4 ms·

> In my experience, anti-virus software really slows a machine down, almost to the point that it might be better off with the virus instead That's ridiculous.

by ionised 12y ago

> In my experience, anti-virus software really slows a machine down, almost to the point that it might be better off with the virus instead That's ridiculous. It has been a hell of a long time since antivirus applications affected the performance of a machine that way. The performance impact on any remotely modern machine is negligible. And under no circumstance is it 'better off with the virus instead'.

Karunamon 12y ago
I know of at least, Intego's product for Mac OS as late as a couple months ago (got it as part of a bundle, installed, was horrified, uninstalled a day later), as well as CheckPoint endpoint security live up to the stereotype of antivirus programs being bloated system hogs. Really, look at what they do. They pre-emptively scan every executable program you run at the least. Unless you're on an SSD, and probably not even then, this is a blocking operation that is impossible to not notice.
- Someone 12y ago
  But Mac OS X scans all code you run to verify code signatures, doesn't it? If so, the performance impact of scanning isn't that high. I think the main problem with antivirus on modern hardware is that commercial entities selling antivirus have to add bells and whistles. Few people would be willing to pay $x a year for a program they aren't even aware of running. So, that $x program makes sure you see it frequently by adding progress displays, toolbars, task bar items, etc. they also make sure they have stuff to report, even if that includes meaningless stuff such as registry keys on Windows. Detecting that meaningless stuff takes time, too.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Taking a hash of the binary and verifying that against a few-k signature at a known location is kind of on a different level performancewise than scanning literally the entire binary looking for various known signatures and applying heuristic analysis. (Windows does the same thing, FWIW) I think you're spot on, but from the scope of a user who knows 90% of that stuff is BS, it's just another bullet point in the list of why I don't run AV software.
oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
"almost to the point that it might be better off with the virus instead - of course, that is highly dependent on the nature of the virus!" Sense the tone. My tongue is clearly planted firmly in my cheek, and if you're too literal to recognise that, at least err on the side of not downvoting. For the record, it's been about 4 years since I used antivirus software on Windows, maybe things have improved since then.
emddudley 12y ago
Hey man, just because you haven't experienced antivirus slowdowns does not mean they do not occur. Perhaps the slowdowns these people are experiencing are due to a system configuration that you have not used. Earlier this year my Windows 7 machine with a Xeon W3565 (3.20 GHz) and 6GB RAM was slowing down noticeably every time Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 downloaded new definitions--something it did twice a day. I would consider this a reasonably powerful machine, and the slowdown had an effect on my ability to work.
acdha 12y ago
> It has been a hell of a long time since antivirus applications affected the performance of a machine that way Do you have the benchmarks to support this claim? Unless things have improved considerably in the last year, simply doing a "git clone" took measurably longer even on a machine with an SSD. Microsoft Security Essentials had by far the lowest impact but it was still easily visible.

by ionised 12y ago

Karunamon 12y ago

I know of at least, Intego's product for Mac OS as late as a couple months ago (got it as part of a bundle, installed, was horrified, uninstalled a day later), as well as CheckPoint endpoint security live up to the stereotype of antivirus programs being bloated system hogs. Really, look at what they do. They pre-emptively scan every executable program you run at the least. Unless you're on an SSD, and probably not even then, this is a blocking operation that is impossible to not notice.

Someone 12y ago
But Mac OS X scans all code you run to verify code signatures, doesn't it? If so, the performance impact of scanning isn't that high. I think the main problem with antivirus on modern hardware is that commercial entities selling antivirus have to add bells and whistles. Few people would be willing to pay $x a year for a program they aren't even aware of running. So, that $x program makes sure you see it frequently by adding progress displays, toolbars, task bar items, etc. they also make sure they have stuff to report, even if that includes meaningless stuff such as registry keys on Windows. Detecting that meaningless stuff takes time, too.
- Karunamon 12y ago
  Taking a hash of the binary and verifying that against a few-k signature at a known location is kind of on a different level performancewise than scanning literally the entire binary looking for various known signatures and applying heuristic analysis. (Windows does the same thing, FWIW) I think you're spot on, but from the scope of a user who knows 90% of that stuff is BS, it's just another bullet point in the list of why I don't run AV software.

oneeyedpigeon 12y ago

"almost to the point that it might be better off with the virus instead - of course, that is highly dependent on the nature of the virus!" Sense the tone. My tongue is clearly planted firmly in my cheek, and if you're too literal to recognise that, at least err on the side of not downvoting. For the record, it's been about 4 years since I used antivirus software on Windows, maybe things have improved since then.

emddudley 12y ago

Hey man, just because you haven't experienced antivirus slowdowns does not mean they do not occur. Perhaps the slowdowns these people are experiencing are due to a system configuration that you have not used. Earlier this year my Windows 7 machine with a Xeon W3565 (3.20 GHz) and 6GB RAM was slowing down noticeably every time Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 downloaded new definitions--something it did twice a day. I would consider this a reasonably powerful machine, and the slowdown had an effect on my ability to work.

acdha 12y ago

> It has been a hell of a long time since antivirus applications affected the performance of a machine that way Do you have the benchmarks to support this claim? Unless things have improved considerably in the last year, simply doing a "git clone" took measurably longer even on a machine with an SSD. Microsoft Security Essentials had by far the lowest impact but it was still easily visible.