free (legit) antimalware program that doesn't eat up my cpu?

[BananaBandit]

I was content to use Malwarebytes free version for the past several years.

 

But when I tried to update it a few weeks back, things went a bit goofy.  So I uninstalled it altogether.  Then, when trying to reinstall, I learned that my Windows 7 laptop is no longer able to do so (I didn't realize Windows 7 was already so antiquated, and I really don't want to have to upgrade operating systems: My taste of Windows 8 was unpleasant, and my glimpse of Windows 10 was a dystopian nightmare).

 

So I downloaded Avast free version. But, since I installed it, my CPU is often churning at near-100 percent without any good reason.

 

Is there a free (legit and Win 7-applicable) antimalware that won't eat my CPU for breakfast, lunch, and dinner??

[bbko]

What's your computer specs? Maybe it's time to upgrade your hardware.

And no offense but Windows 7 came out 12 years ago, that's a lifetime in the computer world. 

[Chad3000]

Upgrade to Windows 10. Even the little netbook that I had a few years back could run Windows 10 ultimate. Admittedly, it was a bit of a push with two gigs of RAM but it was alright.

 

Try Kaspersky free

Spybot search and destroy

 

Actually, Windows defender does a pretty good job and it probably has had enough of an upgrade with in Windows 10 even to be a fairly formidable antivirus software.

 

I can list half-a-dozen other little maintenance programs that I use as well. Glary, bleachbit, etc

 

By the way if you're just running Malwarebytes and the free edition that's not going to really protect your computer very well.

 

None of this takes into account the really sneaky stuff like rootkits and other bits of malware that you need additional small programs to ward off

[OneMoreFarang]

Anti-Malware programs get more sophisticated all the time. And they have to do that to fight the more sophisticated malware.

A modern anti-malware program will never run fast on an old computer. The only thing that runs fast on an old computer is old and outdated software.

Time for a new computer with up to date software!

[BananaBandit]

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Anti-Malware programs get more sophisticated all the time. And they have to do that to fight the more sophisticated malware.

A modern anti-malware program will never run fast on an old computer. The only thing that runs fast on an old computer is old and outdated software.

Time for a new computer with up to date software!

 

Painful to read, but at least the logic makes sense to me.

[Chad3000]

If you have Windows 7 and you want to keep it. It is a good operating system but obviously there are security issues within the OS itself.

 

You need to really know how to do it obviously but there's ways to lean out the system and really strip it down.

 

For instance, when XP was stripped down to bare Bones that thing would fly.

 

I was able to get reasonably decent performance on a netbook running Windows 7 ultimate pirate copy.

 

But I agree with the above comment. For instance if you don't have a great deal of RAM and your hard drive is slow and your OS is bloated. It's going to take awhile for any antivirus software to run, spybot search & destroy will take a good long while. Malwarebytes has improved its performance so it doesn't take nearly as long to run.

 

Bleachbit

Glary Utilities

Wise Registry Cleaner

Spybot

Super Anti Spyware

House call*

Kaspersky free

Kaspersky Rootkit

 

I run them all. A few more.

[Bruno123]

5 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

 

Painful to read, but at least the logic makes sense to me.

It might be painful to read; but it's actually not true. 

 

But since you didn't even bother to reply to the very first question posed to you on this thread; then this will just be another 'going nowhere' thread.

 

It helps to actually reply to the questions posed, in order to help you; rather than just clicking on an emoticon. What's that all about??

[BananaBandit]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:09 PM, Chad3000 said:

Bleachbit

Glary Utilities

Wise Registry Cleaner

Spybot

Super Anti Spyware

House call*

Kaspersky free

Kaspersky Rootkit

 

I run them all. A few more.

 

Thank you for the list. 

 

I'm curious about the "run them all" statement. 

 

I was told (by a college-level computer instructor) that if you have more than one anti-virus/anti-malware, then they start to obstruct each other.....therefore, having one such program is better than having multiple ones.   Was this bad advice?

