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(1)Summary Report 2014. www.av-comparatives.org. Anti-Virus Comparative. Summary Report 2014 Awards, winners, comments Language: English December 2014 Last Revision: 20th January 2015. www.av-comparatives.org. -1-.

(2) Summary Report 2014. www.av-comparatives.org. Table of Contents Introduction Participating Vendors Management Summary Product Thumbnails Overview of levels reached during 2014 Winners Overall winner of 2014 (Product of the Year) Top Rated Products 2014 Whole-Product Dynamic “Real-World” Protection winners File Detection winners False Positives winners Overall Performance (Low System-Impact) winners Proactive (Heuristic/Behavioural) Protection winners Malware Removal winners User-Interface Review Section AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0 Avast Free Antivirus 2015 AVG Internet Security 2015 Avira Antivirus Pro 14.0 Baidu Antivirus 2015 International/English Version Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 BullGuard Internet Security 15.0 Emsisoft Anti-Malware 9.0 eScan Internet Security Suite with Cloud Security 14.0 ESET Smart Security 8.0 Fortinet FortiClient 5.2 with FortiGate F-Secure Internet Security 2015 Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 Kingsoft Internet Security 2013.SP9.5 Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 11.4 McAfee Internet Security 2015 Microsoft Windows Defender 4.5 for Windows 8 Panda Free Antivirus 15.0 Qihoo 360 Internet Security 4.9 Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10.3 Tencent PC Manager 10.3 ThreatTrack VIPRE Internet Security 2015 Trend Micro Internet Security 2015 Copyright and Disclaimer. -2-. 3 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 24 30 37 42 47 54 60 66 72 78 83 89 95 102 107 115 119 124 129 133 139 145 151.

(3) Summary Report 2014. www.av-comparatives.org. Introduction At the end of every year, AV-Comparatives releases a summary report to comment on the various anti-virus products tested over the year, and to highlight the high-scoring products of the various tests. Please bear in mind that this report looks at all the comparative tests of 2014, i.e. not only the latest ones. Comments and conclusions are based on the results shown in the various comparative test reports of AV-Comparatives, as well as from observations made during the tests (http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparatives-reviews/).. Participating Vendors The following vendors participated in AV-Comparatives’ public main test-series of 2014 and agreed to have the effectiveness of their products independently evaluated. Microsoft asked to be included in the tests, but to be regarded as a baseline and not as competition to the other products. We are happy that this year’s tests have helped several vendors to find critical and other bugs in their software, and that this has contributed to improving the products.. -3-.

(4) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Managgement Su ummary Tests This yeaar, AV-Compparatives has again subbjected 23 security pro oducts for W Windows to rigorous investigaation. All th he programss have beenn tested for their abilitty to protecct against real-world Internett threats, ideentify thousands of receent maliciou us programs, and providee protection n without slowing down the PC. P Addition nally, optionnal tests cheecked how well the prooducts could d remove ock new andd unknown th hreats, and protect p the uuser against phishing malware from an inffected PC, blo attacks.. Resultss and Awards Whilst all of the proograms in our test reacheed an accepttable level overall, somee programs performed p han others. For details, please see ““Overview off levels reached during 2014” on paage 7. In better th order to recognise th hose productts that achieeve outstand ding scores in our tests, we give a number of ht the best results in eaach test and d overall. The e Product off the Year aw ward and awards tthat highligh Top Rateed awards are based on overall perrformance in n the public main test sseries; there are also Gold, Sillver and Broonze awards for each inddividual test type. Please e see the Aw ward Winnerrs section for moree details of the awards.. Advice on Choosing Compu uter Securrity Softwaare There is no such thing as the peerfect securitty program, or the best one for all nneeds and evvery user. Being reecognized ass “Product off the Year” ddoes not meean that a program is thhe “best” in all cases and for everyone; itt only meanss that its ovverall perform mance in ou ur tests throoughout the year was consistent and unbeaten. ndor’s websitte and evaluaate their sofftware by Before selecting a seecurity product, please vvisit the ven ur awards aree based on test results only and doo not consid der other downloading a trial version. Ou portant factoors (such as available interface laanguages, prrice, and factors as there aree some imp uate for you rself. support)), which you should evalu. ‐ 4 ‐ .

(5) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Producct Thumbnaails Here we provide an overview of the program ms tested, wiith a note off each one’s successes during the year. Altthough the user interfacce does not affect any awards, we have noted some of thee best UI features as well. AhnLab improved in n the second half of the yyear, with aw wards in all three of thee last tests. The T setup wizard pprovides the useful choice of using W Windows Firew wall or the AhnLab A firew wall. Avast reeceived one Advanced+ award a this yyear. Its inteerface has be een given a facelift for 2015. 2 We liked thee choice of components c t setup wiizard and thee uninstallerr, and its and languagges in both the excellentt online knowledge basee. AVG win ns a Top Ratted award fo or the first ttime this yeear. It secure ed three Advvanced+ awaards, and was joint winner of the t Removall Test. The u ser interfacee has had a facelift, f but remains justt as userfriendly as before. p Rated product this yeear, with a total t of 6 Ad dvanced+ Aw wards, includ ding both Avira is again a Top es it very straaightforward d to use. Real-Worrld Protectioon Tests. Its tried and tessted user intterface make Baidu diid well in thee Performancce Tests, reaaching Advan nced+ in both. Bitdefen nder is Prod duct of the Year 2014,, with Advanced+ award ds in all eigght main tessts, RealWorld Prrotection winner, Proacttive winner, joint Perforrmance winner, joint Rem moval winneer. It has an updatted, very useer-friendly in nterface this year. BullGuard received an award in n all eight teests this yeaar, including g three Advaanced+. We liked the fact thatt the program m settings are password protected byy default. Emsisoft ft is a Top Rated R product this yearr, with five Advanced+ awards. a It im mpressed uss with its completeely new user interface, which is deescribed in detail d in the e product reeview section of this report. eScan reeceived four Advanced+ awards in t his year’s teests. We liked the updatted graphic design d in this yearr’s version, which w makes features on the home page stand ou ut very clearlly. ESET is aagain a Top Rated produ uct this yearr, with six Advanced+ A aw wards. It wass winner of the False Positivess category. Its I tried and tested user interface an nd help featu ures are as goood as ever. Fortinett is Top Ratted, receivin ng four Advaanced+ awarrds this yearr. Its user innterface is businessb orientedd but straighttforward. F-Securee is Top Rateed, with three Advancedd+ awards. We W felt that its i completeely new user--interface design iss very clear and a easy to use, with exxcellent alertts. Kaspersky Lab winss another To op Rated aw ward this yeaar, missing out o on Produuct of the Year Y 2014 only beccause it won the award last year. It reached Advanced+ level in all eighht main testts, and is the File Detection winner w and jo oint Perform mance winner. Its new in nterface desiign retains the t easeof-use of previous veersions. ‐ 5 ‐ .

(6) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Kingsoftt received awards a in all the tests iit participatted in, inclu uding two Addvanced+. The T setup wizard allows Kingsooft’s own Internet browseer to be insttalled as an option. o Lavasoftt won three Advanced+ awards thiss year, including both File F Detectionn Tests. We liked its manual, the extensiive choice of o interface languages, and the opttion to instaall it as a secondary s scanner. ding one McAfee (Intel Secuurity) receiveed awards iin all six of the tests it took parrt in, includ ard, and its clear and persistent p Advanceed+. We likedd the choicee of componnents in thee setup wiza malware alerts. ows 8/8.1, an nd served ass our baselin ne. It was Microsofft Windows Defender is incorporatedd into Windo not in coontention foor awards, bu ut has a simpple, easy-to-use interface e. Panda reeceived threee Advanced+ awards in this year’s tests. We liked the abillity to custo omise the tiles on the home paage of the neewly designeed program window. w Qihoo 3 360 (English version) received five Advanced+ awards, a and was bronzee winner of the t RealWorld Prrotection Tesst. We liked its i clear andd persistent malware m alerts. Sophos received three Advanceed+ awards during the year. Its user-interface u e is straightforward, although h oriented toowards busin ness use. Tencent received aw wards in alll six tests itt took part in, includin ng two Advaanced+. The program displays a “Health Sccore” (overall system seccurity) after a quick scan n. Threat TTrack Vipre received awaards in five out of six teests it particcipated in thhis year. We liked its clean neew interface design and good g malwarre alerts. Trend M Micro receiveed three Ad dvanced+ aw wards in thiss year’s testts. It has a new graph hical user interfacee, which struuck us as verry clean and effective.. ‐ 6 ‐ .

