Considering A New Antivirus ? Major AV Endurance Test Results

Found this site which publishes comprehensive reports of antivirus test results of most all antivirus programs for both Windows PC and Android Mobile devices, for both home and corporate users.
It lists several categories of tests, including "Protection" and "Repair" capabilities of numerous antivirus programs and more, giving each ones final scores in an easy to read chart for each category
You can download the complete report in a PDF file. This is to the report for a home user level
AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Home User

This is to their main page
AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Home

I hope some of you will find this useful as I did

I paid for Norton years ago and got viruses. I think hackers prey on that antivirus because they know a lot of dummies buy it.....I have been using Avast free edition for 8 years and never had a single problem.

If you are using windows, the only program you need is microsoft security essentials. It is free and the best program there is for windows machines. Norton, Mcafee and the like are junk.

Hey Bear - just thought I would chime in on this for you - I use the Kaspersky Antivirus programs & I love them! There are several different varieties to choose from (based on your normal activity & they have a little quiz that can help you select the right one for you) and the cost is nominal for the support that you get. You basically set up when you want your scans done and boom! that's it! It updates automatically and they even let you try it out for 30 days for free! I have had no problems with it ever. Hope this helps!

I agree about the Norton theory....

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Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

If you are using windows, the only program you need is microsoft security essentials. It is free and the best program there is for windows machines. Norton, Mcafee and the like are junk.

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That had an extremely low rating on the overall tests, and actually lost their endorsement altogether for a good while. Even so, I'm considering giving it an eventual try myself

Like Scrapyaherd, I use the same program and no issues. Not sure how much of that is the program and just my own commonsense after years on the net. Like walking in a city, on the net i stay aware of surroundings, and dont just willy nilly download stuff or click on things that pop up.

It's a philosophy that has served me well.

I had the same issue with Nortons when I tried them, not a fan of Kaspersky, or McAfee(tho the founder is nuttier then a jar of peanut butter).

Sirscrapalot - Virus free!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

If you are using windows, the only program you need is microsoft security essentials. It is free and the best program there is for windows machines. Norton, Mcafee and the like are junk.

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Couldn't agree more. I tried several of the antivirus programs out there. One at a time. Every one did nothing except slow my computer down. Got rid of all em and went with just the Microsoft security and been doing just fine ever since. Not one virus, no loss of speed.

Over the last 12 years or so I've used all free ones, AVG, Avast, and Avira mostly. Gave Kaspersky a short try one time, it seemed a bit top heavy. The others have had their good days, but when they start to try taking completely over I generally wind up switching. I guess my next test will probably go with the MS, and see how well it works. It did rate very poorly in the "Protection" area of these tests though

I have used Avast for a very long time and not a single virus to date.

Thanks for the link Bear. It's hard to sift through the junk and find a legitimate AV comparison, there are so many shams out there.

I would like to take the chance to personally endorse Kaspersky, which has done wonderfully for me. I would go so far as to say that, since installing it a couple years back, I have been happy with my AV for the first time ever, and I've tried a lot of them.

Like you I have tried a few free ones and the 2 top paid ones. Years ago Norton was one of the best. Now I don't like it. We have there newest one at work. I think our division has around 650 computers.
I switched to AVG about 11 years ago and have been happy with it. Only had 2 false positive tests but they had those fixed within a few hours.

I am a believer that Norton is essentially a virus itself. It is not as difficult to uninstall now, but it used to be near impossible to get all the bits and pieces off of a computer. I have been using Avira for several years now on my Windows machines. Outside of editing the registry to prevent some of its annoying popups, the real time protection has been spot on. I have no antivirus running on my Linux machines.