| Publisher | Av Comparatives |
| Year | 2023 |
| Cost | Free |
| Themes | Malware, Antivirus, Software Products, Malware Analisys, Malware Detection |
Introduction
In the Malware Protection Test, malicious files are executed on the system. While in the Real-World Protection Test the vector is the web, in the Malware Protection Test the vectors can be e.g. network drives, USB or cover scenarios where the malware is already on the disk.
Please note that it is not recommended to make a purchase solely based on one individual test or a single type of test. Instead, it is advisable for readers to consult they other recent test reports and take into account factors such as price, ease of use, compatibility, and support. Installing a free trial version allows a program to be tested in everyday use before purchase.
In principle, home-user Internet security suites are included in this test. However, some vendors asked us to include their (free) antivirus security product instead.
Tested products (most current versions available at the time of testing):
• Avast Free Antivirus 23.1
• AVG AntiVirus Free 23.1
• Avira Prime 1.1
• Bitdefender Internet Security 26.0
• ESET Internet Security 16.0
• F-Secure Internet Security 19.0
• G Data Total Security 25.5
• K7 Total Security 17.0
• Kaspersky Standard 21.9
• McAfee Total Protection 26.5
• Microsoft Defender Antivirus 4.18
• Norton Antivirus Plus 22.23
• Panda Free Antivirus 22.0
• TotalAV Antivirus Pro 5.22
• Total Defense Essential Antivirus 14.0
• Trend Micro Internet Security 17.7
The test set used for this test consisted of 10,015 malware samples, assembled after consulting telemetry data with the aim of including recent, prevalent samples that are endangering users in the field. Malware variants were clustered, in order to build a more representative test-set (i.e. to avoid over-representation of the very same malware in the set). The sample collection process was stopped mid of February 2023. All products were installed on a fully up-to-date 64-Bit Microsoft Windows 10 system. Products were tested at the beginning of March with default settings and using their latest updates.
