How To Password Protect Your USB Stick/External HDD in 3 Easy Ways

USB thumb drives/ external HDD are small, portable, and can be read on any device with a USB port. These features make them the perfect vehicles to transport data between computers. Due to their portability, however, they are also easily lost. Thus sensitive files callired on a USB stick should always be protected.

Unfortunately, you cannot simply password protect your entire USB stick, like you have password protected your Facebook account. Tools that will seriously protect your your data, all work with encryption. Unless you want to invest in a secure flash drive with hardware encryption, you can use freeware applications to achieve a similar level of protection. This article summarizes some of the easiest ways to password protect files and folders on your computer.

1. Manually Save Files With a Password

As mentioned above, you can’t safely password protect your entire USB stick without using encryption. However, if you shy away from the time consuming encryption process of entire folders and need a really quick way to only protect a few selected files, maybe you can simply save those with a USB password.

Many programs, including Word and Excel, allow you to save files with a password. For example in Word, while the document is open, go to > Tools > Options and switch to the Security tab. Now enter a Password to open, click OK, re-enter the password when asked, and finally save your document and don’t forget the password.

2. Create An Encrypted & Password Protected Partition With Rohos Mini Drive

Many tools can encrypt and password protect your data. Most, however, require Administrator rights to run on any given computer. Unfortunately, this is also the case for one of the best encryption tools: TrueCrypt. Tools like these are not a viable solution if you need to securely transfer data to a computer where you do not have Administrator rights.

Rohos Mini Drive, on the other hand, is a tool that will work whether or not you possess Administrator rights. The free edition can create a hidden, encrypted, and password protected partition of up to 2GB on your USB flash drive. The tool uses automatic on-the-fly encryption with AES 256 bit key length. Thanks to the portable Rohos Disk Browser, which is installed directly on your flash drive, no encryption drivers need to be available on the local system. Subsequently the protected data will be accessible anywhere.

Once you have created a password protected and encrypted container on your external drive, you can open it by clicking the Rohos Mini.exe icon from the root folder. After entering the password, your Rohos disk will be mounted and accessible via your Computer, i.e. the directory of all drives and partitions connected to your system. To close your Rohos partition, right-click the Rohos icon in the Windows taskbar notification area and select Disconnect.

A more detailed description of Rohos Mini Drive can be read in my PDF guide The Office Worker’s 101 Guide to a USB Thumb Drive.

3. Lock Your Flash Drive with USB Safeguard

Like Rohos Mini Drive, USB Safeguard is a portable app that runs directly from your flash drive and thus does not require Administrator rights on the local computer. It uses on-the-fly AES 256 bit encryption. The free version is limited to drive size of 2GB.

Download the usbsafeguard.exe and copy it to your USB flash drive. Run it from your flash drive and enter a password to lock the drive. To unlock it, run the file again and enter the password. The locking procedure must be repeated every time you want the drive to be locked as the tool will remember its last status, i.e. locked or unlocked. This also means that you can change the password every time you use USB Safeguard.

Let me know your questions here :  Snehal[at]Tehcprocee[dot]com. Stay Tuned. 

Motorola Moto X Review tells us why it is a game changer

After launching in August last year, the Motorola Moto X is finally ready to come to our shores. Earlier today Flipkart teased the imminent launch of the flagship device and reports claim that it could arrive as early as next week. Our site www.TechProceed.com put the device through its paces in its extensive review after the launch in US. Let’s see just how good the phone is and if it can replicate the immense success of the Moto G in India.

First let’s take a look at the specifications — the Moto X features a 4.7-inch 720p display, 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, 10-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front camera, 16GB of internal storage, 2,220mAh battery and on the software front, it runs on Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.It also has what the company calls the Motorola X8 Mobile processor, which is essentially a low power consuming co-processor that stays awake while the phone is in sleep mode. This not only enables the always-on voice command and active display features but also ensures that the Moto X has a longer battery life as the main processor is not activated unless required for processor intensive tasks.

DESIGN

From what we have seen so far, the Moto X looks like a really well-built device with premium-ness oozing out of it. The front is dominated by the display with little space wasted by bezels and the textured pattern at the back gives it a nice look.

TechProceed echoes our feelings, “The Moto X is made out of a combination of glossy plastic and soft touch plastic, letting the phone feel premium and look great without sacrificing weight or comfort.”

“The display is bonded to the plastic front frame using a new manufacturing process that practically eliminates the border around the screen. It makes you feel as if you’re just holding the display in your hand when you use it, and everything else just melts away,” it adds.

