Windows 10: AV-Lab's test of FREE malware scanners

Source: https://avlab.pl/sites/default/files...canners_EN.pdf

:)

 

What is the best antivirus, malware, spyware program for Windows 10?

AV testing was once limited to establishing a baseline protection-level that could be used for AV certifications – but that’s no longer the case. Anything that can be measured can be ranked on a scale from worst to best, and since AV apps are no exception
to that rule, we now have several serious AV testing labs continuously testing and ranking the various real-time AV apps on the basis of quite a few different criteria. Each test picks a specific criterion for the evaluation, and then carefully operationalizes
that criterion with a testing procedure in order to provide a metric for the ranking:

List of AV Testing Labs - AV-Comparatives

Documents – AMTSO

Of course the multiplicity of criteria and the frequent retesting results in lots of discrepancies in the rankings, and this has two unfortunate consequences:

1. The different outcomes are used (unfairly) by the skeptics of AV testing in order to make the argument that testing isn’t a reliable source of information.

2. This confusing multiplicity of outcomes leaves AV vendors free to cherry pick a test with a result that makes them look good, but that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

We don’t have to look very far to find a good example of how AV vendors cherry pick the AV tests, because the Emsisoft article cited by

Jsssssssss will serve nicely:

13 mistakes to avoid when choosing antivirus software in 2018

The first point here is well taken, of course:

When it comes down to it, the most important factor when choosing antivirus software is how well it can protect your system against both known and unknown threats.

But the link is to the AV-Comparatives Malware Protection Test – and this is what the AV-comparatives site has to say about this test:

It complements our Real-World Protection Test, which sources its malware samples from live URLs, allowing features such as URL blockers to come into play. The Malware Protection Test effectively replicates a scenario in which malware is introduced
to a system via local area network or removable media such as USB flash drives (as opposed to via the Internet). Both tests include execution of any malware not detected by other features, thus allowing “last line of defense” features to come into play.

So it should be clear that the Malware Protection Test doesn’t effectively replicate the environment of home-based PC users, where malware is almost always delivered via the Web browser. But if we then look at the results of the Real-World Protection
test, which more closely mimics the environment of home-based PC users; it’s clear that Emsisoft is struggling to keep up with the leaders:

https://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php#

So shoppers beware: “cherry picking” a favorable AV test is a standard marketing ploy.

Cherry picking - Wikipedia

Performance impact shouldn’t normally be a major concern, because most of the AV apps are perfectly usable if there aren’t any malware remnants or antimalware remnants escalating the CPU utilization. But if you’re going to evaluate the AV apps on the
basis of performance impact, be aware that the AV testing labs also run tests based on that criterion, although they measure the performance impact in a clean and controlled environment, where the results can’t be confounded by previous antimalware installations,
undetected malware, system damage or corruption, third-party programs running in the background, or what have you:

https://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/avc_per_201710_en.pdf

The best way to ensure that a new AV installation will go smoothly, and that the new AV app won’t be handicapped by any operational or performance issues, is to do some preinstall preparation – which would consist of these steps:

1. Remove any undetected malware by scanning with several third-party malware-removal apps:

List of Malware Removal Tools

2. Remove any antimalware remnants by running the cleanup utilities for any preinstalled or previously installed AV apps:

List of anti-malware product removal tools

3. Run the standard Windows 10 system integrity checks:

System file check (SFC) Scan and Repair System Files & DISM to fix things SFC cannot

 

Help Me Find A Good Security App For My Computer

Windows Defender along with the free versions of Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware is a classic combination for AV protection. It’s exactly the combination that I was recommending here many years ago when the regulars still rejected the idea of using
any third-party malware-removal tools at all. But in those days Security Essentials was a real contender, and it was getting respectable scores from the AV testing labs. These days, the scores for Microsoft AV apps are literally used as the baseline for the
protection scores at the AV testing labs. That means that if you’re not extremely careful with your browsing, then your frontline (real-time) protection is going to miss more malware and leave it for your backup scanners to clean up. That’s what “supplementing
your protection” really means. So if you stick with Windows Defender, and your browsing habits leave something to be desired, then you’ll most likely need to do a lot of “supplementing” – in which case you should definitely expand your arsenal with some of
the more specialized malware-removal apps mentioned here:

Answers to common security questions - Best Practices - Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, and Privacy Software

But taking this approach doesn’t just mean more cleanup work and system repair – it also involves substantially more risk, because once you lose your personal files, or your personal information, as the result of a breech in your frontline defense,
then the damage is already done, and no amount of after-the-fact cleaning up can undo that damage. So having better frontline protection really means having more protection, as well as less cleanup work to do:

The Best Free Antivirus Protection of 2018

 

None of the above comes even close to 100%, that is the reason, why it is advisable to have 2-3 on-demand scanners at hand. As for Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, well no surprise there. *Rolleyes

 

This appears to be a random selection of after the event recovery tools I will always prefer to use an industry standard comparison site of full suites

AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Real World Protection Test Overview is one of the most trusted

 

I wonder in a multi-layered approach which would give 100% though...
WD + MBAM are often touted here as a combo - IF those results were mutually exclusive then I'd say OK... otherwise, nah )

I find Kaspersky rootkit scanning quite unobtrusive and resource friendly (having been a long-time Bitdefender fan, quite impressed so far with it)

BTW: What happened to Arcabit? did it get gobbled up by malware on Day 3?

 

Due to the significant and continuous increase in number of Arcabit Skaner Online users, developer has decided to optimize scanning mechanisms which allow you to detect and remove all infections as quickly as possible, regardless of the number of files. The newest version of Arcabit Skaner Online offers single, optimized mode for scanning system resources, so it takes just few minutes to check active processes, services, drivers, and libraries for infections. Custom folders scanning feature is no longer available, so it was impossible to continue the test.

 

In this chart, what does "user dependent" (gold bar) actually mean ?

 

Something, that behaves suspiciously and the user has to decide, whenever he trusts it or no. It might or might not be a malware. Lets say, that you open a document and it warns you, that macros are dangerous, it is up to to run it or not.

 

Hmmm.... doesn't lend much cred to the test then