A powerful PC that has a high-speed processor as well as plenty of RAM is necessary to play games smoothly. A gaming computer is susceptible to malware as gamers often use peer-topeer connections. This leaves their PCs vulnerable to cybercriminals. As a result, they require a reliable antivirus that will perform well with little impact on their gameplay.

We’ve compared top-performing antivirus programs in terms of real-time protection and gaming performance. Our top pick, Bitdefender Total Security, stands out for its excellent detection rates and automatic gaming mode that boosts performance by separating background apps to a single core and freeing up memory for better performance. It’s also very easy to use and is one of the cheapest choices on our list.

McAfee Gamer Security is another good choice. It includes an extremely powerful Game Booster, and offers top-quality security that doesn’t allow interruptions during games. It’s not cheap and its security isn’t as good as Kaspersky or BullGuard but it’s a good option for gamers.

Panda has an excellent behaviour scanner and malware quarantine feature, but it’s not the fastest in terms of processing speed. It offers a 30-day refund assurance, but it also comes with additional features such as a VPN, parental malwarebytes web protection controls, and a password manager. It is also smaller than other antivirus software and all scanning takes place in the cloud.