Guys, Hello
I’m creating this topic because I have a lot of doubts about the size of Avast installed on the computer.
I’ve been checking other security products, several of them have a size below 350MB, Eset reaches 90MB installed.
The question is:
1- Because Avast has 1.88GB, almost 2GB installed on the PC.
2 - I think the program is bloated, or is there something inside it to make it that big?
Could you explain all these points to me?
Personally I don’t - There really is no direct comparison between Avast and Other AV installations have, if they have multiple components, do they compare what you have with Avast Premium…
Hell even the Avast Free has an off-line executable file of over 300MB as that would also include the virus definitions, etc.
So 2GB you feel is big, hell I can remember one of my first PCs and that had an absolutely massive 512MB hard drive, which was touted as you will never fill this.
Where are you getting the 1.88GB figure from using a program Explorer++ I get 1.56GB for Avast Free and that’s on a 256GB SSD my primary ssd drive, am I concerned about this no. I still have 173GB free and my secondary HDD drive is 1TB and there is masses of free space there.
Hell I have Flash drives (usb sticks) of 128GB, compare that against your SSD/HDD drive and 2GB is miniscule.
For most people the size taken on disc is not as relevant in the days of TeraByte drives. What I feel is really important is the resource use and how that impacts your computer use.
The image I am attaching tells you what I said:
It isn’t so much confirmation of what you said, just the size, which given the comparative size of Avast Free it isn’t that much greater.
In the days of large drives (as I mentioned) this is miniscule. The real issue is, if it were to impact system performance rather than how big it is.
What I’m trying to get across is that it’s very big compared to its competitors, and why is that? and what I wanted to know in detail.
Size small or large isn’t the issue, is it slowing your system because its larger.
If small is what you want, there may also be downsides, you really have to go on performance, protection comparisons.
Is there any reason why it is so big compared to its competitors?
I haven’t got the slightest idea, you can’t compare based on size alone, the components and protection is a major factor and not size in my eyes.
But then I have only been using Avast for 20 years and it fits my needs/requirements. Size has never really been a consideration, performance and protection have always been my main consideration. Even back in the days of small HDD drives.
I agree with you when you say that performance and protection are better. this is a fact.
I keep thinking that because the 1.88GB product is so big, why is all this?
For a product to be good, does it have to be that big?
Here are my doubts. In several forums that I speak and I see many people question this about Avast. There are topics here on the forum that talk about the very large size.
The virus definitions folder on its own is 251MB, I guess you could get rid of that.
Size is a very poor determination as to how good/effective a program is at protecting the user, so that has to be weighed against its effectiveness and does it slow your system. That for me is the crucial factor when SSD/HDDs are measured in TB, 1.88Gb on a 1TB drive is miniscule, even on my 256GB SSD.
So far I haven’t found anyone saying why Avast is so much bigger in product than its competitors?
NOTE: I believe no one will answer about this because it is so big?
It could be because most of us aren’t too familiar with competitors and haven’t tried anything else in a while. Avast is the only real-time AV I have used, aside from Windows Defender for brief stints, since 2011.
I think that must be it. that no one will answer. One more thing I say to all of you, you should test other software even on a virtual machine and check what is good and what is advantageous about others so you can comment here on the forum, bringing improvements to Avast.
That seems like sound advice for someone with a lot of time on their hands and know-how but the average person doesn’t have the time, patience, or even knowledge of what to check for to do this exercise. And even then, I don’t know if someone would consider the amount of space it takes up. Even some of the things I find with Avast that concern, worry, or even just intrigue me I find by accident. For the most part it just kind of makes sense to research reviews of AVs and people either stop using when they get a virus that their current AV couldn’t stop, they get a recommendation from their friend, or they’re using a paid AV that their free trial ends on.
That’s how I started using Avast: my McAfee free trial expired and Defender on Windows Vista and 7 (can’t remember which I was using at the time) still had a horrible reputation, so I asked a friend for any recommendations on free AV and he said Avast is what he uses (ironically enough he stopped using Avast years ago). So I started using it then and kind of didn’t think much about my AV until like two-ish years ago except for the occasional use of a supplementary tool like Malwarebytes or, funnily enough, Defender (as its reputation from Windows 10 onward has improved greatly).
I have used many antiviruses in my life. But what I’ve been observing is that Avast is very large, almost 2GB installed. How much is the competitor, it’s well below that, that’s why I asked here in the topic, could someone explain the reason for almost 2GB. But I know I won’t have those answers.
The only people who would be able to answer are Avast people themselves, and even they would only be able to answer for Avast and not other AV providers.
If you haven’t maybe you could try other forums like reddit.com/r/antivirus.
I’ll try on other forums, someone must have this answer.
Also FWIW my Avast Software folder under Program Files is 1.63 GB, 1.47 GB on disk. So smaller than yours but you’re a Premium user, and larger than DavidR’s but I believe he has less of the Free features installed than I do (e.g. Network Inspector).
I have 3 PCs with avast premium and they range from 1.4GB to 2.2GB.
However, you don’t need a reply from avast to see that the “setup” folder which saves the product installation files is almost 900MB, which is more than half the size of the complete directory.
You’d also need to know which file is used for installation: online or offline?
As with “heavy” games, perhaps the online version requires less space than a full “offline” version… I can’t answer that because I’ve always had “offline” versions…
Avast isn’t the only greedy security tool either: Kaspersky and Bitdefender also require 2GB and 2.5GB of disk space.
It would also be interesting to know why ESET requires less, and whether this could have an impact on security at some point.
I’ve already installed KASPERSKY AND ESET, it doesn’t take up that much on the HD. That’s why I’ve been saying why is AVAST so big?
I believe that no one will justify why it is as big as its competitors?