(7) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Overvieew of leveels reached d during 2 2014 AV-Compparatives prrovides a wide rangee of tests and revie ews in com mprehensive reports (http://w www.av-com mparatives.orrg/comparatiives-reviews//). Annual awards for 20014 are baseed on the public m main test-serries: Real-W World Protecttion Test, Performance P e Test, File Detection Test, T and False-Allarm Test (all ( compulssory), and tthe Proactivve Test and d Malware RRemoval Teest (both optionall). Vendors who w choose not to have some features of their products puublicly evaluaated (i.e. did not participate in some of th he optional ttests) are sttill eligible fo or Product oof the Year/TTop Rated ot part of awards, but obviouslly have feweer opportunitties to score points. Additional testss/reviews (no n test-seriess, and not relevant r to tthe awards) included: Mac M Security Test/Review w, Mobile the main Security Test/Review w, Business Security S Revi ew. All the pprograms tested are from m the reputabble and reliable manufacturers. Pleasse note that even the STANDAR RD level/awaard requires a program to reach a good standard, althouggh it indicattes areas which neeed further improvement i t compared to other pro oducts. ADVA ANCED indicaates areas which may need som me improvem ment, but aree already verry competent. Below is an a overview of awards reeached by the varioous anti-viruus products in AV-Comparratives’ main n test-series of 2014.. Key:. * = Standard, ** = Advanceed, *** = Advvanced+. An emptyy box indicatees that the vendor did not pparticipate in the optional test.. ‐ 7 ‐ .

(8) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Award Winners The Prodduct of the Year award is given to the productt with the highest overaall score from m all the public m main tests. It depends on the numbber of Advanced+ awardss received inn all our tests. As all productss receiving an Advanced+ + award are considered (statistically ( speaking) to be as good d as each other, a product can n receive thee Product of the Year aw ward without necessarily reaching thee highest score in any individuual test. g the A numbeer of productts which reacch a very higgh overall staandard in the public maiin tests are given Top Rateed award. For each h of the testt types1 in the t public m main series (Real-World ( Protection, File Detection, False Positivess, Performan nce, Proactivee, Malware RRemoval), wee give Gold, Silver and Brronze awards, for the first, seccond and third highest-scoring produucts, respecttively.. 1. For som me test typess, there may be two actuual tests cond ducted in a year; y the awaards are baseed on the combinedd score of botth tests. ‐ 8 ‐ .

(9) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Overalll winner of o 2014 (P Product of the Year) For AV-CComparativess’ “Product of o the Year“ award, all tests in the public p main--test series are a taken into con nsideration. This year, both Bitdefennder and Kasspersky Lab received an Advanced+ award in all of these tests, i.e. were equaally high-scooring. In succh cases, we use the folllowing tie-break: the n won the award beforre, or the prroduct that won w it less rrecently, is given g the product which has not On this basis, AV-Comparratives’ 20144 Product of the t Year awa ard goes to BBitdefender. award. O. Biitdefend der. ‐ 9 ‐ .

(10) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Top Rated Products 2014 This yeaar, like last year, a number of prooducts reach hed a very high standaard in all our o tests. Although h we only haave one Product of the Year, we reccognise all those t produccts with goo od overall results bby giving theem the AV-Co omparatives Top Rated award. We havee used the reesults over the t year to designate prroducts as “Top Rated”. Results from m all the tests aree assigned points p as follows: Testedd = 0, Standard = 5, Advanced = 110, Advanced+ = 15. Productss with 90 pooints or moree were givenn the Top Raated award, with two coonditions. Firrstly, any productss that failed to win any award (i.e. ggot 0 points)) in either of the Real-W World Protecttion tests have nott been considered. Secon ndly, good reesults in thee performancce tests cannnot make up for weak results in the detecttion/protecttion tests. W We intend to o give the To op Rated aw ward again next year, but the ccriteria may be adapted.. Top Rated products foor 2014 are,, in alphabetical order: VG, AVIRA, Emsisoft, E ESSET, F-Secure e, Fortinet, Kaspersky LLab AV. mary and awaards pages – links below:: Please seee our summ http://chart.av-comparatives.org g/awardslist .php?year=2014. ‐ 10 ‐ .

(11) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Whole--Product Dynamic D “R Real-Worldd” Protecttion winne ers Security products include vario ous differennt features to protect systems agaainst malwaare. Such nto account in the Who ole-Product Dynamic D “Reeal-World” Protection protectioon features are taken in tests, w which test products p und der real-worrld condition ns. Productss must provvide a high level of protectioon without producing p to oo many falsse alarms, an nd without requiring r thee user to maake many decisions. ge result ovver the year: Bitdefende er (99.7%, few FPs), Avira A and The figuure shown iss the averag Kasperskky Lab (99.6%, few FPs), and Qihhoo 360 (99 9.5%, few FPs), all receeived the Ad dvanced+ award in n both tests of o 2014.. AWARDS. efender Bitde. Avira, Kasspersky Labb. Qiho oo 360. r of thee 2014 Real- World Protecction tests, please p click tthe link belo ow: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/dynamic-teests/ http://w. ‐ 11 ‐ .

(12) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . File Deetection winners w The File Detection Test evaluates the static file scanning engine component, whhich is one subset of d by security ty products. A high dete ection rate oof malware - without the prottection featuures provided causing too many false alarmss – is, depeending on the t situation, one of tthe most im mportant, nistic and reeliable features of an annti-virus prod duct (as e.g. it is not hheavily dependent on determin infection n vectors or other factorss). The folloowing products received the ADVANCCED+ award in i both overrall File Deteection tests, in March and Sepptember 2014. The figure shown iss the averag ge of the two t test ressults: Kaspersky Lab (99.8%, few FPs), F--Secure (99.6 6%, few FPs)) and AVIRA, Bitdefende er and eScann (99.5%, few w FPs).. AWARDS. Kaspe ersky Lab. F-S Secure. AVIRA, Bitd defender, eSScan. r of thee 2014 File D Detection tessts, please cllick the link below: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/detection-ttest/ http://w. ‐ 12 ‐ .

(13) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . False P Positives winners w False positives can cause c as mucch trouble a s a real infeection. Due to t this, it is important that t antir to thhe public, in order to virus prooducts underrgo stringent quality asssurance testting before release avoid false positivess. AV-Compaaratives carryy out extenssive false-positive testinng as part off the File Detectioon Tests. he lowest rates of false positives du uring 2014 were w ESET (2)), Panda and Sophos The prodducts with th (3) and Fortinet (6). These figurres representt the SUM off the false po ositives from m both FP Tessts.. AWARDS. ES SET. Panda,, Sophos. Forrtinet. r of thee 2014 False Positive tessts, please click the link below: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/false-alarm m-tests/ http://w. ‐ 13 ‐ .

(14) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Overalll Performaance (Low System-Im mpact) wiinners Security products must remain turned t on u nder all circcumstances, while users are perform ming their oducts may hhave a higheer impact tha an others onn system performance usual computing tasks. Some pro me tasks. while peerforming som Bitdefen nder, Kasperrsky Lab, AV VIRA and ESSET demonstrrated a lowe er impact onn system performance than oth her products... AWARDS. Bitdefender, B Kaspersky Lab. VIRA AV. ESET E. r of thee 2014 Perfoormance testss, please clicck the link b elow: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/performancce-tests/ http://w. ‐ 14 ‐ .

(15) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Proactiive (Heuriistic/Behavioural) PProtection winners The Proaactive Test shows s how good g the he uristic detecction and be ehavioural p rotection features of the various anti-virus products are (i.e. h ow good th hey are at protecting p aggainst new//unknown I acccess againstt completelyy new (0-day) malwaree. A high proactive malware) without Internet n rate must be b achieved with a low rate r of false alarms. detection/protection t highest proactive prrotection rattes in the 20014 test: Bittdefender The folloowing products showed the (98%, feew FPs), Kasp persky Lab (97%, ( few FPPs) and ESETT (90%, very few FPs).. AWARDS. efender Bitde. Kasperrsky Lab. ES SET. r of thee 2014 File D Detection tessts, please cllick the link below: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/retrospectiive-test/ http://w. ‐ 15 ‐ .

(16) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Malwarre Removaal winners A very uuseful abilityy for an antii-virus progrram is removval of malwa are which haas already in nfected a system. In this year’s test, five produccts received the Advancced+ award, these beingg Bitdefend der, AVG, eScan, K Kaspersky La ab and Panda:. AWARDS. nder, AVG Bitdefen. eScan, Kasspersky Labb. Pa anda. r of thee 2014 Malwaare Removall test, please e click the linnk below: For details and full results www.av-compparatives.org g/removal-teests/ http://w. ‐ 16 ‐ .

(17) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . User-Interrface Reviiew Sectio on The proggram reviewss in this secttion do not hhave any efffect on the awards. a They are intendeed to give users an n idea of wh hat each program is like in everydayy use. We ho ope that thiis, together with the results oof the tests, will help reeaders find a security prrogram that meets theirr needs; non netheless, we stron ngly recomm mend potenttial buyers oof any of th he programss in this repport to evalluate the softwaree themselvess by using a free trial vversion. Other factors th hat should bbe considereed before purchasee include com mpatibility, technical t suppport and prrice. The proggrams were tested t for thiis year’s revi ew on 64-bit English Windows 8.1 w with Update. Whilst w we assume th hat the vastt majority off our readerss are compu uter enthusiaasts or profeessionals, the userr-interface reeview primarrily considerss how easy each e program m is to use ffor non-expeert users. Our Reall-World Proteection Test demonstrates d s that in som me cases, a security s proggram will onlly protect the PC iff the user maakes the righ ht decision – it is possib ble to allow the t malware to run. Add ditionally, if a proogram is ouut-of-date orr a protectiion componeent is disab bled, the coomputer will not be protecteed unless the user is made m aware of the prob blem and prrovided withh a simple means m of hus feel that if a securrity program m is to provide effectivee protection n for the rectifying it. We th hat needs average user, it musst either carrry out actionns automaticcally, or make it clear to the user wh a decision -making or specialist kn nowledge. W We hope our feedback to be doone, withoutt requiring any will be h helpful to vendors in opttimising theiir products. Equally, E we are a sure thatt many of ou ur readers will provvide IT suppport for non--expert fami ly members, friends and d customers, and we aim m to help them decide which products p willl be easiest ffor their supported users to operate. wing aspectss of the secu urity program ms in our testts: Our everryday-usage report looks at the follow. . What options aree available in n the setup w wizard?. . Doess the uninstaller have additional options, such as addin ng or removving compo onents or repaairing the insstallation?. . Is a dedicated reemoval tool provided by the manufaccturer?. . How w does the prrogram registter in Windo ws Action Ceenter?. . If th he program’ss real-time protection p oor firewall (if applicable) are disablled, is a Sysstem-Tray alertt shown by Action A Center or the prodduct itself?. . Are eessential fun nctions and information easy to find d in the prog gram’s user innterface? Wee look for systeem status, scan, s updatee (where appplicable), su ubscription status (wheere applicablle), help, quarrantine and logs. l. . Doess the program m customise Internet Exxplorer by ad dding a toolb bar or rankinngs for search results, or ch hanging the default searrch service (B Bing)?. ‐ 17 ‐ .

(18) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . . Doess the main program p wind dow warn apppropriately in i the eventt that the re al-time prottection or firew wall (where applicable) a iss disabled, aand make it easy e to rectify this?. . What scanning options o are available? a. . Is a scan entry added a to Win ndows Explorrer’s right-cliick menu?. . Stan ndard-User Access: A can protection be disabled, or the pro ogram uninsstalled, with h a nonadministrator acccount?. . Malw ware alerts: Does D the pro ogram show a clear and appropriate a warning w wheen the EICAR R test file is doownloaded2? If the prog gram produceed a significcant numberr of user-deppendent deccisions in our Real-World Protection Test T this yeaar (over 1% % of test cases), the reelevant dialo og box is wn. This applies to Bullguard, Emsisooft, F-Secure, Kingsoft an nd Tencent. show.  Helpp: We look foor a local hellp function, oonline knowledge base, and downloaadable manuual. Please n note that maany of the programs p in this review w have addittional featurres, such as parental control, which we haave not coveered here. Reeaders shoulld consult manufacturer’ss websites fo or details i each prodduct. The queestion we ha ave attempteed to answerr for each of other functionalitty included in w many featu ures does it hhave?”, but “Does “ it do the t essentiall things well?”. program is not “How. 2. http://w www.eicar.orgg/85-0-Downlo oad.html ‐ 18 ‐ .

(19) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . AhnLab V3 Inteernet Secu urity 8.0..8.1.1531 1. Installa ation Choices in the setup wizard: Th he user has tto accept thee licence agrreement, andd can decidee whether or not too install the AhnLab Perssonal Firewa ll, change th he folder loca ation, and reegister the product. p We foun nd installation very quick and straaightforward. We liked having the option of installing i AhnLab’ss firewall or continuing to t use Windoows Firewall.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none, only comple ete removal iis possible. Removal tool: We coould not find d a separate removal too ol.. Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Actio on Center: AhnLab V3 Internet Security registters as antivvirus and antispyw ware. By deffault, the Ah hnLab firewaall is not acctivated, and d Windows FFirewall conttinues to run.. ‐ 19 ‐ .

(20) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Action CCenter alertts: If real-tim me protectioon is disableed, Windows Action Centter displays a pop-up alert:. Location n of main p program fea atures System status is shoown on the home h page oof the main program p window. me page (Smaart Scan), while full/cusstom/scheduled scans Scans caan be run froom a button on the hom are availlable from th he System Seecurity link inn the left-hand menu collumn. Update and Help buuttons are found in the ttoolbar at the top of the window. on status in n the prograam. Accordin ng to the We weree unable to find any deetails of the subscriptio manual, the program m will displayy a warning aand renewal link 30 dayss before the subscription n expires. Logs and d Quarantine: There are links to botth items on the t System Security S and SSystem Tunin ng pages. With th he exceptioon of subscription staatus, all the main functions annd information are straightfforward to find in V3 Intternet Securi ty’s interface.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion AhnLab VV3 Internet Security doees not make any changess to Internet Explorer.. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning and reactivvation: If RTTP is deactivvated, the Reeal-Time System Scan line readds Disabled, and its icon changes to a cross in an orange cirrcle. Clickingg on Disabled d displays a short m menu from which w Enabled d can be cliccked and thee protection thus restore d. ‐ 20 ‐ .

(21) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . We feel that the status display is i quite subttle, and thatt some users would not nnotice that there t was anythingg wrong if reeal-time prottection was ddisabled. Status d display and d default co onfigurationn: After insttallation, the Security SStatus was shown s as Attentionn. Opening the Protection Settingss dialog boxx showed th hat only 3 out of a po ossible 8 protectioon componen nts were activated:. Activatin ng all 8 of the components changedd the main sttatus displayy to Secure. W We note thaat neither email noor messagingg client was installed i on our test macchine, makin ng these feattures redund dant. V3’s deffault configuuration would appear n ot to meet its own ma anufacturer’ss security sttandards, which m may leave some users feeling confussed. We wou uld recommend that AhnnLab alter th he status display sso that it shows Secure when w the (enntirely sensible and appropriate) deffault configu uration is used.. ‐ 21 ‐ .

