PC World’s September 30, 2014, “Free is good: No-cost Panda Software tops AV-Test’s rankings of antivirus software” article summarized rankings for antivirus software by AV-test.org and AV-comparatives.org.
Antivirus suites are only as good as their latest tests. And in AV-test.org’s latest roundup for July and August, the usual suspects—BitDefender, Kaspersky, McAfee, and Symantec—came out on top.
There are two major [independent] test houses that periodically evaluate major antivirus suites and Internet security services: AV-test and AV-comparatives.org. AV-comparatives.org, which recently published its own August rankings, also treats Microsoft as the baseline, claiming that it caught only 85.5 percent of the antimalware samples it was tested against.
If you’re using Windows Defender (or Microsoft Security Essentials in Windows 7) or considering whether to renew your subscription for the computer security program that came with your PC, then you might want to read this article.
Also note AV-test.org’s Repair Award for 2014:
In a rigorous 10-month test, AV-TEST found out which antivirus application and which clean-up tool are most capable of cleaning up and repairing Windows systems after a malware attack. The REPAIR AWARD 2014 goes to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free and to the Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool.