No need to touch my avvy. It's only 8.44 KB, not too bad a stress on PC's.
That's true. And, you downsized the file to the actual dimensions of your avatar before inserting it in the forum. That's the best technique.
Anyway, I grabbed your avatar and ran it through my sofware to see whether resulting file size would be significantly different. It is significantly smaller, at only 2,556 bytes. Here it is if you want it: