AV-Comparatives File Detection Test – September 2015

Av-Comparatives prolific team of writers and testers has released their File Detection Test – September 2015. Nine products received three stars. Avira and BitDefender topped the 21 products in the test.   Their false positive rate was only 0.2%. Other companies receiving three stars, in alphabetical order, were Bullguard, Emisoft, eScan, ESET, Kaspersky, Lavasoft, and Panda.  You can download the report  to see the actual order.

ESET, Microsoft, and Panda had zero false positives The hall of shame award for this test goes to AVG Technologies with a false positive rate 32 times larger Avira and Bitdefender, at 6.5%, (139 false positives).

About the AV-Comparatives  File Detection Test

The awards for the File Detection Test were based on a combination of detection rates and false positives.   The File Detection Test assesses the ability of antivirus programs to detect malicious files on a system. It can identify malware attacks from sources other than the Internet, and it  can identify  malicious files already present on the system.

 “With more than 130000 samples in the test, AV-Comparatives uses one of the largest sample collection worldwide to provide statistically valid results”, according to AV-Comparatives’ Andreas Clementi.

ABC Award for the  File Detection Test

The ABC award (Avoids Being Compared) goes to Symantec. The File Detection Test  is one of the core tests the organization performs. Companies cannot choose which of these core tests to be in. It's all or none.  The ABC award is not part of AV-Comparatives’ test   program!

The document can be downloaded at:    

http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparatives-reviews/ 

The  file detection rate of a product is only one aspect of a complete anti-virus product. AV-Comparatives also provides a whole-product dynamic “real-world” protection test, as well as other test reports that cover different aspects/features of the products.  For those interested, you can easily do a deep dive into individual company’s historical performances on tests or sign up for the newsletter.   Check them out.  Other documents are available for download from the AV-comparatives website  (www.av-comparatives.org ) website.

October 2012 Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards and RAP Averages Quadrant (Reactive and Proactive)

Virus Bulletin has released their October 2012 VB100 testing and published their RAP Averages Quadrant for the April through October timeframe.  Neither test results were too exciting.  No companies going irate and withdrawing from further testing, in all likelihood. 

The VB100 testing was done on Windows Server 2003.  Only 30 products were in the test.  One third of the products failed.  There were no “major” vendors failing.  Emisoft has failed three out of the last four VB100 tests they have been in.  This can’t be fun for their marketing department.

There were three clusters of vendors who scored over 95% in Reactive Detection and 80% in proactive detection.  It’s not even worth eyeballing to rank within the clusters.  These vendors are (from first to third)

1. Zeobit, Coranti (clear winners)
2. Lavasoft, TrustPort, G Data 
3. Fortinet, Avira Free, Avira Pro, Roboscan, BitDefender, BullGuard, Emisoft, eScan

There was definitely some movement from the previous test. Congratulations,  in particular, to those in “1” and “2” above!

The Top 10 in the February through August test

1. Coranti (a clear first among the top 10)
2. Huari (a clear second among the top 10)
3. Tencent
4. Lavasoft
5. BitDefender
6. G Data
7. Avira Pro
8. TrustPort
9. Emisoft
10. Avira Free

Hall of Shame awards in the latest test for scoring below 70% on Reactive Detection and below 65% of Proactive Detection (from best to worst), Commtouch, Frisk, Iolo, Total Defense Business, and UnThreat.  No fun for these companies http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Tests like these provide  useful information in evaluating the relative strengths of the products.  It obviously wins out over the wisdom of Facebook fans clicking on like!  You can view the  RAP Averages Quadrant chart at

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Subscribers to Virus Bulletin's publications have access to more details on the results.

RAP Averages Quadrant

This test measures products' detection rates across four distinct sets of malware samples.  The first three test sets comprise malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission.  These measure how quickly product developers and labs react to the steady flood of new malware emerging every day across the world.  A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission.

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

 

Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, February 2012 through August 2012

Virus Bulletin has released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing February 2012 through August 2012.

The Top 10 (some eyeballing necessary):

1. Coranti (a clear first among the top 10)
2. Huari (a clear second among the top 10)
3. Tencent
4. Lavasoft
5. BitDefender
6. G Data
7. Avira Pro
8. TrustPort
9. Emisoft
10. Avira Free

These products scored above 90% on Reactive and above 80% on Proactive Detection.  Auslogics, BullGuard, and ESTSoft dropped out of the top ten in the latest test. BullGuard came close, however.

The Top 10 in the From the October 2011 through April 2012 Report

1. Coranti
2. Coranti Cora
3. Auslogics
4. TrustPort
5. G Data
6. BullGuard
7. Avira Pro
8. ESTSoft
9. Tencent
10. Avira Free 

The bottom six in the latest test from “highest” to” lowest”.    Commtouch, Frisk, Quick Heal, Iolo, Total Defense Business, and UN Threat.  Iolo had the worst Reactive detection at 62% and  Un Threat the worst Proactive Detection  at 40%. Neither Trend Micro nor Symantec were part of the test. 

This provides some more useful information in evaluating the relative strengths of the products.  It obviously wins out over the wisdom of Facebook fans clicking on like!  The relative performance   can best be viewed by looking at the RAP Averages Quadrant chart at

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Subscribers to Virus Bulletin's publications have access to more details on the results.

RAP Averages Quadrant

This test measures products' detection rates across four distinct sets of malware samples.  The first three test sets comprise malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission.  These measure how quickly product developers and labs react to the steady flood of new malware emerging every day across the world.  A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission.

About Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com

Virus Bulletin started in 1989 as a magazine dedicated to providing PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer malware - its prevention, detection, and removal.   

 

February 2012 – Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, August 2011 through February 2012

Virus Bulletin has released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing August 2011 through February 2012. The top 10 (some eyeballing necessary):

1. Emisoft
2. Coranti
3. Auslogics
4. G Data
5. TrustPort
6. eScan
7. Avira Free
8. BullGuard
9. BitDefender
10. Ikarus

The top 10 in the April 2011 through October RAP Quadrant

1. Emsisoft
2. Bkis
3. Coranti
4. TrustPort
5. eScan
6. Avira Pro
7. BullGuard
8. BitDefender
9. Avira Free
10. Lavasoft

All of these achieved greater than 90% on Reactive Detection and Proactive Detection. Congrats! There was turnover in the latest test as four companies were replaced in the top 10.

McAfee has to be disappointed. However, neither Symantec nor Trend Micro are present on this grid. PC Tools, owned by Symantec, was. Rising was at the bottom, only because Kingsoft wasn’t on the Quadrant this time.

The relative performance of vendors can best be viewed by looking at the RAP Averages Quadrant chart at

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Subscribers to Virus Bulletin's publications have access to more details on the results.

RAP Averages Quadrant

This test measures products' detection rates across four distinct sets of malware samples. The first three test sets comprise malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission. These measure how quickly product developers and labs react to the steady flood of new malware emerging every day across the world.. A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission.

About Virus Bulletin

Virus Bulletin started in 1989 as a magazine dedicated to providing PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer malware - its prevention, detection, and removal. In addition, how to recover programs and data following an attack.

http://www.virusbtn.com/index