AV-Comparatives (February 2009)

If a product did not get Advanced+ in this test, it has no chance of winning AV Product of the Year because it will not get Advanced+ on the next test either.

 

That statement is not true. The next test is the retrospective test, May 2009.

 

My statement is true because the false positive results for this test are carried over to the retrospective test.

 

You're right. Sorry.
So AVs are really punished for FPs.

 

I take back what I have said. I can't predict the future so I could be very wrong and also there will be many other tests like the dynamic, cleaning, and PUA tests that will probably be executed this year judging by the website.

 

False positives might not be a problem for some of us here but, they *are* a problem for almost everyone else. Non-techie people overpopulate us & thus finding many FP's can be dangerous, especially if the AV is set to do things automatically.

 

Yeah, undetected malware like say, Robodog, can do do pretty nasty stuff to a PC. I will take the FP I can undelete out of Quarantine, over my MBR being corrupted.

 

You can say that because you are an advanced user. If you were an average user who knows very little in computer security, I bet it would be a different story.

 

not exactly, default action would be quarantine, and if it is a FP, then it can be recovered, maybe not by the user but maybe by somebody experienced that the person may know. now if it is as he said a serious infection, like MBR, then ur screwed if its not detected, so ye...

 

This is crazy. Yes fp's are a factor but in a test that consists of 1.3 million samples and there is maybe a a 15-20 fp difference between Avira and some others while there is a 12000 - 20000 difference in malware deetected. I don;t care if it is the first time I ever turned on a computer I will take th odds of better protection over a handful of fp's.

 

Can you guarantee that the average user knows what a quarantined infected file is?

@jad, that is true but I've detected more FP's with Avira than actual infected files. Mind you, I am careful in what I install/use so I can only speak from experience. Avira is one of the best, but there are others just as good if not better.

 

no, I am far from a advanced user. But I do have a big mouth.

 

There seems to be a misunderstanding of how FP are tested. It has been posted many times that having 20 or so FP out of 1.3 million files is insignificant. I may be wrong on this but the 1.3 million files are all malware correct? So it is impossible to get a FP on that sample set. As I understand it they use a Clean Set to test for FP. I was unable to find the size of this Clean Set, and i believe they state that a FP percentage is meaningless. Regardless the numbers being thrown around are inaccurate. Take this for whatever it is worth

 

Its kind of funny but, twice a year this thread is a remake of the one from 6 months ago. After the next 6 months, someone should post a link to this thread and save us a whole lot of typing.

 

The irony of my argument is out of the AV's I choose to use, Avira is probably #1 haha (in competition with Avast)

 

I have never encountered an FP which destroyed my system. Has anyone else? Remember, there were over a 1 million samples. >30 somes files caused FPs. All of them were software packages; not the MBR or critical system files.

 

I'm considering switching to G-Data, any opinions?

 

u shuld probly post that in a different thread...

 

It's like deja vu all over again.
Ice

 

Excellent point. I can't find the size of the clean set either. It is trickier to analyze the detection/false positive trade-off since the size of the clean set and malware sample size are not the same.

 

I couldn't agree more

 

Its like this, even at the cost of crying wolf, I would rather have a paranoid gatekeeper who would sometimes make a false call than a dumb ass gatekeeper who wouldn't see the enemy or any suspicious activities.

 

Shame it got beat by GData I guess, better luck next time? Oh, darn Avira can't get AV+ now that's right.

 

Avira has too many FPs for my taste. As stated many times, this is a matter of personal preference.

 

I see, grapes are indeed sour this season thats right, Avira is crud, Eset rules, Avira sucks, has FP, slows down browsing........anything else