“How to choose the right antivirus software” plus 1 more

How to choose the right antivirus software

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 08:53 AM PST

PC Advisor has updated its chart of the best antivirus programs. Check out our Top 5 antivirus round-up, or read on for buying advice, and how we test and rank the latest antivirus products.

Malware is evolving faster than ever, so it's reassuring to discover that the latest generation of antivirus (AV) is better equipped to handle this rapid pace of change. We recommend that every Windows PC runs at least AV, antispyware and a firewall, and that you keep them all up to date. So if you're not running AV, or if you feel your AV could perform better, there's a product in our latest antivirus group test that you need.

In recent years, the technology that powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you purchased a few years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known malware, but brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer products do a better job of stopping them.

For our antivirus group test we teamed up with AV-Test, a respected security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test rigorously tested AV products from a number of leading security companies. In all, 13 programs were tested. In our feature we've presented the Top 5; read reviews of the rest at pcadvisor.co.uk.

AV-Test's multifaceted testing procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can detect malware using traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is, employing a database of known malware types), but also at how well it can block brand-new, unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product can clean up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get through.

Our group test focuses on standalone paid-for AV products, rather than free software - although one notable exception is Avira AntiVir Premium 2011, where we judged the free edition as good at catching and nullifying threats as its paid-for counterpart.

Paid-for AV products usually offer better technical support and more comprehensive protection features than free programs. Internet security suites go further still, offering firewalls, parental controls, identity theft protection and more.

Regular readers will know that we looked at fully fledged security suites last issue. Some of the names here are the same as those in that round-up and, in general, the AV protection provided by a standalone product is replicated by that in the corresponding suite. However, there are noticeable differences between the two comparative tests. Norton came out top in both, but our group test is far from a straight re-run of the top security suites.

Antivirus trends

This year, some AV packages come with tie-ins to so-called cloud services, in which fresh information on new threats pushes down from the vendor's web servers to your PC. This is a trend we've begun to see over the past year or two, but it's really taken off with the 2011 batch of products.

Cloud-based detection takes many forms. In some products, such as Norton AntiVirus, it's used in reputation-based systems that pull together information on files and file types from users around the world to quickly detect suspicious files. Norton calls its system Quorum, but each company that offers a reputation-based process has its own name for the feature.

In other products, such as Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus, the bulk of the malware detection actually takes place in the cloud - remotely, on the company's servers, rather than on your PC - with the intention of catching malware sooner and reducing the performance impact on your system.

Winning ways

Since an AV program is only as good as its ability to block viruses, we based 70 percent of each program's overall score on its success in malware detection, blocking and cleanup, with features, ease of use and the overall drag on system performance accounting for the rest.

It was a close race, but Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2011 took our Best Buy award with its excellent malware detection, blocking and cleanup. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 collected a Recommended badge, while BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011, G Data AntiVirus 2011 and Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 completed our Top 5 round-up.

Antivirus software reviews

Internet security suites

Firewall reviews

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 brings Microsoft antivirus engine to clients

Posted: 12 Mar 2011 12:12 AM PST

March 11, 2011, 11:56 PM PST

Takeaway: Antivirus for standalone servers is now available through a new Microsoft application suite. Rick Vanover kicks the tires of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010.

Many IT administrators have taken advantage of the Microsoft Security Essentials platform to run on Windows client systems for antivirus and spyware protection. This package is easy to administer, quick to install, and generally has the necessary features for a client endpoint protection package. Plus, the price can't be beat.

On the server side, we've been without a complementing Microsoft solution until recently. Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 gives this functionality to server operating systems, and is available for a free 120 day trial. I recently downloaded this antivirus protection for my Windows Servers in my personal virtualization test lab. It is important to have some antivirus solution for my lab server operating systems, as I am generally stuck only able to protect the client operating systems due to the costs of server antivirus programs.

Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 is only 75 MB, but don't let the small size fool you — it has a lot of features. Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 has direct integration to Microsoft System Center Operations Manager with a management pack for easy integration to an enterprise framework. If a standalone client installation is required, the FEPInstall.exe file located in the \FEP2010_en-us\x64\client folder will do the trick. Installing the standalone client is rather straightforward (Figure A).

Figure A

Click the image to enlarge.

Once the installation is completed, Windows will prompt for a reboot of the Server. After Windows is started back up, the Forefront Endpoint client will be available for updates and configuration. The first task automatically will be to download an update to the local definitions (Figure B).

Figure B

Click the image to enlarge.

At that point, the Endpoint Protection client is ready for additional configuration; this includes scheduled scans, exclusions, and detection behavior. One feature I noted with this configuration is that network drives are permitted to be scanned, which can save work in some situations or create duplication in others. Figure C shows this area of the configuration (note the system tray icon is highlighted).

Figure C

Click the image to enlarge.

So far, I like Forefront Endpoint Protection. I'll post another blog about the product after I use it more. For additional information, be sure to check out this Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 white paper on TechRepublic.

If you have used Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, let us know what you think of it.

Rick Vanover

I have engaged in commercial (paid and non-paid) content (blogs, articles, print materials, speaking engagements, podcasts, webcasts, judging events, etc.) for the following organizations: 1105 Media, CBS Interactive,TechTarget, United Business Media, Internet.com, c/o QuinStreet, Inc., Tabor Communications, Inc.

AntiVirus Free

Saturday, March 12, 2011