Best Antivirus for Online Gaming

You’ve spent time and money fine-tuning your gaming rig, so your PC should perform at its peak. Because peer-to-peer connections cause your system to become more vulnerable, cybercriminals specifically target gamers with malware like keylogging and Trojans. Rather than turning off antivirus protection before logging on to squeeze extra performance from your machine.  But when protection interferes with online gaming, it can be sorely tempting to disable that protection in favor of uninterrupted play. These antivirus scanners tackle the unique problems of gamers so you can play without sacrificing performance or protection.

Online gamers will do pretty much anything to minimize lag and ensure stable game performanance. This includes shutting down antivirus scanners or firewalls if it interferes with gameplay. Fortunately, there are a few scanners and firewalls that enable gameplay and security to peacefully coexist.
(Source:  http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirussoftwarereviews/tp/Antivirus-for-Gamers.htm)



1. AVG Internet Security

AVG Internet Security 9.0 features a firewall gaming mode to minimize disruptions while playing online games. AVG Internet Security 9.0 protected against a 3 month average of 88.7% for new malware delivered via the Web and email. However, while AVG Internet Security 9.0 demonstrated solid ability in the Web/email protection category, it fared less well with removing existing malware, scoring only 4.0 out of a possible 6. While detection of rootkit-enabled/stealth malware was 100%, it's ability to remove existing rootktis/stealth malware was only 57%. Overall usability was good; AVG Internet Security 9.0 scored a 5.0 out of possible 6 in the performance and usability category.
http://www.avg.com.au/



2. Eset Smart Security

Eset Smart Security 4.0 boasts customized gamer controls to streamline file scanning, eliminate pop-up warnings, and postpone updates to off hours. With a 5.0 score in overall usability and performance, Eset Smart Security 4.0 has the smaller system footprint critical to a successful gaming experience. AV-Test Report (PDF)    http://www.eset.com/us/home/products/smart-security/




3,  ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010/2011

ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 offers Game Mode, a simple right click option on the system tray icon that will put ZoneAlarm in 'auto pilot' so it will silently make most decisions and you can play uninterrupted. The small trade-off in performance is a bit of extra protection. In addition to the standard fare of antivirus, firewall, and spyware protection, ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 uses the Kaspersky antivirus engine which performed well on each category of the AV-Test 2Q10 analysis. For details on those test results, view the AV-Test report on Kaspersky (link below). AV-Test Report (PDF)Read Review
 http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-extreme-security.htm