PC World Internet Security 2013 Showdown – Mashup with AV-Test and AV-Comparatives

PC World has published their test of  Internet Security 2013 products.  Kudos to F-Secure finishing on top with 4.5 stars in the review!!! Symantec/Norton, Trend Micro, and Bit Defender finished second through fourth, also with 4.5 stars in the PC World showdown.Other factors weighed in to determine the placings. Individual reviews are available.   AVG Technologies Internet Security 2013  and Avira Internet Security 2013  had their products finish in eighth and ninth respectively with 3.5 stars.  Companies with products in the PC World Test – Norton, F-Secure, Trend Micro, BitDefender, Kaspersky, Avira, G Data,  and AVG Technologies.

In a mash­-up with AV-Test.org January test results and AV-Comparative.org results from their “September File Detection Test 2012”, F-Secure Internet Security, Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security, and BitDefender Internet Security were the top  products.  Symantec was ineligible since they were not tested by AV-Comparatives last year.  Symantec wanted to choose which test s to participate in.  Companies had to agree to participate in all so…. Perhaps they will man up this year under their new CEO!  Products tested by AV-Test.org were Internet Security solutions and by AV-Comparatives, Antivirus solutions. The last column is the average of the rankings in the previous tests.

Table of Results

In the AV-Test.org test, several times, products had the same score. Since Symantec didn't participate in the AV-Comparative.org test, they were removed from the above table.

It’s kind of disappointing that the Internet Security products from freemium vendors finished eighth and ninth.  

From the PC World Individual Test Reports 

 PC stated about F-Secure, “With excellent protection and a user-friendly interface, F-Secure is definitely worth a look.  This security package adds a little extra weight to your system, but if you can get past those performance issues, it’s a great program.”

“AVG Internet Security 2013 is a perfectly respectable antivirus program with a great new top-level user interface.  But that’s the problem—in these malware tests, “perfectly respectable” doesn’t quite cut it and we saw several programs that outdid AVG at nearly every turn.”  The AVG Technology solution also had the lowest detection rate of the products tested.

“At the end of the day, Avira Internet Security 2013 is a competent antivirus program.  But being merely competent isn’t a great thing, especially when it’s combined with an interface that's for advanced users only.”

The following link takes you to the article, “Security software showdown!  9 antivirus suites empirically tested.”  From here, you can also reach links for detailed reports about all nine products tested.  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025949/security-software-showdown-9-antivirus-suites-empirically-tested.html

Read the individual test reports, as well as Neil Rubenking and his test reports in PC Magazine. Beware the thumbs of   Facebook friends. Not the best way to select your security solution. Save James Surowiecki's    "wisdom of crowds" for something else.

 

About AV-comparatives.org     www.av-comparatives.org

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization.  They provide independent Antivirus software tests free to the public.  Go to their website to view all the great comparative reports and surveys they publish.  A great number of their reports are free.

About AV-Test.org http://www.av-test.org

 

The AV-TEST Institute is a leading international and independent service provider in the fields of IT security and anti-virus research.  The aim of the research work carried out by AV-TEST is to directly detect the latest malware, to analyze it using state-of-the-art methods and to inform their customers of the top-quality results obtained.

Best Free Antivirus Mash-up - PC Magazine, PC World, AV-Comparatives.org

August 1  -  Updated table at

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/08/summer-review-mashup-free-antivirus.html

 

PC World published  “Free Antivirus You Can Trust” on April 29.  The table below is a simple compilation  of scores from PC World, AV-Comparatives.org and PC Magazine, of  four free antivirus SW packages,  from Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, and Panda, respectively.   

These were the top 4 free antivirus products in the "trust" article. The article in PC World has  a table ranking seven free antivirus packages.  The number of stars given range from 3.5 to 4.5.    

For each publication in the table below, the first column is the ranking. The second is the number of stars. For www.av-comparatives.org , the maximum number of stars that could be awarded was five

.

 

Sources for the Rankings

 PC Magazine – April 20 the Best Antivirus for 2012 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372369,00.asp

 

PC World - April 29, Free Antivirus You Can Trust http://www.pcworld.com/article/254121/free_antivirus_you_can_trust.html

 

AV-Comparatives.org -  March – 2012 On Demand Detection of Malicious Software   (about 18 products in this free report)

 http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_fd_mar2012_intl_en.pdf

In terms of global  market share, the top four antivirus  products as of  March 2012 (www.OPSWAT.com )

1. 16.3% - Avast
2. 11.7% - Avira
3. 11.0% - AVG Technologies
4. 10.1% - Microsoft

 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-2012-opswat-report-on-worldwide.html

For ratings of more antivirus packages (Neil Rubenking and PC Magazine)

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html

PC World, PC Magazine, and About.com Internet Security Suite 2011 Results in One Table

The table below consolidates the summary scores of PC World’s “Battle of the Security Superpowers”, PC Magazine’s "Best Security Suites for 2011”, and about.com’s Best Internet Security suites round-ups into a single table.

This table should be looked at in conjunction with the round-ups by the three publications .The PC Magazine "Best Security Suites for 2011" reviews also contain links to comprehensive malware blocking, malware removal, antispam, antiphishing, and performance (boot time, browsing, file move/copy Windows Installer, zip/unzip) charts. One of the below links for PC World shows a comprehensive table summarizing the scores for all the tests in their round up. Within the about.com article, there are a number of links to reports by www.av-test.org.

