Best Antivirus - Does Free Software Work As Well As Paid?

By Robert Fogelsong

Like many people I thought that my computer was well protected against viruses and other malicious software by the name brand antivirus software that was included with the computer when I bought it.

I browsed the Internet with no problem and everything seemed to work smoothly until one day something took over my machine. Random sounds and music began playing and the screen would flicker. Little cartoon characters would briefly appear on the screen. Yikes. What had infected my computer?

I cleared the browser cache, shut down the computer, and rebooted. The thing was still there. I ran a complete scan using the antivirus software that came with the computer. It did not find the problem.

I was still able to access the Internet, so I started searching for better antivirus software. I wasn't looking for a casual recommendation on a forum or someone's blog. I wanted to find some test results from a recognized authority. I was looking for an antivirus program with high detection rates, whether it was free or required payment.

I found that testing antivirus software is a specialized business now. Even the people at PC Magazine said that they don't do their own tests with live viruses. They rely on tests conducted by independent testing labs, including AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, ICSA Labs, Virus Bulletin, and West Coast Labs.

These independent testing labs have reliable data on detection rates for both free and paid antivirus software. However not all of these testing labs have user-friendly websites for the general public.

• Virus Bulletin conducts independent testing of antivirus software and makes some of the results available on their website without charge, but they require a subscription fee of $175 per year to access all of their test reports.
• ICSA Labs provides a list of antivirus products that they have certified, but I was not able to find a ranking of how well the programs performed in comparison to each other. A simple list of certified products is not that useful for people looking to identify the best antivirus software.
• West Coast Labs provides independent testing of antivirus software for their clients who are mostly the developers of the software. The developers probably receive detailed reports on how their products compare to others, but I found only a check mark type certification of products on the West Coast Labs website. Again this is not that helpful to those looking for a ranking of the best antivirus software.
• AV-Comparatives is a testing organization based in Innsbruck, Austria and they provide antivirus testing for clients in an arrangement similar to that of West Coast Labs. However AV-Comparatives appears to make much more of their raw data available to visitors of their website. They do provide a ranking of virus detection rates. However there were only 16 programs tested in the recent report I viewed.
• AV-Test is an independent software testing lab based in Magdeburg, Germany and is associated with a University located there. PC Magazine refers to AV-Test as one of the top research facilities in the world for testing antivirus software. AV-Test has test results for 30 antivirus programs.

I did not want to spend all day searching for information while my computer was making strange noises so I selected an antivirus program with a high ranking from AV-Test and downloaded it.

The new antivirus software quickly located the malicious program on my computer and automatically removed it. I had selected a paid program because it was ranked very highly, and I thought I might need customer support. However some free software is ranked very high at virus detection by AV-Test. And they gave a very low detection score to the commercial antivirus software that came with my computer. That did not surprise me. I should have checked with them earlier.

All five of these testing labs are worth checking for current information on both free and paid antivirus software. There is a great deal of information to sort through and more things to consider beyond detection rates. For instance, programs often rank differently on proactive defense, where they attempt to identify virus behavior before a virus has been identified and added to the signature database. This is becoming more important as new viruses proliferate.

For those who are interested I have posted a summary of programs that rank as the best antivirus software according to detection rates and other features discussed by these testing labs. I have posted this along with other software reviews on zolosoft.com. Most antivirus software now includes spyware and adware detection, since the distinction between different types of malicious software has blurred. But not all programs include this. Programs also differ in their rate of false positives, in their ability to remove viruses, and in their detection of root kits.