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Which of the current antivirus tools are best? PCMag sorts them out.  By Neil J. RubenkingAugust 30, 2012 24 Comments Coranti to Kaspersky Malwarebytes to PC Tools Roboscan to ZoneAlarm  For many years, antivirus vendors released the following year's model in the fall, just like car vendors. More recently that model has started to fray, with some vendors releasing new models in summer or even spring. Now more vendors are shifting to a continuous-update process and de-emphasizing the model year. You won't see "2013" in the names of coming releases from Symantec and Kaspersky, for example.
Antivirus Comparison Chart
As far as PCMag's testing goes, there's still a break each year when I swap in a new set of malware samples for testing. I do separate old and new tests in my test result charts, since the sample sets aren't the same. Still, year over year the same products tend to be top scorers. Here are the best of the current bunch. The Best Products The antivirus field is huge; I currently track over three dozen products. In a field that big there's room for multiple winners. Three products share the Editor's Choice honor for best overall antivirus: Norton AntiVirus 2012 $18.42 at SnaggStuff, Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus $29.95 at Webroot, andBitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 $39.95 at BitDefender. Norton and Webroot scored highest in my malware blocking test, with 7.1 and 6.9 points respectively. Bitdefender earned 6.5 points against my current sample collection. As for malware blocking, Webroot earned a perfect 10 of 10 points against the previous sample set while Norton got 8.9 points. Bitdefender, tested with the current sample set, also took 8.9 points. In independent lab tests, Bitdefender and Norton get very high marks. Webroot, with its non-traditional detection and remediation methods, doesn't fare as well in those tests. For those who feel they can't afford antivirus protection, plenty of free solutions are available. Since they're free, you can try as many as you want and choose your favorite. However, you might want to start with AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012, our current Editors' Choice for free antivirus. A full-scale antivirus tool both cleans up existing threats and keeps new attacks from getting a foothold. Sometimes, though, a counterattack by entrenched malware means you can't even install that hot-shot antivirus. In that case, a free removal-only tool can be a godsend.Comodo Cleaning Essentials, which scored just a tenth of a point behind Norton for malware removal, is our Editors' Choice for free cleanup-only antivirus. Of course, you do have to work to make sure your antivirus stays up to date, and you need to deal with any threats it reports. Or do you? In fact, once you install Daily Safety Check Home Edition you don't have to do a thing. Its managed antivirus will scan your system and block attacks, and it also ensures that you have all the latest security patches. If necessary, a support agent can remote into your PC to clean up the worst infestations. All you need to do is view emailed safety reports. This unique service has earned Editors' Choice for consumer-side managed antivirus. Antivirus Tests Where did those scores come from? To test an antivirus product's ability to deal with existing malware infestations, I install it on twelve or so malware-infested virtual machines. After running the most comprehensive scan available, I check which threats the antivirus detected and note how well it cleaned them up. This article explains how I derive the scores in the chart that follows: How We Test Malware Removal.  Antivirus malware removal chartI also install each product on a clean test system and attempt to install the same collection of threats. Most antivirus tools wipe out a portion of the samples the moment I open the containing folder. I launch those not killed on sight and observe just how far they get before the antivirus takes action. The article How We Test Malware Blocking explains in detail how I come up with the scores in the chart below. Antivirus malware blocking chartIndependent antivirus testing labs have vastly more resources at hand than I do, so they can perform tests on a scale beyond what I can do. At present I track results from AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, ICSA Labs, Virus Bulletin, and West Coast Labs. I hope to be adding tests from NSS Labs and Dennis Labs later this year. The chart below summarizes current results, and this article goes into more detail about how I interpret those results:How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests. Antivirus lab tests chartOther Notable Products The free avast! Free Antivirus 7 and Avira Free Antivirus 2012 actually scored better than Editors' Choice AVG in my malware removal tests, but not in malware blocking. Conversely,ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall and Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 2.0 achieved great scores (9.3 and 9.2) for malware blocking but didn't do as well at cleanup. If you're evaluating free antivirus tools, all of these are definitely worth consideration. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 $19.94 at SnaggStuff gets praise from the independent labs, and Kaspersky researchers always seem to be on the forefront of new malware discoveries. It just doesn't score as well on my own tests as the Editors' Choice products do. If your PC is brand-new and guaranteed clean, you might consider SecureIT. The independent labs don't test this one, but it took the top score for malware blocking among products tested with my current malware collection—9.7 of 10 possible points. In my cleanup test, though, it scored a dismal 3.6. Whatever your antivirus needs, one of the over three dozen tools listed here should do the job. FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:  Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10  Free Lavasoft's designers have so thoroughly streamlined both the user interface and the protective technology in this release that it's almost like version 1.0. Like a version 1.0 product, it has some glitches to work through. In particular, its cleanup totally killed one infested test system; users don't like that. Read the full review ››  Anvi Smart Defender  Free Where some antivirus products excel at malware removal and others at preventing new attacks, Anvi Smart Defender is consistently terrible at both. Worse, in testing it quarantined a number of verifiably clean Windows files. Avoid it at all costs.Read the full review ››  avast! Free Antivirus 7  Free If avast!'s very good malware cleanup doesn't recognize a suspicious file, its built-in automatic sandboxing can keep that file from doing harm. It's one of several good choices for free antivirus protection, with unusual bonus features like Web reputation reporting and built-in remote assistance. Read the full review ›› avast! Rescue Disc  $10.00 Avast! Rescue Disc can scan and clean any Windows installation, including one on a drive removed from another PC. No other product I've seen can do that. Its cleanup wasn't the most thorough, but it would probably be sufficient to revive a system rendered unbootable by malware. Read the full review ››  AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 Free This free product scored better than the commercial competition in PCMag's hands-on antivirus tests, and it also gets high marks from the independent labs. It now integrates with other AVG products and includes useful bonus features. AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 is PCMag's new Editors' Choice for free antivirus. Read the full review ››  Avira Free Antivirus 2012 Free This free antivirus gets good ratings from the independent labs and also scored well in PCMag's own malware removal and blocking tests, though in both tests it had some trouble with rootkits. It's a nice free solution that's worth your consideration.Read the full review ››  Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013  $39.95 $39.95 at BitDefenderBitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 does everything an antivirus should and includes useful bonus features. It performed very well in our testing and in independent tests as well. Full cleanup of infested systems can take a long time and in testing causes some collateral damage, but Bitdefender tech support handled damage control very well. Read the full review ››  BullGuard Antivirus 12  $24.95 This product displays uneven capabilities. Its malware blocking scores approach those of the very best products, but it set new records for poor malware cleanup. Its bonus phishing protection and spam filtering aren't very accurate. These ups and downs average out to a good product, but you can do better. Read the full review ››  Comodo Antivirus 2012 Free Don't rely on Comodo Antivirus 2012 to clean up an infested system; it's just not good at that. It will keep a clean system clean, as long as you read and correctly respond to many popup queries from its Defense+ component. It's not for everyone.Read the full review ›› Comodo Cleaning Essentials Free Can't install your full-scale antivirus because active malware prevents it? The free and portable Comodo Cleaning Essentials doesn't need installation. It won't sweep away all the inactive malware traces, but it does a good job of eliminating the processes that fight installation of security software. Read the full review ›› |
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