Security Shootout: 10 Top Antivirus Apps Put to the Test

Posted 04/16/2010 at 12:17pm | by Paul Lilly

73

Comments

Print

We test 10 popular antivirus apps to find out which are best at defeating today's myriad malware menaces

Once upon a time, the typical computer virus was annoying, and even a little destructive, but nowhere near as dangerous as what computer users face today. The stakes are much higher now, and if you’re not careful or haven’t taken the proper precautions, you’re a sitting duck for hackers to steal your identity and sell your private information to the highest underground bidder. Imagine waking up to find your bank account drained or your credit destroyed. And lest you think we’re exaggerating, consider that most U.S. military personnel aren’t even allowed to tote USB thumb drives and other removable storage devices anymore because of the potential harm of a virus outbreak.

The solution to all this is to not be caught with your virtual pants around your ankles, and lucky for us, antivirus vendors have stepped up their game with increasingly robust all-in-one security suites. In fact, unlike other technology categories, the field of AV continues to expand rather than consolidate, with an overwhelming number of apps promising protection and unique features. That’s where we come in.

To help you sift through the cruft, we’re going to revisit the latest versions of the antivirus apps that showed the most promise (or have been granted a mulligan) from last year’s roundup (January 2009), and we’ll pit them against five of the most reader-requested antivirus suites we haven’t yet reviewed. You’ll notice we’ve narrowed our focus to only two freebie apps this time around (Avira, last year’s champ, and Microsoft Security Essentials, Redmond’s highly anticipated replacement to Windows Live OneCare), so if you do decide to shell out for paid software, you’ll have a wider variety of suites to compare. If the app you’re interested in isn’t included here, let us know and be on the lookout for individual reviews in future issues.

Putting AV to the Test

For AV software to make the grade, it has to excel in each of these five areas

System Performance and Scan Speed

If there’s one thing we learned from last year’s roundup, it’s that not all security suites are as lean as they claim to be. Nor are all of them speedy. To separate the praiseworthy from the pretenders, we look at what effect each AV app has on our system resources, as well as subject each one to a full PCMark Vantage run and compare the results to that of a pre-AV state. We also evaluate how long it takes each security suite to sweep through our system, since an after-hours scan isn’t always an option.

Annoyance

We fully expect to spend a little time configuring our security options and digging through the advanced settings when we first fire up our AV software, but once we’re finished tweaking, we don’t want to be bothered. Security software shouldn’t subject us to useless pop-ups and benign notifications.

Features and Implementation

It can be a tough sell convincing users they should shell out for a security suite when free alternatives abound. But let us be clear about one thing: We’re not looking for which AV solution can cram the most bullet points on the side of the box. We do expect a certain baseline feature-set—spam blocking, spyware protection, real-time scanning, etc.—but we’re also looking for any unique (and useful) additions, as well as how intelligently they’re integrated.

Pricing

If we’re being totally honest, PC users can be a stingy bunch. Don’t believe us? Then explain why BitTorrent is so popular (and no, it’s not because everyone is in a rush to download the latest Linux distro). Freebie alternatives hold a clear advantage in this category, but we’re willing to concede the value of an effective, all-in-one security suite over piecing together a mish-mash of free antimalware products. The prices for all the paid apps featured here pertain to a one-year license.

Virus Detection

This is really what it’s all about, and to determine the overall effectiveness of each AV app, we take a multipronged approach. First, we fire off a pair of synthetic spyware and virus tests courtesy of www.spycar.org and www.eicar.com. This is followed by a bombardment of our own collection of malware. Finally, we hit up the seedier side of the web with reckless abandon.

Once we’re finished with our in-house testing, we compare the results with those of Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.com), an independent testing lab. We also take into consideration whether an app has consistently performed well year after year.

Next Page: The Reviews >>