DISPLAY

A 4.7-inch display with a pixel resolution of 1280×720 pixels and a density of 312ppi will not set the comparison tables on fire. But with “user experience over specification race” the motto, Motorola has instead gone for a display size that is comfortable to hold in one’s hands and a resolution which does all it is expected to without any fuss.

TechProceed noted, “While it looks overly saturated and bright because it’s an AMOLED screen, the screen does look sharp and clear, with a 312ppi that makes text look beautiful.”

CAMERAS

Again in this department, Motorola gone for cameras that are good enough to click decent pictures easily rather than overwhelm a regular user with a barrage of options. The company claims that almost everyone clicks a picture without delving into the settings and hence a lot of features are automated.

Talking about the 10-megapixel camera at the back, TechProceed says, “The camera isn’t quite as amazing as Motorola made it out to be, and overall not as good as say the iPhone 5. It’s not a bad camera by any means and it’s nice to see companies like Motorola pushing camera technology forward on Android smartphones.”

PROCESSING POWER/BATTERY

As mentioned above, the Moto X is powered by a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor paired with 2GB of RAM. In addition to that the Moto X also has something called the Motorola X8 Mobile processor, which essentially powers the device’s Touchless Control, Active Display and other always-listening gestures. It may not be top of the line specs, but it never feels under powered either.

Since one of the most important aspects of a nice user experience is not having to charge your phone twice a day, the battery had to be powerful enough to survive all the tasks. Luckily it is and TechProceed notes, “Moving on to the battery, this is easily the best performing Android device in this regard, and lasts for days on standby, even with Active Display running. It also easily powers through one whole day of non-stop usage. It’s downright impressive.”

SOFTWARE/UI

Though it originally shipped with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, it has since been upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat and in fact will launch in India with the latest version of Android running out of the box. The OS on the Moto X is a near stock Android and hence there is hardly any bloatware. This is always a positive and the device doesn’t disappoint.

EXTRAS

With user experience the top priority, there are a lot of value additions on this device. The ability to wake up the phone by saying “OK Google Now”, the active display that shows the time and important notifications without having to wake up the device and other options like Motorola Assist and Motorola Connect really change the way we use a smartphone. Like the Moto G, the flagship device too has a nano coating which makes it water repellent to a certain degree.

CONCLUSION

The Motorola Moto X then may not win the smartphone race as far as specifications are concerned. But what it ensures is that you cruise to the finish line and enjoy every moment of the journey.

TechProceed concludes, “The Moto X is not the fastest phone in the world. It’s also not the most cutting-edge, it doesn’t feature the biggest display, and it isn’t the thinnest Android phone. However, there is absolutely no doubt that the Moto X is the most amazing Android phone I have ever used, and I think most people will agree.”

“Motorola’s new hero phone offers up the most seamless and integrated Android experience on the market, and it does this without changing the core Android experience practically at all. There are truly great, well thought out features, that together make this phone a bonafide smash, and it really is Android’s iPhone,” it adds.

Motorola Moto G review: The budget performer

The much awaited Moto G, Motorola's economy Android smartphone, has finally been launched in India. The phone has won accolades the world over for its low price and great performance combo, and for bringing the focus back to usability instead of high-end specifications, a trend Motorola started with the Moto X, its flagship smartphone. We try to find out if Moto G really lives up to the hype surrounding it, in our review.

What's in the box

Unlike the international version of the Moto G, the Indian version imported by Flipkart includes a charger and a headset. It doesn't include a USB cable so you'll need to buy one to transfer data to the phone. Other than these, you'll find the user manual and a warranty-related document. The Moto G comes with a standard black coloured back panel, but additional back panels in other colours can be ordered separately.

Build and design

One of the most striking things about the Moto G is its minimalist no-frills design. The phone's look is essentially based on Moto X which is not available in India at this moment.

Moto G feels good to hold despite it being heavy at 143 gram and a bit thick at 11.6mm due to its curved back and rounded corners that take care of ergonomics. The phone is made from plastic materials but feels durable. Although it comes with a removable back panel, the construction is excellent. The back panel fits snugly, with no creaks and wobbles.

At first glance, the only thing you notice is the Moto G's shiny black front panel devoid of any distractions. There's no branding and no hardware buttons. The 1.3MP front camera and a notification LED placed next to the earpiece are the only other components visible.

