AV programs that DON'T use my HDD all the time?

[Deleted]

Hello all
I need a new AV program for my laptop OR a fix for one of them I've tried.
I've tried:
-Avast!: great, and works perfectly, but extremely slow boot. I'm using this one on my desktop, it's not too bad there...

-MSE: HDD usage is retarded high, even on my desktop it managed to slow down file browsing, not to mention loading screens in games...

-AVG: I've had it for 1 day and I want another one... PC mag (Belgium) found this to be one of the lighter suites around, and still the resident shield uses my HDD 90% of the time, scanning my entire computer for no apparent reason, and thus slowing it down extremely. It also seems to think it's funny doing it while gaming. when I stop gaming it'll stop scanning random DLL's (While playing CoD it scans Rome total war DLL's, lol)

To give you an Idea of "slow": My loading screens in MW3 are now so long that the server connection times out before it's finished loading. In WoW I'm usually waiting 2 min for the initial loading screen and around 1 for everything after that. Aside from that, it's slow when opening programs etc, etc... I'm sure you can imagine.

I do know It's only a 5.4k RPM drive, and that an SSD is faster, uses less power, will fix my problem and all, but I just want an AV that's not killing my HDD slowly.

Some extra info: I've cleaned the drive with CCleaner, and defragmented it as well (some time ago, but it's still decent). The windows install Isn't that old either, so I really don't know anything but replacing the AV. The HDD is a 5400RPM drive with approx. 25% free space.

[dklol]

You won't find a AV programm that doesn't use the HDD...why would you want one anyway if it shouldn't do anything?

[Deleted]

You won't find a AV programm that doesn't use the HDD...why would you want one anyway if it shouldn't do anything?

I never said it shouldn't do anything, I said it shouldn't kill my HDD by using it so much that even windows itself doesn't get a chance to work.

[vesseblah]

AV programs use HDD for two reasons while the computer is running:

- Doing background scan of full disc. That should never happen while you're using the computer for something yourself, except once after the AV program is installed.
- Doing realtime scan of files you're opening. If you disable that, half of the protection is lost also.

Realtime scan can get quite intensive if you download a lot of exe/zip/pdf etc files from the internet that can be scanned, but it should take only few seconds per file at max. If the disc use is way more than that, something is going wrong.

[KnightRyder]

Most AV programs you can setup ignore folders so that your AV doesn't scan them or care what is inside. I don't know if it will help to put your game folders on this ignore list. also if you get some addon that has a virus, you may not detect it if you put it in your game folders and they are ignored.

[vesseblah]

Could be that your computer is just so awfully slow to start that it hasn't actually finished with all autostarting services before you try to load games and you'r confusing that with AV program. When you try to start a game for example, AV program first does the realtime executable scanner while OS still tries to load last background services which can cause massive performance loss on a slow ass 5400rpm HDD.

Could try first checking out if you can prune out some shit that gets started, and make sure everything is loaded to see if the problem is background virus scanner or something else. Do not touch the computer at all for five minutes after you've turned on the power to make sure everything automatically starting has already started and is not using the HDD.

[dklol]

I never said it shouldn't do anything, I said it shouldn't kill my HDD by using it so much that even windows itself doesn't get a chance to work.

I use avast too, it doesn't kill windows, it doesn't use the hdd all the time and it is one of the best free av programms.
A freind also uses it on his 400€ laptop without a problem.
Maybe your Laptop is just way too old?

If you want an AV programm that doesn't uses the hdd at all u can just go without on, no difference.

[Against the Modern World]

I really like Avast, never had any problems with it, and it's not straining on the system while in normal mode (not actively searching for viruses).

[Deleted]

Most AV programs you can setup ignore folders so that your AV doesn't scan them or care what is inside. I don't know if it will help to put your game folders on this ignore list. also if you get some addon that has a virus, you may not detect it if you put it in your game folders and they are ignored.

I trust curse for not placing malicious addons on their website, so that's not an issue for me . Also, you first download to another location (well, I do at least) So you'll see even before installing.

Could be that your computer is just so awfully slow to start that it hasn't actually finished with all autostarting services before you try to load games and you'r confusing that with AV program. When you try to start a game for example, AV program first does the realtime executable scanner while OS still tries to load last background services which can cause massive performance loss on a slow ass 5400rpm HDD.

Could try first checking out if you can prune out some shit that gets started, and make sure everything is loaded to see if the problem is background virus scanner or something else. Do not touch the computer at all for five minutes after you've turned on the power to make sure everything automatically starting has already started and is not using the HDD.

I mainly use recource monitor to see what's happening. I see things as AVGsxr(avg realtime shield) reading in the folder of Rome: total war while I'm playing CoD. Also, I am aware of the fact that during startup a PC can be slow, but this isn't during startup... I'll check on the startup services though, any MS services I can disable safely?

I use avast too, it doesn't kill windows, it doesn't use the hdd all the time and it is one of the best free av programms.
A freind also uses it on his 400€ laptop without a problem.
Maybe your Laptop is just way too old?

If you want an AV programm that doesn't uses the hdd at all u can just go without on, no difference.

My laptop is 2 years old and cost about 1.1k € back then. Indeed, avast is great (in fact, I use it on my desktop) but I noticed a big slowdown on boot. After boot this was over, but I reboot quite often and was getting annoying.Again, I didn't say I didn't want it to use the HDD, I want it to know when it can use it and how much, unlike the ones I've tried.




I do know this isn't only the AV's fault, but a fix of some sort would be nice.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.