AV-Test Expands Usability Research and Reveals Top Antivirus Product Performance

German antivirus testing lab AV-Test.org has now expanded its antivirus certification testing reports to bi-monthly instead of once per quarter. They have also broadened the field of subjects for their latest test to include corporate solutions and more.

Products under the test spotlight can receive up to 6 points each for protection against malware attacks, repair of existing malware infestations and overall usability, with a total of 11 points needed for certification.

In addition to performing regular antivirus certification testing on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, they have now added AVG Anti-Virus Free, Emsisoft Anti-Malware and Panda Cloud Anti-Virus.

Bitdefender at 16.5 points topped the list, but of the 25 products tested, seven failed to meet certification levels. At the bottom of the pile was K7 with 7.5 points and Norman at 7 points.

And for the first time, AV-Test is now looking at corporate security solutions. All seven tested products received certification, although some barely made it. Kaspersky at 16 points and F-Secure at 15.5 scored highest, while McAfee, Microsoft, Sophos, and Trend Micro scraped by with 11 or 11.5 points.

All in all, the report demonstrates that usability research reveals much more about performance realities than press releases and even consumer preferences.

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