TechLife_Australia_Issue_63_May_2017

[ 066 ]

Vendor Avast AVG Avira Bitdefender BullGuard Comodo Emsisoft ESET F-Secure G Data K7 Computing Kaspersky Lab Intel Security Microsoft Microworld Panda Security Quick Heal Symantec ThreatTrack Trend Micro

TESTED PRODUCT NAME FREE

ANTIVIRUS

2016

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

2016

ANTIVIRUS

PRO 2016

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

2017

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

1 7. 0

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

PREMIUM 8.4

ANTI-MALWARE

12.1

INTERNET

SECURIT Y 10.0

SAFE 2016 INTERNET

SECURIT Y 2017

TOTAL

SECURIT Y 15.1

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

2017

MCAFEE

INTERNET

SECURIT Y 2016

WINDOWS

DEFENDER 4.8

ESCAN

INTERNET

SECURIT Y

SUITE 14.0

PROTECTION

18.0

TOTAL

SECURIT Y 17.0

NORTON

SECURIT Y 2016

VIPRE INTERNET

SECURIT Y PRO

2016

INTERNET

SECURIT Y 2017

Website avast.com avg.com avira.com bitdefender.com bullguard.com comodo.com emsisoft.com/ eset.com f-secure.com gdatasoftware.

com

k7computing.

com

kaspersky.com intelsecurity.

com

microsoft.com microworld.com cloudantivirus.

com

quickheal.com norton.com vipreantivirus.

com

trendmicro.com

Protection

Protection against 0-day malware

attacks

100 % 98 .7% 100 % 98 .7% 98 .7% 100 % 98 .7% 100 % 100 % 98 .7% 97 .3% 100 % 100 % 98 .7% 98 .7% 100 % 100 % 100 % 93 .3% 100 %

Detection of widespread and

prevalent malware

99 .7% 99 .2% 99 .7% 99 .9% 99 .9% 92 .1% 99 .9% 99 .6% 99 .9% 100 % 99 .0% 100 % 100 % 98 .6% 99 .9% 99 .8% 99 .8% 100 % 99 .8% 100 %

Performance

Performance impact when

launching popular websites

18 % 16 % 11% 14 % 8% 8% 19 % 21 % 17 % 22 % 15% 13 % 11% 10 % 18 % 17 % 13 % 37 % 15% 13 %

Performance impact on download

of frequently-used applications

17 % 2% 22 % 5% 5% 26 % 7% 11% 7% 5 % 2% 2% 1% 9% 5% 18 % 6% 3% 3% 8%

Performance impact on launch of

standard software applications

52 % 11% 34 % 14 % 13 % 31 % 44 % 16 % 8% 26 % 7% 11% 22 % 15% 8% 20 % 13 % 8% 14 % 16 %

Performance impact on installation

of frequently-used applications

21 % 25 % 22 % 12 % 35 % 61 % 36 % 35 % 53 % 36 % 13 % 18 % 39 % 65 % 24 % 71 % 14 % 31 % 29 % 15%

Performance impact on copying of

files, locally and in a network

32 % 10 % 4% 4% 5% 4% 11% 30 % 3% 18 % 10 % 2% 5% 4% 44 % 27 % 12 % 9% 31 % 19 %

Usability

False warnings or blockages when

visiting websites

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

False warnings on installing new

software

0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0

False blockages of certain actions

carried out whilst installing and

using legitimate software

1 0 1 0 2 5 5 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 1

Protection score 6.0 4.5 6.0 6.0 5.5 3.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6 .0 5.0 6.0 5.5 4.5 6.0 5.5 5.5 6.0 5.0 6.0

Performance score 3.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 5.0 4 .5 5.5 6.0 5.5 4.5 4.0 2.5 5.5 5.5 4.5 5.5

Usability score 6.0 5.5 5.5 6.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 5.5 6 .0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 6.0 6.0

Total score 15.5 15.5 17.0 17.5 16 .0 12 .5 15.0 16 .5 16 .5 16 .5 15.5 18 .0 17.0 15.0 15.5 13 .5 16 .5 17.0 15.5 17.5

ESET INTERNET SECURITY

$90 for 3 PCs for 1 year

http://www.eset.com/au/

CRITICAL SPECS

Anti-malware, anti-spam, anti-ransomware, firewall, web site filtering,

parental controls, secure browser, system optimisation and cleaning

ESET Internet Security

FINE CORE SECURITY COMPONENTS,

BUT SOME OF THE EXTRAS ARE WEAK.

WHEN ESET FIRST suite-ified its NOD32 Antivirus, we weren’t all that

impressed. Most of the extra features felt tacked on to meet a checklist.

But in the years since, ESET has layered in features that have turned this

into an absolutely worthwhile suite. It’s very much focused on core

protection capabilities — it doesn’t have the advanced social media stuff

of Trend Micro or the sophisticated parental controls of Symantec, for

example — but it protects against an awful lot of threats.

That protection includes anti-malware that managed to detect 100%

of zero-day threats in AV-Test’s benchmarks, as well as anti-phishing,

a sophisticated (but not terribly user friendly) firewall with DDOS

protection, a secure browser for online banking, and new anti-

ransomware tools for locking files from modification. It also has a tool

that polls the local router for vulnerabilities and checks if the webcam

is live. An important addition in this latest version is the script-based

attack protection, which stops certain Windows Powershell scripts from

executing, which has been a significant attack vector in recent months.

It does have parental controls, but they’re in the old-school device-

centric model and not a touch on the new user-based and cloud-

managed tools you find in some of the other suites. The identity theft

protection is also relatively minimal. This uneven quality of

components is mirrored a little in the interface, which mixes managed

security with older style fine control. It’s okay for advanced users, who

know what a network map looks like and what a firewall does, but less

technical users might find some of the options rather arcane, especially

when it comes to firewall and network management.

While we reviewed Internet Security, ESET also offers a version

called Smart Security Premium, which adds a password manager

and file encryption.

31 / 2

SUPERGUIDE

WINDOWS SECURITY SUITES COMPARED