MUST-Read AntiVirus pgm-comparison

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RealBlackStuff

Posts: 6,450   +3
The other day I bought a copy of "PC-Utilities" issue 43.
In there was a comprehensive test (held in October 2003) of 48 anti-virus tools, which were let loose on 58,306 different viruses/viri.

Similar tests were also conducted in May 2002, November 2002 and May 2003.
The top dogs in all tests were:
always no. 1: F-Secure (99.6 %)
always no. 2: Kaspersky (99.5 %)
and McAfee (97.1) always a number of places ahead of Norton (90.1 %).

The results of the May 2003 test can be seen here:
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=59&mnu=59

On the left on that webpage are links to the other mentioned tests.
The results of the October-test will be published on the above website in mid-February 2004. Until then you will either have to buy said mag or wait.

The free AVG that I installed a few days ago landed in position 26 with a result of only 65 %.
Guess where I will be heading?

PS: the best FREE AV-software in the above test was:
AntiVir (pos. 20 with 77.7 %), available at : http://www.free-av.com
 
F-Secure uses the Kaspersky AV engine so results should be identical. Also, I don't think the results give a true picture of product performance (I read a similar comparison just recently - Jan 04 Computer Shopper, and your link isn't working right now) as they assume that you don't have a firewall installed, which would block many trojans from being planted on your PC. Also, for detecting trojans/spyware, a product such as Ad-Aware should suppliment your AV solution rather than relying on your AV engine to find these threats. Still F-Secure/Kaspersky does seem to be todays best option from everything I've read.
 
Both above links function without problems in my browser (Avant 8.02 Build 207), which is an overlay for IE5 or higher.

I do have Agnitum Outpost Pro V2 firewall installed (as well as a H/W Firewall/Router) and I check my PC regularly with both Adaware and Spybot S&D.
 
I get this from the first link:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a01a8'

Object required: 'm_oXMLSession.documentElement'

/english/fullxml/Engine/CUser.asp, line 405 Unable to load the data file.
Reason: The parameter is incorrect.
Line: 0
Line Pos: 0
 
Even tried it with my firewall off, same thing, guess the server is having some problems, I'll check back later
 
I get a "page cannot be displayed" error.

Error "500" usually means there is a problem with a script the server is trying to access.
 
I just now checked the very first link and it works flawlessly with Avant. Tried it with Opera 7.11 and IE6/SP1, all of them are OK.

Must be in the settings of your browsers....

Anyway, here is a shortlist of the Oct-2003 results:
1 F-Secure 5.41 (99.63)
2 KasperskyPersonal Pro (99.35)
3 AntiVirenKit (AVK) 12.0.4 (98.67)
4 McAfee 7.03.6000 (97.24)
5 RAV Antivirus Desktop (94.26)
6 F-Prot 3.14b (93.40)
7 Norton 2004 Pro (92.35)
8 Titan 2003 (90.41)
9 BullGuard3.5 (88.34)
10 BitDefender 7.1.110 (88.28)
11 Norton Corporate 8.00.9374 (88.27)
12 DrWeb 4.30a (87.33)
13 PC-Cillin 2003 10.03.1072 (86.94)
14 Sophos 3.73 (86.55)

I've got lame fingers now, hope this helps
 
Hey rbs
I saw your answer inn the other post you were in about Norton I agree with you 100% Norton acts like it wants to become a part of windows I prefer a level of seperation for my software Windows is bad enough. There I got my belly ache out .
I see your still dealing with your AV solution . I have to go out of town be back on Jan 6 and I can't access on the road I have given my college bound daughter my Portable , owell!
These results are illuminating to me .I hope you are going to publish the route you finally decide on.
Have good holidays !
 
Hey liquid,
nice of you to follow my woes. I just bought F-Secure AntiVirus 2004 online. However as I am leaving for Switzerland tomorrow morning I'll wait with the installation until I am back (3 Jan. '04)

Until then I wish everyone a very Merry Xmas and a prosperous, virus-free 2004.

S i g n i n g o f f t i l l n e x t y e a r.
 
F-Secure uses 3 scanning engines together: Kaspersky, F-Prot and F-Secure's own Orion. This is why it gets the best results - it makes use of the good properties in every one of those.
 
Hello,

If I understood the thread right, it seems that there is no Free antivirus software that can do the job right!

right?

Thank you
 
Originally posted by joemailings
Hello,

If I understood the thread right, it seems that there is no Free antivirus software that can do the job right!

right?

Thank you
Click to expand...

I would say this is a fair assessment. I lot of people will recommend AVG, but I consider it useless. My roommate runs it and it can't even detect the AV.exe virus he catches regularly from AIM profiles. It's pretty sad that I can hunt down a virus manually better than AVG.
 
I bought F-Secure AV 2004 and installed it. The Help-function does not help because it does not function.
FSAV interferes with my Agnitum Outpost Pro/Pegasus program-combination, so I sent the problem together with tons of files (as per F-Secure request) to F-Secure on 5 January 2004, 9:50AM.
Sofar they could not bother to answer me, so I uninstalled the program and put in a request for a refund from the (electronic) seller Element5.

I went over to Kaspersky and downloaded their latest Beta-version AV. Installed it, everything works like a charm sofar.
It checked about 90GB of data (ca. 225,000 files) in 40 minutes in the background, amazing!
Not a single virus found (because I don't have any, before someone makes a smart remark..), and it checks inside literally every file (e.g inside a ZIP it also checks any sub-zip, cab, and any other compression-type you care to mention).
 
Thanks All.

I Have Since Tried F- Secure Anti Virus 5.30.

And Agnitum Outpost pro 2.1 FireWall.
They Seem Great!!! So Far.

I Think I Will Buy These.

phill
 
I use Trend Micro Internet Security 2004 (aka PC-Cillin 2004) along with Sygate Personal Firewall Pro 5.5, and have never had a virus get through. PC-Cillin nabs them before a download is even finished. But in order to use Sygate along with it, one must uninstall Trend Micro's firewall, otherwise your internet connection may appear to be dead. TM's firewall is pretty useless, anyway. I used to use Norton Internet Security 2003 Pro, but it's so bulky and bloated, and takes forever to load on startup. I would not recommend Norton Anti-Virus 2004, as it is buggy, and way to aggressive for it's own good. When I opened Device Manager, a little message popped up saying NAV was waiting to scan mmc.exe, and my 'puter bogged. NAV 2003 never did anything like that. Maybe they'll fix it in some later update. That's all I have to say about that.
 
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