Turn on the phone, and the 4.5-inch 720p IPS edge-to-edge display comes to life bursting with pixels. The phone's front bezel is designed in a manner so as to put all the focus on the display, making it the centre of attention. On the sides, the bezel is pretty narrow, but it takes up considerable amount of space below the display, which is a good thing as the navigation controls are easily accessible.

There's a minor gap between the edge of the front panel, which is slightly raised, and the display that tends to attract dust particles. The edge may also be susceptible to wear and tear once you start using the phone. The display comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection guarding the screen against scratches. Moto G is the only phone in this price range to feature Gorilla Glass 3.

The right edge of the Moto G features the narrow Power/ Screen lock keys which are made of metal and offer decent tactile feedback. However, we wish the volume rocker key would have been a little longer as we ended up hitting the power key during the initial period of use.

The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top while the micro-USB port is placed at the bottom edge of the phone. There are no ports or buttons on the left edge.

The back of the phone, which is essentially the removable back cover, is curved and sports a rubberized soft matte finish, that makes holding the phone a pleasant experience. It features the phone's 5MP rear camera lens, an LED flash and Motorola logo (in an indent). We also found the back prone to smudges, but it is thankfully easy to clean.

Moto G also comes with a nano-coating that makes is water resistant up to a certain level. It will be able to handle minor splashes, but most likely won't survive a dip in the pool.

Overall, the Moto G is a compact and durable no-frills smartphone that is built to last.

Software

The dual-sim version of Moto G available in India comes with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Motorola has promised that the phone will get the Android 4.4 KitKat software update in the coming days. At the time of filing of this review, our Moto G unit had not received an update and was still running Jelly Bean.

Moto G runs an almost stock version of Android complete with on-screen navigation controls. The interface is close to Google's Nexus 4 except that Motorola also includes some of its own apps. Thankfully, these apps are not bloatware and add to functionality. One of the Motorola app called Assist changes how the phone alerts you during meetings or sleep. If you've used an iPhone, you must have used or come across the Do Not Disturb; Assist is similar and allows you to silence or auto reply to missed calls while you're in a meeting or sleeping. You can choose exceptions for Favourite callers or when someone calls twice.

Another Motorola app bundled with the phone is Moto Care. The app is not only a searchable user guide featuring Tutorials, FAQs, How-tos and actionable tips, it also offers a shortcut key to get in touch with Motorola's customer care. Motorola Migrate allows you to transfer content and settings from your old Android phone or iPhone.

The dual-sim Moto G also comes with settings for managing the behavior of two sim cards, allowing you to choose the default connection for data, calls and messaging.

That's about it. You get a pretty neat slate to customize as per your own preference and use the apps that you wish to.

The Android 4.4 KitKat update is expected to bring some minor cosmetic improvements including white notification icons and a transparent notification bar, a new Phone dialer app, some camera improvements in addition to other changes under the hood.

Camera

Moto G is an economy smartphone and despite the phone delivering more than what other smartphones in the price segment offer, the limitations are apparent when it comes to the camera.

The phone comes with a 5MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front facing camera. The rear camera can capture 720p video and also comes with an LED flash for taking pictures in low-light conditions.

Motorola ships its own camera app with the phone which is pretty bare bones when it comes to offering granular settings but designed keeping in mind the casual camera user. You'll only see two controls - one for switching to the video camera and the other to switch between the front and rear lenses till you swipe from the edge to the right side of the screen to reveal an arc shaped dial that features controls for HDR mode, LED flash, focus & exposure, slow motion, Panorama mode, geo-tagging, widescreen mode and shutter sound. Similar to the Windows Phone camera app, you click pictures by tapping anywhere on the screen. The soft viewfinder can be moved up and down to zoom in and out or shift focus.

We were pretty impressed by the images captured by the Moto G outdoors, during daylight. The images had good amount of detail, reproduced colour accurately and good contrast, especially in HDR mode. Pictures captured in low-light conditions and indoors were not that great but noise levels were comparatively lower than other phones in the same price range.

The rear camera can capture 720p video and we found the quality to be satisfactory.

The front camera comes in handy for taking selfies and for video chats, and does a decent job.

Performance

Moto G is known for offering the level of performance which is only delivered by phones costing Rs 10,000 more than it. At the heart of the phone is the 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor coupled with Adreno 305 graphics and 1GB RAM. We did not notice any lag whatsoever while navigating through the phone's menu, launching apps and switching between them.

We were able to play games like Temple Run 2, Banana Kong, and Asphalt 8 without encountering frame drops or freezes. Despite the limited RAM, the phone is a great gaming device.

