Real World Protection Test (AUG-NOV 2015) Note that we are using a color coding system in the tables as follows: Green=Hight/Best , Orange=Middle , and Red=Low. File Detection and False Positives Test – September 2015īelow, we will look at each one of these tests in turn.Real-World Protection Test August – November 2015.Therefore, we looked at the following tests. The tests that we looked at: we as a rule, and because we were writing this in January 2016, we only wanted to look at tests conducted within the last 6 months of 2015 (there were no tests conducted in 2106).Īlso, because this is an investigation into the best free antivirus, we excluded any test that did not include all three free antivirus programs (Avira, AVG, and Avast). All of this info was available in the av-comparatives data, although the tests didn’t necessarily correspond one-to-one with my criteria and other variables were also involved. how likely it is to ‘catch’ things that it shouldn’t. how much of the system resources did it drain and (3) The rate of false positives: i.e. how likely it is to catch viruses, (2) Performance: i.e. The evaluation criteria: generally speaking, the three things I cared about were (1) The detection rate: i.e. The question I am looking answer: simply, what is the best free antivirus program, and how does it fare compared to the paid programs. I will also copy the practice from av-comparatives, of considering Microsoft Security Essentials as a control, the idea being that since it is now provided pre-intalled with on many Windows PC’s, you would need to install another antivirus program in it’s place only if it is the case that this new program provides significant additional protection. (Note: I debated whether to include Panda free antivirus, which seems like it wants to be a contender, but decided to skip it as it is clearly ‘not there yet’). In order to provide a frame of reference, I will also include the test results of the top three paid antivirus programs, which can also be identified with a cursory inspection of the results: Kaspersky, BitDefender, and Eset. For free antivirus programs, the top three are Avira, AVG, and Avast. The contenders: a scan of several of the tests they conducted reveals a clear picture of who the ‘real’ players are.
As I write this in Jan 2016 I will use the latest versions of their tests, conducted within the last 6 months of this writing. We will turn to “ ” for our data, since they regularly run what are arguably the web’s best and most comprehensive antivirus tests. I have been looking into the question of which free antivirus is the best for almost 10 years now, and the only way to answer is by looking at comparative tests with hard data, keeping in mind that the programs themselves are constantly changing and being updated, and that the picture that emerged from last year’s tests, say, may have changed with the more up-to-date round of tests, etc.
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