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Antivirus - gaming question

s1njin

Senior member
Do you guys disable A/V while gaming or do you leave it enabled? Just wondering what the collective opinions/findings are. Thanks much.


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I have found anti-viruses to basically be a virus that may or may not stop you from getting a virus. They typically be have like viruses, with all the popups and mysterious hard drive activity and memory usage. They aren't that effective. They are expensive (those that aren't free).

So I don't have an anti-virus in use while gaming, or while I'm using my computer period. A better method is to just not be stupid about what you download and where you troll on the internet. Also keeping you security updates up to date is a good plan as well. Using these steps I haven't gotten a virus on my main machine in years.
 
Right, because the ads of reputable sites have never been hijacked or had malicious content slipped into them. Good luck with that.

Easier and safer solution is to install Microsoft Security Essentials and forget about it. It's free, it works and you won't notice it.
 
I keep mine running as long as it doesn't cause any slow downs which generally it does not. Sometimes I do disable though.
 
If you use the right Antivirus, you should have no reason to ever disable it. Another MSE user here. Doesn't affect my gaming at all.
 
I have found anti-viruses to basically be a virus that may or may not stop you from getting a virus. They typically be have like viruses, with all the popups and mysterious hard drive activity and memory usage. They aren't that effective. They are expensive (those that aren't free).

So I don't have an anti-virus in use while gaming, or while I'm using my computer period. A better method is to just not be stupid about what you download and where you troll on the internet. Also keeping you security updates up to date is a good plan as well. Using these steps I haven't gotten a virus on my main machine in years.

thats never a good idea. Often its not the user or interaction from the user. Software exploits..etc.
Actually if you recall the Blaster virus i think it was. All you had to do was get online and you would be infected from servers. I had dial up at the time, i got infected within 2 minutes of logging into my Netzero ISP after a fresh install and first time logging online with it only to see that dreaded computer shutting down error.
that happened to me like 4 times, i had to get pre patched before i could even get online.

but with Botnets and even Bios infections, its very risky when malware exists that don't require any user interaction or viewable indicators
 
I use KIS 2012 and leave it on always . I just check the gaming box within the app and it never disturbs me at all...
 
Running an anti-virus isn't going to hurt your FPS in games, but it can impact load times.

Personally, I keep my anti-virus off all of the time, and only run a full scan every once and a while. It's never turned up anything, but I keep Windows up to date, don't click on random links, download shady crap, and have JavaScript disabled by default.
 
+1

Really, the days of needing to turn of AV while you game ended like 10 years ago.

Yes seriously. Have not used a paid or free one that interrupts my gaming habits in more than a decade.

I have even seen one that uses memory.. Causes pop up issues. It's been a non-issue for long it is an after though.
 
MSE is pretty amazing. it won't whisper or ever cause annoyances. can't even tell its there.
Norton AV 2011 is same way, it just adds its own firewall and browser protection stuff and has hueristics.
 
I once got a trojan while loading a definition on dictionary.com... so I run Kaspersky. Running anti-virus will slow down your computer, but it really depends on how fast your system is. On my 5+ year old pc games run fine with it enabled. But I'd be lucky if I could check my e-mail while it's downloading the updates...

On my my new low-end laptop with a duel core amd I can run the update and perform other demanding tasks like dvd shrink/dvd decryptor just fine.

I also have to completely disable protection in order to download large updates in iTunes, or other large downloads or else the download fails. Or sometimes during software installation.
 
I've been using Kaspersky Internet Security package for like 5 years now, never turn it off and have not had a single problem at all.
 
I leave mine running along with a ton of other stuff.

Only time I run into problems is if they detect something while gaming and then all hell breaks loose.
 
I've always left the AV on while gaming, mostly because I forget to turn it back on afterwards and I only remember a couple of weeks later. But recently, I've used both MSE and Avast, and both are pretty good. Really unobtrusive, low with memory usage, low-profile in general.

I have found anti-viruses to basically be a virus that may or may not stop you from getting a virus. They typically be have like viruses, with all the popups and mysterious hard drive activity and memory usage. They aren't that effective. They are expensive (those that aren't free).

So I don't have an anti-virus in use while gaming, or while I'm using my computer period. A better method is to just not be stupid about what you download and where you troll on the internet. Also keeping you security updates up to date is a good plan as well. Using these steps I haven't gotten a virus on my main machine in years.
Just wondering, when was the last time you actually used an antivirus?
 
I wasn't using an Anti virus for about 10 years. About 2 years ago I started using MS SE because I upgraded to an i7 rig and boat loads of RAM, plus an SSD. I've zero issues with anything. Period.

You have to remember, the important thing here is not to do anything stupid 🙂
 
My Norton AV detects when I start a game and goes into silent mode. It updates when I exit the game. I never turn it off. The realtime protection performance hit is negligible even when it's not in silent mode.
 
I have not ran antivirus software in 5+ years. Unless you got a grandma using computer, just ditch it, not really worth it anymore.
 
MSE has no real impact. Although, I've been tempted to see if it makes a difference to disable it on my E-350 netbook. Given the E-350 CPU is pretty weak it might make a noticeable difference to disable the A/V, but I certainly wouldn't bother on a powerful desktop.
 
So I don't have an anti-virus in use while gaming, or while I'm using my computer period. A better method is to just not be stupid about what you download and where you troll on the internet. Also keeping you security updates up to date is a good plan as well. Using these steps I haven't gotten a virus on my main machine in years.

This is awful advice to follow.

Being careful with what you do is not mutually exclusive to having an AV program installed.
 
I leave my Avast 6 on,it even has gaming/silent mode if you require to select that option,never had issues with it while gaming.
 
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