In synthetic benchmarks, it beats competitors like the Micromax Canvas Turbo Mini by a margin. The phone scored 17,404 in Antutu, 8574 in Quadrant and 57.9 in Nenamark 2 benchmark tests. Some of these scores are better than the Nexus 4.

Out of the 16GB storage, 12.92GB is available to the user. Unfortunately, you can't expand the storage as the phone doesn't come with a memory card slot. Google is offering 50GB free cloud storage in Google Drive with the phone but we don't see cloud storage going mainstream till data connectivity gets better and data tariffs go cheaper.

Moto G offers Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity options. Interestingly, it comes with a trusted Bluetooth feature allowing you to disable lock screen when the phone is paired with a device specified as 'trusted.' This means you don't need to unlock the screen to change tracks when listening to music via Bluetooth headphones.

Moto G offers excellent call quality and signal reception and we did not encounter issues while making calls even in areas where cell signal is relatively weaker. The phone was able to lock to GPS without any hiccups.

Moto G offers FM radio but unfortunately, you can't listen to it through the phone's speaker even when you've plugged in the headphones to use as an antenna. It also doesn't offer a recording feature. We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats.

The external speaker on the phone offers loud sound output though it lacks bass. Of course the sound gets muffled when the phone lies on its back, which is an issue.

The phone is backed by a 2070 mAh battery and will last you a complete day even if you put the screen brightness at the highest level and use 3G data all the time. You'll be able to make about 2-3 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and browse the web in this time period. The phone can play video continuously for 7 to 8 hours.

Overall, the Moto G offers impressive performance and using it as our daily driver turned out to be a pleasant experience.

Verdict

There has been a vacuum in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 price segment when it comes to quality Android smartphones. Indian brands do somewhat fill the gap but the after-sales experience has left many customers high and dry. Also, the build quality and finish of these devices leaves a lot to be desired.

The Moto G addresses this very segment delivering great performance at an affordable price. We would not shy away for calling it a value for money proposition as the phone is well built and comes with the promise of latest software. We hope Motorola (even after completion of its acquisition by Lenovo) continues to offer software updates and ensures good level of on-ground after sales support.

There's no other Android phone we can recommend in the price segment. If you're fine with Windows Phone and want a better camera, the Nokia Lumia 720 is a good option.

Best and Lightest Antivirus Software (reviewed using actual memory usage tests)

One of the most common things users do to try and keep their computer running as smooth as possible, is keep control over which programs start with Windows. Having just a few memory or processor hungry programs loading into the system tray on boot can have an adverse affect on the performance of your computer. One of the most common applications that will load with Windows and stay resident in the background while the system is on, will be your chosen antivirus software. Have you ever wondered which are the lightest antivirus packages available and which ones don’t do so well on memory usage?

It’s maybe not such a major issue for newer computers these days having an antivirus which isn’t especially memory efficient because they often come equipped with 4GB or more of RAM. But if your computer isn’t the latest and greatest, using a package which might possibly be eating hundreds of Megabytes of system memory could slow your computer down considerably at inopportune moments. To find out just how much memory gets used by running antivirus software, we’ve decided to gather together a mixture of 25 popular commercial and free antivirus packages to see how they perform.

How We Tested

As you might expect, testing an antivirus product for its memory usage is certainly not an exact science because the program is never standing still and nearly always doing something in the background. A problem with taking memory readings is there are several different numbers you can look at. The two memory readings we paid most attention to were “Working Set” and “Private Working Set” (WS Private), which do two things:

• Working Set – This is the amount of memory used by the process PLUS the amount of memory that is shared with other processes. As such, this value isn’t truly accurate because shared memory can be double counted due to the same resource being registered in multiple processes. It does though represent the maximum amount of non virtual memory in use by the process. This is the default memory column in the Windows XP Task Manager.

• Private Working Set – Is similar to Working Set, but excludes the shared memory. This is only the the amount of memory in use by the process itself and isn’t shared among other processes. Private Working Set is perhaps a more accurate indication of how much physical memory the process itself is using, and is also the default memory column for Task Manager in Windows Vista/7/8.

We decided to approach this task by gathering memory readings over a period of time. 10 readings were taken for each product at 30 second intervals, totaling 5 minutes of monitoring during idle and another 5 minutes while running a scan. The average score was then taken for each antivirus with all processes created by the application added together. All antivirus software was fully updated before testing using windows 7 32-bit, and the memory readings were taken using Sysinternals Process Explorer.