(22) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Scannin ng Availablle scan options: In addiition to the SSmart Scan on o the home e page, V3 offfers full, custom and scheduleed scans from m the System m Security pa ge:. Right-cllick scanning: By defaullt, there is nno addition to t Windows Explorer’s E coontext menu,, but this can be aactivated in the t settings. Two entriess, V3 System m Scan and V3 Secure Dele letion, then appear a in the menu.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: Users with w non-addministrator accounts can disable real-time protection without having to en nter administrator credenntials. Uninstalling the prroduct: A standard user cannot uninstall the product; a Wiindows Userr Account f administrrator credentials. control iis displayed, prompting for We feel tthat by default, standard d user accou nts should not n be able to deactivatee real-time protectioon.. Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: In our tesst, AhnLab VV3 Internet Security S dete ected the EICCAR test filee silently. The deteection was reeported in th he log. Whetherr or not to sh how alerts when malwaree is detected d is arguably a matter off personal preference. Some peeople at leastt will prefer to see an aleert, so that they t have an n explanationn as to why e.g. they cannot ddownload a particular p filee.. Help an nd Support Manual: There is a downloadabl d le 120-page manual in PDF P format, covering c all aspects of in nstalling, configurring and usin ng the produ uct. The sam me content can c be found d by clickingg on Help in n the top right-hand corner off the window w. This openss an HTML veersion of the manual, shoown below:. ‐ 22 ‐ .

(23) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Online k knowledge base: b There is a Productt FAQ page on the AhnLLab website,, although itt appears not to diisplay any an nswers relevant to V3 In ternet Securrity 8.0:. We found the manuaal to be comp prehensive, w well organiseed and easilyy navigable. However, we w feel that the style of writting may be somewhat ccomplicated for f non-expe ert users, andd suggest th hat simplifyiing the instrructions and adding moree screenshotts (there are only 3 in thhe entire man nual) would bee helpful.. Addition nal points o of interest After insstallation, th he product notifies the reeader that an update is necessary: n. Summa ary AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0 0 is simple tto install and largely easy to use. T he program interface makes m most main feeatures and data easily accessible. However, we would sugggest that th he status display should be more obvio ous, and th at it shoulld accept th he program’’s (sensible)) default configurration as safee.. ‐ 23 ‐ .

(24) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Avast Free Antiivirus 201 15.10.0.2 2206. Installa ation Choices in the setu up wizard: The T standardd installation n asks wheth her to installl Google Chrrome and Google TToolbar for Internet I Exp plorer. The ccustom instaallation allow ws the user to choose the folder location, componentts and user-interface lan guages, and d whether to allow data ssharing. The last step a allows the t user to go back and d change of the ssetup wizard summarisess the selecteed options and them. ween a veryy simple defaault installattion and thee custom insstallation We likedd having thee choice betw that alloows advancedd users to ch hoose compoonents and laanguages.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninstaller: As w well as removing the pro ogram complletely, the un ninstaller can updaate the program version,, repair the iinstallation, and change componentss and languaages. Removal tool: Avastt provide a separate remooval tool, avvastclear.exe.3 We were pleased to see s the range of useful ooptions availlable in the uninstaller. u. 3. http://w www.avast.com/en-us/unin nstall-utility ‐ 24 ‐ .

(25) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Action n Center: Avvast Free Anttivirus registters as antiviirus and antiispyware.. Action CCenter alertts: If the Avvast real-tim me protectio on is disable ed, no pop-uup alert is shown s by Action CCenter or the program itself. We feel tthat an obvious alert meessage-box s hould be dissplayed when n protection is deactivated.. Location n of main p program fea atures System status is shoown on the Home H page p other types of scaan from the SCAN S link Scans caan be run froom the Quickk Scan buttoon on home page, on the riight. Updatess can be run by clicking the t SETTINGSS link, Updatte. Help is oopened by cllicking the question-mar q rk symbol in the top righ ht-hand corn er of the win ndow. Logs aree accessed frrom the STATTISTCS link o n the right. Quaranttine can be found by cllicking SCAN N, Scan for viruses; v there e is a link aat the bottom of the page. d makes mosst importantt features We feel that the intterface of Avvast Free Anntivirus is veery clear and and infoormation eassily accessible. The updaate and quarantine funcctions are noot so simplee to find, although h an automattic update ru uns every fouur hours.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Toolbar:: An Avast button is added to IInternet Exp plorer’s existting toolbarr, and disp plays site informattion and webb-filter settin ngs. Search sservice: Thiss is not changed unless tthe user choo oses to insta all Google Chhrome/Googlle toolbar from thee Avast setupp wizard. Ratings for search results: r Avasst marks sea rch results as a safe in Goo ogle, but noot in Bing. ‐ 25 ‐ .

(26) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning and reactivvation: the alert a below is shown in the main window w if RTP is diisabled. Clickking the Resolve All butt on re-enablees all protecttion compon ents.. The alert shown by the status section s of thhe main win ndow is very prominent, and providees a very obvious one-click opption to reactivate protecction, which we find ideal.. Scannin ng Availablle scan options: The scaan dialog boox, found by clicking Sca an, Scan for vviruses, provvides full, quick, cuustom, boot--time and removable meddia scans:. Right-cllick scannin ng: An Avasst scan enttry is added d to Window ws Explorer’s ’s context menu, m so individual drives, filees and folders can be scaanned by rig ght-clicking.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: this can be b deactivatted by a userr without adm ministrator pprivileges. Uninstalling the prroduct: a staandard user cannot do this, either from Controol Panel or using u the Avast removal tool. ministrator accounts a shoould not be able a to deacttivate protecction. We feel tthat non-adm. ‐ 26 ‐ .

(27) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: The warning below iss shown wheen the user attempts to download the EICAR test file.. The alert clloses automaatically afterr about a min nute.. The Moree details buttton does no ot actually pprovide any more detaills, but does make clear that the threat haas been bloccked:. We feel the warning is reasonab bly clear, is ddisplayed for long enoug gh to read, aand does not provide the user with any opption to run the malwaree, all of which is good.. Help an nd Support Local heelp file: thiss is accessiblle by clickingg the question-mark icon n in the top right-hand corner of the winddow. This is context-senssitive, i.e. itt opens at th he page relatted to the feeature currently being used. Th his explains the current feature, butt there is no o assistance with findingg a particulaar feature (e.g. quaarantine) in the first place.. ‐ 27 ‐ .

(28) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Online k knowledge base: b Avast Customer C & TTechnical Su upport4 is sea archable, andd provides compreh hensive, stepp-by-step instructions witth screensho ots for speciffic tasks, staarting with how h to open thee program wiindow:. We feel that the local l help service s is off rather lim mited use, but b the onlline knowled dge base instructiions are exceellent, being comprehenssive, clear, and a very welll illustrated.. 4. http://w www.avast.com/en-us/faq.php ‐ 28 ‐ .

(29) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Addition nal points o of interest Tutorial: Avast Freee Antivirus provides p a s hort tutorial with securrity tips, whhich is shown shortly after insstallation:. Customiisable butto ons: the fourr main buttoons on the Status S page can c also be customised by rightclicking and choosin ng any one of a number oof features, such s as upda ate, quarantiine, and scan ns. Pirate TTalk: The useer-interface languages innclude a hum morous versiion of Englissh called Pirrate Talk, which in ncludes phrasses like “From the crow’ss nest”, meaaning in thiss case “Systeem status”. It I is used in the prrogram window, and for audio messaages too. Both thee customisabble buttons and a the tutoorial strike us u as very usseful and eassy to use. Piirate Talk might noot be everyone’s cup of tea, t but it m makes us laug gh.. Summa ary We foun nd Avast Freee Antivirus 2015 to bee mostly weell-designed and easy tto use. We liked the componeent and langguage choicees in the settup wizard, and the layo out of the m main window w with its clear staatus display and custom misable butttons. The on nline knowle edge base iss excellent. Our only suggesteed improvement would be to preventt non-adminiistrator accounts disablinng protection.. ‐ 29 ‐ .

