14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s free security solution for Windows manages to hold its own against paid antivirus products. At least this is the conclusion that can be drawn from the recently published AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report - 2010/Q4.
AV-Test tested a range of paid and free security solutions running on Windows Vista for three months, namely October, November and December 2010, and made public the results today.
“During the 4th quarter of 2010 we have tested 23 security products in the areas protection, repair and usability,” the AV test firm stated.
“The "Protection" covers static and dynamic malware detection, including real-world 0-Day attack testing. In case of "Repair", we check the system disinfection and rootkit removal in detail.
“The "Usability" testing includes the system slow-down caused by the tools and the number of false positives. A product has to reach at least 12 out of 18 possible points in order to receive a certification. 18 products have fulfilled our requirements and received an AV-Test certificate.”
Since the tests were done in the fourth quarter of 2010 they were limited to Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0, and did not involve MSE 2.0 which was released in the second half of December.
Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 received an AV-Test certification, but the security solution did so at the limit. But scoring 2.5 in Protection, 4.5 in Repair and 5.0 in usability, MSE 1.0 made the list of certified antivirus products.
Of course, there are products that faired a tad better, such as BitDefender: Internet Security Suite 2011 with scores of 5.5, 5.5 and 4.5 for a total of 15.5; Kaspersky: Internet Security 2011 with 5.5, 6.0, and 4.0 for a total of 14.5 and Symantec: Norton Internet Security 2011 with 5.0, 5.5, 5.0 totaling 15.5.
F-Secure: Internet Security 2011 managed to grad the highest score, no less than 16.0, through a combination of 5.0 for Protection, 5.0 for Repair and 6.0 for Usability.
As far as MSE 1.0 running on Vista is concerned, Microsoft could have focused more on tackling 0-day malware and blocking malicious code after execution, but also on recovering machines infected with stealth malware and rootkits.
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) 2.0 RTM is available for download here.
