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How to choose the right
antivirus software ?
Tips for picking the
best antivirus program
Nick Mediati,
PC World US
PC Advisor
has updated its chart of the best antivirus programs. Check out our
Top 5 antivirus round-up, or read on for buying advice, and how we test
and rank the latest antivirus products.
Malware is evolving faster than
ever, so it’s reassuring to discover that the latest generation of antivirus
(AV) is better equipped to handle this rapid pace of change. We recommend
that every Windows PC runs at least AV, antispyware and a firewall, and that
you keep them all up to date. So if you’re not running AV, or if you feel
your AV could perform better, there’s a product in our latest
antivirus group test that you need.
In recent years, the technology
that powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you
purchased a few years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known
malware, but brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer
products do a better job of stopping them.
For our antivirus group test we
teamed up with AV-Test,
a respected security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test
rigorously tested AV products from a number of leading security companies.
In all, 13 programs were tested. In our feature we've presented the Top 5;
read reviews of the rest at pcadvisor.co.uk.
AV-Test’s multifaceted testing
procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can detect malware using
traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is, employing a database
of known malware types), but also at how well it can block brand-new,
unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product can clean
up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get through.
Our group test focuses on
standalone paid-for AV products, rather than free software - although one
notable exception is Avira
AntiVir Premium 2011, where we judged the free edition as good at
catching and nullifying threats as its paid-for counterpart.
Paid-for AV products usually
offer better technical support and more comprehensive protection features
than free programs. Internet security suites go further still, offering
firewalls, parental controls, identity theft protection and more.
Regular readers will know that
we looked at fully fledged security
suites last issue. Some of the names here are the same as those in that
round-up and, in general, the AV protection provided by a standalone product
is replicated by that in the corresponding suite. However, there are
noticeable differences between the two comparative tests. Norton came
out top in both, but our group test is far from a straight re-run of the top
security suites.
Antivirus trends
This year, some AV packages come
with tie-ins to so-called cloud services, in which fresh information on new
threats pushes down from the vendor’s web servers to your PC. This is a
trend we’ve begun to see over the past year or two, but it’s really taken
off with the 2011 batch of products.
Cloud-based detection takes many
forms. In some products, such as Norton AntiVirus, it’s used in
reputation-based systems that pull together information on files and file
types from users around the world to quickly detect suspicious files. Norton
calls its system Quorum, but each company that offers a reputation-based
process has its own name for the feature.
In other products, such as Trend
Micro Titanium Antivirus, the bulk of the malware detection actually
takes place in the cloud - remotely, on the company’s servers, rather than
on your PC - with the intention of catching malware sooner and reducing the
performance impact on your system.
Winning ways
Since an AV program is only as
good as its ability to block viruses, we based 70 percent of each program’s
overall score on its success in malware detection, blocking and cleanup,
with features, ease of use and the overall drag on system performance
accounting for the rest.
It was a close race, but Symantec
Norton AntiVirus 2011 took our Best Buy award with its excellent malware
detection, blocking and cleanup. Kaspersky
Anti-Virus 2011 collected a Recommended badge, while BitDefender
Antivirus Pro 2011, G
Data AntiVirus 2011 and Panda
Antivirus Pro 2011 completed our Top 5 round-up.
antivirus software ?
Tips for picking the
best antivirus program
Nick Mediati,
PC World US
PC Advisor
has updated its chart of the best antivirus programs. Check out our
Top 5 antivirus round-up, or read on for buying advice, and how we test
and rank the latest antivirus products.
Malware is evolving faster than
ever, so it’s reassuring to discover that the latest generation of antivirus
(AV) is better equipped to handle this rapid pace of change. We recommend
that every Windows PC runs at least AV, antispyware and a firewall, and that
you keep them all up to date. So if you’re not running AV, or if you feel
your AV could perform better, there’s a product in our latest
antivirus group test that you need.
In recent years, the technology
that powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you
purchased a few years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known
malware, but brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer
products do a better job of stopping them.
For our antivirus group test we
teamed up with AV-Test,
a respected security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test
rigorously tested AV products from a number of leading security companies.
In all, 13 programs were tested. In our feature we've presented the Top 5;
read reviews of the rest at pcadvisor.co.uk.
AV-Test’s multifaceted testing
procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can detect malware using
traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is, employing a database
of known malware types), but also at how well it can block brand-new,
unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product can clean
up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get through.
Our group test focuses on
standalone paid-for AV products, rather than free software - although one
notable exception is Avira
AntiVir Premium 2011, where we judged the free edition as good at
catching and nullifying threats as its paid-for counterpart.
Paid-for AV products usually
offer better technical support and more comprehensive protection features
than free programs. Internet security suites go further still, offering
firewalls, parental controls, identity theft protection and more.
Regular readers will know that
we looked at fully fledged security
suites last issue. Some of the names here are the same as those in that
round-up and, in general, the AV protection provided by a standalone product
is replicated by that in the corresponding suite. However, there are
noticeable differences between the two comparative tests. Norton came
out top in both, but our group test is far from a straight re-run of the top
security suites.
Antivirus trends
This year, some AV packages come
with tie-ins to so-called cloud services, in which fresh information on new
threats pushes down from the vendor’s web servers to your PC. This is a
trend we’ve begun to see over the past year or two, but it’s really taken
off with the 2011 batch of products.
Cloud-based detection takes many
forms. In some products, such as Norton AntiVirus, it’s used in
reputation-based systems that pull together information on files and file
types from users around the world to quickly detect suspicious files. Norton
calls its system Quorum, but each company that offers a reputation-based
process has its own name for the feature.
In other products, such as Trend
Micro Titanium Antivirus, the bulk of the malware detection actually
takes place in the cloud - remotely, on the company’s servers, rather than
on your PC - with the intention of catching malware sooner and reducing the
performance impact on your system.
Winning ways
Since an AV program is only as
good as its ability to block viruses, we based 70 percent of each program’s
overall score on its success in malware detection, blocking and cleanup,
with features, ease of use and the overall drag on system performance
accounting for the rest.
It was a close race, but Symantec
Norton AntiVirus 2011 took our Best Buy award with its excellent malware
detection, blocking and cleanup. Kaspersky
Anti-Virus 2011 collected a Recommended badge, while BitDefender
Antivirus Pro 2011, G
Data AntiVirus 2011 and Panda
Antivirus Pro 2011 completed our Top 5 round-up.
