Avast Free Weekly CNET Download Volume Tops 2 Million

Avast had over 2 million downloads of their free antivirus  solution on download.com  for the week ending July 7.  to trounce the other malware vendors. They took the lead over post IPO AVG Technologies.    See the table below. Avast retains a large lead in installed base, close to 190 million to about 107 million for AVG.  Divide   (weekly downloads times 52) by installed base  to get an estimate of churn. For both, it's kind of ouch.   Since the vast majority of  the company's installed base are  "free" and have little switching costs, the companies obtain search revenue from the replacements. However, they lose the opportunity for cross sell and upgrade revenue.

For the week ending July 7:

1. 2.04 million - Avast
2. 1.43 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.16 million - Ad-Aware
4. 0.10 million - Avira

For the week ending June 30:

1. 1.13 million - AVG Technologies
2. 1.11 million - Avast
3. 0.38 million - Ad-Aware
4. 0.09 million - Avira

Companies do use multiple sites for downloads. When this is taken into account, the one and two positions may, in fact, be different. 

For the first time in quite awhile, Avast tops the CNET download site for free antivirus. Figures for the week ending March 11:

1. 1.1 million - Avast
2. 1.0 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.4 million – Avira
4. 0.04 million – Ad-Aware

March 18 addendum

Avast topped AVG Technologies on this site for the second week in a row - March 18

1. 1.48 million - Avast
2. 0.95 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.43 million - Avira
4. 0.04 million - Ad-Aware

No change in order as of April 4

1. 1.32 million - Avast
2. 0.94 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.40 million - Avira
4. 0.04 million - Ad-Aware

April 8 ranking

1. 1.03 million - Avast
2. 0.81 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.34 million - Avira
4. 0.04 million - Ad- Aware

April 15 ranking

1. 1.10 million - Avast
2. 0.93 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.40 million - Avira
4. 0.04 million - Ad-Aware

April 22 ranking

1. 1.02 million - Avast
2. 0.74 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.34 million - Avira
4. 0.03 million - Ad-Aware

April 29 ranking

1. 1.13 million - Avast
2. 0.86 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.39 million - Avira
4. 0.04 million - Ad-Aware 

May 6 ranking

1. 1.14 million - Avast
2. 0.85 million - AVG Technologies
3. 0.41 million - Avira
4. 0.05 million - Ad-Aware

CNET appeared to not do a revised table the week ending May 13

May 20 ranking

1. 1.20 - AVG Technologies
2. 1.12 - Avast
3. 0.31 - Ad-Aware
4. 0.27 - Avira

Ad-Aware had a big leap in activity for some reason to take the 3rd spot.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/

The first two products have both received 4.5 stars from CNET Editors while Avira and Ad-Aware have received 4.0 stars. It’s important to note that the figures below are downloads only from this site. Vendors frequently use multiple download sites for their products. Firms can vary the allocation. They can also vary the degree of online ads they use to push downloads. It does seem to be a requirement that your company name begins with an “A” to top the list.

What’s more important in the greater scheme of things than free downloads is how many of these downloads are installed and active. Active leaves the vendors some wiggle room since they get to define active. In the March Opswat “Security Industry Market Share Analysis”, Avast, Avira, and AVG Technologies are one, two, and three respectively for global vendor market share. 

Look for a smackdown between the vendors to take place in Prague's Old Town Square. Pivo for everyone. Na zdravi.

Virus Bulletin June VB100 Awards

Virus Bulletin has released their latest VB100 awards results. Thirty-two antivirus internet security solutions received a VB100 award. Eleven antivirus internet security solutions failed to make the grade. Not in the test were some major vendors - McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. The tests were done on Windows Server 2008.

Among those receiving the VB100 award, in market share order: Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, BitDefender, Eset¸ F-Secure, and Kaspersky. Coranti did not receive a VB100. They were one of the top three products in the latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing December 2010 through June 2011 data. G Data also failed to receive the award. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-2011-virus-bulletin-rap-averages.html

OPSWAT Market Share Combined With VB100 Success Rate

The following table is a combines vendor market share from the OPSWAT June Market Share Report and company success rate obtaining VB100 awards. To be included in the table they have to have (obviously) received a VB100 award in June and been in the OPSWAT June report.

The companies in the below are listed on the basis of market share. The number of tests the companies below participated in vary. A strong argument can be made that it's only the most recent tests that are relevant. Nonetheless, a number of companies do like to promote their extended track record when they market their VB100 success rate. These were the only companies in the 20 from the relevant OPSWAT table that made the cut. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-2011-opswat-report-on-worldwide.html















Data for the success rate came from http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/test?recent=1

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 www.virusbtn.com started in 1989. The organization provides 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. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com.