Whole Product Dynamic Real World Protection Test – July through September 2012

The nice thing about the  Whole Product Dynamic Real World Protection Test done by AV-Comparatives.org is that you can select the timeframe.  The advantage   of a 3-month report is that it better portrays the products’ performances.  The top five over the July through September time period were: 

1. F-Secure
2. Trend Micro
3. BitDefender
4. G Data
5. Kaspersky

The range for the percentage blocked for the top five went from 99.9% for F-Secure to 99.0% for Kaspersky.  Congratulations to the top five!  There was a bit of a change from the previous three months, when the top products, in order were from BitDefender, G Data, Kaspersky, QiHoo, and F-Secure. Look for a four month cumulative report from AV-comparatives  in November.

Ahnlab and Webroot repeated their performances in the “why did I participate in this” spots, finishing in the  twentieth and twenty first positions with block rates of  92.5% and 89.8%.

In the battle of  the free antivirus software vendors, Avira (95.7% block rate) in the tenth position topped Avast and AVG Technologies, in that order.

As always,  the Whole Product Real World Protection Test is  one test.  Individuals or companies evaluating the ability of products to detect and capture malware should visit www.av-comparatives.org , www.virusbtn.com  and www.av-test.org   to view the results of other tests.  These   organizations   use relatively large samples in testing, which improves the legitimacy of the results.  All are more valid than the number of likes on a Facebook fan page.  There is more to product quality than a number of "likes" on a Facebook fan page.

Webroot isn't fond of most real world tests, commenting in a July  blog  "Webroot Bulletin Regarding AV-Comparatives Results" that,  "Currently most “Real World” tests rely on automation and AV scanners are only given a single chance at detection before the test system is reverted for the next round of testing. Unfortunately this testing model doesn’t give WSA a chance to leverage our unique cloud approach as it has a very static view of the files being tested." They also stated that, "Webroot continues to drive innovation in our products though this isn’t always met with equal innovation in the testing process."  To read the complete blog, go to, http://blog.webroot.com/2012/07/19/webroot-bulletin-regarding-av-comparatives-results/

About AV-comparatives     www.av-comparatives.org

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is providing independent Antivirus software tests free to the public.  Go to their website to view all the great comparative reports and surveys they publish.  In September, they published their File Detection Test of Malicious Software.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/10/av-comparatives-file-detection-test-of.html

Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards – August 2012

Virus Bulletin has released their latest VB100 awards results for August.  Fifty-one participants were tested.  The test was done on Windows 7.  This could be the last time the test is done on this platform?  The previous  test was done on Windows Server 2008.   Given the timing of this test, products used were essentially 2012 versions.As has been the case for several years, Symantec and Trend Micro were not part of the test. PC Tools, owned by Symantec, was.

About a third of the products tested failed to receive a VB100 award this time.   A cone of shame to the following - Agnitum, Central Command, CMC Internet Security, Comodo (interesting), Defenx, eEYE, ESTsoft, Filselab, GFI VIPRE, Ikarus, iolo, Lavasoft (Ad-Aware, the free antivirus version is typically a  CNET download Top 20  favorite), Optent, Quick Heal ,Roboscan,  and VirusBuster.  AVG Technologies, Commtouch, and TrustPort redeemed themselves from the last test.  

A summary of the results is at the link below.  You can   buy the full test results or subscribe to Virus Bulletin for the full results, as well.

 https://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/test?recent=1

 

Results from this should be looked at in conjunction with tests from other test groups such as www.av-test.org   and www.av-comparatives.org .  Also,   it’s not how the company has performed on the VB100 test over years.  It’s only the last couple of years that are relevant.  Though ESET’s record of 74 and 2 is quite impressive.

VB100 Test Methodology

The purpose of the VB100 comparative is to provide insight into the relative performance of the solutions taking part in the tests, covering as wide a range of areas as possible within the limitations of time and available resources.  More details are available at

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/methodology.xml

UK based Virus Bulletin  started in 1989.  They provide  PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer viruses, their prevention, detection, and removal, and how to recover programs and data following an attack.  The Virus Bulletin website is at www.virusbtn.com