Anti Virus Testing

[OilKiller]

In my spare time, I work for myself and help clean up computers for those that are having issues with malware. This is more a hobby than a job and I find it fun. I'm sure those that have been infected though, don't find it very fun...

So I recently decided to do a round of testing of some of the more common and even not so common anti virus products out there. I took 15 malicious links and loaded them against numerous anti virus software programs. These links were zero day links (meaning they were found that day) and were found on various sites on the Internet. Stopped is the number of malware that was stopped by the running anti virus program. Missed means the malware got through.

I have rated the product from worst to best. Amazingly enough, one product was able to stop all threats:

Rising

Stopped: 1
Missed: 14

Score: 6%

Microsoft Security Essentials

Stopped: 3
Missed: 12

Score: 20%

Trustport

Stopped: 6
Missed: 9

Score: 40%

AVG

Stopped: 8
Missed: 7

Score: 53%

Avira

Stopped: 8
Missed: 7

Score: 53%

Vipre

Stopped: 9
Missed: 6

Score: 60%

ESET Nod32

Stopped: 10
Missed: 5

Score: 66%

Avast

Stopped: 15
Missed: 0

Score: 100%

Note, these were 15 random zero day links taken from various sites. On any given day, anti virus software may perform much better or much worse than this test.

Test #2: I did some more testing on a different night and tried two other AV products as well as Avast again to see if it could continue to perform as well as it did. This new tests was with 15 new malicious links:

Panda Cloud

Stopped: 0
Missed: 15

Score: 0%

Kaspersky

Stopped: 15
Missed: 0

Score: 100%

Avast

Stopped: 15
Missed: 0

Score: 100%

So as you can see, the absolutely free Avast performed at 100% and stopped all threats during both tests. Kaspersky also performed perfectly.

Again, I'm no pro and there is nothing scientific about these tests. Each anti virus product was allowed to download any needed updates and all settings were left to default as they were installed. While 15 or even 30 links is not a huge sample by any means, I think the tests are still interesting.

[ricosuave]

thanks OK!

[Vulcan]

Good info and thanks since I've been using MSE without problem but maybe now I'll change.

Can you do a test with ShawSecure? It's Shaw's free anti-virus version of F-Secure.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Can you do a test with ShawSecure? It's Shaw's free anti-virus version of F-Secure.

Is that downloadable off their site? If not, I'm sure I can get my hands on F-Secure, which if I remember correctly, is not rated all that well in other tests I've seen.

I've already had a request from another site I frequent to test Norman, Panda Pro and one of the many Norton products.

[ricosuave]

Here is the download link, Vulcan:

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

http://shawsecure.shaw.ca/

Shaw Secure is a joke and a resource hog.

Avast for the win.

[Hack&Lube]

I have always loved Avast.

Look at all these friendly people making the awesome product that you get to use for free!!!

[Torrie the Whaler]

Anyway you can add how much resources the program uses?
I have lots of friends that have old computers and not lots of memory and that would be useful to them?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Sweet! Excellent post, thanks for sharing that info. Makes me even happier I have Avast running across my home network. I've been using it for years and never had a virus. It alerted me to a couple (scared the hell out of me too as I had the volume up pretty high) but that's about it.

Solid scanner with low resource use.

[mykalberta]

Yah, Avast is great. Its always what I tell people to install.

[Vulcan]

OK, I got rid of Microsoft Security Essentials and installed Avast. It found no viruses, as expected and as long as it stays unobtrusive and works, I'll keep it.

I've used Shaw Secure in the past but it's annoying and a resource hog as others have said but it does have a pretty good firewall.

[Azure]

I use ClamWIN these days.

Avast, ClamWIN and Kaperseky got the best scores at a test done by a bunch of security guys a while back.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by Torrie the Whaler

Anyway you can add how much resources the program uses?
I have lots of friends that have old computers and not lots of memory and that would be useful to them?

That's the beauty of Avast. Around 15MB at any given time. It is one of the lightest AV products out there.

Seriously though, I don't work for them or have any vested interest... I just really like Avast and testing has proven it to be a very solid product. And it's FREE...you can't beat that.

Originally Posted by Azure

I use ClamWIN these days.

Avast, ClamWIN and Kaperseky got the best scores at a test done by a bunch of security guys a while back.

Hmmm...Kaspersky I'll give you and of course Avast, but Clamwin fails just about every test I've seen out there. Not a very high detection rate at all. I'll add it to my list to test next time and we'll see.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I've used Shaw Secure in the past but it's annoying and a resource hog as others have said but it does have a pretty good firewall.

Looking for a really good free firewall? This is what I use and it's a great product as well:

PC Tools Firewall Plus

Around 12MB or RAM...very light.

[Azure]

I'd really appreciate it if you ran a test with ClamWIN.

If it doesn't preform I'm moving over to Avast.

What do you think about AVG outside of the lower detection rate? To me it used to be a low-resource program, but lately its turned into something like Norton.

[sclitheroe]

What malware were you using as a payload to test these systems? AV2009 is the current bane of my existence, I have to clean up a minimum of one machine a week with this one at my various clients. Detecting it is easy - when the machine's antivirus gets disabled "all by itself", there's a good chance AV2009 is involved, even if it hasn't started its popups and whatnot.

[ricosuave]

(heh-heh) clamwin

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by Azure

I'd really appreciate it if you ran a test with ClamWIN.

If it doesn't preform I'm moving over to Avast.

What do you think about AVG outside of the lower detection rate? To me it used to be a low-resource program, but lately its turned into something like Norton.

I'll certainly give it a try, but seriously, from everything I've seen, ClamWin doesn't do very well. I'm going to do some more tests either later this week or this weekend when I get some time.

Not a fan of AVG. Low detection rate overall as well. It's not a resource hog by any means, but I don't think it is anywhere near as good as Avast and Avast is lighter.

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

What malware were you using as a payload to test these systems? AV2009 is the current bane of my existence, I have to clean up a minimum of one machine a week with this one at my various clients. Detecting it is easy - when the machine's antivirus gets disabled "all by itself", there's a good chance AV2009 is involved, even if it hasn't started its popups and whatnot.

Just random links from various malware sites out there. Links found that day for all the tests as well. I don't test with any old links at all because most of these AV companies release updates pretty darn fast.

Some of those fake AV's are a real pain for sure. Have you tried Hitman Pro on some of those systems? It is an excellent product for cleanup if a PC has been infected.

[Azure]

Avast is pretty cool, eh.

Took me 2 min to install, and it runs without much resource hogging.

Screw you AVG.

[rubecube]

Yeah, my girlfriend's laptop was cluttered with viruses a while back even though she was running McAfee at the time. I formatted the hard drive and installed avast and she hasn't had any problems since. I'm running ESET on my computer and can't stand it.