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Main results of the testing of antivirus products for the treatment of active infections

Antivirus products from 15 vendors were tested, including Avast!, AVG, AVZ, Avira, BitDefender, Eset, F-Secure, McAfee, Panda Software, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro, VirusBlokAda, Dr. Web, and Kaspersky Lab.

Testing was conducted using the following malicious programs (the names are shown according to the classification used by Kaspersky Lab) selected in accordance with the criteria described above:

  1.  Adware.Win32.Look2me
  2. Adware.Win32.NewDotNet
  3. Backdoor.Win32.Haxdoor
  4. Trojan-Proxy.Win32.Xorpix
  5. Email-Worm.Win32.Scano
  6. Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle
  7. Trojan-PSW.Win32.LdPinch
  8. Worm.Win32.Feebs
  9. Trojan-Clicker.Win32.Costrat
  10. Trojan-Spy.Win32.Goldun

Testing of the ability of antivirus products to treat active infections was conducted strictly in accordance with the methodology described above.

Table 1: Results of active infection treatment by different antivirus products

Antivirus \ Malware Adware.Win32. Look2me Adware. Win32.New DotNet Backdoor. Win32.Haxdoor Trojan-Proxy. Win32.Xorpix Email-Worm. Win32.Scano
Avast! Professional Edition 4.7 + - - - -
AVG Anti-Virus PE 7.5 - - - - -
Avira AntiVir СE 7.0 - - - - -
AVZ 4.21 * - - + - -
BitDefender Antivirus 10 - + + - -
Dr.Web Anti-Virus 4.33 - - + - -
Eset NOD32 Antivirus 2.7 - - + - -
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2007 - - - - -
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 + + + + +
McAfee VirusScan 2007 - + - - -
Panda Antivirus 2007 + - + - -
Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0 - + - - -
Norton AntiVirus 2007 + + - + -
Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2007 - + - - -
VBA32 Antivirus 3.11 - - - - -

 

Table 2: Results of active infection treatment by different antivirus products (continued)

Antivirus \ Malware Email-Worm. Win32.Bagle Trojan-PSW. Win32.LdPinch Worm.Win32. Feebs Trojan-Clicker. Win32.Costrat Trojan-Spy. Win32.Goldun
Avast! Professional Edition 4.7 + + - - +
AVG Anti-Virus PE 7.5 + + - - +
Avira AntiVir СE 7.0 + + + - -
AVZ 4.21 * + + - + -
BitDefender Antivirus 10 + + + - -
Dr.Web Anti-Virus 4.33 + + - - -
Eset NOD32 Antivirus 2.7 + + + - +
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2007 + + + - -
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 + + - - -
McAfee VirusScan 2007 + + + - -
Panda Antivirus 2007 + + - - -
Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0 + + + - +
Norton AntiVirus 2007 + + + + +
Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2007 + + - - -
VBA32 Antivirus 3.11 + + + - -

+ The antivirus solution successfully removed the active infection, and the system was restored (or was not damaged).
- The antivirus solution failed to remove the active infection or the system’s integrity was seriously damaged.

Table 3: Test Summary

Award
 Products
1st place Norton AntiVirus 2007 (80%)
2nd place
 Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 (70%)
3rd place
 BitDefender Antivirus 10 (50%)
Eset NOD32 Antivirus 2.7 (50%)
Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0 (50%)
Other results Avast! Professional Edition 4.7 (40%)
AVZ 4.21 (40%)
McAfee VirusScan 2007 (40%)
Panda Antivirus 2007 (40%)
AVG Anti-Virus PE 7.5 (30%)
Avira AntiVir СE 7.0 (30%)
Dr.Web Anti-Virus 4.33 (30%)
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2007 (30%)
Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2007 (30%)
VBA32 Antivirus 3.11 (30%)
* AVZ is a system analysis utility, which includes malicious program detection and removal functionality. However, it is not a fully functional antivirus solution. In the test, it was used as an antivirus scanner.


Only two of the 15 products tested demonstrated acceptable results in the treatment of active infections: Norton AntiVirus 2007 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0.

An additional three antivirus products, namely, Eset NOD32 Antivirus, Sophos Anti-Virus and BitDefender Antivirus, demonstrated mediocre results. The remaining antivirus solutions performed poorly. These products can by no means be relied upon to effectively combat today’s virus threats.

For detailed test results, including the information on the disinfection of specific viruses, and to verify the calculations used to determine the test results, please download the complete results below in Microsoft Excel format.

Complete testing results in PDF format »

Complete testing results in Microsoft Excel format »