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.

AV-TEST Product Review and Certification Report – September, October 2012

During September and October 2012, AV-test (www.av-test.org ) evaluated 24 home user security products using their default settings.  They used the most current publicly available versions   for the testing. Generally, they were the 2013 versions.  Products were allowed to update themselves   time query their in-the-cloud services.  The test was done on Windows 7.

The   consumer   internet security products were tested in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  So, the best possible total score was 18.0. The test was on Windows 7.   You’ll have to go to the av-test.org web site for the individual scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies. 

The top ten finishers were, Bitdefender Internet Security (they lost their only point on Usability), F-Secure Internet Security, BullGuard Internet Security, Kaspersky Internet Security, Symantec: Norton Internet Security, Check Point Zone Alarm Free, G Data Internet Security, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security, Avast Free, and AVG Internet Security.  Check Point and Avast had the top free products.

BitDefender isn't as well known to the thronging masses as a number of other AV or Internet Security companies.  They are active in the OEM business, offering SDK and rebranding alternatives for endpoint, network,  and cloud protection. In these situations (of course), you may never realize that BitDefender is under the hood.

 http://www.bitdefender.com/oem/#Overview

Microsoft Security Essentials failed the test with 10.5 while McAfee, Norman, and Panda were on the bubble at 11.0. This is a major black eye for the Microsoft Security Essentials product. They scored only 1.5 out of 6 for Protection.  For Removal, 3.5, and Usability, 5.5.

The top ten products are in the table below.  Click on the table to enlarge it.

 

As with all the other tests performed by reputable test groups, there's not a lot of correlation between the best known products and test results.

In March/April testing, the top three products were from BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky, respectively. 

 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/06/av-test-product-review-and.html

 

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.

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

AV-Comparatives File Detection Test of Malicious Software – September 2012, Real World Protection Test

Addendum -  this is a link  more recent blog about a 2015 File Detection Test  http://kensek.blogspot.com/2015/10/av-comparatives-file-detection-test.html



AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org ) has released their File Detection Test of Malicious Software – September 2012 report.  Twenty vendor antivirus (internet security) products were tested.  Ten products received the top rating of Advanced+, or three stars.  Congrats to these vendors!  The products tested were a combination of 2012 and 2013 releases.  They also published a pdf of their September Real World Detection Test. You can go online and view the test results for this  using a timeline you select.

The Top Five Products

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

In the March test, the top five products were from G Data, Avira, Kaspersky, Sophos, and F-Secure.  Only two of top five from March remained in the top five for this test.

G Data and Avira had the highest total detection rates, at 99.9% and 99.8%, respectively.  What hurt G Data was its sixteenth place ranking in false positives.  Microsoft was the only company with zero false positives, while Webroot was the  laggard  with and two hundred ten (ouch!) false positives.  Webroot also missed the most samples.  The Hall of Shame award for the September test were AhnLab and Webroot, both receiving a “Tested” designation.

Avira wins the battle of the all twenty companies and the ­ big three freemium companies.  Avast wins the crown for Prague performance.  Gratulace! Trend Micro wins out ove r McAfee for Silicon Valley supremacy.  Symantec did not participate in the test.

To download the September “File Detection Test of Malicious Software” report, go to

http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/detection-test

 

There are multiple test organizations.  People should go to www.av-test.org and www.virusbtn.com  and look at their test results, as well.  When it comes to selecting a product, test results and reviews should win out over Facebook fan’s likes and web site popularity contests. 

Top 5 Products in the September Real World Protection Test

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

Trend Micro scored 100%.  The "what happened?"  awards go to PC Tools,  and Webroot, in twentieth and twenty-first, respectively. 

About AV-Comparatives   www.av-comparatives.org

 

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization.  They provide 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.  A document detailing Testing Methodologies and FAQ’s is  at

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse/methodology.pdf   

September AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report – July through August 2012

During July and August, AV-Test (www.AV-Test.org) tested twenty-three consumer   internet security products (for the most part) in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  The test was on Windows XP.  Go to their   web site for the individual component scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies’ products tested.  The web site does not total and rank the results.  Two products failed certification, from Lavasoft and AhnLab.  Note that most of these were performed with 2012 products.  It’s only since late August and early September that the 2013 products have been rolling out.  Avast had the only free product among the top scorers.

AV-Test Top Four Scores July through August Test

• Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 & 2013 -17.0
• BitDefender Internet Security 2012 - 16.5
• Check Point ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 10.2 - 16.0
• Avast Free AntiVirus 7.0 - 15.0
• Avira Internet Security 2012 - 15.0
• Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 - 15.0

 F-Secure's  score  dropped to 14.5 in the latest test.This dropped them to seventh overall.

AV-Test Top Four Scores - May through June Test

• BitDefender Internet Security 2012 – 17.0
• Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• F-Secure Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• Check Point Zone Alarm Free Antivirus – 16.0 

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 was AV-Comparatives,  www.av-comparatives.org , Product of the Year, with BitDefender Internet Security 2012, F-Secure Internet Security, and Avira Internet Security 2012 receiving  Top Rated recognition.

There are many test groups out there.  You should also look at test results from Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com   and AV-comparatives www.av-comparatives.org   as well.

To see some of the scores the 2013 internet products have been receiving from reviewers, go to 

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/09/best-internet-security-suites-2013-best.html

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.