14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's latest full version of its antivirus, Windows Live OneCare 1.6 has failed miserably a test conducted by the Anti-Malware Test Lab. The Redmond company's solution was easily surpassed in terms of performance by rival product from heavyweights of the security industry such as Kaspersky, Symantec and McAfee. In fact, the recently launched Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0, tailor fitted and certified for Windows Vista, has proved to be the best antivirus out of the pool of 15 products tested. Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 is the only security solution that received the Gold Self-Protection Award from the Anti-Malware Test Lab as it managed to successfully block 97% of all attacks thrown against it.
"In the test, we analyzed the self-protection capabilities of antivirus solutions that run under Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Self-protection from the following types of attacks was analyzed: Modification of file and registry key access permissions; Modification / removal of modules; Deletion of antivirus databases; Modification / deletion of important registry keys; Process termination; Modification of processes / code and Driver unloading," revealed Sergey Ilyin from the Anti-Malware Test Lab.
Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 1.6 managed to deliver one of the lowest scores in the test. In fact OneCare only blocked 32% of attacks, delivering a performance equally worse to DrWeb and superior only to Bitdefender Internet Security 10 with an attack blocking rate of just 30%. Among the other security products that failed the antivirus test from Anti-Malware Test Lab are Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0, Avira Premium Security Suite 7.0 and Avast! Professional Edition 4.7 all having stopped just 33% of attacks.
"Testing was conducted on a specially prepared test stand running under VMWare GSX Server. A "clean" Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 virtual machine was cloned for each antivirus product. The default settings recommended by each product vendor were used when installing the antivirus products. All of the actions recommended by the installation programs (e.g., system restart, updating, etc.) were performed. All protection components that were not automatically enabled after installation were enabled manually," reads a fragment of the Antivirus product self-protection testing methodology from the Anti-Malware Test Lab.
OneCare fully blocked only three attacks, it partially stopped 15 and it completely missed the remaining 15. By comparison, Kaspersky killed 31 attacks, while only two raised issues and generated a partial block from the Russian antivirus. Symantec Internet Security 2007, VBA32 Antivirus 3.11 and F-Secure Internet Security 2007 stopped between 61% and 71% of attacks. At the same time, ZoneAlarm Internet Security 7.0, Panda Internet Security 2007, McAfee Internet Security 2007, ESET Smart Security 3.0 Beta and Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2007 failed to pass the 60% milestone.
"In recent testing conducted by Anti-Malware Test Lab, Kaspersky Internet Security scores the best results for self-protection against malicious programs. Anti-Malware Test Lab, a respected IT security research project, recently published the results of its analysis in which the 15 most popular antivirus products were tested," Kaspersky boasted. "According to Sergey Ilyin, the author of the test, 'only Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0, which scored 97% of possible points, can effectively resist attacks.'"