[JimmyJ]

1)

No need for it.

Browsers today  perform many of the functions that the AV software performs.

 

2)

Free programs exist to steal your personal info/data.

 

 

[KannikaP]

On 10/30/2021 at 10:09 AM, Chad3000 said:

If you have Windows 7 and you want to keep it. It is a good operating system but obviously there are security issues within the OS itself.

 

You need to really know how to do it obviously but there's ways to lean out the system and really strip it down.

 

For instance, when XP was stripped down to bare Bones that thing would fly.

 

I was able to get reasonably decent performance on a netbook running Windows 7 ultimate pirate copy.

 

But I agree with the above comment. For instance if you don't have a great deal of RAM and your hard drive is slow and your OS is bloated. It's going to take awhile for any antivirus software to run, spybot search & destroy will take a good long while. Malwarebytes has improved its performance so it doesn't take nearly as long to run.

 

Bleachbit

Glary Utilities

Wise Registry Cleaner

Spybot

Super Anti Spyware

House call*

Kaspersky free

Kaspersky Rootkit

 

I run them all. A few more.

Glary Utilites is a 'tune up app' not a Virus/Malware remover. Windows Defender is all you really need.........oh, yes, and Windows 11.

[BananaBandit]

16 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Browsers today  perform many of the functions that the AV software performs.

 

So a reputable browser like Chrome or Firefox has built-in security features that make it as good as most any free anti-virus/malware program?

[BritManToo]

On 10/29/2021 at 10:36 PM, BananaBandit said:

I learned that my Windows 7 laptop is no longer able to do so (I didn't realize Windows 7 was already so antiquated, and I really don't want to have to upgrade operating systems:

There's a free version of Malwarebytes for windows 7 on their site now.

I put it on yesterday, no problems.

 

https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500004670861

Select the last line

"Malwarebytes for Windows legacy build"

[Speedo1968]

Would Brave o Epic browsers be suitable ?

[BananaBandit]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

There's a free version of Malwarebytes for windows 7 on their site now.

I put it on yesterday, no problems.

 

https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500004670861

Select the last line

"Malwarebytes for Windows legacy build"

 

I missed that one!

 

Maybe I was too dumb to figure out what "legacy build" meant. 

 

You get plenty of credit for your insights into female psychology and human nature, but you are quite underrated for your tech support. 

 

It's none of my business, but I'm too curious to resist asking:    What was the reason for your recent month-long absence?   I had begun to entertain a number of possible scenarios, none of them good.  I even thought you might have fallen in love.

[JimmyJ]

On 11/2/2021 at 7:22 AM, BananaBandit said:

 

So a reputable browser like Chrome or Firefox has built-in security features that make it as good as most any free anti-virus/malware program?

Chrome (and all other Google products) are Spyware.

 

I would use any browser recommended here:

 

https://www.privacytools.io/

 

PS - As the article notes, Brave is controversial and I was surprised to see them still listing it.

I still use it on rare occasions.

[Digitalbanana]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:25 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Time for a new computer with up to date software!

I've got an 11 year old laptop (ex Win7) runs just fine on latest secure Linux Mint and auto updates the system daily.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, Digitalbanana said:

I've got an 11 year old laptop (ex Win7) runs just fine on latest secure Linux Mint and auto updates the system daily.

Yes, that is another option.

But how many people who use Windows, and especially old Windows versions, want to learn Linux?

And how many of them want to troubleshoot it if there is a problem?

In my experience very few want that.

[Digitalbanana]

On 11/4/2021 at 11:18 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

But how many people who use Windows, and especially old Windows versions, want to learn Linux?

I suppose it depends on requirements. For example in our home we had three old PCs/laptops from the Win7 era that struggled under a Win10 load mostly getting used to access the internet. I could have bought three new laptops but decided to install Linux Mint on all three for free. A vast improvement on the old Win7 user experience, and cost nothing.

