AV-Test regularly examines antivirus software for different operating systems and provides a summary every month. Other than the level of protection and security provided, they also test how different antivirus software affect the performance of your computer.
As per the numbers released for December 2017 for Windows operating system, antivirus software could slow down (average numbers):
- Loading time of websites (Standard PC: 11%, High-End PC: 16%)
- Download of apps (Standard: 4%, High-End: 3%)
- Launching of apps (Standard: 15%, High-End: 9%)
- Installation of apps (Standard: 26%, High End: 35%)
- Copying of files (Standard: 7%, High End: 18%)
The configuration for AV-Test’s standard PC included an Intel Xeon X3360 (2.83GHz) with 4GB RAM and 500GB storage. Their high-end PC packed an Intel Core i7 3770 (3.40GHz), 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD storage.
If we talk about individual numbers, Avast which is a known name in the security market did fine with its numbers tending towards the average. Windows 10’s built-in security software Windows Defender seems to slow down the app installation for standard machines by up to 42%, but it doesn’t affect the download of apps at all.
In a nutshell, almost every security product could have an impact on your system performance in one way or the other. But this doesn’t mean you should start avoiding AV software. The digital world is full of malicious stuff.
You can take a look at the test results using this link.
