AV-TEST Product Review and Certification Report – September, October 2012

During September and October 2012, AV-test (www.av-test.org ) evaluated 24 home user security products using their default settings.  They used the most current publicly available versions   for the testing. Generally, they were the 2013 versions.  Products were allowed to update themselves   time query their in-the-cloud services.  The test was done on Windows 7.

The   consumer   internet security products were tested in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  So, the best possible total score was 18.0. The test was on Windows 7.   You’ll have to go to the av-test.org web site for the individual scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies. 

The top ten finishers were, Bitdefender Internet Security (they lost their only point on Usability), F-Secure Internet Security, BullGuard Internet Security, Kaspersky Internet Security, Symantec: Norton Internet Security, Check Point Zone Alarm Free, G Data Internet Security, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security, Avast Free, and AVG Internet Security.  Check Point and Avast had the top free products.

BitDefender isn't as well known to the thronging masses as a number of other AV or Internet Security companies.  They are active in the OEM business, offering SDK and rebranding alternatives for endpoint, network,  and cloud protection. In these situations (of course), you may never realize that BitDefender is under the hood.

 http://www.bitdefender.com/oem/#Overview

Microsoft Security Essentials failed the test with 10.5 while McAfee, Norman, and Panda were on the bubble at 11.0. This is a major black eye for the Microsoft Security Essentials product. They scored only 1.5 out of 6 for Protection.  For Removal, 3.5, and Usability, 5.5.

The top ten products are in the table below.  Click on the table to enlarge it.

 

As with all the other tests performed by reputable test groups, there's not a lot of correlation between the best known products and test results.

In March/April testing, the top three products were from BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky, respectively. 

 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/06/av-test-product-review-and.html

 

About AV-Test.org http://www.av-test.org

The AV-TEST Institute is a leading international and independent service provider in the fields of IT security and anti-virus research.  The aim of the research work carried out by AV-TEST is to directly detect the latest malware, to analyze it using state-of-the-art methods and to inform their customers of the top-quality results obtained.