AV-Comparatives Malware Removal Test – September 2015

AV-Comparatives has released the results of their AV-Comparatives Malware Removal Test for 2015. Products tested were a combination of free and paid solutions.  Sixteen products were tested. Five received three stars or the Advanced Plus award. Kaspersky topped the list. BitDefender was third and the three “A’s”, Avast, AVG Technologies and Avira, rounded out the three star recipients.

AV-Comparatives Malware Removal Test

The Malware Removal Test focused only on the malware removal/cleaning capabilities of the products. The report was written with home users in mind and not administrators or advanced users.  These individuals  may have the knowledge and tools for removal of malware on the system.  To compare products for their protection and detection capabilities, you may want to download AV-Comparatives “Real World Protection Test” and “File Detection Test”.

The ABC or “Avoids Being Compared” Award

More data and testing by an unbiased test group help   consumers make an informed decision when selecting products to secure their devices.  The number of likes on a product’s web site doesn’t cut it for security when licensing  a product.  Comparative testing also motivates companies to improve their products.  It’s disappointing when companies decline to be tested.

For the AV-Comparatives Malware Removal Test, the ABC Award or “Avoids Being Compared” Award goes to Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro. All three of these companies have solutions with sizeable share in the antivirus/internet security consumer marketplace.  Perhaps they will step up for the next test. McAfee and Trend Micro are usually there. Symantec? Not so much.

The Malware Removal Test  document is located at  http://www.av-comparatives.org/removal-tests/

All of AV-Comparatives’ tests can be found at www.av-comparatives.org

AV-Comparatives Malware Removal Test 2011

AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org) has released their Malware Removal Test December 2011. This test focused on the malware removal/cleaning capabilities of the products. Nothing to do with detection rates or protection capabilities. According to the organization, the report is aimed towards home users. Ten samples were used in the test with scoring done based on removal of the malware and how convenient it was to do the removal. Scales of A-D were used for this. In colloquial terms, how well is the malware (files, etc) cleaned up? Eighteen products were tested. The antivirus products were used.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/removal/avc_removal_2011.pdf

Four Companies Receive The Top Three Star Rating

Products from only four vendors received AV-Comparatives advanced 3 star rating. In order, these were - BitDefender, PC Tools, Kaspersky, and Symantec. BitDefender scored 92 points. Low score overall was 52 points.

BitDefender's business security product was named CRN's 2011 Product of the Year in a recent article.

http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/232300166/the-best-products-of-2011.htm

Four vendors received two stars and ten vendors, one star. You’ll have to check out the report for the complete listing!

The report also contains a nice table providing links to some of the Free Removal-Tools for specific malware available from these vendors and whether a boot disk is available. Definitely worth checking out, and making copies as appropriate.

The vendors in the Malware Removal Test, alphabetically: Avast, Avg Technologies, Avira, BitDefender, Eset, F-Secure, G Data, K7, Kaspersky, Mcafee, Microsoft, Panda, PC Tools, Qihoo, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro, and Webroot.

About AV-Comparatives

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which provides independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public.

Go to the AV-comparatives website for complete details about the organization, the many tests they perform, and to download copies of test reports.

www.av-comparatives.org