14 DAY TRIAL // German security experts at AV-TEST conducted new tests to determine the best antivirus software for Windows 7, and after revealing that Kaspersky and Bitdefender are the top choices for home users, let’s have a look at corporate solutions.
Unsurprisingly, the same companies top the corporate tests as well, so the maximum points were received by Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Symantec, which got 6 out of 6 points in each test for protection, performance, and usability.
The lowest score went to McAfee, with 14.5 points, while Microsoft, which was previously considered to be the baseline of security products, improved in the corporate business as well to get a score of 16.5 points. This means that Microsoft’s security solutions performed better than other more widely-praised products like AVG and Sophos, both of which were rewarded with 15 points in these tests.
Microsoft scored 5.5 points for protection. 5 points for performance, and 6 points for usability, so there’s no doubt that Redmond’s security products have improved significantly in the last few months.
McAfee’s disappointing performance
On the other hand, McAfee appears to be the biggest disappointment, as it never scored the worst in antivirus tests performed in the past. This security product received only 4.5 points for protection and performance, and 5.5 points for usability.
In terms of protection, AV-TEST says McAfee Endpoint Security had mixed performance in the January and February tests, and after scoring 100 percent protection against 0-day malware attacks in the first round, it dropped to 97.2 percent after that, which is well below the 99 percent industry average. The same happened with detecting new malware, where MES blocked 98.9 percent of the infections in January, but then improved to 100 percent the next month.
In the end, it’s very clear that there are only a few options when it comes to security products that can protect both home users and corporate systems. Bitdefender and Kaspersky have been leading the charts for a few years already, and by the looks of things, they’ll remain top security vendors for a long time.