[ 062 ]
[ SUPERGUIDE ]Windows security suites compared
THE TOP SEVEN SUITES REVIEWED TO KEEP YOUR PC SAFE AND SOUND.
[NATHAN TAYLOR]ALTHOUGH OPERATING SYSTEMS have become progressively better
at security, hackers and virus writers always seem to be a step ahead.
If you want real security, you have to go to a specialist — and that’s what
a suite offers. It’s a set of tools made by a company that specialises in
stopping threats, and it’s still absolutely the case that a security suite
offers much more protection than you’ll get in your default OS or
from free tools. What’s more, and just as importantly, having a suite
subscription also gives you access to expert tech support — someone
to talk to when things go horribly wrong.
The most notable change in suites this year is the now near-universal
anti-ransomware support. The current suites can often be set to monitor
key directories for modification, and put a stop to it if it happens.
Some also have file locker capabilities — the ability to designate a
specific directory that cannot be modified at all without passing a
security check. This prevents unauthorised apps (ie. ransomware)
from encrypting and deleting your files.
Other than that, we’ve started to see more use of cloud-based
management, especially of parental controls. Instead of having to
manage every device attached to the licence by going to it directly,
cloud-based management tools let you change settings and trigger
scans using a portal website. You don’t ever have to physically access
the device. Even among top suites, it’s not yet universal, however.
Below, we’ve looked at our seven current favourite suites, based on
both features and anti-malware performance.HOW WE TESTED
Each of the suites reviewed here has been comprehensively tested by
independent antiviral analysis company AV-Test (www.av-test.org).
Published here the latest results available at the time of writing,
from December 2016.Note that the results are not, in all cases, from the specific products
we’ve reviewed below. For example, we may have reviewed the full suite
where AV-Test may have only tested the stand-alone antivirus
application, or we may have a product that has been updated since
the tests were performed in December. That doesn’t change the validity
of the results, since the same anti-virus engine is in use. Let’s break
down what the numbers mean:
* Protection against zero-day malware attacks is a measure of the
suite’s ability to detect new viruses based on their behaviour. It’s
perhaps the most important number here.
* Detection of prevalent malware shows the detection percentage^
of known viruses released in the four weeks before the test.
* The performance impact ratings give percentages by which the suite
slows down a mid-range PC when performing common tasks.
* False warnings is the number of instances where the suite flagged
legitimate software and websites as a threat and either blocked it
or produced a warning popup.
For convenience, AV-Test also provides three overall scores, rating
each suite’s protection, performance impact and usability out of six,
to give a total score out of 18. (Usability, in this instance, is not a
reference to ease-of-use, but is based on the number of times the
program produced false popups and blocked legitimate software).
We should note that AV-Tests aggregate scores are based on combined
November-December performance, while we’ve only printed December
results due to limited space.
While we’ve provided an extended table of results, we don’t have
room here to review every antivirus product tested. We limited
ourselves to the suites that we currently think are the top picks based
on both their test results and features.SUPERGUIDEWINDOWS SECURITY SUITES COMPARED