German laboratory AV-Test has tested 20 complex antiviruses for Windows 10, testing them in terms of protection, performance and ease of use. At once 7 decisions have received the award "The best antivirus"

On the Internet users are waiting for a lot of dangers: phishing, hidden downloads, address forgery and other types of attacks. The number of instances of malware is also increasing from year to year. In January 2018, the AV-Test statistics system registered 730 million threat samples.

Given the overall high level of threat, in the case of neglect of anti-virus protection, the user is seriously at risk. Experts of the AV-Test laboratory tested 20 complex antiviruses for Windows 10. The testing results were encouraging - in many cases the protection was impeccable. However, some individual solutions still heavily burden the system or mistakenly block reliable programs.

McAfee Internet Security: in this test, the antivirus received a maximum of 18 points and found absolutely all the test threats.

Kaspersky Internet Security: a reliable integrated antivirus acted unmistakably and received maximum scores in all three categories of evaluation.

Avast Free Antivirus: a free antivirus with a mass of useful add-ons showed a decent result, having received a total of 17 points.

Testing of 20 complex antiviruses

Antiviruses from well-known vendors have got into the AV-Test testing program: AhnLab, Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, BullGuard, Comodo, ESET, F-Secure, G Data, K7 Computing, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microsoft, Microworld, Panda Security, PC Pitstop, Symantec, Trend Micro and VIPRE Security. Some products can be used for free for personal, non-commercial purposes. Antiviruses were evaluated in categories of protection, performance and ease of use. In each evaluation category, the tested product could receive up to 6 points.

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At once 7 antiviruses received the "Best Anti-Virus" award (TOP PRODUCT).

In total, seven tested antiviruses received the title of "Best Anti-Virus" (TOP PRODUCT), tk. could score from 17.5 to 18 points. These products are Kaspersky Internet Security, McAfee Internet Security and VIPRE Advanced Security, which scored 18 points each, as well as AhnLab, Avira Antivirus Pro, Bitdefender Internet Security and Trend Micro Internet Security solutions, which received 17.5 points each. Another 7 antiviruses scored from 16 to 17 points, which is also a worthy result. Three more solutions, including Windows Defender, were able to earn 15 to 15.5 points.

7 antiviruses with error-free detection

The purpose of the first stage of the test was to detect and block about 11 000 samples of Trojans, Internet worms, etc. The stage consisted of two segments. In the first segment, the tested product had to detect the latest malicious programs, the age of which did not exceed several hours. In the second segment, the antivirus had to identify and block known malware, up to 2 weeks old. Each of the testing segments was held twice - in November and December 2017. Thus, the table presents four separate test results for each antivirus. 13 out of 20 decisions received a maximum of 6 points in the protection category.

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More than half of the test participants showed high detection levels and received 6 points in the protection category.

The following 7 antiviruses detected absolutely all threats, without exception: AhnLab, Bitdefender, Comodo, F-Secure, McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro. Solutions from Avast, AVG and Panda Security also worked unmistakably in the first segment, but in the second segment, detection levels from 99.8% to 99.9% were revealed. Antivirus solutions from Avast and Panda Security can be used for free for non-commercial purposes.

It is noteworthy that Windows Defender, who for many years was an outsider and appeared on the very last lines of the final table, this time worked very well. However, the built-in system antivirus could not detect all threats in the first test segment, so it turned out to be in the middle part of the table.

The rest of the products showed good results, in separate tests achieving 100% detection level. However, a prerequisite for obtaining the maximum score is an unmistakable detection in all individual tests

If Windows starts to slow down

The boot load test shows performance degradation in scenarios of daily use during the operation of anti-virus protection. To assess the impact on the system, various actions were used: copying files, visiting sites, downloading files, running and installing applications. As test systems, one standard and one high-performance computer were used. Then the values ​​obtained are averaged for convenience of comparison.

The procedure was repeated on two identical systems with and without security installed. The test shows quite distinct differences in the workload of the system. The best results were shown by solutions from AhnLab, Avira, Bitdefender, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microworld, Pitstop PC and VIPRE Security. They were able to get the maximum of 6 points in this grade category. AhnLab, Bitdefender and McAfee showed an unmistakable detection in the protection category.

When Avast, AVG, F-Secure, Microsoft and Trend Micro were running, there was a small load on the system - they received only 5.5 points. BullGuard, G Data and Symantec had a more significant impact on performance and received 5 points.

The most serious consumption of system resources was registered in the tests of Comodo, K7 Computing, ESET and Panda Security. These antiviruses received from 3.5 to 4.5 points.

False positives create additional difficulties

The sudden appearance of an alarm signal from an antivirus that informs you of an attempt to launch a malicious program can put a user in a shock state. Uncertainty increases even more if the alarm is false. The AV-Test laboratory tested the adequacy of anti-virus protection using its own methodology. 500 test sites were visited on test systems, 40 reliable programs were installed and more than 1.3 million innocuous applications were copied.

Given the large number of test samples, experts expected many false positives. However, antiviruses from Avira, K7 Computing, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microworld, Panda Security, Trend Micro and VIPRE Security gave 0 to 3 false positives and received a maximum of 6 points in this category. Avira and Kaspersky Internet Security have never made a mistake.

Another 9 antiviruses mistakenly blocked from 4 to 7 test objects and received from 5 to 5.5 points. The solutions of Microsoft and PC Pitstop were the most paranoid - they issued 25 and 28 false positives respectively and received only 4 points in this category.

7 products received the "Best Antivirus" award

If the tested solution gets from 17.5 to 18 points, then it gets the title of "Best antivirus" (TOP PRODUCT). In this round of testing, 7 antiviruses were awarded. Products Kaspersky Internet Security, McAfee Internet Security and VIPRE Advanced Security received a maximum of 18 points, and antiviruses from AhnLab, Avira Antivirus Pro, Bitdefender Internet Security and Trend Micro Internet Security received 17.5 points.

A large number of tested solutions received from 16 to 17 points. The best free antivirus on the basis of testing - Avast Free Antivirus, he received 17 points.

Expert's comment

Andreas Marx (Andreas Marx), General Director of the AV-Test Laboratory
Users become miners against their will

Many cybercriminals have discovered a new source of income: the mining of crypto-currency for hacked by infected files, scripts of browser extensions machines of victims.

Bitcoin or Etherium are just two well-known names from approximately 1000 crypto currencies currently available. All digital currencies have one thing in common: the blocks required for blocking technology are usually calculated using a PC. For newly computed blocks, there is a reward in the form of a corresponding crypto currency. Thus, anyone who can quickly compute new blocks with a lot of processing power can make a lot of money.

There are several web resources on the Internet that offer visitors a deal: instead of viewing advertising, a user extracts digital currencies during a visit. However, these open, honest deals are the exception. Most often, websites or links in e-mail try to install JavaScript scripts or browser extensions on a user's PC. Then these utilities calculate the blocks in order for the attacker to receive a reward. The power of the processor or video card is used against the will of the user. Moreover, the victim then has to pay large bills for electricity.

The multibillion-dollar market

The market of crypto currency has huge potential. Attackers are constantly in search of new attack vectors to capture computer power. Recently, the AV-TEST laboratory has discovered several extensions for Firefox in the Mozilla store, which secretly mine the crypto currency in the background. Mozilla promptly responded and removed the extensions. Many antivirus developers are familiar with these types of attacks and are able to successfully block them. Only armed with effective anti-virus software, users can be completely protected from these new attacks.