AV-Comparatives Release Results of Spring 2020 Anti-Virus Tests for Consumers

May 29, 2020 news

INNSBRUCK, Austria, May 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Independent security-software testing lab AV-Comparatives has released the results of its spring 2020 tests of consumer anti-virus products. 17 popular security programs were put through their paces. The tests examined the products’ abilities to protect against Internet threats, and malware on USB devices. Additional checks were made to see if the tested programs slowed down the workstation system, or plagued the user with false alarms.

AV-Comparatives scrutinized the anti-virus software in 3 categories:

Real-World Protection
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-feb-mar-2020-factsheet/

Malware Protection
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/malware-protection-test-march-2020/

Speed Impact
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/performance-test-april-2020/

The results of these tests give users an insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of consumer anti-virus programs that they could otherwise not find. As the world leader in independent anti-virus testing, AV-Comparatives have the facilities and expertise to run extensive, realistic tests that give a clear picture of how the different products perform in real life. AV-Comparatives run a massive test environment with several terabytes of RAM, and nearly a petabyte of storage, in order to test all products simultaneously and under identical conditions.

This ensures a level playing field for all participants. Products can be tested in different scenarios, and all the security features of each program can be checked.

The tests are run against threats of all types, such as viruses, worms, ransomware, exploits, trojans, backdoors, botnets and even brand-new (“0-day”) attacks. This makes the tests much more statistically significant than tests that use only 10, 20 or even 100 threats. AV-Comparatives also check anti-virus programs against vast numbers of harmless programs, to check for possible false alarms.

A common complaint about anti-virus programs is that they slow the computer down too much. AV-Comparatives’ speed impact test checks to see if any of the products provide protection at the expense of slowing the system to a crawl.

There are lots of different ways that malware can reach a user’s computer, such as websites, email and USB drives. An independent testing lab like AV-Comparatives can check all these scenarios, and find out if the computer will ultimately be protected.

AV-Comparatives’ Real-World Protection Test https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-feb-mar-2020-factsheet/ provides a perfect example of how to test all the protection mechanisms anti-virus software offers.

AV-Comparatives is ISO certified, and undergoes a thorough examination each year to verify that the tests are independent and unbiased.

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