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Test Results
How good are antivirus programs at detecting and stopping dangerous programs?
Leading antivirus research institute AV-Comparatives regularly tests antivirus programs to see how effective they are at recognising and blocking all types of malware (dangerous programs), and has kindly allowed us to publish their results. For more information about these tests, visit www.av-comparatives.org. Please note that the table below is sorted principally by the number of above-average results (shown in bold) in the tests, so the programs in the top group (4 above-average results) have better overall results than those in lower groups. However, please do not assume that the program at the top of any group is necessarily better than the program at the bottom of the same group. Recommended programs are shown in red; click on the name to see the full report.
Program |
On-Demand Test Feb 2010 |
Proactive Test November 2009 |
PUA Test November 2009 |
Dynamic Test December 2009 |
Above-average results |
False alarms Feb 2010 |
99.3% |
74.0% |
98.9% |
97.0% |
4 |
11 |
|
99.6% |
66.0% |
99.8% |
95.0% |
4 |
5 |
|
97.1% |
64.0% |
96.7% |
99.0% |
4 |
5 |
|
97.7% |
60.0% |
96.5% |
95.0% |
4 |
3 |
|
97.8% |
56.0% |
98.6% |
95.0% |
4 |
2 |
|
Avast |
97.3% |
53.0% |
96.3% |
96.0% |
4 |
11 |
BitDefender |
97.5% |
53.0% |
98.6% |
91.0% |
4 |
3 |
Microsoft |
96.3% |
56.0% |
94.6% |
96.0% |
3 |
3 |
eScan |
97.5% |
53.0% |
98.6% |
89.0% |
3 |
1 |
Symantec |
98.6% |
36.0% |
98.6% |
99.0% |
3 |
11 |
TrustPort |
99.1% |
49.0% |
99.8% |
88.0% |
2 |
9 |
McAfee* |
98.9% |
47.0% |
98.9% |
86.0% |
2 |
61 |
AVG |
94.2% |
49.0% |
93.9% |
88.0% |
0 |
10 |
Sophos |
93.7% |
34.0% |
95.4% |
0 |
4 |
|
Kingsoft |
81.8% |
32.0% |
87.1% |
60.00% |
0 |
67 |
Norman |
92.7% |
32.0% |
88.5% |
74.00% |
0 |
64 |
TrendMicro* |
90.7% |
38 |
||||
K7 |
96.4% |
193 |
||||
PC Tools |
98.7% |
8 |
||||
Panda* |
99.2% |
47 |
||||
Average |
96.21% |
50.88% |
96.3% |
89.87% |
28 |
* Progams using "in-the-cloud" technology: These 3 programs connect to the Internet during detection, to get the very latest definitions. For the February 2010 On-Demand Test, if the computer is NOT connected to the Internet, results are as follows: McAfee 94.9% with 19 false alarms; Panda 73.3% with 32 false alarms; Trend Micro 68.5% with 22 false alarms.
On-Demand Detection Test, February 2010: Percentage of malware (dangerous programs such as viruses, worms and trojans) detected. Higher scores are better.
Proactive/Retrospective Test, November 2009: Percentage of malware detected with one-week-old signatures; simulates program's ability to detect new, unknown malware. Higher scores are better.
PUA Test, December 2009: Percentage of potentially unwanted programs (irritating and deceitful rather than dangerous) detected. Higher scores are better.
Whole-Product Dynamic Test, December 2009: Percentage of malicious programs detected in "real-world" tests. Higher scores are better.
Above-average results: Number of tests (of the four described above) in which the program reached an above-average score. Higher scores are better.
False positives, February 09: Number of false alarms (harmless programs incorrectly identified as malicious) ocurring in the On-Demand Detection Test, February 2009. Lower scores are better. This figure is NOT included in the "Above-average results".
Last updated: 27th March 2010 18:33
