Which Antivirus Utility is Best for Gaming?

keving — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:23:06 +0000

Have you ever been interrupted by your antivirus mid-game by an alert, update, or firewall issue? Some alerts can cause the screen to ‘freeze’ within the Oculus Rift. We all know how nauseating that can be! I’ve tried a few different Antivirus utilities over the years, and I’m going to go over a handful of them in this article. This list is in no particular order.

Comodo

Ranked #5 Performance – AV-test.org

Screenshot: Comodo Antivirus Game Mode

Game Mode – Use ‘Comodo Game Mode’ to enable you to play your games without any interruptions from various alerts in your computer. The operations that can interfere with users’ gaming experience are either suppressed or postponed.

“In game mode:

Defense+/Firewall alerts are suppressed as if they are in training mode;
AV database updates and scheduled scans are postponed until the gaming is over;
Automatic isolation of unknown applications and real-time virus detection are still functional.“

What I can tell you is that if you do not put Comodo into gaming mode before you gear up with the DK2, you may get an alert which will most likely pause the screen within the Rift.

Pros: Gaming mode, high performance
Cons: Comodo packs a product called ‘GeekBuddy’ and a browser called Chromodo with it’s AV. Although Chromodo can be helpful to cruise the net in a sandboxed environment, GeekBuddy is just bloatware aimed at people who can’t figure out how to run a scan.

Summary: I give Comodo a 4/5, and even though it may not be the most protective, I do enjoy the performance.

Download Comodo

Avast

Ranked #2 Usability – AV-test.org
Awarded 2015 AV Comparatives award “Advanced” – Real-World Protection Test – 2015 Mar to Jun

Pros: One of the most highly rated AV’s on the market, Free option.
Cons: Avast has been reported to be too aggressive on some systems, deleting important files. I never had this issue though. Free version is very restricted.

Summary: In my opinion the free version of Avast locks too many utilities – 4/5.

Download Avast

AVG

Ranked #3 Usability – AV-test.org
Awarded 2015 AV Comparatives award “Advanced+” – Real-World Protection Test – 2015 Jul

Pros: AVG is one of the most highly rated free Antiviruses for protection with a 97.2% protection rate.
Cons: I had to uninstall AVG free because I couldn’t stand the constant nagging to upgrade, the brash attempts to download unwanted software on my computer, and the pointless upgrades just to sneak new bloatware onto users computers.

Summary: I give AVG a 3/5, for gaming performance issues.

Download AVG

McAfee

Ranked #7 in Protection – AV-test.org
Awarded 2015 AV Comparatives award “Advanced+” – Real-World Protection Test – 2015 May

Warning! video NSFW

Pros: Inspires video uploads from John McAfee.
Cons: You will pay around $40 a year for this AV.

Summary: I give McAfee a 3/5 for gaming performance issues and hefty pricetag.

Download McAfee

Webroot

Although seemingly one of the gamers favorites, Webroot has continually ranked last or near last on av-comparatives.org. Apparently it is so bad that av-comparitives have stopped testing Webroot in 2013! Webroot has recently released a gaming specific AV.

Screenshot from AV-Compartives.org, Webroot is represented by the green diamonds

Pros: Offers a Gaming version with realtime cloud updates so to not disturb your harddrive.
Cons: 87% protection rate.

Summary: I have yet to try the Gaming Anitvirus offered by Webroot, may be worth a look.

Download Webroot

Malware Bytes

Malware Bytes is not technically an Antivirus, but an anti Malware utility. I recommend running this alongside your antivirus for more protection.

Other honorable mentions that I have yet to test out:

What antivirus do you gamers use?

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