It's easy for a cynic to scoff at the prospect of investing hard-earned cash into security software they don't need. It's also easy for anti-virus companies to take on the role of fear mongers, creating absurd hypothetical scenarios whereby everything you know and love is stolen by a masked hacker wearing a hoodie.
The reality is somewhere in between. It's sensible to invest in anti-virus software as a second line of defence for when you have a moment of incompetence or fail to keep all of your software updated. After all, it only takes one piece of ransomware to turn a normal day into a total nightmare.
In this test we're looking at ten anti-virus packages for home use and a further five that are designed for small businesses. Our reviews are made possible by the work of Dennis Technology Labs, our dedicated in-house team of security experts who test anti-virus packages to the limits with realistic live threat tests, throwing fiendish pieces of malware at their long-suffering test PCs.
On this page you'll find general advice on choosing and buying internet security software, along with a decription of how we test it. Page two shows the results of the home security suites along with links to the individual reviews, while page three has the same information for business suites.
UPPING THE ANTI (VIRUS)
The technical performance of the software have on test is evaluated in two ways. The first and most important is of course to test how well each piece of software can defend against malware. Each suite is presented with 100 pieces of malware, one at a time. The testers behave like a naïve user, ignoring warnings about the origin of a file and taking things as far as they'll go until the anti-virus software blocks the threat entirely or lets it take hold.
System logs, live monitoring and system snapshots are used to determine exactly what each piece of malware was able to do, and help the testers decide whether the software successfully defended (malware was blocked before it ran), neutralised (malware ran but was halted before major damage was done) or was compromised (malware was able to carry out its tasks unabated, or caused damage to the test PC).
The test PCs reflect the current state of the market in terms of PCs connected to the internet. At the time of testing, Windows 7 was still being used by 48 per cent of the world's internet users, and much of the malware in action was targeted at machines which aren't fully updated. Our test PCs therefore ran Windows 7 updated to Service Pack 1, with various pieces of additional software also installed, including Adobe Flash, Reader and Java. Details of exact testing methodology can be found on page 13 of the document that you can download here: http://tinyurl.com/dennisAV2014.
The results of these tests are then turned into a weighted protection score, with 300 being a perfect score and -500 being the worst score possible. Points are awarded as follows:
- +1 point for a neutralisation where the malware was allowed to run but was halted by the anti-virus package
- +2 points for neutralising a running threat and removing all traces of the threat
- +3 points for a successful defence, where the malware wasn't able to run
- -5 points for a compromise
STAYING POSITIVE
The second element of our technical tests involves the installation of legitimate software. Any anti-virus package worth its salt should be able to differentiate between legitimate and rogue applications, letting you install safe software without bothering you.
Points are awarded for allowing a piece of legitimate software to run, and points are lost for any pop-ups, dialogue boxes or occasions on which the software wasn't allowed to run. More points are lost if the blocked software was deemed to be "high-impact": meaning it's a very popular piece of software that we'd expect all AV suites to recognise as legitimate. A perfect score in this test is 846.
The results of the false positive tests and the protection tests are combined to create a total accuracy score, which you can find on pages two and three of this article.
TO FREE OR NOT TO FREE?
We've tested 11 paid-for suites and a further four free pieces of software. If you're dead set against paying for security, then you should at least know which of these are going to keep you safest. You may be surprised to see how well the best free package did when compared to more expensive AV software.
All of the paid-for software we tested come with one-month free trials. This includes the business suites, too, meaning you can create a short list of the software you think best suits your needs and then try them out to see how they fit into your everyday life.
BONUS FEATURES
Nobody makes plain old AV packages any more. Consumers demand additional and sometimes gimmicky tools such as "junk cleaners" so they feel like they're getting something extra for their cash. Some of the features we outline in our reviews are actually pretty useful, but others you can definitely do without. Unless you have any particular need for these tools, you should really base your purchasing decision on ease of use and protection scores instead of getting reeled in by shiny buttons and flashy animations.
