AV-Comparatives, the firm specialized in comparing anti-malware programs, has published the results of its latest study, one that includes tests carried out among the most popular antiviruses on the market in the months of July and August 2022 and… the usual trend is confirm. About.
More or less, because the most efficient antiviruses according to AV-Comparatives are almost the usual ones, with a few exceptions. In this comparison, Avast Free Antivirus, AVG Free Antivirus, Avira Prime First, followed by G Data Total Security and Trend Micro Internet Security, they are the ones that come out the best, out of a total of seventeen alternatives, among which yes, Microsoft’s own is counted.
Entering the subject with a bit of context, AV-Comparatives’ “real world protection” test suite is designed to determine the protection capabilities of an anti-malware solution in a scenario with the system connected and interacting with the web. Basically, they are dedicated to dealing with “malicious URLs” of all kinds.
Thus, the table that shows the results of the AV-Comparatives comparison distinguishes between four factors: ‘blocked’, or harmful content successfully blocked; ‘compromised’, or content not blocked and likely to compromise the system; ‘user dependent’, or when user intervention is necessary to prevent or solve a problem; and ‘false positives’, or… you understand.
Well, as you can see the aforementioned Avast Free Antivirus, AVG Free Antivirus, Avira Prime, G Data Total Security and Trend Micro Internet Security are the only ones that come out of the test unscathed, while there are those that fall where it hurts the most, which it is in the failures to detect malware capable of infection. And they are well-known names.
ESET Internet Security, Malwarebytes Premium, K7 Total Security, Total Defense Essential Antivirus and TotalAV Antivirus Pro are the worst performers, but also Microsoft Defender, which also grows in the detection of false positives, an aspect in which both G Data and Trend Micro also stand out for the worse. Overall, however, the ones that come out worst in this comparison are Malwarebytes, K7 and NortonLifeLock Norton 360 Deluxe.
It is worth mentioning in this regard that except in the most extreme cases, the differences are not very substantial due to the type of test, the sample and the number of tests performed. Also, a factor to take into account is that the level of protection depends much more than what is supposed, on keep the system and all susceptible software up to date of being violated, read browsers and everything that connects to the Internet.
Despite this, AV-Comparatives’ back-to-back tests include thousands of malicious URLs throughout the year, and the trend is worth noting. And that trend tells us that Microsoft Defender isn’t the best antivirus, especially when working offline; and it is still one of the most recommended.
