AV-Comparatives File Detection Test of Malicious Software - March 2013

Test group AV-Comparatives has released their March 2013 File Detection of Malicious Software report.  Ten pages of nice reading.  The three star performers, in order, were Avira, F-Secure, BitDefender, BullGuard, and Kaspersky.  Congratulations to these five vendors for their performance!  G Data had the top detection rate, 99.9% but suffered in their overall performance due to false positives.  ESET finished 17^th in detection rate, which may have precipitated  their drop in the standings.  The only free product in the test was from Panda. 

There was some movement from the av-comparatives 2012 summary report.  The companies receiving Top Rated designation were,  in alphabetical order - Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, BullGuard, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, and Kaspersky.  

The company with products in the yellow box, otherwise known as Symantec, was included in this report.  This was the first time in a long while.  Suffice it to say, Symantec has nowhere to go but up, finishing in the “tested” (not even one star) category.  They had the lowest detection rate of all products tested.  Shout out to CEO Steve Bennett; that is okay.  Next test. Eva, get those engineers out of the cloud and working on the engine and file detection ;)

What this report is showing is that the products with the most name brand recognition are not always the top performers.  Trend Micro only received one star, and McAfee two stars.  Average these scores with Symantec and you get one star out of three.  Ouch.  For the complete report, you will have to go to the www.av-comparatives.org  web site. 

Tests such as these are much more valuable than  looking at  “likes” on a company web site. People should look at the av-test and Virus Bulletin web site.  PC Magazine does extensive testing, as well.  Put something on your device.  You don’t have to install a toolbar to get a price break.  Look, also, for installing (in addition) one of the free products that helps protect you while surfing the web.  McAfee, Zone Labs, Blue Coat, are among the vendors providing these.  You may want to install an internet security product for more comprehensive protection than that provided by an antivirus product.

  

About AV-comparatives     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.

AV-Comparatives Anti-virus Comparative Summary Report 2012, BitDefender Named Product of the Year

Test group AV-Comparatives has released their Anti-virus Comparative Summary Report 2012.  This quite thorough 180 page  report contains a summary of the winning products for the test they performed in 2012, and  also contains an extensive 150 plus page user interface review section.A great report to download.

On an overall basis, AV-Comparatives, gave eight company's products their Top Rated designation.  In alphabetical order, these were  Avast, Avira,  Bitdefender,  BullGuard, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, and  Kaspersky. Congratulations to these companies! 

For the individual   tests, the 2012 report lists the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medal recipients.   To view the Silver and Bronze recipients, you’ll have to download the free report. Below are the Gold Medal Recipients.

Gold Medal Recipients - Summary Report 2012

• Product of the Year – Bitdefender (G Data and Kaspersky, were awarded Bronze and Silver)
• File Detection – Avira
• Whole-Product “Real-World” Dynamic Protection - BitDefender (a nice interactive report)
• Proactive (Heuristic) Detection/Protection - A tie.  BitDefender and Kaspersky
• False Positive – Microsoft
• Overall Performance (Low System Impact) – Webroot
• Anti-Phishing Protection – BitDefender
• Malware Removal – A tie, BitDefender and Kaspersky

Congratulations to the Gold Medal recipients listed above and to the Silver and Bronze Medal Recipients listed in the 2012  report!

AC-comparatives encourages people trying to select a product to go to the vendor’s websites, download a trial version, and try products for themselves.  Many vendors have multiple flavors of internet security suites, each with their own spin on additional features.  Many offer multi-user and multi-year licenses.  One thing not to do.  Don’t chose based on how many Facebook Fans like the product.   

Symantec doesn’t appear in this report.  In order to be tested and reported on by AV-Comparatives, vendors have to agree to participate in all the tests.  Symantec chose not to do this.  Hence, they’re not listed in any of the tests. Steve Bennett.This could be the year.

The report also has a great  link that lets you select a year and view a one page report listing all vendors and how many stars they received for each test they were in. The most stars a vendor could receive on a single test was  three.  They could also receive two, one, and tested.  A perfect score for the year – twenty seven.  BitDefender received twenty six  in 2012.  

Freemium Vendors

The freemium vendors in the report were Avast, AVG Technologies, Avira, Panda, and PC Tools.  As mentioned above,  nine different tests with a potential total of twenty seven stars. 

• Avast – 22 stars
• Avira – 22 stars (yes, a tie)
• Panda - 19 stars
• AVG Technologies – 14 stars
• PC Tools – 13 stars

Avast and Avira received the same number of stars in seven of the nine tests and were both among the AV-Comparatives eight top products for 2012.   Avast wins the Czech crown for the year.  

About AV-comparatives     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.