The first column is the ranking that PC World gave the internet security products. In almost all cases, PC World was more generous in their scoring than PC Magazine. The largest differential was 1.50 with PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2011. This may be because the reviewer found that PC Tools missed a number of phishing sites, the suite's firewall, its antispam capabilities, and that malware interfered with the installation on one system. PCW = PC World, PCM = PC Magazine. The last three columns are the rankings and scores from about.com. The scores are out of 6. Where shown, the final average table is the average from all three publications. In these cases, a perfect score would be 5.33.

This table doesn't include Kaspersky Pure Total Security which received 4 stars in a February 2 PC Magazine review by Neil Rubenking. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2378961,00.asp



Webroot Internet Security Essentials was ranked 8 by about.com with a score of 4.25

Links to Full Articles

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/pc-world-battle-of-security-superpowers.html

PCW http://www.pcworld.com/article/21461/battle_of_the_security_superpowers.html

PCW http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=214618&page=1&zoomIdx=1

PCM http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,1639159,00.asp

About.com http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirussoftwarereviews/tp/Best-Internet-Security-Suites-For-2011.htm?nl=1

PC World Battle of the Security Superpowers and PC Magazine Best Security Suites for 2011 Combined

The table below consolidates the summary scores of PC World’s “Battle of the Security Superpowers” and a portion of PC Magazine’s "Best Security Suites for 2011” round-ups into a single table.

This table should be looked at in conjunction with the round-ups by the two publications. The PC Magazine "Best Security Suites for 2011" reviews also contain links to comprehensive malware blocking, malware removal, antispam, antiphishing, and performance (boot time, browsing, file move/copy Windows Installer, zip/unzip) charts. One of the below links for PC World shows a comprehensive table summarizing the scores for all the tests in their round-up.

The first column is the ranking that PC World gave the internet security products. In almost all cases, PC World was more generous in their scoring than PC Magazine. The largest differential was 1.50 with PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2011. This may be because the reviewer found that PC Tools missed a number of phishing sites, the suite's firewall, its antispam capabilities, and that malware interfered with the installation on one system. PCW = PC World, PCM = PC Magazine.

Both publications gave Norton Internet Security Suite 2011 their top ranking at the time the products were tested. PC Magazine's review of Norton Internet Security 2011 was one of the publication's top 10 reviews for 2010, according to their readers. The link below takes you to the article, the slide show and links to each of the 10 reviews:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374759,00.asp












Additional internet security suites tested by PC Magazine during the latter half of 2010 not in the table above include, in no particular order: TrustPort Total Protection 2011, BullGuard Internet Security Suite 10, eScan Internet Security Suite 11, AVG Internet Security 2011, Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011, and Ad-Aware Total Security 1.0. More than one of these suites received 2.5 stars, or less. Internet security suites tested and reviewed by PC Magazine during the first half of 2010 but aren't included in the list above. None of these companies went through an initial public offering (IPO) during 2010.

The PC Magazine reviews also discuss functionality such as firewalls, network management, privacy, parental controls, online back-up, data theft protection, full disk encryption, sandbox, and other features that vary by suite.

PC World Battle of the Security Superpowers and PC Magazine Best Security Suites of 2011

These links take you to the full articles.

PCW http://www.pcworld.com/article/21461/battle_of_the_security_superpowers.html
PCW http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=214618&page=1&zoomIdx=1
PCM http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,1639159,00.asp

Addendum - Information Security Magazine - Best Antimalware Security Products, September 2010

Information Security Magazine surveyed readers in a number of different security categories for their Readers' Choice Awards. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/magazineFeature/0,296894,sid14_gci1519600_mem1,00.html

In the Antimalware category, Kaspersky Open Space Security, Cisco Security Agent, and Symantec Endpoint Protection were awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze, respectively.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/magazineFeature/0,296894,sid14_gci1519605_mem1,00.html

Free vs. Fee: Free and Paid Antivirus Programs Compared – PC World Antivirus Review

PC World has published their Top 5 lists of free and paid antivirus products for 2011. The article is available both online and in the January issue of PC World.

Among the criteria used to rate the products were: antivirus detection, infection cleanup, scan speed, and design. For more extensive details, comprehensive test results, and links to reviews of the products tested, people should go to:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/210589/free_vs_fee_free_and_paid_antivirus_programs_compared.html

Ratings of Free Antivirus Tested

4.5 – Avast Free Antivirus 5
4.0 - Avira AntiVir Personal Free AntiVirus 10
4.0 - Microsoft Security Essentials
3.5 – Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 (version 1.3 is now available)
3.5 – Comodo Internet Security Premium 5.0

Ratings of Paid Antivirus Tested

4.5 – Norton Antivirus 2011
4.5 – BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011
4.0 – Avast Pro Antivirus 5
4.0 – G Data AntiVirus 2011
4.0 – Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus 2011

For the testing, PC World teamed up with AV-test.org. AV-test.org is a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization www.amtso.org

The article didn't make clear how the products were selected for testing. For example, not included in the above - AVG Technologies, McAfee, Trend Micro, and Webroot, to name just a few.

Individuals evaluating products should look at the reviews of the individual products in conjunction with reviews published from other publications, as well.