Free lightweight anti-virus

[chopkinsca]

My computer suffered a terrible fate and now I'm back on a crappy computer. It only has 1GB of RAM, so I need a good anti-virus that doesn't take up much system resources. Any help would be appreciated.

[Zanieon]

https://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

[Hellser]

I'd suggest Avast, but not sure how it'll handle on a 1GB system.. get some RAM, boy!

[chopkinsca]

Avast is what I usually used to use, but wasn't sure if there is anything better out there. I'd love more RAM, but I'm too poor for that.

[raymoohawk]

is it too bad not to have anti virus?

[SuperSomariDX]

Depends on how confident you won't be vulnerable to those "drive-by" viruses. Always good to have at least some line of defense.

[phantombeta]

Windows Defender should be fine if you have 8(.1), I believe...

[Project Shadowcat]

Windows Defender should be fine if you have 8(.1), I believe...

If Windows 8.1 even runs on 1 GB of RAM, I would be impressed.

is it too bad not to have anti virus?

I use a combination of BitDefender (about to swap to Windows Defender...) and a custom HOSTS file via the program HostsMan.

[DoomRater]

Windows Defender should be fine if you have 8(.1), I believe...

If Windows 8.1 even runs on 1 GB of RAM, I would be impressed.

Seems fine on my tablet.

[Dancso]

Personally I don't have an antivirus service running. I think it's a total waste of resources if you've got a good eye for risky material.
I do use COMODO firewall, though.

Whenever I download something that seems fishy to me, I use https://www.virustotal.com
This does require you to upload the file or archive in question, so it may not be preferable if you're trying to save on bandwidth.
Alternatively when I feel the need of a thorough scan, I get the free Dr Web, which requires no installing: http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=en
It has the ability to scan every nook and cranny of your PC, not just your everyday files.

[Hellser]

I actually have to do virus cleanup duty around the house. All anti-viruses today are meant to give you a shield - and like all shields, there are ways around them. It's not a forcefield or a bubble that cannot be penetrated. Avast is meant for the more nastier stuff (Worms, Viruses, the stuff that actually destroys your Windows and / or your computer, if they're mischievous enough). I would recommend now a days something that fights against malware, since they're becoming more virus-like. Malwarebytes, SpyBot: Search and Destroy, there's tons of them out there. Choose one you like.

I would like to mention now that some viruses actually cause mayhem when you're trying to install an anti-virus. So it's good practice to have atleast one anti-virus installed. If you are confident in your abilities to not accidently download viruses, then you can keep the shields off, let alone; the program it self. But as mentioned earlier in this thread; "Drive-by" viruses happen. They can appear in jpgs, mp3s, website code, etc. Keep that in mind as well. It's not how good an anti-virus is. It's how good the user is to avoid questionable content.

[Nevander]

They can appear in jpgs, mp3s, website code, etc. Keep that in mind as well.

I've always wondered, how the hell do viruses get inside images and audio files? Sometimes when I scan files I see that it reports two files even though the file is just a single file, like a PNG image for example. I know it's not a thumbnail because I have those turned off and I can see there's no hidden system thumbnail file or thumbs.db or anything.

[Hellser]

There's many methods, but usually these are inert viruses that are waiting for a companion virus on the system to extract what it needs out of it. A quick google search will lead you to debates if these things can contain viruses. MOSTLY however, they're "Bob - The Bob Song.mp3.exe" - as Windows often hides extensions. It is under my belief that anything can be a virus. Just be careful. Very careful.

[Dancso]

They might also try to target a vulnerability in the program that reads the file. If there are parts of the application's code that can be overridden on the fly, it could inject itself, extract and run the malicious code it was hiding. (this is why Java is so freaked out about, especially since it can be embedded into webpages, so the applet itself might be of malicious intent to begin with)

I do make sure to use non-Microsoft programs whenever there's a better alternative, because the stock applications are probably the ones targeted most often. (though anything except Internet ExploDer should be fairly okay)
The most important tool in avoiding viruses is your consciousness - I'm pretty sure that trojans are the leading cause for infected computers.

I highly suggest turning off the "hide extensions" feature in your file manager. I almost fell victim to those .exe "audio" files while hunting down some of the remixes played on the Doom Radio. At this point I'm convinced that these fake music sites automatically collect various authors' work without their permission. Not to mention the cheeky "buy this album button" and whatnot, with the proceeds not even going to the person who made it.

[ibm5155]

Avast is working fine on a celeron 1,6GHz with 1gb ram
-it's not the best, I already got a freaking trash machine, there was a fake antivirus that actually was a virus, and the funniest part, avg was installed on it, and he just replly that the system was clean.
That virus blocked all the antivirus to be installed except avg for a funny reason...
After a fight with that machine, I could clean it by hmm 90%, I put many virus removal tools, and I let avast on it, and it did almost a good job, the only shit was that some windows file got infected (I think it was the explorer.exe) So I couldn't do many things on it, the virus was running, but at least, it was blocking all the http acess he was trying to do.

Nowadays, you may think you don't have a virus, but that's the cool part of this new virus generation, they don't want to hurt your computer performance or data.
They just don't want to be detected, they would only do is collect data, add ads over browsers and plus, BOTNETS *__*

Today, I would say that a good way to avoid virus is to have some anti-virus that prevent you to acessing infected websites/files, and also, use 100% legal files form legal websites.

And don't never use a torrent client, it'll just fuck with your firewall (since it'll say hello world for every computer on it, making a firewall useless)
I'll not lie, I got a ddos by torrent one day, it was really scary O_o