On-demand virus scanners?

Are there any AV programs that are only on-demand, no background scanning, good, and free?

I know that with all AV programs one can turn off background protection, but there are still drivers and services running all the time, taking up valuable memory and resources.

On an older computer I have, where the RAM cannot be expanded beyond its current 750MB, which has been running slow lately, I am thinking of uninstalling Symantec Anti Virus.

I bought the paid version of Malwarebytes, which has background malware protection, and I have had that on in the background, as well as SAV.

I figure if I uninstall SAV, I will keep the MBAM background protection. There is lots of overlap, no, as malware includes viruses? I think MBAM may be better than SAV.

I am safe in my browsing habits, and also have the passive protection for IE and Firefox from Spywareblaster and Spybot Search and Destroy running, updated frequently, immunize, etc. (MBAM updated daily too.)

I have Windows Firewall enabled, but no other firewalls.

What do people think? Would it be unsafe to uninstall the background AV program, if I have background MBAM?

If I do that, it might still be good to do an on-demand AV scan once a week or so. Are there apps that could do that, without taking up resources and memory all the time? Are the only on-demand scanners the online ones? Which of those do you think is better5?

Thanks for the info.

 

Well, for an antivirus, I would recommend you download and install Microsoft Security Essentials.
It's light, free and VERY efficient in what it does.

I have no other protection on my laptop aside from that, and I had no problems whatsoever.
Truth be told, you only need very little in terms of protection.

My advice would be to remove everything else and just use MSSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) since it incorporates both antivirus and spyware protection.

Your system can be bogged down easily if you use too much in terms of protection.

 

As an on demand programme I agree, Microsoft Security Essentials is a good choice.

A pure on demand scanner (free) is Malwarebytes.
Might be interesting to you

Edit:
I wouldn't recommend replacing a dedicated anti virus product with an on demand scanner.
The on demand ones are more and additional programme - or in case your dedicated AV fails.

 

You can use Microsoft Security Essentials as an on-demand scan. Turn off real time protection. Stop the process and service when finished the on-demand scan. good and free.

 

Hi. I agree with you that Malwarebytes is good. I agree so much, that I do not only use their free on-demand scanner. I have purchased and use their background scanner. That is why I am wondering if that is enough for a background scanner, and to uninstall my AV, and only use AV apps on-demand.

I have heard good things about MSE. However, although people say it is light on resources, I am not sure that is true. (Something repeated over and over doesn't make it true.) I tried it on one computer, and looked at task manager. With a couple different processes of it running, they added up to more than 50 MB. That is probably a similar amount to most AV-AS apps. I wouldn't say it is any worse than others in that regard, but I think perhaps a myth that it is better.

And yes, I am sure that MSE could be installed and set not to scan in background, but only on demand, as could my current SAV, and others. However, my guess is, like SAV and others, even if set that way, it would still be using memory and resources all the time with drivers, services, and processes, even when set not to background scan. By an on-demand scanner, I meant one that is not using any memory or system resources at all, except when one chooses to use it for a scan. Nothing like that?

 

Well Malwarebytes is an on demand scanner they way you describe it...

Any product that runs continuously needs a service of some sort - so you couldn't disable it fully - also, its designed differently compared to a portable or on demand application.

If you have Malwarebytes in the paid for version - I suppose it should be enough provided you do not do any online banking etc. and practice safe browsing habits.

 

Hi Detlev-

Perhaps we have a different idea of what "on-demand scanner" means.

The free MBAM is only "on-demand". That means--it does not run in the background. It only does a scan when you tell it to.

The paid one also has a background scanner, running all the time, which I have. I think it is so good, that I don't really know if I also need a background AV scanner running all the time as well? After all, malware includes viruses, no?

But not a bad idea to run on-demand scans from various scanners--as long as they are not running in the background all the time. So, if i am going to use an AV scanner totally in on-demand mode, i would want one that has nothing going in the background--but only when i scan with it.

 

Have a look at Hitman Pro.

 

Well, MSSE is not really an on-demand a/v since it's running in the background, but it comes with both antivirus and antispyware, and anyhting else is simply unnecessary (unless you end up with a nasty infection that you can't remove regardless of what you do, in which case MBAM might be handy to have ... but I personally never had issues by running just MSSE).

 

I don't see how an AV would make it any safer than real time MBAM for online banking. Can you explain..

 

What does real time MBAM do?
I think it just monitors files - AVs tend to do more - depending on the product.
Also, how good is MBAM's live detection?