VIPRE (who?) tops anti-virus repair test while Microsoft disappoints
Tony Sarno
24 May 2011, 8:59 AM
(9 hours 29 minutes ago.)
An anti-malware package called VIPRE has topped one of the key tests performed by the German security testing company AV-Test. But Microsoft’s Security Essentials was disappointing
The surprise result - VIPRE Antivirus Premium 4.0 got top score in the "Repair" test.
Testing anti-malware software is fraught. Since the effectiveness of security packages varies from day to day depending on what new malware is released, APC magazine has given up trying. Instead, we rely on the test results of some independent security testing bodies whose only job is to test security products, . One of the main testing organisations is
AV-Test GmbH, a German company which runs a 20-person lab that regularly tests and certifies consumer and enterprise security software.
The AV-Test for consumer software tests for three main things. One is "Protection," or how effective the anti-malware is at detecting and preventing malware. Two, "Repair," looks at how well the software removes malware and disinfects a PC. And three, "Usability," determines how much the software slows down the system and how many false positives it generates.
The latest tests of 22 consumer anti-malware products for the first quarter of 2011 (Jan-March), have thrown up some real surprises. While the overall winners were F-Secure's Internet Security 2011 and BitDefender's Internet Security Suite 2011, which shared the top overall score (15.5 out of 18), closely followed by Symantec's Internet Security Suite 2011 (15/18), the Repair test was won by an anti-virus package we’d never heard of, VIPRE Antivirus Premium 4.0, which beat giants such as Symantec, Kaspersky, McAfee, AVG and Microsoft to become the software that best cleans out an infection on your PC.