[k3lvinmitnick]

"Microsoft Essentials Security"

- Free but very strong: Antivirus, antispyware ...
- Updateable

https://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Other free AV always "eat" your files but MES not !

[Car54]

k3lvinmitnick, on 04 January 2011 - 06:04 PM, said:

"Microsoft Essentials Security"

- Free but very strong: Antivirus, antispyware ...
- Updateable

https://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Other free AV always "eat" your files but MES not !

lol, no, because it doesn't find them It does a pretty good job in general, but this is an area where it's lacking. Nick (PCWorld) and AV-Test.org did some nice work on AV Testing, here are the results for MSE

This post has been edited by Car54: 04 January 2011 - 07:35 PM

[AgentF]

Oops Car, that was an AV-Comparatives.org test result, not one from AV-Test.org (which is presently unavailable). I kept the results from AV-Test.org's 2010 3rd quarter and Microsoft Security Essentials ranked 14 out of 16 results published. Protection: 3/6; Repair 3/6; Usability 5.5/6. With a total score of 11.5, it barely missed their certification. PC Tools had the best protection at 5.5, Symantec and PCTools tied in Repair at 5.5/6, and Usability went to G Data and Avast with both scoring 6/6.

I can't completely agree with their results though. For one, the usability scores didn't match that of their 2010 Q2 tests when the same product/version was tested. Usability doesn't change much at all between minor versions, so the change in usability score doesn't seem justified to me. Secondly, usability and protection shouldn't be weighted the same. It's nice for less technical folk to have a simplistic user interface, but if it's not keeping their system secure or removing the threats, it's just a fancy interface that does nothing. I'd weight it more like 5 for protection, 4 for repair, and 2 for usability. Doing so would put the top 3 as PC Tools, Symantec, and F-Secure, which coincidentally is just a shift among their already top 3.

Edit: Forgot to add links.

This post has been edited by AgentF: 04 January 2011 - 08:51 PM

[Car54]

Sorry AgentF, as I was comparing 2 differernt web sites, but maybe didn't clarify it enough. The tests Nick did with AV-Test.org and my MSE link, were from AV-Test.org web page. http://www.av-test.org/

The info provided on my graph photo was info provided from the AV-Comparatives site. http://www.av-compar..._od_aug2010.pdf

I know what you mean about the tests, as I've noticed the discrepancies also, and have mentioned it before in another thread here. That's why I tend to use AV-Comparatives.org as my main reference source, as I (personally) believe them to be more of the gold standard in testing.

Thank you for helping me to clarify my post, and I absolutely agree with your assessment on protection being first, then repair being second, and usability third. Yet, I think I know what they mean by usability in this sense, not so much that it's fancy, just not confusing. An example might be of older, 2-3 years ago, Kaspersky which could be pretty confusing to set up (not install) or understand, where people might cause themselves more grief if they didn't know what they were doing beyond the default settings. Another off the AV track would be the COMODO firewall of 1-3 years ago, which could be very confusing for the average "eBay user", and have now made it much more quiet and in the background, more usable, which in that sense, would deserve a higher rating for usability. So usability verses not confusing, would still be a good factor to consider, but I agree with you, should be the lesser concern as for the why and the intent of having an AV on our PCs is for. Learn how to use a good AV, and it wouldn't be an issue.

I also believe that most of the good AVs can detect known malware, I'm more concerned and impressed with those that have a better heuristic engine in detecting new/unknown malware without the side effect of many false positives. To me, this is more important than known malware, which again, most of the good AVs already have that covered and keep up with that as standard fair in their abilities and are in the 98.7 - 99.9 (G-Data) range.

[AgentF]

Excellent post, Car! The reason I was initially won over by AV-Test.org was because they presented the information straight forward. On AV-Comparatives.org, I had to do a little more looking to find the overall summary. It should be more prominent, like on their homepage or in the top menu.

Looking at the Summary Reports, Avira and F-Secure look to be the best of the year with eScan also being a possibility as one test score is presently unavailable.

This post has been edited by AgentF: 05 January 2011 - 11:52 AM

[techie4fun]

I'm just glad to see the folks in charge of the comparisons were smart enough to leave Symantec out.

[Car54]

AgentF, on 05 January 2011 - 11:41 AM, said:

Excellent post, Car! The reason I was initially won over by AV-Test.org was because they presented the information straight forward. On AV-Comparatives.org, I had to do a little more looking to find the overall summary. It should be more prominent, like on their homepage or in the top menu.

Looking at the Summary Reports, Avira and F-Secure look to be the best of the year with eScan also being a possibility as one test score is presently unavailable.

Thank you for the kind words (and kudos) AgentF It was your post #23, that motivated me to expand on, and buttress my previous post #22. Iron sharpens iron.

And for whoever gave me the other "kudo", thank you

This post has been edited by Car54: 05 January 2011 - 03:02 PM

[rjrex8]

I think the best free av is the avira.

[coastie65]

k3lvinmitnick, on 04 January 2011 - 06:04 PM, said:

"Microsoft Essentials Security"

- Free but very strong: Antivirus, antispyware ...
- Updateable

https://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Other free AV always "eat" your files but MES not !

I usually recommend using this to those who get a new machine with Windows 7 or upgrade to Windows 7. I has been getting some good buzz.

[LincolnSpector]

rjrex8, on 15 January 2011 - 11:23 PM, said:

I think the best free av is the avira.

I'm using Avira myself, but a recent PC World article gave Avast top marks.

Lincoln