Anti Virus Protection for Gaming

Hey Guys,
Just bought a new Alienware M14X r2 and was wondering what you are using for virus protection that won't slow down the system while gaming. I plan on surfing the web as well so I'm pretty sure I need some sort of protection.

Thanks

 

Different people have different preferences, but for sure I can tell you that ESPECIALLY if you plan to do online gaming, DONT GET MCAFEE.

Not only is it a pretty poor application in and of itself, but it gives you an option to "Allow Always", and yet it will continually pop up when you open the same application.
The problem with it popping up all the time is that it doesn't allow you to connect when it sees the connection as being harmful, so you won't be able to connect.

So that's kinda my rant, PC mag has pretty consistently rated Norton as being the top anti-virus. As it happens it's the one I use myself, and don't really have complaints about it. It pops up every now and again but doesn't interrupt me from doing anything. The biggest selling point to it is that oftentimes I forget I have it. So that combined with being protected, to me, is a great thing.

 

I don't want to start a war, but I must offer that I have used McAfee going on 15 years now and I have yet to have a problem or have a virus get on my machine. Everyone will have a war story about their virus application and how it wronged them, so bottom line, it's an application and you have to learn how to use it for it to be effective and as intrusive or un-intrusive as you like.

 

I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and does the job.

Previously, I used Avast and AVG. Also free options.

 

I do play some online gaming and plan on getting Diablo 3 which requires online connection. Does Norton or other paid anti virus programs require a yearly fee. I don't mind paying for a decent one but after a year I don't want to have to shell out another $60 bucks to keep it updated and running. Also, I read somewhere that some programs have a gaming option which will shut the protection down while playing. Any thoughts?

 

I use free stuff: Avast!. It works perfectly, once you disable the 'beautiful' female voice that goes out each time a database update is completed.

 

I use AVG and MalwareBytes.

Haven't had a virus, keylogger, trojan, etc. in years and I go to questionable websites to stream TV shows almost daily even though I pay for premium cable that I never use

Other helpful security tool addons for the browser:
- AdBlockPlus FF/Chrome
- NoScript FF; ScriptNo Chrome
- WOT FF/Chrome
- McAfee Site Advisor FF/Chrome

Having all this will turn your M14X into Fort Knox.

 

For me I use Microsoft Security Essential (MSE) and Malwarebytes. Also never had a single virus that pass through the AV when under the combo protection of MSE & Malwarebytes since I bought the laptop back in June last year and the best part is that both of which are FREE (except for MalwareBytes, but the free version is pretty much like the paid except for the email support thingy). And both of them also consume very little memory both during idle and virus scanning, so I highly recommend you to use the combination of the two, because it seem that whatever the virus MSE cant detect, Malwarebytes would complement that, vice versa, so it is the perfect ultimate FREE protection.

In case you want to install it here is the Link:
- Microsoft Security Essential
- Malwarebytes

 

If you do not visit malicious websites or try different softwares and are pretty sure you wont be infected, go with free stuff like AVG, AVIRA, MSE etc..

But if you use lot of different pendrives, usb HDD's, download from torrents, different sites, surf in dark territory, i belive you should stick with paid options that have better proactive features and stronger AV engine such as bitdefender, kaspersky, eset nod32 etc

for free, my choice will be : MSE/ AVG
paid, my choices are: ESET NOD32/ Kaskepersky ( both are light on system and extremely efficient. Bitdefender is bit of resource hog)

 

If you don't mind spending about $15 then Kaspersky is an excellent AV product. The overhead is very small compared to other programs, and it's a well supported and well tested platform. ...just my 2 cents worth, I've been using it for years and haven't has a virus yet, and I game all the time.

 

Yeah I'd like to point out by this point that as you can see, everyone has recommended a wide variety of anti-viruses, which doesn't mean it makes your decision more complicated, just means that really anything you go with should do the job just right.

One thing I will stress though is definitely get (quote) AdBlockPlus FF/Chrome! If not for security reasons, it blocks those youtube ads that occur mid-video. <_<

 

I personally have on my R2 AVG & Malwarebytes... (switched from Avast)

Ive been Virus Free... ::Knocks on Wood::

AVG barely uses any RAM... You can scan your whole computer, play D3 and Listen to music and never even notice a slow down on your R2... Lol...

Browser: Chrome
Torrent: uTorrent
Maintenance: Tuneup Utilities 2012

 

A good source to check when looking for an antivirus solution is AV Comparatives. What they do is independently test all the antivirus applications every quarter, and rank the results. You can then see which ones are actually most effective at catching viruses while avoiding false positives.

Kaspersky was their product of the year in 2011. (Avast scores highest of the free options, though.)

 

Kaspersky 2012 ftw!
Never had any problems while gaming.

 

Will Microsoft essentials slow gaming down?

 

Thanks for all the tips and replies. I ended up purchasing Kaspersky 2012 from Frys for $60.00. They have a $60 mail-in rebate so it will basically be for free. When the one year subscription runs out I can purchase a new one that also runs a rebate. It seems like most of even the paid virus protection programs out there have really good rebate offers.