18 security packages put to the test
All the known products on the market are found in the test list. The lab evaluated the 18 solutions in March and April 2017 in the categories of protection, performance and usability. In each test category, the solutions received up to 6 points, i.e. a maximum of 18. A total of two products managed to achieve the top score in the test. Avira AntiVirus Pro and Kaspersky Internet Security. In addition to the certificate for tested safety, the products also received a TOP PRODUCT rating, as they scored more than 17.5 points. This is followed by the products from Bitdefender, Symantec and Trend Micro with exactly 17.5 points. They also receive the additional TOP PRODUCT rating.
The large midfield with 16.5 and 16 points is made up of products from AVG, F-Secure, G Data, AhnLab, Avast, BullGuard, McAfee and Microworld. The remaining products from ESET, ThreatTrack, Comodo, K7 Computing and Microsoft came in at 15.5 and 15 points.
5 packages can identify all threats
In the test for protection, the packages were required to withstand the real-world test, followed by the AV-TEST reference set. In the first section, the goal was to fend off 175 new, still unknown threats, some of which were only a few hours old. By contrast, in the reference set there were 12,000 old acquaintances that were already wreaking havoc up to 2 weeks prior to the beginning of the test. So the packages were expected to be familiar with these threats.
In the real-world test, 6 products managed to detect all the threats without exception: AVG, Bitdefender, F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab, Symantec and Comodo. Whereas the first 5 also achieved the 100 percent mark in the test with the reference set, Comodo fell short because it overlooked a few known threats.
Overall, however, there were additional products in the test with the reference set that also achieved error-free detection. In addition to the 5 products from AVG, Bitdefender, F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab and Symantec, there are also G Data, Trend Micro, Avast and ThreatTrack. Despite minor errors, ultimately 10 products scored the coveted 6 points in this test category.
Does more security slow down the PC?
Users continue to complain that the security solution they are using slows down the PC. To verify this, the technicians in the lab install each solution on a standard and a high-end PC. Afterwards, applications are launched, websites are visited or files are copied and the amount of time required to do so is noted. The same test PCs without a security solution deliver the reference values. Naturally, every security suite required a few percentage points of resources – but it was not to exceed that level. The best scores in this test were achieved by the suites from Avira, Bitdefender, BullGuard, Kaspersky Lab, Microworld, Symantec and Trend Micro. All the packages earned 6 points for their performance.
The protection packages from F-Secure and McAfee did not require vast resources, but they did need more: 5.5 points. AVG and G Data received 5 points. All additional packages were considerably more conspicuous in everyday use in terms of performance loss: AhnLab, Avast, ThreatTrack, Comodo, Microsoft, ESET and K7 Computing received a mere 4.5 or 4 points.
