Products we tested

This report contains test results and recommendations for the following security suites:

Our test

Each suite’s performance was tested by AV-Test labs (www.av-test.org), a world leader in security software testing. The focus was on detecting and removing malware (including viruses, Trojans and spyware) and actively preventing system attacks. The tests included:

• detecting web-based threats (via the browser)
• on-access scanning (as programs are loading)
• on-demand scanning (such as a system-wide scan)
• disinfection (including removal of residual files and rootkits)
• measuring the software’s impact on common tasks (like launching applications and copying files) and overall memory use.

To assess ease of use we looked at installation, updating of all major components, usefulness of any help files and documentation, training and running the spam filter, plus logging and alerts with the firewall. We also assessed ease of navigation for the various options of the suite, how informative popups and dialogs were, and how easy it was to configure settings and run a scan.