[BananaBandit]

3 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

On 11/4/2021 at 12:18 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

But how many people who use Windows, and especially old Windows versions, want to learn Linux?

I suppose it depends on requirements. For example in our home we had three old PCs/laptops from the Win7 era that struggled under a Win10 load mostly getting used to access the internet. I could have bought three new laptops but decided to install Linux Mint on all three for free. A vast improvement on the old Win7 user experience, and cost nothing.

 

But how difficult would installing and using Linux Mint be for me?

 

Like a lot of people, I'm a bit stupid, lazy, and petulant.

 

Also, could I still use the programs I want to use, such as Adobe Photoshop, Audacity music editing, Calibre ebook editing, Word, Excel, etc. ?

[BananaBandit]

By the way, gentlemen, I have me a nice new free antivirus program (one recommended on this thread) working for me right now. My CPU usage is way down, too.   And I just feel better about humanity in general.

[JimmyJ]

16 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

By the way, gentlemen, I have me a nice new free antivirus program (one recommended on this thread) working for me right now. My CPU usage is way down, too.   And I just feel better about humanity in general.

For some reason you don't want to name it?

[tgw]

21 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

For some reason you don't want to name it?

some people can't help talking in riddles

[tgw]

On 11/1/2021 at 3:16 PM, KannikaP said:

Glary Utilites is a 'tune up app' not a Virus/Malware remover. Windows Defender is all you really need.........oh, yes, and Windows 11.

yes...

and Windows 10 really is quite similar to Win 7.

people who say Windows 10 is worse than Windows 8, haven't tried Windows 10 at all.

 

[KannikaP]

1 minute ago, tgw said:

yes...

and Windows 10 really is quite similar to Win 7.

people who say Windows 10 is worse than Windows 8, haven't tried Windows 10 at all.

 

And people who haven't tried Windows 10 shouldn't. Get 11 !

[tgw]

1 minute ago, KannikaP said:

And people who haven't tried Windows 10 shouldn't. Get 11 !

Well, I can't.

Incompatible processor.

Only newish machines can install it.

[KannikaP]

5 minutes ago, tgw said:

Well, I can't.

Incompatible processor.

Only newish machines can install it.

HKEY LOCAL/SYSTEM/SETUP/MoSETUP/ALLOWUPGRADES etc REG D-WORD = 1 0x0000001 (1)

New D-WORD (32 bit) AllowUpgradesWith UnsupportedTPMorCPU = 1

Been there and done it successfully.

[JimmyJ]

14 minutes ago, tgw said:

some people can't help talking in riddles

That explains it as well as anything else I guess.

 

Asks for help, dozens of replies, happily resolves it and announces that but keeps the resolution secret!

 

Ridiculous.

 

[tgw]

2 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

HKEY LOCAL/SYSTEM/SETUP/MoSETUP/ALLOWUPGRADES etc REG D-WORD = 1 0x0000001 (1)

New D-WORD (32 bit) AllowUpgradesWith UnsupportedTPMorCPU = 1

Been there and done it successfully.

good to know it's possible, but since I rely on this laptop for working, I won't try to upgrade anything unless absolutely necessary.

[KannikaP]

17 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

By the way, gentlemen, I have me a nice new free antivirus program (one recommended on this thread) working for me right now. My CPU usage is way down, too.   And I just feel better about humanity in general.

 

39 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

For some reason you don't want to name it?

It's called WINDOWS DEFENDER ! 

[KannikaP]

4 minutes ago, tgw said:

good to know it's possible, but since I rely on this laptop for working, I won't try to upgrade anything unless absolutely necessary.

Do a full back-up/System Restore first, then try it. You can always go back.

I find my PCs to be 'snappier' probably saving me milliseconds per day.

Nice rounded corners on open Windows, and a 5hitty START menu system....hate it.