Below are the results for each antivirus package along with the average Working Set and Private Working Set scores in Kilobytes (KB) while idle and during a scan. The software is in reverse order with the heaviest Private Working Set usage for idle and scan combined listed first, going down to the lowest score and most efficient. If you want to jump straight to the list of results to see how your antivirus got on, they are at the bottom of page 2.

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25. ZoneAlarm Free AntiVirus + Firewall 11.0.000.504

Number of Processes: 4

Processes Monitored: ISWSVC.exe, vsmon.exe, zatray.exe, ForceField.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 223,260

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 191,472

Scan Working Set (KB): 287,443

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 226,222

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24. Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10.2

Number of Processes: 7

Processes Monitored: swi_service.exe, SavService.exe, SAVAdminService.exe, ALsvc.exe, ALMon.exe, SavProgress.exe, SavMain.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 216,482

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 192,436

Scan Working Set (KB): 467,817

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 198,452

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23. Emsisoft Anti-Malware 7.0.0.21

Number of Processes: 3

Processes Monitored: a2guard.exe, a2service.exe, a2start.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 131,158

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 125,337

Scan Working Set (KB): 251,945

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 240,770

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22. Quick Heal AntiVirus Pro 2013

Number of Processes: 8

Processes Monitored: ScSecSvc.exe, SCANWSCS.EXE, scanner.exe, SAPISSVC.EXE, QUHLPSVC.EXE, OPSSVC.EXE, ONLINENT.EXE, EMLPROXY.EXE

Idle Working Set (KB): 99,090

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 66,134

Scan Working Set (KB): 273,984

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 227,424

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21. McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2013

Number of Processes: 9

Processes Monitored: McAPExe.exe, mcinfo.exe, mcods.exe, McSACore.exe, mcshield.exe, McSvHost.exe, mcsvrcnt.exe, McUICnt.exe, mfefire.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 142,375

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 103,518

Scan Working Set (KB): 239,500

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 184,214

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20. Ad-Aware Free Antivirus + 10.5.2.4379

Number of Processes: 4

Processes Monitored: SBAMSvc.exe, adawarebp.exe, AdAware.exe, AdAwareService.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 162,540

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 118,728

Scan Working Set (KB): 189,223

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 144,394

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19. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 1.0.14.889

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: gziface.exe, gzserv.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 115,559

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 91,742

Scan Working Set (KB): 135,836

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 115,795

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18. Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus + 6.0.1215

Number of Processes: 6

Processes Monitored: uiWatchDog.exe, uiSeAgnt.exe, coreServiceShell.exe, coreFrameworkHost.exe, AMSP_LogServer.exe, WSCStatusController.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 102,208

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 72,754

Scan Working Set (KB): 161,926

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 130,022

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17. Avira Free Antivirus 13.0.0.3499

Number of Processes: 6

Processes Monitored: avgnt.exe, avguard.exe, avshadow.exe, avwebgrd.exe, sched.exe, avscan.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 63,754

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 41,138

Scan Working Set (KB): 199,264

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 157,750

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16. VIPRE Antivirus 2013 6.2.1.10

Number of Processes: 3

Processes Monitored: SBAMSvc.exe, SBAMTray.exe, SBPIMSvc.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 114,098

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 91,981

Scan Working Set (KB): 134,488

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 104,936

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15. NANO Antivirus Free 0.24.0.52214

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: nanosvc.exe, nanoav.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 176,141

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 53,846

Scan Working Set (KB): 287,284

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 131,201

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14. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6.0.316.0

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: egui.exe, ekrn.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 93,616

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 76,441

Scan Working Set (KB): 103,244

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 82,913

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13. Dr.Web Anti-virus 8.0.8.04230

Number of Processes: 6

Processes Monitored: dwarkdaemon.exe, dwengine.exe, dwnetfilter.exe, dwscanner.exe, dwservice.exe, spideragent.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 92,006

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 66,822

Scan Working Set (KB): 117,973

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 90,430

12. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 13.0.1.4190

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: avp.exe, avp.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 65,625

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 52,218

Scan Working Set (KB): 103,377

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 92,105

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11. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 16.28.0.1789

Number of Processes: 5

Processes Monitored: bdagent.exe, downloader.exe, updatesrv.exe, vsserv.exe, odscanui.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 81,360

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 47,658

Scan Working Set (KB): 150,478

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 62,877

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10. Microsoft Security Essentials 4.2.223.0

