We released a review of corporate security products on our website. Its a over 100 pages report – quite comprehensive and very useful for administrators and decision-makers. You can find it in the corporate reviews section.
AV-Comparatives Corporate Products Review
May 28th, 2009Retrospective/Proactive Test
May 27th, 2009The retrospective/proactive test of May (using product from February and samples appeared within one week after last updates, i.e. new malware) has been released. You can find it on our website.
SoftSphere DefenseWall (HIPS) review
May 27th, 2009We just released a review of SoftSphere DEFENSEWALL (a HIPS product). The report is available in English and also in German language in the Single Product Reviews section of our website.
February 2009 test report released
March 22nd, 2009The February 2009 comparative report has been released. Please read carefully the whole test report. You can find it on our website.
Single Product Review: eScan Internet Security Suite v10
February 21st, 2009We just released a single product review of eScan Internet Security v10. You can find it at the bottom of the comparatives section.
This report already includes the new design style. The new website design will be launched in a week or two. The first main test will be released around the mid of March. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date – we will send the first one when the first main test is released.
Summary Report 2008
December 11th, 2008The AV-Comparatives Summary Report for 2008 has been released. It is located at the bottom of the following page: http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/comparatives.html
The overall winner product (best antivirus) of 2008, based on all the tests of 2008, is AVIRA. To see the winners of the various subcategories, please read the report.
New designs
December 11th, 2008During the next weeks there will be some changes to our website:
- redesigned logo
- redesigned awards
- redesign/relaunch of the website
- translations in several languages
- etc.
To stay informed just subscribe to our newsletter at http://www.av-comparatives.info
For our spanish readers
December 10th, 2008We have just released various test reports translated into Spanish. You can find them at the bottom of the Comparatives section of our website.
Retrospective Test Report
November 29th, 2008The Retrospective test report of November has been released. Go to www.av-comparatives.org, click on Comparatives and select the Report Nr. 20 to read the detailed test results.
Many products got lower awards due too many false alarms. Please read carefully the full report!
We will make the result tables (which are also inside the above mentioned report) online next week, as readers should really read the full report to understand the results.
During December we will also release the Summary Report, which will award the Product of the Year etc.
Performance Test Report
November 20th, 2008We just released a Performance Test Report. You can find it at the bottom of the COMPARATIVES section of www.av-comparatives.org
Back from AMTSO
November 2nd, 2008This AMTSO meeting was great: interesting discussions on how tests can be improved etc. The AMTSO members finalized two papers, one about fundamental testing principles and one about best practices for dynamic testing. These drafts were approved unanimously by all the different vendors and testers/revieweres/publishers present, and will probably be published on the AMTSO web site in the next week or so.
I suggest that anyone involved in testing (testers, reviewers, etc.) read and follow those guidelines, and that consumers will also benefit from reading the documents in order to get a better understanding of how tests should be done properly and so on. AMTSO is currently working on many topics and draft documents which will be of considerable interest and will contribute to raising the quality of testing etc. AV-Comparatives supports the goals of AMTSO, as it is for the benefit of the consumers if they can build informed opinions about AV products based on tests that are properly conducted and without bias.
Therefore, please spread the word about the existence of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization: many people have wanted such an organization to exist for years, and now that it does, it should get the attention it deserves.
AMTSO membership is open to academics, reviewers, publications, testers and vendors, subject to guidelines determined by AMTSO.
AMTSO meeting
October 28th, 2008Peter and I are going to the next AMTSO* meeting. We will return on Sunday – all emails will be answered on return.
* AMTSO (The Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization ) is an international non-profit association that focuses on the addressing the global need for improvement in the objectivity, quality and relevance of anti-malware testing methodologies.
P.S.: last weeks we were and still are busy with some new test (beside the retrospective test which has also to be done). I guess we will release it in some weeks, so check our site for news from time to time.
Back from VB2008
October 6th, 2008I (ac) just came back to IBK from Ottawa. The VB conference is IMO the best of all, mainly because almost everyone goes there, and after all, meeting peoples is the most interesting part. I enjoyed to meet and talk with peoples e.g. from (in no specific order): K7 Computing, Kingsoft, WildList, ESET, Sunbelt Software, AVG Technologies, TrustPort, NSS Labs, VirusBuster, Symantec, Avira, Sophos, KasperskyLab, VirusBulletin, Alwil Software, G DATA Software, McAfee, F-Secure, BitDefender, Microsoft, MessageLabs, etc. (sorry if I forgot someone).
Two presentations I remember and I liked most were:
- Rebuilding testing for the future
- The AV industry: Quo Vadis?
I guess during the next weeks the presentations (as well as pictures from the conference) will be available on the VirusBulletin website, so keep watching their site.
Next year the VirusBulletin conference will be in Switzerland – I will be there. And you? 
(ac)
P.S.: my mailbox exploded in my absence, so if you got the message ~”mailbox is full” or you do not get a reply within this week, please resend your mail.
VirusBulletin conference 2009
September 26th, 2008The Chairman of AV-Comparatives left for Canada (VirusBulletin conference in Ottawa, etc.) and will be back in about 2 weeks. All emails etc. will be answered after his return..
Report Nr.19 has been updated
September 17th, 2008The updated August 2008 test report has now been upload. Some minor changes were applied, as well as the noncompetitive iclusion of the enterprise version of McAfee (with Artemis); the detailed report about Artemis (and some other reports) will be published in some weeks.
Please download this updated report from our website.
August 2008 Test Report released
September 15th, 2008The August 2008 On-demand test report has been released. Go to www.av-comparatives.org , click on Comparatives and select the Report Nr. 19 to read the detailed test results.
Please read carefully the full report!
We will make the results tables (which are also contained in the above mentioned report) online next week, as readers should really read the full report to understand the results.
Overall not much changed in the results, they fluctuate as usual (3 products improved compared to the February report). The report contains also comparisons of 2008 vs. 2009 product versions. Some few products got lower awards than in the February test, as they missed the higher award for a bunch of malware. There is no big fall down in detection rates. The test-set contains some changes and was also split in two sets. SET B contains mainly actual malware, in which products of course have a bit lower detection rates. This time many products had more false alarms than usually, which was a bit disappointing. We advise to take into account also the false alarm rate and not the detection rates alone.
FAQ’s and methodology document
September 15th, 2008AV-Comparatives released an updated document containing the FAQ’s and methodology. You can find the PDF document on this page.
Possible delay
August 8th, 2008Some weeks ago we started moving office and now the new PC’s etc. are at the new location. We already started the August test some days ago, but due some unexpected required upgrades at the infrastructure (e.g. intensity of amperage, air cooling system, etc.) and the expanded tests (the August test will include also a false alarm test etc.), we will probably delay the release of the report to around mid September (instead the 1st September), as due the upgrades the tests need to be partially interrupted for some days.
Report 18 – chinese versions
June 13th, 2008available here (simple and traditional chinese):
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse/report18chinese.pdf
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse/report18sc.pdf
(translated by a third party = we do not take any responsability in case of wrong translation)