VB RAP Test Averages Quadrant August 2010 - February 2011

I don't understand why these tests aren't geared to how the default user is using the program. If you have a AV that uses the internet to scan files, then whats the point of not using it? The same goes with norton, why not use sonar and all the other resources it uses.

 

In more than 5 years 98% of the malware detected by the AVs on my computers (more than 100 instances) were done without Internet connection because there was no way to connect in some venues. Flash drives and to a lesser extent CDs and DVDs are the most infected devices when considering working areas, friends, relatives.

I guess that 5-10 years from now the Internet connectivity will be readily available everywhere (with a reasonable strength signal - a strong prerequisite to rely on cloud analyses) and only then I think on demand scans will probably become redundant.

 

For me, Dropbox, cloud storage, etc has made USB drives pretty much obsolete. So the only way I might get infected with through the internet. So a cloud AV like Panda Cloud posses no limitations.

 

So if no net then not much Practical significance for most of the people...

 

What's with the BKis AV's? The detection rate for all four flavors is all over the place.

 

Wow!
Now that's the first time that buying the flagship suite DOES improve detection . . . A LOT

 

For someone not using a realtime AV, I am sort of unbiassed to AV's. Could not resist to post some remarks and opinions on the RAP-score.

What wonders me is that the people I know who use ESET are allways very happy with it and that ESET scores well in the RAP, but less in the giant AV zoo tests of AV-comparatives for instance.

Also the different scores of Panda are remarkeble some people adore it, while a few of people I know have been very dissapointed with it. A friend of mine does reverse engineers malware as a security expert for a bank. Until I found my ultimate Safe-Admin setup, I was playing a lot with security programs and had the priveledge of having access to the samples my friend collected with his honeypot. In my experience (and this hurts from someone having seen Dutch soccer team losing three finals) the Spanish -X ) Panda did quite well against a lot of 'new' threats or new variations of old virii families.

My friend says Avira problably has the best family detection of the AV's he follows (mostly the well known brands, from the EU or US). This also shows in the RAP results. I have played with the Avira 10 in the beta period and Avira managed to nail down most new malware on family virii recognition. He says it is typically how a company focussing on a core competence can excel within its industry.

He advises Avast free by the way for friends and relatives (and of course Hitman Pro, but that is a bit coloured preference), when people ask him what to AV to use when his profession becomes a topic on parties. He values the innovations Avast is providing in the free version and its strong self protection. He is really impressed that Avast dev-team manages to develop it all by themselves instead of buying knowledge with takeovers.

Regards Kees

 

Interesting read Kees.

Speaking as a huge fan of ESET. I agree ESET doesn't excel at AV-Comparatives and AV-Test anymore, but it isn't doing that bad. I think most people still use ESET just because they had great experiences with it, so have I: it is really set and forget, fast signature updates, extremely light, fast and stable, has a good UI, extremely configurable if you want to. And most important, it has never let me down.

I agree Panda indeed has great protection overall, but things I dislike about it (Panda Cloud Pro I am talking about), the poorly created interface, with that I don't mean the layout, the the extremely low quality (I also hate the Panda Antivirus UI). Lack of configuration options, and an extremely slow on-demand scan time (3 hours for Panda Cloud, 35 minutes for ESET) which won't be fixed with just disabling scanning archives (ESET also scans archives).

I also agree about Avira, focusing on your core competence to keep excelling, and also being light and fast. But in my eyes Avira also has disadvantages: some design flaws (in terms of ease of use), an old-fashioned GUI, and the lack of Dutch language interface.

I have tried all antiviruses/suites available, I am a real AV lover (I hate virtualization and so on) and I think I am quite objective. If I take all products in consideration and look at them, my verdict of the whole av market is:

The only paid products I like and consider buying are: ESET and Norton.
All the others are not worth the money, the major freebies are clearly better in my eyes: Avira, AVG, Panda Cloud and avast!.

 

VIPRE is also worth paying for

 

It sure is my friend.

 

AVIRA AntiVir Personal!

 

If this is to be a fair comparison surely internet connection is mandatory,otherwise the cloud based products are detecting with one arm tied behind their backs!If this is really the case(no internet connection)then as a worthwhile comparison this test is of no use at all