Number of Processes: 3

Processes Monitored: MsMpEng.exe, msseces.exe, NisSrv.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 70,484

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 51,750

Scan Working Set (KB): 79,103

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 57,787

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9. F-Secure Anti-Virus 12.77 build 100

Number of Processes: 7

Processes Monitored: fsgk32.exe, fshoster32.exe, FSM32.exe, FSMA32.exe, fsorsp.exe, fssm32.exe, fsblsrv.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 62,042

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 40,246

Scan Working Set (KB): 92,386

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 66,819

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8. AVG AntiVirus Free 2013.0.3272

Number of Processes: 7

Processes Monitored: avgcsrvx.exe, avgemcx.exe, avgidsagent.exe, avgnsx.exe, avgrsx.exe, avgui.exe, avgwdsvc.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 194,888

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 34,398

Scan Working Set (KB): 199,628

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 63,403

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7. UnThreat AntiVirus Free 2013 6.2.37.17222

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: utsvc.exe, UnThreat.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 13,615

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 8,953

Scan Working Set (KB): 87,027

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 73,778

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6. Immunet 3.0.8.9025 Free

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: agent.exe, iptray.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 40,413

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 29,304

Scan Working Set (KB): 63,475

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 45,510

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5. Norton AntiVirus 20.3.1.22

Number of Processes: 4

Processes Monitored: ccsvchst.exe, ccsvchst.exe, ccsvchst.exe, ccsvchst.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 59,304

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 19,362

Scan Working Set (KB): 111,094

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 52,576

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4. Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 2.1.1

Number of Processes: 4

Processes Monitored: PSUNMain.exe, PSUAService.exe, PSUAMain.exe, PSANHost.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 31,714

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 20,340

Scan Working Set (KB): 76,498

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 41,172

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3. Comodo Antivirus Free 6.1.275152.2801

Number of Processes: 4

Processes Monitored: cavwp.exe, cis.exe, CisTray.exe, cmdagent.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 39,664

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 14,954

Scan Working Set (KB): 105,317

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 34,453

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2. Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus 2013 8.0.2.127

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: WRSA.exe, WRSA.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 3,823

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 2,726

Scan Working Set (KB): 9,949

Scan Private Working Set (KB): 7,673

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1. Avast! Free Antivirus 8.0.1483

Number of Processes: 2

Processes Monitored: AvastSvc.exe, AvastUI.exe

Idle Working Set (KB): 9,706

Idle Private Working Set (KB): 4,290

Scan Working Set (KB): Resets every 10 seconds

Scan Private Working Set (KB): Resets every 10 seconds

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Results and Summary

The result tables are simply split into two, one for the idle memory usage and one for the usage during a virus scan, both in alphabetical order. The colors are self explanatory with green the lightest antivirus and yellow second best. At the other end, red is the heaviest and orange the next most memory hungry.

Average Memory Scores While Idle

Average Memory Scores During a Scan

Summary

• It was quite a surprise to see a couple of antivirus packages actually using an average of nearly 200MB while sitting idle. ZoneAlarm was also very high in both scores during scanning while the Sophos Working Set score more than doubled. Do note that ZoneAlarm does include a firewall though, and doesn’t have a version without it.

• On the positive side, Webroot SecureAnywhere proves that cloud antivirus packages can be extremely efficient in memory usage, and it was very good in both idle and scanning scores. You’ll also note that both Working Set and WS Private were very close together so it’s also not consuming shared resources from other programs.

• Avast is the most popular free antivirus around today, and its memory usage is quite impressive. During scanning Avast kept flushing its memory every 10 seconds which kept usage at a very low level, and it should never grow above a small number of Megabytes. Idle resource usage was also very impressive. For efficient memory usage, Avast is the no.1 free antivirus by far.

• Some small surprises were Comodo, Bitdefender Free and Avira for different reasons. While Comodo seems to have improved its memory efficiency in recent times, Avira appears to have gone in the opposite direction. What used to be possibly the lightest antivirus package you could get for free, is now quite heavy on memory usage, especially during a scan. Although Bitdefender’s memory did fluctuate a lot, on average it still consumes a lot of memory for a program with virtually no features or options.

Final Note: While these results obviously test the antivirus memory usage, they don’t take into account the features present in each application and its detection rates. Therefore you shouldn’t automatically assume lighter is better because a more memory efficient program might not have the amount of features of an antivirus using a few more Megabytes. If your current package is hungry for memory, this does give you a good idea of what the lightest antivirus packages are that you might like to look at a bit closer.