The combination of a decent AV with a browser and OS modified for privacy and security should be enough. Browsers filter malware browser add ons, ad blockers, email providers, modem, router, and OS’s too, along with other attack types. Note that in almost two decades of various AV’s on 3-4 devices, only Avast ever let in badware. Now we use webroot, very fast, far faster than the others. Started with free Avast a decade ago and dumped it after a rootkit infection with piriform owning them, they’ve become malware.
Avira was realllly slow, didn’t last more than a month. Also tried Kaspersky for a year or so and it was considerably slower. I used bitdefender for a few years and it was fairly fast.
Why is AnhLabs on the list? I’ve tried and tried and can’t buy their software, only download old versions of it.
There’s some value to AV Test stressing a bunch of similar software but they’re all so close together with results varying slightly every few months, how much these things gum up your device is more important. I run it every six months or so and nothing ever appears. Malwarebytes is not an anti-virus, they never do well in these comparisons of conventional AV’s. Nowadays it is mostly adware that is a real problem, not viruses, which is why ironically Malwarebytes may be the best product for most people. The security companies are capitalizing on this and in reality increase the attack surface of a system. Maybe the fact that all products are good in the end only shows that the market in itself is mostly based on psychology and fear.Īs has already been said, simply sandboxing the environment (for example with a non-admin user) gives all protection people ever need, since viruses itself were only possible due to the way Windows works/worked. If you always give out great test results, then your entire business is either obsolete, or you have to change your benchmarks.įor example for AV products it would be interesting to include transparancy when it comes to subscription models, price in relation to quality, past security incidents, corporate transparency, etc.
Otherwise you end up with only great products, and that happens when a testing company creates tests only for the security companies to buy certificates. That’s how testing usually works, in relation to everything else. Or in other words, the test results have to be adjusted to the situation. If the difference is marginal, independent test providers tend to focus on the issues that make certain products stand out. But when it comes to testing, there is always difference.