I’ve been using Windows Defender alone on my Windows 11 PC, and honestly, it works great. It’s lightweight, free, and Microsoft keeps updating it regularly with good threat protection.
Personally, I use Bitdefender Free Edition. It offers strong security and doesn’t hog system resources. Perfect balance of protection and performance—plus no annoying popups like some other free tools.
Kaspersky Security Cloud has been working really well for me. It’s not heavy, and I’ve never had performance issues. Their malware detection rate is consistently top-tier in independent tests.
After trying many, I settled on ESET NOD32. It uses low RAM, fast scanning, and doesn’t slow down games or editing apps. Great if you want a set-and-forget antivirus.
I went with Norton 360, and while it’s not the lightest, the extra features like cloud backup and VPN were worth it for me. No major slowdowns either on my Windows 11 laptop.
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