Oct. 2011 Addendum. - For Beat Antivirus Software for 2012 - go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html
Original PostPC Magazine's Neil Rubenking has been busy putting 20 consumer antivirus 2011 editions through his tests and summarized the results in his November 10 round-up, “The Best Antivirus Software for 2011”. These are a mix of free and paid antivirus products. Webroot’s product and Panda Cloud Antivirus were PC World Editor’s Choice recipients for paid and free antivirus in the "Best Antivirus Software for 2011" round-up. The complete antivirus review can be viewed at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372364,00.asp
For his antivirus review, Rubenking defined an antivirus product as a “utility that protects against all kinds of malicious software, not just viruses…. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware”. In the security world, these each have a unique definition.
Also see, Best Internet Security Suites 2011 at http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html
Many of the products have their own unique twists, according to Rubenking. Panda’s product operates in the cloud. Others include a firewall; others include some intrusion prevention protection. Others help protect against phishing attacks. For this reason, it’s important to go to the antivirus review itself when taking a detailed look at the products.
Summary Scores - Best Antivirus Software for 2011In the table below, products are listed numerically, highest to lowest, and reverse alphabetical order (important)!
Score/Product 4.5 - Webroot AV With Spysweeper
4.0 - PC Tools Antivirus
4.0 - Panda Cloud Antivirus*
4.0 - Double Anti-Spy Professional
4.0 - Ad-Aware
3.5 - Panda AV Pro
3.5 - Norton AV
3.5 - McAfee AV Plus
3.5 - Malware Bytes*
3.5 - Kaspersky AV
3.5 - Comodo*
3.5 - BitDefender AV
3.5 - AVG Anti-Virus *
3.0 - F-Secure AV
3.0 - eScan AV
2.5 - Outpost AV
2.5 - Immunet*
2.5 - Bullguard AV
2.0 - Trend Micro Titanium AV
2.0 - Digital Defender*
* = free
Avast! and Avira did not have their free antivirus 2011 edition products released as of the time this round-up was published.
Two great charts to look at in the round-up are the 2011 Antivirus Malware Removal Chart, and the 2011 Antivirus Malware Blocking Chart. These show the details for each of the products tested. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372369,00.asp
Third party sites to go to for additional test results include Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.org ) AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org ) and AV-Test (www.av-test.org ). Note that some of these sites may still have 2010 version products tested. Others may have tested the business edition of a company’s antivirus solution. Rubenking’s tests are for 2011 products, consumer version.
What does the above show? There are a number of solutions to choose from for the home user. The “best” product isn’t necessarily the most expensive product, though in a couple of instances, you do seem to get what you pay for. Look at the products, also, on the basis of additional features you may want. For any of the above solutions, it’s possible to add an additional layer of safe surfing protection by downloading McAfee’s SiteAdvisor or AVG Technologies LinkScanner products. These work with most home security solutions. To look at the results for internet security 2011 solutions from October, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/10/avg-internet-security-2011-review-rush.html As always, to learn more about testing standards, go to Anti-malware Testing Standard Organization's (AMTSO) webs site, www.amtso.org
Table of PC World Top Internet Security Suites of 2011 Combined With PC Magazine InformationGo to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/pc-world-battle-of-security-superpowers.html to view a summary table combining information on PC World's and PC Magazine's takes on top internet security suites for 2011.
Avira Premium Security Suite Named "Software of the Year 2010" in softwareload.de Online PollFrom the Avira website - Tettnang, October 22, 2010 – Over 800,000 Internet users took part in the Softwareload.de online poll, which ran between September 1 - 30, 2010, to select the "Software of the Year 2010." Voters picked their favorites from 18 software categories. Avira Premium Security Suite won first place in the "Security" category leaving nine competitors in its wake.
Given where Avira is located, there may have been a little “hometown influence”. Avira is also currently doing a promotion where individuals who purchase the premium Premium Security Suite receive TuneUp Utilities free (usually €39.95).
http://www.avira.com/en/press-details/nid/477/news/software-of-the-year-2010
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