAN'T make you infected unless you use shitbrowser like Virus Explorer by MicroSoft.

UAC or an antivirus, both are more annoying than a virus itself so f*ck them

You obviously have never used Windows 7.

Quote from Shadowww :

You obviously have never used Windows 7.

You're wrong. Yeah, the UAC is less annoying than Vista, but still annoying

It isn't unless you are installing 9001 apps per day.

Since the UAC doesn't stop the computer from being infected I would say that it's generally a good idea to have an antivirus to help you identify those infected files since there really isn't any other way. Keeping track of the logon entries is nice and good practice in general but it doesn't keep you from having infected files in your harddrive, dormant or not.

To me UAC is and I quote 'very thin layer of extra protection' and a lot of extra hassle, not worth it for me personally. It makes sense to keep it enabled if you can live with it of course.

I use Avira Antivir and I have a little tip how to disable the ad popup.

Basically you just don't allow avnotify.exe to run and the attached pic should explain how Local Security Policy can be found in administrative tools. There are other ways but this is more or less universal between most versions of windows. Pictured is w7 ultimate 64b

UAC DOES prevents your PC from being infected. It shows if app needs admin rights, and if it does while it shouldn't, you can just click No.

App without admin rights can do NOTHING to UAC-enabled system.