54 TECH ADVISOR • MARCH 2020SECURITY SPECIAL
How we test
First, we take a look at the interface to determine how
easy or complicated it is. Does the interface make it
easy to get at essential tools such as PC scans and
password managers, for example, or is everything
buried under multiple clicks? Are there elements that
look like they should be clickable but aren’t? Are alerts
interactive or purely informational, and does that make
sense in context?
We also examine the features on offer. Every good
antivirus suite should have the basics like scanning and
real-time protection, but many vendors offer elements
that go beyond basic security like password managers
or firewalls. We try to discern whether any of these
extra features are particularly useful, or just frills that
look nice but don’t serve a practical purpose.
To test the suite’s demand on system resources,
we run two benchmarks. The first is PCMark 8’s
Work Conventional test, which simulates a variety of
workloadsincludingeditingspreadsheets,browsing
theweb, and running video chat.
We run the benchmark before the security suite is
installed. Then we install the software, have it run a
full scan on our Windows 10 test machine, and start a
second run of the benchmark at the same time. Then
we compare the overall scores to see if the decline
between the two benchmarks is significant.
As a harsher stress test, we also use Handbrake to
transcode a video before and after installing the A/V.
On most home PCs, this encoding task utilizes 100
percent of the CPU. We then compare transcoding
times to see if there’s any significant decline.