AntiVirus Memory Hog

At work, we switched from Symantec Corporate AntiVirus to Sophos Endpoint Security.  I’m not liking it.  The product performs fine, but I really dislike its obscene memory usage.  The Symantec AV usually used around 47MB of memory.  This new Sophos AV/firewall suite uses about 111MB of memory when you add up all the components.  I have Norton Internet Security 2009 on my home PC, and that uses 17MB of memory.  I’m too lazy to fire up my netbook to see what Avira AntiVir 9 uses, but I am sure it is far less than 111MB.  I had several programs running on my computer at work today, and I got down to only 25MB of physical memory remaining out of 1GB.  I don’t like that over 100MB of RAM is being used for security software, but it’s the office’s PC.  Not much I can do about that.

Computer Building Dilemma

The second hard drive I installed in my computer nearly two years ago has never worked right.  Files are slow to transfer to it, and sometimes files will disappear or I will lose rights to them.  For obvious reasons I am loathe to store anything important on that drive.  I purchased a new IDE cable to install, just to see if that helps.  I haven’t gotten around to installing the cable, but my reasoning is that spending $6 on a cable is a worthwhile risk to find out if I can fix my computer and get another two years out of it.  If the cable doesn’t help, then I am only out $6.

My computer is 5.5 years old.  It’s at that age where reliability becomes suspect and performance is just enough to keep up.  I put together spec sheets for three different computers I could build.  The first is a pimped-out Core i7-based system with 8GB RAM, modular power supply, 150GB VelociRaptor or 80GB Intel SSD boot hard drive, and two 1TB WD RE3 storage drives in RAID1.  That came out to $1721, using the VelociRaptor.  Going with the SSD instead would add $100.  I then specified a more modest i7 system, this time using 4GB RAM, a case with built-in power supply, the 150GB VelociRaptor boot drive, and one 1TB Caviar Black storage drive.  This lower-spec system came out to $1276.  It’s still a nice system, but it is not as cool.  I suppose the modular power supply and RAID array aren’t really necessary, though that 8GB of RAM would have been nice for future-proofing.  Both of these high-end and mid-grade systems would have used the same processor, motherboard, graphics card, and DVD drive.  The variables were RAM, case, power supply, and storage drives.  I wanted to stay below $1200 (preferably closer to $1000), so I took a look at AMD.  Using the same specs as the mid-grade i7 system, I just switched out the CPU and motherboard.  The AMD system’s total cost was $1076.  I could get the motherboard and Phenom II X4 CPU for only $10 more than the i7 CPU alone.  From what I have read, the Phenom doesn’t compare well with the i7.  I’d be saving $200, but I’d rather buy as much performance as I can because I do keep my computers a long time.  I guess another option is the Core i5 processor.

So here’s my dilemma.  I haven’t had any consulting jobs in a few months.  Right now I just use my computer for farting around online and keeping track of my geocaching and bicycling escapades.  Even a cheapo $500 desktop would probably outperform my computer.  I’m having a hard time justifying the purchase of a $1000-1700 computer if I am not going to be using it for business.  Also, if I am not going to be using it for business, I won’t need as much processing power, RAM, or RAID storage.

Time for me to stop being lazy and see if that $6 cable will make my hard drive more functional so I can use this computer for another 1-2 years.  It would be a miracle if a new IDE cable did anything.  Unfortunately, I suspect there is a problem with the drive or the file system.  It was a real pain to format back when I installed it.

I’d really like to have a computer where I can store and do everything.  Right now I have to do some stuff on my netbook because I don’t have enough reliable storage on my desktop.  All I have on that erratic second hard drive are some videos, Google Earth KMZ files and GIS data that I have delivered to the customer, a computer game, old undergraduate and grad school projects, some dumb posters I made, and other delivered GIS data for a client I don’t work for and don’t care about anymore.  Of course, all this stuff is backed up on other portable hard drives and flash drives since I don’t really trust this hard drive.