(30) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . AVG In nternet Seecurity 20 015.0.53 15. Installa ation Choices in the settup wizard: The defaultt setup provvides the ch hoice of lan guage for the t setup wizard, ttrial or subsscription liceence key, fo lder location n, whether to t join the pproduct improvement program, and search service:. ‐ 30 ‐ .

(31) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Choosingg the Custoom Installattion optionss provides the t addition nal choices of componeents and languagees:. We likedd the simple setup for no on-experts, w with a choice of compon nents availabble to advanced user. We were also pleasedd to be given n a clear chooice of defau ult search engine.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Thesse include prroduct updatte, repair, chhanging components, and dow wngrading to the AVG Freee Antivirus:. Removal tool: Theree is a separatte removal toool, AVG Rem mover5. AVG have proovided an exxcellent rangge of optionss in the unin nstaller. We feel A. 5. http://w www.avg.com/eu-en/utilitiies ‐ 31 ‐ .

(32) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Action n Center AVG Inteernet Securitty registers as a antivirus, antispywaree and firewall. Windows FFirewall is disabled.. Action CCenter alertts: If real-tiime protectiion is disab bled from the System Trray icon, no o alert is shown. IIf it is disabled from the program wi ndow, an Acction Center alert is displlayed:. No Systeem Tray alertt is shown if the AVG fireewall is switcched off. We feel there should always bee a clear Acction Centerr warning when w a proteection comp ponent is disabled, as the warrning trianglle on the AVVG icon itself is far too small s to stannd out, and the icon itself is hidden by deefault.. Location n of main p program fea atures Protection status, scans, s subsccription stattus, and upd dates (Protection is up-tto-date) are shown in the main n program wiindow. Help is ffound in thee Options men nu in top rigght-hand corrner of windo ow. Logs andd quarantinee are also located in thee Options menu, under Hiistory. We found the prograam interfacee very clear and easy to navigate, with w the mosst importantt features availablee at-a-glancee in the main n window, annd everythin ng else locate ed in the sinngle menu. ‐ 32 ‐ .

(33) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion The searrch service can be changed to AVG’ss Yahoo-based search se ervice as an option durin ng setup. Otherwisse, no changges are made to Internet Explorer.. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on and firew wall warningg & reactivaation: If the RTP is disabbled, the aleert below is shown n:. A corresponding alerrt is shown in i the eventt that the firrewall is inacctive. In eithher case, cliccking the Click to ffix it button will reactivaate all protecction featurees. We feel the alerts in n the program window a re very clearr, and it is simple s to reaactivate any disabled componeents.. Scannin ng Availablle scan optio ons: The Sca an Options paage, found by b clicking th he cogwheel next to Scan n Now on the home page, provvides full, cu ustom, schedduled and roo otkit scans:. ‐ 33 ‐ .

(34) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Right-cllick scannin ng: There is a Scan withh AVG entry in the conttext menu oof Windows Explorer, allowingg files, folderrs and drivess to be scannned by right--clicking.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: This cann not be deactiivated witho out administrrator credenttials. Uninstalling the product: p Thiis requires administrator credentia als, regardleess of whetther AVG Removerr or Programss and Featurres is used. AVG Inteernet Securitty 2015 prevvents non-addministratorss from disab bling or remooving the prrogram in any way,, which we find f ideal.. Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: The warning below iss shown wheen the user attempts to download the EICAR test file.. It remains open until the user closees it.. Clicking Show details ls provides a few additioonal details, such as the e severity off the threat,, and the mponent thatt identified it. AVG com We woulld describe the t alert as very informaative. Users have to make a choice,, although there t is a clearly reecommendedd option, and no means of running the t maliciouss program, bboth of which h we find ideal.. Help an nd Support Local heelp file: thiss is shown in i the screennshot below w. This uses the familiar,, accessible Windows Help layout, with an overview off topics liste d in the leftt-hand pane and details oon the right.. ‐ 34 ‐ .

(35) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Online k knowledgebaase: There iss a searchablle FAQ page6 which proviides simple aanswers to common c queries.. VG Internet Security. To opics are We weree particularlyy impressed with the loocal Help feeature of AV clearly aand succinctlly explained,, with screennshots provid ded wheneve er this is obvviously useful.. 6. http://ssupport.avg.coom/support_IInternet_Secuurity ‐ 35 ‐ .

(36) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Addition nal points o of interest Initial sscan: Shortlyy after the installation, a dialog bo ox is shown that promptts the user to t run an initial sccan of the coomputer.. AVG PC TuneUp: Th he Fix Performance buttton on the main progra am window promotes a separate product, AVG PC TuneUp.. Summa ary AVG Inteernet Security 2015 hass kept all th e simplicity and clarity of earlier ve versions, and d remains very eassy to use. We W particularrly liked the installation n and deinsttallation opttions, easy access a to importan nt features in the prograam’s main wiindow, and excellent e local help. The status displlay in the program itself is exccellent; our one o suggesteed improvem ment would be to report m more consisttently via Windowss Action Centter.. ‐ 36 ‐ .

(37) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Avira A Antivirus Pro 14.0 0.7.306. Installa ation Choices in the setu up wizard: There T are Exppress or Custom optionss. The Custom m Installatio on allows the userr to choose the installation folder, which prog gram compon nents to insstall, and wh hether to confirm before sendiing suspicious files to A Avira. The Co onfiguration Wizard, show wn after installation, a types of threat to deetect. lets the user decide on heuristics and detecttion levels, and nfiguration W Wizard allow w advanced users u to conffigure the prroduct as The Custtom Installattion and Con they waant. Non-expperts can usse the Expreess installattion option, and simplyy accept thee default options in the Configguration Wizzard.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal optionss in the uninstaller: u There is a Change option, whicch allows individual componeents to be addded or remo oved. Removal tool: We coould not find d a separate removal too ol. s us ass a useful option for The abillity to changge installed componentss from the uninstaller strikes advancedd users.. ‐ 37 ‐ .

(38) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Actio on Center: A Avira Antiviru us Pro registters as antivvirus and anttispyware in Action n Center:. Action CCenter alerts: If real-tim me protectio n is disabled d, Windows Action A Centeer displays itts normal bubble aalert:. Location n of main p program fea atures System Status, Scan n, Update, Subscription S n Status, Logs and Quarrantine are aall accessiblee directly from thee home pagee of the main n program w windows. Hellp can be found in the H Help menu at the top of the w window. The layoout of the program win ndow makess it extremeely easy to find all impportant feattures and informattion.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Antiviruss Pro does not add a toolbar t to Innternet Expllorer, or cha ange the seaarch engine or mark search reesults.. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning and reactivaation: If RTP is disabled d, the statuss display in the main window changes to an alert, shown s below w. Clicking the Fix prob blem buttonn will reactiivate the protectioon.. ‐ 38 ‐ .

(39) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Firewalll warning an nd reactivattion: Antivirrus Pro doess not include e its own firrewall, but users u can monitor and controol the Windo ows Firewalll from Aviraa’s program window. If Windows Fiirewall is disabled (by whatever means),, Antivirus Pro displayss a correspo onding warnning, along with Fix Problem button. ng status and controls foor Windows Firewall F in th he interface is a very cleever idea, We feel tthat includin as it alloows the user to see and change c all m major securityy features in one place.. Scannin ng Availablle scan optiions: A widee range of sccan options,, including quick, q custom m and comp plete, can be foundd by clickingg System Sca anner in thee left-hand pane of the program wiindow. The Scheduler S entry in the same meenu panel alllows scheduuled scans to be set up.. E Right-cllick scanning: An entry entitled Scaan selected fiiles with Avirra is added tto Windows Explorer’s context menu, allow wing drives, folders f and fi files to be scanned by rig ght-clicking.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: A non-ad dministrator account cannot disable e protection features; a Windows User Acccount Controol dialog box appears, deemanding adm ministrator credentials. c Uninstalling the product: p If a standard user attemp pts to uninsstall the prooduct or ch hange its configurration, a UACC prompt agaain demands details of an admin account. Avira have effectivelly prevented standard ussers from disabling the product.. ‐ 39 ‐ .

