Since upgrading, I have constantly experienced issues with Windows 10 slow start-up of my PC. I’m not just talking a minute from pressing power to logon screen either, I’m talking 4 or 5 minutes from actually pressing the power button to being able to use the computer.

I thought this was odd, as Windows 10 was supposed to cut start-up times even more than Windows 8/8.1 had. A friend of mine managed a 5 second start time after installing an SSD. Granted I was running on old hardware (Dual core CPU with 4GB RAM with HDD) and he was running on something virtually brand new (i5 and 16GB RAM with SSD), I still didn’t think that granted my computer taking 48 times longer than his to boot, and that was on a good day.

After countless virus scans, hardware checks and reinstallations I decided to upgrade my laptop. I didn’t go for anything flash, but it has an i3 CPU and 6GB RAM.

My problem was solved! Or at least for a couple of weeks… When the issue arose again, I realised the only thing I had done was install Avast Antivirus. Once I removed Avast, my computer was like new again.

I am a big fan of Avast, and have been a user for over 10 years, but it seems to have an issue with Windows 10 at the moment – so for this reason, I’ve had to source an alternative.

Hesitantly, I removed Avast and set search for an alternative.

The Alternatives to Avast

I tried a few alternatives out, including sticking with Windows Defender which is built into Windows 10. With Windows Defender active and nothing else, I felt my computer just wasn’t safe (I have trust issues OK?!). I’ve never liked AVG or Kaspersky and don’t trust Norton / McAfee (if Avast slowed my computer down, what would they do!?)

For a while I settled with Sophos Home Antivirus. It was simple, easy and resource light, but I didn’t like the idea of the web console. There’s little to nothing available in terms of menus, settings and quarantine locally so this got uninstalled.

Finally, I’ve settle with Avira Antivirus. It’s great, I barely know it’s there until it find something – it has a web console, but I can also access most thing locally too. The free version is quite annoying, as it has adverts built in – however if you have no intention of upgrading then the adverts can be blocked with a simple firewall rule. And best of all, my Windows 10 Slow Start-up issue is no more!