GETTING THE BEST DEAL
It pays to shop around. While you can buy or renew your security software by visiting the security firm’s website, you won’t get the best deal this way. A better way is to shop around for the boxed software, which is usually considerably cheaper.
Even better, if you buy an older version of the software you’ll get a better deal. Don’t worry about ending up with out-dated software, as once you’ve entered the licence key you’ll be able to update the software to the latest version for free. Even easier, you can download the current trial version of the software, install it and then simply enter the licence code from your boxed version to enable all of the features and regular updates.
The same kind of trick can work well when renewing your software, too. Rather than buying a new licence from the security company, hunt down an old boxed version and enter the licence code you get with it to extend support and updates.
Home Internet Security Suites
While your family average home is unlikely to be specifically targeted by a malicious attack, having numerous people using numerous devices in the house certainly raises the possibility of problems. A good Internet Security Suite will not only prevent malware infecting your PC from internet usage, but will also include a range of tools to help with email-borne attacks, both from malware and phishing scams.
We tested four popular free anti-virus suites in our tests alongside six of the biggest names in internet security. You can see the results of our tests in the graphs below, see page one for explanantions of how we arrived at these scores.
PROTECTION SCORE (weighted)
FALSE POSITIVES (weighted)
TOTAL ACCURACY RATING
It's not all about protection scores though, a good Internet Security suite should also be easy to use, unobtrusive and come with a range of additional tools, so read our individual reviews to find the best one for you.
FREE SUITES
Avast Free Antivirus 2015 review - With a great user interface and reliable malware protection, Avast is once again our favourite free anti-virus program.
AVG Free Antivirus 2015 review - A well-designed anti-virus package, but AVG's protection scores are worryingly low.
Microsoft Security Essentials Review - Utterly outclassed when installed on a poorly-maintained computer, but an effective tool if you keep your machine updated.
360Safe Internet Security review - Chinese newcomer 360Safe impressed us with its malware defence, but performance elsewhere isn't as good as Avast.
PAID SUITES
BitDefender Internet Security 2015 review - BitDefender has plenty of features and is well designed, but malware protection is disappointingly poor.
ESET Smart Security 8 review - ESET is a very reliable anti-virus package, but it's starting to look dated and extra features are few and far between.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 review - Kaspersky Internet Security has near-perfect malware protection and has an excellent interface, making it a great buy.
McAfee Internet Security 2015 review - McAfee has improved its threat response massively, but its protection scores still aren't good enough.
Norton Security (2015) review - Full of handy features and a reliable defender against malware, Norton Internet Security 2015 is this year’s best AV product.
Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2015 review - Hopeless design tweaks makes Titanium Internet Security 2015 frustrating to use, but malware defence is decent enough.
Business Internet Security Suites
Huge businesses seems to fall foul of internet security scandals on an almost daily basis of late. Your business may not be actively targeted but a security failure could still result in the loss of data or even give others access to customer information. It's best not to take any chances then and make sure you have the best anti-virus and malware protection to ensure the smooth running of your enterprise.
We tested suites from five of the biggest names in business internet security. You can see the results of our tests in the graphs below, see page one for explanantions of how we arrived at these scores.
PROTECTION SCORE (weighted)
FALSE POSITIVES (weighted)
TOTAL ACCURACY RATING
It's not all about protection scores though, a good Internet Security suite should also be easy to use, unobtrusive and come with a range of additional tools, so read our individual reviews to find the best one for you.
Kaspersky Small Office Security review - It’s more simplistic than its rivals, but Kaspersky Small Office Security still has great protection and plenty of easy-to-use tools.
McAfee SaaS Enpoint Protection review - Decent back-end software let down by worst-in-class malware protection scores makes McAfee SaaS hard to recommend.
Sophos Anti-Virus Business review - Sophos Anti-Virus Business is easy to use and has a fantastic back-end interface, but its protection scores are left slightly wanting.
Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 2015 review - Reliable malware protection and a brilliant web-based management interface makes Symantec's small business offering our top choice.
Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Standard review - Trend Micro achieves excellent malware protection scores but is let down by a clunky user interface and paranoid software.