Real-World Antivirus Protection Test: Winners and Losers

[andrew129260]

My favorite quote:

My mine is made up, don't confuse me with facts.

Jim

Agreed.

I used to think avast was the absolute greatest antivirus ever (avast fanboy) and would not listen to the fact that it caused ie to crash due to its addon. I also thought it was the best in detection for awhile. Then recently panda started killin it. I got frustrated with all the ads from avast, the constant annoying register with your email every year to keep it working.

I am glad panda caught my eye and I found them.

 

[kodi]

I use Avast internet security not the free one. It would be nice if they compared like to like ie paid to paid not standard to paid.

 

[andrew129260]

Except for some snobby crappy companies, Most free av and paid use the same definitions so I fail to see what you mean.

If the free product does well that means the paid one will too. In terms of detecting malware. The paid version just usaully offers firewall etc.

 

[A Guy]

The paid versions usually use the same antivirus engine and definitions. The "extras" are what you pay for, for instance, Avast

Compare avast! antivirus | What is the best antivirus?

SafeZone is the major addition



If you only want the Antivirus, then the free will do just as well. If you want the extra features, you pay for them. A Guy

 

[Phone Man]

My understanding is the Vendor decides which of their products they want tested.

Jim

 

[andrew129260]

My understanding is the Vendor decides which of their products they want tested.

Jim

Yup, and the smart ones pick there free av. Because if the free av is good, the paid will will look better to the customer. Its about being a smart business.

 

[TVeblen]

I have always gone under the assumption that the engine and definitions are the same in the free or paid versions.
But I have never seen that assumption tested.
I have only seen (heard) anecdotal confirmation.

 

[RoasterMen]

I'm using avast! free version and is doing what it should, I tried their SecureLine and tried to ban evade to a server and my ping was higher than usual lol

 

[Cr00zng]

The full report, that describes the details of the testing, does give some advice albeit indirectly, quote:

The use of more up-to-date third-party software and an updated Microsoft Windows 7 64-Bit made it much harder to find exploits in-the-field for the test.* This should also remind users always to keep their systems and applications up-to-date, in order to minimize the risk of being infected through exploits which use unpatched software vulnerabilities.
*-Emphasis mine...

If you haven't been doing the updates, this quote should convince you to do so. It is part of the layered security protection for your system, among others. Don't just trust the auto update, test it with Qualys browser check. Plugin installation is required and the scan results provide links to the latest updates for OS and apps.

The URLs tested (4,003 in four month) are a small subset of the malware waiting for you to download. Is this subset indicative of all the malware out there? To a certain extent, yes, but by no means it is inclusive of all types of malware. Based on Mcafee's malware report, there are a lot more new malware; quote from mcAfee:

McAfee Labs records 200 new threats every minute—more than three every second.

To put it in perspective, that's around 288,000 new malware per day. AV cannot possibly keep up with this new malware stream and it needs help. While layered security protection does help, such as up to date OS and apps, firewall, EMET, etc., none of these will protect the system against the end user...

 

[JerometheGiraff]

I use WebRoot and since I just got my first smart phone, I can use web root on both my desktop and smartphone / phablet !

 

[Computer0304]

In my opinion, AVs for mobile is too overpowered because as long as you download only popular trusted apps, read only emails and messages from people you know and REAL company emails, you are fine on Android and iOS.

 

[A Guy]

In my opinion, AVs for mobile is too overpowered because as long as you download only popular trusted apps, read only emails and messages from people you know and REAL company emails, you are fine on Android and iOS.

Do people do that?

A Guy

 

[andrew129260]

Mobile avs are useless anyway. They cannot be admin, so they are powerless at removing apps or stopping threats.

The best they can do is take you to the spot where you can uninstall the app. Which, if people would look at the permissions in the first place, they would not have that issue.

 

[Computer0304]

In my opinion, AVs for mobile is too overpowered because as long as you download only popular trusted apps, read only emails and messages from people you know and REAL company emails, you are fine on Android and iOS.

Do people do that?

A Guy

I know I do. Wait, I'm the only one?

Mobile avs are useless anyway. They cannot be admin, so they are powerless at removing apps or stopping threats.

The best they can do is take you to the spot where you can uninstall the app. Which, if people would look at the permissions in the first place, they would not have that issue.

Exactly.