14 DAY TRIAL // As we’ve reported to you last month, security institute AV-TEST conducted a new series of tests to determine which is the best anti-virus solution for Windows 8.1, Microsoft’s new OS version launched in October 2013.
The independent security lab detailed the recent tests today, explaining that only two security products managed to score the maximum points, but many more actually proved to be very effective when it comes to protecting Windows 8.1 devices.
“The suites from Bitdefender and Kaspersky Lab achieved the maximum points total in all test categories and therefore boast an overall total of 18 points, closely followed by the purchasable version of the Avira software with a total of 17.5 points,” the report states.
Microsoft’s own security solution, on the other hand, failed to protect the tested Windows 8.1 devices, so it’s pretty clear that users need a third-party product to make sure they’re on the safe side.
“Although the basic package from Microsoft came in at 11th place, it was far from successful when it came to setting benchmarks in terms of protection and detection. In fact, the AV-TEST testers evaluated the package's performance in this category with a meagre total of 0 out of 6 possible points,” it noted.
AV-TEST’s new research included 25 security products that were tested for a period of two months on 500 websites, 40 program installations, and 750,000 files that needed to be scanned. No less than 19,500 pieces of malware have been used in the research.
“The new Windows is equipped with good system tools such as Windows Defender, the Windows Firewall and the Internet Explorer smart filters, all of which are actually supposed to provide the system with good basic protection,” the research concluded.
“The AV-TEST laboratory therefore included the pure Windows solution as an example of basic protection in order to improve the comparative value of its test results, using the results of the Windows protection tools as a benchmark for the other 24 solutions tested.”