AV Comparatives
PajaP
Choose the report for 'Whole Product Dynamic Test' and download the PDF.
This is their most recent 'Whole Product Dynamic Test' from December
2009.
To quote AV Comparatives "The goal of this Whole Product Dynamic Test is
to compare the protection offered by various security solutions, by
testing them under real-world conditions"
I am sure some may find the results surprising, especially as some of
the long-term players in the AV game (regularly promoted here) scored
the same or just 1% more than a more recent and free offering. I am sure
you know which one I mean.
Buffalo
It's too bad the free Avira wasn't tested.
Thanks for the link.
Buffalo
Leythos
only.co.uk.invalid says...
And you're showing that you're not seeing the entire picture again -
look at the 2009 summary report - if you can find it, look at the 2008
summary report... You will see a trend and that will be what you want to
base current and future performance on, not a one-time result.
--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam9...@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
PajaP
wrote:
>It's too bad the free Avira wasn't tested.
>Thanks for the link.
Maybe not the free one but they are testing their flagship 'paid-for'
product. I would expect the free would achieve similar results.
The summary Report for 2009 is also very interesting reading.
http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/main-tests/summary-reports
(top link is the one for 2009)
Interestingly Avira was in second spot last year. Nowhere near it this
year.
Gets just 2 Adv+ ratings compared to Microsoft's 4 Adv+ (though MS does
get Std for 2 awards).
Microsoft gets two gold awards. Avira just one.
My findings from reading this report and other reviews across the
Internet:
Avira has commendable high detection results but is let down by its
false positives (very annoying and is one of the biggest complaints I
read about Avira). Thankfully its saving grace is it has a low impact on
system resources (for most systems but not all, I can vouch for that).
Microsoft has very good detection rates with very good removal
capabilities and a low false detection rate. It has a low impact on
system resources, though there are a few postings here and there where
it is claimed to use quite a lot (I can vouch that it uses low resources
on my system and is barely noticeable in operation).
Lets not forget though the Microsoft software is *free* and MS is fairly
new to the AV game.
To me what this shows is MSE is on the way up and could mean Avira is on
the way down. Not because Avira has become a bad product, just the
competition has upped it game. Hopefully Avira can turn it around again
in 2010 but I am sticking with Microsoft (for now).
Leythos
only.co.uk.invalid says...
>
> Interestingly Avira was in second spot last year. Nowhere near it this
> year.
> Gets just 2 Adv+ ratings compared to Microsoft's 4 Adv+ (though MS does
> get Std for 2 awards).
> Microsoft gets two gold awards. Avira just one.
>
And even more interesting that Symantec gets great marks, but in all my
years of working with AV and secure networks, Symantec is the product
that let me down and Avira caught the malware and blocked it.
You're missing something on MS Performance, it didn't rank in the top 3,
but, as a number of us have told you, Avira is the winner on Overall
Performance and LOW SYSTEM IMPACT.
To me, this means that MS doesn't have the performance or low-overhead
that Avira does, and my own testing, while only MY TESTING, shows that
MS doesn't come close to defending a system as well as Avira or even
Symantec End Point Protection.
PajaP
wrote:
>On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:51:33 +0000, PajaP
><pa...@news-only.co.uk.invalid> wrote:
>I always wonder about the "many" false positives of Avira.
>I have Avira Antivir as a "second opinion" on-request scanner.
>I have it programmed to scan twice per week.
>I never see a "false positive".
>(and I never see anything else).
>Maybe because I do not have a "laboratory" PC?
Not had any myself with MSE, Avira or Avast here either (that I recall
but see below). Had some password crackers flagged, I think by all of
them, but I guess they don't count as they could be used auspiciously. I
did have some software that started flagging loads of issues with all
sorts of Windows files earlier this year but cannot remember which
program. Maybe Avast? Think it was a due to a bad update that was fixed
fairly quickly. I had quite a lot when I used AVG a few years ago, which
is why I stopped using it.
>The results are very nice and better than many (including me) expected.
>But I understand that "automagic" updates for Windows are required.
>And that is a no-go option for me.
They are unless you choose to turn it off and update manually. Either by
downloading the updates from the web site or using the manual update
button in MSE (which does work even if Windows Update is turned off).
I believe it was f-prot many years ago that I used a script with to
download and install the updates. Not sure if same could be done here.
>>Lets not forget though the Microsoft software is *free* and MS is fairly
>>new to the AV game.
>
>MSE is just as free a product as Avira, Avast and AVG, so it has to meet
>the competition.
The link to the report is using all paid for versions in the tests
(where one exists) though, which is the only reason I mentioned MSE is
free (there is no paid version).
>And it is not the very first attempt of Microsoft to provide AV-software
>(usually bought from a third party).
>A previous attempt - some years ago (Giant?) - failed clearly.
I guess MSE could go the same way. This time though I think/hope it is
for the long-term. I will be using it for as long as it is available
(unless I find something that better meets my requirements).
>>To me what this shows is MSE is on the way up and could mean Avira is on
>>the way down. Not because Avira has become a bad product, just the
>>competition has upped it game. Hopefully Avira can turn it around again
>>in 2010 but I am sticking with Microsoft (for now).
>
>I do not support this conclusion.
>What way down and what way up would that be?
In the comparison sites opinions. I don't think MSE is going to hit
their user base but they would know better about that. I do not think
Avira has become a worse product than it was, quite the opposite
(despite the issues I have had with it).
>As usual AV-programs are just a little bit better or just a little bit
>less than others.
>Avira has a long standing record (many years the best or second best),
>Microsoft still has to gain such endurance.
> ;-)
Agreed. Hopefully they will. I am hoping it is an indication they are
going to take overall security a little more seriously. With MSE and
Windows 7 it appears they are.
PajaP
<pa...@news-only.co.uk.invalid> wrote:
>I believe it was f-prot many years ago that I used a script with to
>download and install the updates. Not sure if same could be done here.
This looks like a likely candidate for automatically updating MSE
without Windows Update being on:
http://lifehacker.com/5406683/mse-update-utility-keeps-security-up-to-date-without-windows-update