The Best Antivirus for Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2

Sophos Anti-Virus is the best security solution for both Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 2. On June 4 2007, security developer Sophos celebrated the 38th VB100 award. The award given by Virus Bulletin magazine attests that the security solution provided by Sophos for Windows XP offers top of the line protection.

"This is the 38th time that Sophos Anti-Virus has won a prestigious VB100 award, confirming its ability to detect 100% of the viruses in the wild, and its position as one of the most powerful virus protection products available. Virus Bulletin tested 37 different anti-virus products for their detection rates, lack of false alarms, and speed of scanning on the Windows XP SP2 platform. Sophos successfully detected all of the in-the-wild viruses (as well as identifying 100% of the file, polymorphic, worms, DOS and macro viruses) with no false alarms, outperforming a number of other vendors," Sophos revealed via a press release.

At the beginning of February 2007, following the release of Windows Vista to the general public, Sophos Anti-Virus also received the VB100 award ahead of Microsoft and McAfee. But while the February 2007 tests were focused on Windows Vista, the June rankings turn back to XP SP2.

"Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows XP performed impressively during the tests with its simple installation, in-depth configuration options and excellent detection rates," said John Hawes, technical consultant at Virus Bulletin. "By protecting against all the in-the-wild viruses without false positives, Sophos earns itself another VB100 award."

Other security developers that managed to get the VB100 award for XP SP2 are Symantec, Microsoft, Trend Micro, McAfee, GDATA, BitDefender (SOFTWIN) and Avira. The biggest names that failed the VB100 tests are Kaspersky and F-Secure.