Dennis Technology Labs - Q4 AV Report

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by chriswiles, Feb 7, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. nine9s

    nine9s Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2013
    Posts:
    310
    Location:
    USA
    Yeah, I do not understand the negative attitudes toward Norton. It must be from long ago past experience.

    For example, many point to it being bloatware that slows down your system. I have found it to be one of the lightest antivirus suites around and all reports, over the last few years, noted how light it was, ranking it in the top of performance tests review after review (read reviews, Norton typically ranks highest in low system impact.)

    And tests show it to consistently be at the top in protection. On day zero tests, from two sites that track results every day, one shows above-average results for Norton with 5 or 6 programs higher such as http://www.mrg-effitas.com/ while another consistently show Norton ahead of all others such as http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/AV/VirusDailyStats which monitors 0-day detection every single day. (The latter one likely has Norton at the top because it counts as a block if the initial zero day got through but its payload was blocked, which Norton's layer protection is supposed to do - and blocking the payload is what counts, no?)

    And in overall blocking, AV-Test consistently shows Norton to rank near the top 4 or 5: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/

    For example, look at their latest summaries for Norton and Bitdefender: http://www.av-test.org/no_cache/en/tests/test-reports/?tx_avtestreports_pi1[report_no]=124552

    http://www.av-test.org/no_cache/en/tests/test-reports/?tx_avtestreports_pi1[report_no]=124551

    Statistically there is no difference in those two reports: For example for the most recent test, Nov/Dec 2012 for zero-day/2-3 months/older detection Bitdefender was 100 100 100 and 100 99 100 while Norton was 100 100 100 and 98 100 100.


    And while it no longer tests Norton because Norton disagrees with showing single detection tests results in isolation because it ignores other layers of protection (so AV COmparatives will no longer include it in overall tests), when AV Comparatives did allow Norton to skip single detection tests but still be included in its more thorough real world tests, which was up until December 2011, Norton often ranked higher than Bitdefender and Kaspersky in real world tests by AV Comparatives. Look at the old tests there via its date chart application: http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php where on December 2011, Norton was ahead of every other antivirus program tested and was normally as high or higher than the big 3 in previous tests to that one.

    And look at the so-called top 2:

    Kaspersky updates crawl so slow it is almost as if you are on dial-up (their server will not typically upload to you over 50-100kbps - many people complain about that and some posters hack Kaspersky to force it to other Kaspersky update servers that are faster) and from my Kaspersky trial experience and other posters', it causes browser and internet hiccups when you run it (browser crashes, and slow down of internet.) It also blocks legitimate programs' updates a lot (do a search for Kaspersky and any popular game name like world of warcraft and you will find many forums messages of people complaining they had to turn off Kaspersky to get popular games to update properly.)

    And look at Bitdefender. It is always causing problems deleting/blocking good files and program updates as I described for Kaspersky (read forums on it for yourself.) And look at its recent major snafus. Just three years ago, for a day or two, on Windwos 7 64 bit O/Ss, it deleted any EXE and DLL file that ran forcing victims to have to completely reinstall their O/Ss and since then has had problems deleting other program's online updates (look at the current problem in this area: go to BitDefenders own forums, and read about all the people who have had popular game updates, from many games, deleted since early December 2012 and the widespread problem is still not fixed even though Bitdefender officials promise it is being investigated.)

    On poor Norton result tests, I have found no legitimate test labs showing that, instead those tests tend to be from individuals on youtube videos forcing virus folders on their PCs to test detection rates and then there are Youtube tests showing Norton does great - my point these youtube videos seem more fans or inexperienced testers trying to demonstrate something versus conduct valid tests.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2013
  2. Anth-Unit

    Anth-Unit Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2006
    Posts:
    108
    @nine9s

    I was running through the gamut of antivirus software trials and ended up needing to format my system after I tried KAV out. With avast, I think it was avast, I had to rebuild my network stack after uninstalling. Now I'm running MSE and am genuinely scared of going with an anti-virus that buries itself into my system like some of them do.
     
  3. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Posts:
    7,076
    Indeed. This is similar (and one of the opinions I share with you) to my opinion I posted here.
     
  4. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Posts:
    8,623
    Location:
    USA
    That's when it is an ideal time to make a system image and restore it between each trial and one last time before you install the once you decide on. If you decide to go AV free it is a good idea to backup daily and keep a couple of weeks worth.
     
  5. itman

    itman Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2010
    Posts:
    8,592
    Location:
    U.S.A.
    If you read the test report, it clearly states that all their tests were Internet based and consisted of visiting infected web sites. So you can't compare this test with ones done by the AV labs who test test all protection aspects of the selected security software.

    However, this report might be usefull in evaluating overall Internet protection effectiveness; especially web surfing and the like.

    I view it in the same category as other tests done by other PC publishers such as PC Magazine and the like. I ignore all their claims of objectivity since their primary income source is ad revenue with secuirty software manufacturers being a major contributor.
     
  6. nine9s

    nine9s Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2013
    Posts:
    310
    Location:
    USA
    That is my view on Norton. It has given me no trouble for a year. My subscription is almost over, and I tried Bitdefender on another computer and it seemed okay. I then found a coupon code and had Bitdefender internet security in Bitdefender shopping cart for $11.88 for a year. I was fixing to buy but thought it would be wise to go through Bitdefender's own forum to see if any issues and found a multiple message threads with people complaining that Bitdefender was blocking (and even deleting after they were downloaded) many popular game patches/downloads as well as some non-game programs.

    I then decided to go back to Norton and the review, in this message thread's original posts, makes that an easy decision to me.
     
  7. larryb52

    larryb52 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2006
    Posts:
    1,131
    what BS...enough with all the tests & what does it all prove...?
     
  8. vojta

    vojta Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2010
    Posts:
    830
    And what does a lazy one-line-rant in a forum prove?
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2013
  9. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2012
    Posts:
    4,101
    Actually i would agree with larry b to a point although i might not have expressed it in such a way.
    What malware are the products tested against and is it likely the end user will come across it.
    Truthfully what are the chances of coming across hundreds of malware.?
    What settings are used in the various products.
    We just dont know and take the results as being a true estimate of a products effectiveness.
     
  10. chriswiles

    chriswiles Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2010
    Posts:
    209
    Actually, I'd like to see more comparison tests using security products on regular PCs and how they do/don't impact your computer.

    For instance, we get more refund requests for Bitdefender products than any other security product (we've told Bitdefender this is the case) and the common problem is that it has 'screwed up my computer' (read: it has slowed my computer to a crawl).

    The problem is that users tend to try and install multiple security tools (security suite, firewall, anti-malware tools, web browser plugins) and they can't understand why their web browser is much slower than it was previously.

    This is the number one complaint. I don't think we've had more than one complaint where a user has actually stated "your security software has allowed malware to infect my PC!". No, it's all "your security software has slowed my computer!".
     
  11. DrBenGolfing

    DrBenGolfing Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2012
    Posts:
    251
    Location:
    Hometown of Van Cliburn
    Well said!:thumb:
     
  12. qakbot

    qakbot Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2010
    Posts:
    380
    MSE buries itself into the kernel just like all other products. It uses a mini-filter driver to monitor file events, and various other hooking techniques.

    But I agree, there are products out there that use very risky techniques, including LSPs , SSDT hooking and patch-guard bypassing. Its no wonder they can't get their products to work on Windows 8 64-bit (wink wink).
     
  13. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Posts:
    7,076
    On what OS, XP? It's completely different on XP vs 7/8, sorry.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.