(40) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: The follow wing alert is shown in the browser:. We feel tthe web pagge alert is excellent, makking very cleaar what has happened. TThis remains until the user closses it.. Help an nd Support Manual: Clicking the Help menu u, Overview, opens the local help service, s whicch uses the Windows nsole: Help con. ‐ 40 ‐ .

(41) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . The Suppport entry in the Help meenu opens thhe product’s online Forum7. This alloows users to ask their own queestions, and search for an nswers alreaddy provided for other use ers. We woulld describe the local help p service as good; it is comprehensiv c ve, and provi vides simple and clear instructiions, with occasional sccreenshots. W We noticed that t one or two of thesse show German text instead of English, but b Avira havve confirmedd that these will be replaced in the next version n of Avira Antiviruss Pro.. Addition nal points o of interest A quick sscan is run after a the insttallation andd configuratiion wizards have h been coompleted.. Summa ary We found Avira Antiivirus Pro to o be very sim mple to use,, with the home page pproviding a very v clear status diisplay, and easy e access to t all importtant featuress. We particu ularly liked tthe ability to o monitor and conttrol Windowss Firewall dirrectly from tthe program window, and d the malwarre-alert web page.. 7. http://w www.avira.com m/en/supportt ‐ 41 ‐ .

(42) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Baidu Antiviruss 2015 (5 5.0.3.843 33) Interrnational//English V Version. Installa ation Choices in the setup wizard: Th he only choi ce in the staandard installation is whhether to join Baidu’s User Expperience Proggram. The custom installlation allow ws the user a choice of 7 languages,, and the location of the progrram folder. ndard installaation is extreemely simplee and could be carried out with a sinngle click. Th he choice The stan of languuages will be b useful to o some useers, although h we found that the link for thee custom installattion was veryy subtle and could easily be overlookked.. ‐ 42 ‐ .

(43) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninstaller: Baiddu’s Uninstalll/Change dia alog box enccourages useers not to uninstall the product, by suggesting solutionns to any pro oblems that have been eencountered:. d a separate uninstall tool. Removal tool: We coould not find ws Action Cen nter Windowss Window Registraation in Win ndows Action n Center: Baaidu Antiviru us registers as a antivirus aand antispyw ware. The product does not incclude its own n firewall, soo Windows Fiirewall remaiins active:. me protectio n is disabled d, no pop-up p alert is shoown by Actio on Center Action CCenter alerts: If real-tim or Baiduu itself. We feel it would be an improveement to havve Windows Action Centter display itts normal allert when malware protection is i disabled.. ‐ 43 ‐ .

(44) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Location n of main p program fea atures System status, scan n, update, lo ogs and quaarantine can n all be found on the ho me page of the main ded in the foorm of a linkk to the Baid du website. This can be found in program window. Heelp is provid the menu in the top right-hand corner of thee window. me page show ws icons for all three of the program m’s antivirus engines, nam mely Baidu Antivirus, A The hom Baidu Clloud, and Avria Antiviruss. All of thesee are activatted and upda ated by defa ult. w of Baidu Antiviruus makes alll essential fe eatures easyy to access, although The main n program window the Updaate link is in n very small text, light bblue on a medium m blue background,, and could easily be missed, in our opinioon.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Baidu An ntivirus doess not custom mise Internett Explorer.. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning and reactivvation: If RTTP is disable ed, the textt and symbo ol on the home paage change to t show this::. Clicking Get Full Prottection immeediately reacttivates the RTP. R how that prootection is disabled, d we feel it wouuld stand out more if Whilst teext and grapphic both sh colouredd red. Reactivvating the RTP is very quuick and simple.. ‐ 44 ‐ .

(45) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Scannin ng Availablle scan optio ons: Quick, full f and custtom scans arre available directly d from m the home page: p. Right-cllick scannin ng: A Scan with w Baidu AAntivirus entry is added d to Window ws Explorer’ss context menu, alllowing drivees, folders an nd files to bee scanned byy right-clickiing.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: A standard user cann disable RTTP without having to pprovide admiinistrator credentials. Uninstalling the prroduct: This cannot be done by a non-adminisstrator accouunt, a Windows User Account Control prom mpt demands administraator credentials. a improvem ment to preveent standard d user accoun nts from disaabling protecction. We feel iit would be an. Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test filee is downloaaded, the fo ollowing alerrt is displayeed in the browser::. ‐ 45 ‐ .

(46) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Help an nd Support The onlyy help feature we could find f was the Baidu Antivirus Forum8.. Addition nal points o of interest The userr can changee the backgrround imagee of the main window to o one of anoother twelve designs. These apppear to havve been carrefully choseen so that the t white te ext of the pprogram conttrols still stands oout clearly. Itt is also posssible to channge the user-interface language from m the setting gs.. Summa ary We found Baidu Anttivirus to be largely very simple to use, u with a well-designed w d interface. However, we feel that a moree secure deffault configuuration, makking it more e difficult too disable prrotection, would bee an improveement.. 8. http://fforum.antiviruus.baidu.com// ‐ 46 ‐ .

(47) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Bitdeffender Intternet Seccurity 201 15 (18.17 7.0.1227). Installa ation Choices in the setu up wizard: The T default setup lets the t user decide whetherr to send an nonymous usage reeports. The Custom opttion providees the addittional choice es of folderr location and proxy details. At the end of the instaallation, the user is prom mpted to acttivate the pproduct by lo ogging in with a B Bitdefender, Microsoft or Google acccount. Bitdeefender inforrm us that tthis is to en nable the online seervices such as Parental Control. The stan ndard installaation is veryy simple and even inexpeerienced use ers should haave no difficculty with it.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre is a repairr function in addition to removal. Removal tool: Theree is a separatte removal toool, the Bitd defender Uninstall Tool9. i a useful ad ddition to thhe uninstalleer, in our opinion. The repaair function is. 9. http://w www.bitdefender.com/site//Downloads/uuninstallIntro//uninstall_con nsumer_paid. html ‐ 47 ‐ .

(48) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Wiindows Action Center:: Bitdefendeer Internet Security re gisters as antivirus, a antispyw ware and fireewall.. Action CCenter alertss: When we disabled d reall-time protecction, the fo ollowing Systtem Tray warrning was shown by Action Cen nter:. window, whicch shows tha at the RTP iss disabled an nd allows Clicking on the alertt opens Action Center w it to be reactivated. Additionallyy, the Bitdeffender widgeet displays a warning in the form off a red Xovered by proogram windo ows). symbol ((although this may be co If the firrewall is deaactivated, thee following W Windows Acttion Center alert a is displaayed:. ‐ 48 ‐ .

(49) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Location n of main p program fea atures System status, updaate, subscription statuss, and defau ult scan can all be foundd on the hom me page. ow. Help is ffound in thee menu in thee top right-hhand corner of the windo Quaranttine and logs are both accessed from m the Events window (Meenu | Events)). The Eventss window shows a list of malw ware items found and alloows them to be restored or deleted. portant functtions and information arre very easilyy accessible from the We woulld say that the most imp main proogram windoow. It took us a little w while to work out that the t quarantinne function and logs functions are integgrated into the same window, bu ut having realised thiss, we recog gnise the convenieence of haviing both items togetherr. Bitdefendeer inform us that when a threat is moved m to quarantine, a popupp message ap ppears, notiffying the user of the event and alloowing him/her to see the detaails in the loggs.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Toolbar:: A toolbar with w one item m, Bitdefendder Wallet, iss added to In nternet Expllorer. It can easily be closed byy clicking th he X symbol at a the end.. Search sservice: Thiss is not changed. Ratings for search results: Rattings for seaarch results are provided d for Bing annd Google, as a shown Bitdefender inform i us that the ratinggs are also applied a to Ya ahoo and Baiidu, and linkks posted below. B on Facebbook and Twiitter.. Bitdefen nder inform us that theey are worki ng on integ grating the Bitdefender Wallet icon n into an existing toolbar, to save s screen space.. ‐ 49 ‐ .

