Have been using Avira for literally decades. Was a very nice lightweight Free AV.... until Norton Lifelock recently purchased it.

Now it slows some of my Programs ( EFI Tuning Software ) to a crawl when they try to open. It's something in a recent Aviar Update, as it was not like this back in September. Temporarily disabling Real Time Scanning puts things back to normal and the programs affected open instantly.

I suspect it's related to a Java scan as the Tuning programs affected do use Java. But even excluding scanning all .jar files and the Programs Files and Folders themselves from Real Time scanning does not help opening times. So it's something Low Level in Avira Real Time Scanning.

Any recommendations for a lightweight Free AV in place of Avira?

BTW, I have Windows 7 64 Bit... and you will only pry that OS from my hands when I'm dead and 6 feet under!!!!