(50) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Firewalll and real-tiime protectiion warningg and reactivation: If either the reaal-time protection or the firew wall is disablled, the alertt below is di splayed in th he main window:. Bitdefen nder inform us u that the same alert w will be show wn if the phishing protecction or Anttimalware Filter is disabled, orr if the product has not been updateed for 72 ho ours. Clickingg on Fix all issues! i or pens a dialoog box with a Fix button, clicking w which reactiivates all anywherre in the staatus area op protectioon componen nts. We feel Bitdefenderr Internet Security S pro vides a veryy clear alert, and a veery simple means m of rectifying the probleem.. Scannin ng Availablle scan opttions: Clickin ng on Proteection provid des the scan n options shhown below.. Manage Scans alllows custom and scheduled scans to be created.. Right-cllick scanning: The entryy Scan with BBitdefender iss added to Windows W Exp lorer’s conteext menu, so that tthe user can scan drives,, folders or ffiles by rightt-clicking the em.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: Protectio on componennts cannot be disabled by non-adminnistrator accounts, as the conttrols are greyyed out. Uninstalling the product: p Staandard userss cannot un ninstall the program, eeither from Windows Control Panel or usiing the prod duct’s removaal tool. In both b cases, a Windows U User Account Control ministrator credentials. c prompt ddemands adm Bitdefen nder have seccured the pro oduct effectiively againstt deactivatio on or removaal by standard users.. ‐ 50 ‐ .

(51) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: When the user attemppts to download the EICA AR test file, the following alert is shown in n the browseer:. If the usser clicks the link at thee bottom (I understand the risks…),, and continnues to down nload the file, a Syystem Tray alert is shown n:. Clicking on More dettails opens the suite’s Evvents page att the relevan nt entry. a very clear and succin ct. We feel bboth alerts are. Help an nd Support Local heelp file: Theere is a local help servicce in HTML format, f whicch opens in the default browser. Topics caan be found with a searcch box.. ‐ 51 ‐ .

(52) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Online knowledge base: Bitdeefender provvide an FAQ page10, which has ansswers to 59 common queries. There are haas step-by-sttep simple innstructions that t work witth different vversions of Windows: W. g as far as it goes. The knowleedge-base The locaal help serviice struck us as fairly bbasic, but good articles explain taskks comprehen nsively and are very well illustrated with screennshots. We note n that Bitdefen nder have considered useers of Window ws XP, Vista,, 7 and 8, an nd provided separate insstructions where neecessary, or – as shown in the screeenshot abovee – used dire ections that work with any of the supporteed Windows versions. v Thiis is very we ll thought-out, we feel.. Addition nal points o of interest Desktop widget: Bittdefender provide a des ktop widgett, similar to those in W Windows 7/Viista. This shows th he status, sccans in progrress, and thee number of unread events; clicking on it opens the main program window.. 10. http:///www.bitdefen nder.com/support/internett-security-2015/ ‐ 52 ‐ .

(53) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Bitdefen nder consisteently uses th he same alerrt symbol, a red cross on o black bacckground. Sh harp-eyed users willl see this is even used for f the Syste m Tray icon... The use of the same warning sym mbol throughhout strikes us very sensible.. Summa ary Bitdefen nder should prove very straightforwa s ard to use, even e for non n-experts. Innstallation is simple, and the online know wledge base provides cle ar and well-illustrated in nstructions. The program m window has an oobvious stattus display and a makes e ssential feattures and information eeasy to find. Malware alerts are simple butt effective.. ‐ 53 ‐ .

(54) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . BullGu uard Interrnet Securrity 15.0..288.1. Installa ation Choices in the setu up wizard: There T are noone; the useer has to acccept the liccence agreem ment and click Insstall, no furth her interventtion is requirred or possib ble. The instaallation proccess is effecttively as simpple as can bee.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none, only comple ete removal iis possible. Removal tool: We coould not find d a separate removal too ol.. Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Actio on Center: B ullGuard reg gisters as anttivirus, antisspyware and d firewall. Windowss Firewall is not disabled d, but BullGuuard inform us u that their firewall inteegrates with Windows Firewall and does noot cause any conflicts.. ‐ 54 ‐ .

(55) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Action CCenter alertss: If real-tim me protectionn is disabled d, Action Cen nter shows thhe alert belo ow. If the BullGuarrd Firewall iss disabled, no Action Cennter warning g is shown, but b this is aas it should be, b given that Win ndows Firewaall is also acttive.. Location n of main p program fea atures System status: Oveerall system status is s hown brieflyy in the ma ain program m window when it is opened:. uarantine caan be found in the menu u on the Antiivirus tile: Scan opttions and qu. ‐ 55 ‐ .

(56) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Update has a dedicaated button at a the right--hand end off the title bar. ption statuss is found on the Generall page of Setttings. Subscrip Help can n be accessed from the Support S buttoon in the bottom left-hand corner. Logs can n be found in the Messagging Centre, to the left of o the minim mise button iin the top right-hand corner of the window w.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion BullGuarrd does not add a a Toolba ar to Interneet Explorer or o change the e search serrvice. It does provide ratings ffor search results in Bin ng and Googgle:. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning and reactivvation: If reeal-time prottection is diisabled, the program window will show the following alert when fi first opened:. mains until th he user clickss one of the buttons, aftter which the normal hoome page is shown. s If This rem real-timee protection or the firewall is disabbled, the co omponent’s tile t is shownn with a pink border, and an eexclamation mark symbol in red. Thee big button at the botto om of the tille changes to Enable, and clickking it will reeactivate thee componentt.. ‐ 56 ‐ .

(57) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . We did w wonder whether the em mpty space inn the main window cou uld not be uused for a peermanent status ddisplay. How wever, we are informed by BullGuarrd that in geographical regions where their Premium m Protection product is supported, exxtra tiles aree added for the t addition al features. As noted above, aan alert in the event of o disabled pprotection covers c the whole w window w and remaains until dismisseed by the useer.. Scannin ng Availablle scan optiions: Quick, full and cusstom scans can be run from the buutton in the Antivirus tile. Right-cllick scanning: A Scan with BullGuardd entry is ad dded to Wind dows Exploreer’s context menu, so that drivves, folders and a files can be scanned by right-clicking.. Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: If a user without addministratorr privileges attempts a to access the settings, the proggram promptts for the Bu ullGuard acccount passwo ord. The settings cannott be accesseed unless the correect passwordd is entered. Uninstalling the product: A Windows W Useer Account Control prompt appearss if a stand dard user attemptss to uninstalll the producct. Unless addministrator credentials are a supplied,, the softwarre cannot be uninsstalled. Using th he BullGuard Account passsword to prootect the setttings strikess us as an iddeal means of o preventing unauthorrised access.. ‐ 57 ‐ .

(58) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: When the user attemppts to download the EICA AR test file, the following alert is shown:. M details shows the nname of the malware, The alertt is displayeed until the user closes iit. Clicking More its locatiion on the computer, c and the processs that accesssed it:. We find BullGuard’s malware-detection alertt to be veryy well thought-out. The message maakes very clear thaat the compuuter is safe, and that thee user does not n need to take any acttion. We likee the fact that the alert stays until dismisssed, so theree is no possiibility of it closing c beforre it can be read. For advancedd users, the Quarantine and a More Dettails links are very conve enient. User-dependent dettection: In cases where the program m does not identify i malw lware unambiguously, the folloowing alert iss shown:. ‐ 58 ‐ .

(59) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Help an nd Support Clicking the Supportt link in the bottom righht-hand corn ner of the window w openns the Product Guide, an onlin ne manual:. This listts tasks and componentss on the lefft-hand side of the page, with detaails displayed on the right. nd BullGuardd’s online manual to bee very easy to find and d navigate. The instructtions are We foun clearly w written and very v well illustrated with screenshotss.. Summa ary BullGuarrd Internet Security S 15 stands out foor very simplle installation, sensible m malware alerrts, and a good on nline help feeature. The home h page pprovides an overview of the program m’s functionality and access too the most important feaatures. We a lso like the fact f that the e settings aree password-p protected by defauult, thus prevventing unau uthorised deaactivation.. ‐ 59 ‐ .

(60) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Emsiso oft Anti-M Malware 9.0.0.457 9 0. Installa ation Choices in the setu up wizard: The T user cann change pro oxy settings,, enable dettection of po otentially unwanteed programs, join the Em msisoft Anti-M Malware Netw work (data-ssharing schem me), choose the type of initial scan, and enter/buy a licence keyy or use the program as a 30-day triial. The setu up wizard providess explanation ns of licensiing options,, data-sharin ng, updates, scanning, rreal-time prrotection, and Poteentially Unw wanted Programs (PUPs)). The illustrrated pages for scanninng/RTP and PUPs are shown below:. ‐ 60 ‐ .

(61) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . We partticularly likeed the simp ple but helppful descripttions of pro otection feaatures, and the very effectiveely illustratedd explanatio on of PUPs.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none. Removal tool: A rem moval tool, emsiclean.exee, is availablle on the Em msisoft websiite11.. Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Windows W Acction Centeer: Emsisoft Anti-Malwa are registerrs as antivirus and antispyw ware:. Action CCenter alertss: If all prottection compponents (Surf rf Protection, File Guard, Behavior Blo ocker) are deactivaated, Window ws Action Cen nter displayss its normal warning: w. 11. https://helpdeesk.emsisoft.com/Knowledggebase/Articlee/View/150/0/how-can-i-coompletely-uniinstall-anemsisoft--product ‐ 61 ‐ .

(62) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Location n of main p program fea atures System status, scan, update, subscriptioon status, help, h logs and quarantiine are all available me page. directly from the hom a all im mportant funnctions and data d very Emsisoftt Anti-Malwaare’s new dessign allows tthe user to access quickly aand easily, without w any searching s or head-scratching required.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Internett Explorer is not customissed in any w way.. Status a alerts in pro ogram wind dow Real-tim me protectio on warning g and reacttivation: If all the pro otection co mponents (real-time protectioon, behaviooural detectiion, Surf PProtection) are a disabled, the statuus display reads r No Protectioon! on a redd background. If only oone or two components c are inactivee, the status display reads Paartial Protection! on an orange bacckground. In n both cases, the inacttive compon nents are shown w with an x symbol s next to their reespective naames, and clicking c thiss will reactiivate the componeent and chan nge its symb bol to a tickk (checkmarkk) to show that it is now w active. Pleease note that the illustration below repreesents two seeparate screeenshots; only one or thee other will be b shown at any one time.. which compon nents are We found Emsisoft’s status displlay to be ve ry clear, whiilst showing precisely w active an nd which are not. Howeever, we notte that clickiing the uppe er part of thhe status dissplay (No Protectioon!) opens the Applicatio on Rules dia log; this is irrelevant i to o the problem m and mightt confuse some ussers. We wonder whetheer Emsisoft might not make this work w as a ““Fix-All” buttton that reactivattes all compoonents at on nce.. ‐ 62 ‐ .

(63) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Scannin ng Availablle scan options: The Sca an panel in tthe main pro ogram windo ow provides Quick, Full and a Smart Scans, w while clickingg on the upper part of tthe panel sh hows the sca an dialog, w which also provides a Custom ooption:. Right-cllick scannin ng: An entryy entitled SScan with Emsisoft E Anti-Malware iss added to Windows Explorer’’s context menu, enablin ng the user tto scan files, folders and drives by rigght-clicking... Standarrd‐user access Real-tim me protectio on: A stand dard user caan disable th he protectio on without having to enter e any additional credentials. Uninstalling the product: If a non-adminnistrator acccount attempts to uninnstall the prroduct, a Windowss User Accouunt Control dialog promptts for admin credentials.. We note that compreehensive acccess control ffunctions can be found under u Settinggs, Permissio ons:. ‐ 63 ‐ .

(64) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . We were impressed with w the com mprehensive bbut easy-to-use user acccess functionn. However, we w suggest that for non n-admin acco ounts, the thhree Protectioon componen nts, and Shuut down proteection, should bbe deactivateed by defaultt, or that theere should be a prompt to t set a passsword during setup.. Malwarre warningss EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test filee is downloaaded, the allert below iss shown. It gradually fades aw way over the course of ab bout 10 secoonds.. We foun nd the alert clear and reeassuring. Thhere is no opportunity o provided p forr the user to o run the malware. User-dependent aleert: In some cases, wheree the prograam does not identify mallware unambiguously, the alertt below is shown:. ‐ 64 ‐ .

(65) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Help an nd Support There is a searchablee local help file with texxt explanatio ons of the fe eatures in thhe program:. m, which alllows users too submit theeir own quesstions and reead answers provided There is also a forum to other users’ queriees. t help fun nctions as baasic, but adequate, give en the easy--to-use nature of the We woulld describe the program.. Addition nal points o of interest Emsisoftt provide freee malware-rremoval assiistance via their t website12. This is available to o anyone, regardlesss of whetheer they are an Emsisoft ccustomer or not. n Although h it is scarceely a very im mportant poi nt, we note that the name of the prroduct, Anti--Malware, is more aappropriate than Antiviru us (commonlly used by many m other programs), ass the program m detects all kindss of malicious programs.. Summa ary We weree very imprressed with the new ddesign of Emsisoft Antti-Malware. W We feel it does an outstandding job of making m impo ortant functiions easy to o access. Installation is very straightforward, and provvides useful illustrated explanationss of protectiion features, though wee would sugg gest that promptin ng the user to t password--protect the settings wo ould useful. Malware M alert rts are reassu uring and secure.. 12. http:///support.emsisoft.com/foru um/6-help-myy-pc-is-infecteed/ ‐ 65 ‐ .

(66) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . eScan Internet Security Suite witth Cloud Security S 14.0.1400 1 0.1632. Installa ation Choices in the setup wizard: Th he only optioon is the location of the program follder. The setuup wizard dissables Windo ows Defenderr as soon as it is started. We checkedd what would happen if installlation weree interrupted d half-way through the file copyiing process;; Windows Defender reactivatted itself alm most immediately. We found installatioon very simp ple. Once thee user has clicked c Insta all, there is nothing more to do. The insttaller program m takes seveeral minutess to complette, and displays a messaage box showing the current ttask, but no user interacction is requiired.. Uninsta alling the prroduct Addition nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none. Removal tool: Therre is a remo oval tool, essremove.exe, which can be downloaaded from the eScan website13.. 13. http:///wiki.escanav..com/wiki/ind dex.php/Technnical_Info ‐ 66 ‐ .

(67) Summary Reeport 2014. www.av-comparatives.oorg. . Window ws Action Ceenter Registraation in Win ndows Action Center: eSScan Interneet Security re egisters as aantivirus, anttispyware and firew wall:. Action CCenter alertss: Full alerts are shown iif real-time protection p orr the firewalll are switcheed off:. Location n of main p program fea atures System status, scan n, update, subscription status, log gs and help can all be acccessed directly from the main n program wiindow. Quaranttine: A link to quarantin ne can be foound by clicking on the File Anti-Virrus tile on the t home page. ms in the program’s main window. W We liked the updated We had no difficultyy finding important item graphic design, usin ng black texxt on white tiles, which we feel ma akes the feaatures stand out very clearly.. Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion Internett Explorer is not customissed in any w way.. ‐ 67 ‐ .

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