BitDefender: Total Security 2013
$80 (3 PCs, 1 Year) www.bitdefender.com
This feature alone is a godsend if you're the designated IT guy for friends and family members—no more late-night calls about security pop-ups or, even worse, messed up machines because your mother-in-law granted permission to a dirty download even though a security warning advised against it.
It also requires a fair amount of trust. which BilDefender earned as we did our best to break down its defenses. There wasn't much that BilDef ender didn't recognize right of f the bat as malicious, and the few dirty downloads it didn't immediately iden-tify were thwarted by its cloud-based definitions. Malware stands little chance, though it comes at a small cost.
There's the price of the security suite itself, but you'll also pay in performance. Our 6GB file transfer test took 11 seconds lon-ger to perform with BitDefender installed, which translates into roughly a 10 percent performance hit. Both PCMark scores suf-fered slightly, though oddly enough, there was no increase in boot time. Scanning was also a mixed bag, with an initial sweep taking over half an hour, but reducing to less than four minutes during subsequent runs.
The performance hiccups aren't enough to sour us on BitDe-fender. It offers a tough veil of protection that's unobtrusive, and value-added features like a virtual keyboard for shopping sites, online storage, and a vulnerability scan that detects out-of-date software add to the overall package.
Trend Micro Maximum Security
$90 (3 Pcs, 1 Year) www.trendmicro.com
They most certainly have. Whereas the old Trend Micro cow-ered in the corner when we unleashed a flurry of ma lware, the latest version threw itself in harm's way and made sure noth-ing outwardly awful infiltrated our test bed. Malware was able to sneak in by hiding in zip files, but they were quickly beheaded as soon as they stuck out their necks. As an extra precaution, we recommend enabling real-time scanning of compressed files, an option that's not checked by default.
Independent testing labs generally gave Trend Micro high scores, so between their tests and ours we're much more confident in TM's ability to hold the fort when danger comes knocking. It's also a good choice if you spend a lot of time on social networks. Trend Micro ex-panded the number of social networks it scans for dangerous links to now include Google+, Linkedln, Pinterest, and Sina Weibo, in addition to Facebook, Twitter, and Mixi. There's also a -Privacy Scanner" for Facebook that analyzes your settings and makes recommendations.
Not all is roses and rainbows, however. Trend Micro's active scanner had the biggest negative impact on our file-transfer test, which took nearly 50 percent longer versus a clean install. Were also disappointed Trend Micro doesn't offer more fine-grain control over its settings. Part of the reason is because there's no built-in firewall, just a -firewall booster- feature that aides the Windows firewall. Overall, Trend Micro is leaps and bounds better than three years ago, but there's stilt room for improvement.
McAfee Internet Security 2013
$80 (3Pcs, 1 Year), http://www.mcafee.com/us/
None of that really matters as far as we're concerned, because the reality of how a product performs far outweighs the perception of the masses. So, how did McAfee perform? Like a roller coaster with several ups and a few downs.
This year's build is redesigned with a touch-friendly tiled interface that's obviously geared toward Windows 8 users, though it functions just fine with a mouse and keyboard and on Windows. AU the main functions sit front and center, and it doesn't take much effort to dig beneath the surface to where the advanced controls are located.
When surfing shady websites, McAfee did a good job blocking most malicious downloads, though it did let a few dirty files reach the desktop. Most that touched ground were quickly put under lock and key, but a few slipped through, including a file identified as a keygen by Malwarebytes. System performance was another mixed bag. McAfee didn't affect our test bed's boot time, nor did it bog down our PCMark 7 benchmark run. PCMark Vantage, on the other hand, scored 1,700 points lower. Subjectively, the system didn't feel sluggish with McAfee installed, which hasn't always been the case.
We can't say whether power users are ready to forgive McAfee for past sins, but as it stands, its an above-average scanner filled with features.
ESET Smart Security 6
$60 (1 PC, 1 Year) www.eset.com
There's nothing flashy about ESET's interface. It hasn't been modernized for Windows 8 or touchscreen displays, or for 2013 in general, and you can't customize the layout or upload your own background image a la Trend Micro. Dig beneath the surface, however, and you'll uncover a gold mine of options. In the Setup screen, for example, there are headings for Computer, Network, Web and email, and Parental control, and each of those have their own subheadings that you can, at minimum, enable or disable. In addition to all that, there's an advanced setup screen accessible via a link at the bottom of the window. Less-savvy users will find the sheer depth of settings overwhelming, and even advanced us-ers might lose track of everything they tweaked. If you're setting up ESET for multiple clients, you can export and import configura-tions to save time.
We dinged the program last year for letting a few nasty contain-ments through, a rare misstep for a program that's collected a dozen straight VB100 awards from Virus Bulletin in the past two years. It fared much better in our tests this time around. Bundled with the latest version is a Social Media Scanner that combs your Facebook profile for infected content. It's also avail-able as a free download, so that alone isn't enough to tip the scales in ESET's favor. There are plenty of other toots, however, such as parental controls and, new to this release, anti-theft features that can help you locate a lost or stolen mobile device. If someone swipes your laptop, you can engage the webcam. track its loca-tion, or initiate a Phantom Account so that your real account—and all your personal data—is hidden from the thief. You can even send a message, such as -Reward if found.- A slow on-demand scanner and an aging interface are all that prevent ESET from earning a Kick Ass award.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2013
$80 (3 Pcs, 1 Year) www.kaspersky.com
Familiarity kicked in when we were once again duped by what at first appeared lobe a subsonic installation routine, only to find ourselves mired in an unusually long update process that took north of 10 minutes on a high-speed connection. Subsequent definition updates zip through cyberspace at a much faster pace.
Also like previous versions, Kaspersky's scan engine sprints to the finish line, especially after performing an initial sweep. Our first full scan took 14 minutes and 26 seconds, and a second scan shaved 13 minutes off that time by skipping over files that hadn't changed.
The similarities continue. Once again, Kaspersky watched us download several contaminated files to the desktop before springing into action, whereas some of the other AV programs would cut off the same downloads before they could finish. To its credit. Kaspersky neutralized almost every threat and its track record among independent testing laboratories is very good; it even earned a Product of the Year award from AV-Comparatives.
Brand-new to MIS 2013 is a feature called Safe Run that's de-signed to protect your online banking sessions. Safe Run detects when you navigate to a popular payment service like PayPal or a banking website and opens up a protected browser to isolate your transaction. You can also use a virtual keyboard as an additional layer of protection (from keyloggers).
White the Safe Run feature is unique. Kaspersky hasn't yet jumped on the social-media bandwagon like some of the other programs. Still, it's a fleshed-out and polished security solution that's tough on malware.
ZoneAlarm Internet Security 2013
$80 (3 Pcs, 1 year) www.zonealarm.com
Not as far as we're concerned. Like the ones included in other advanced security suites, ZoneAtarm's firewall offers more so-phisticated protection and is able to sniff out mischievous code trying to sneak its way in or out) by masquerading as a Legitimate program. We also give ZoneAlarm credit for hushing its firewall, which is much better about making security-minded decisions in the background rather than bombarding the user with pop-ups.
Here's the thing: Even if all. you have is a ball of Lint in your pocket, you can afford ZoneAtarm's free antivirus 4- firewall com-bination, which has many of the same features as the $80 suite reviewed here. Should you decide to plunge into paid territory, the only extras are 24/7 technical support, parental controls, spam controls, and automatic hourly signature updates.
Let's backtrack a moment and talk about AV performance. ZoneAlarm wouldn't tell us which company it licenses its scan en-gine from, though we believe it's still Kaspersky, which the com-pany confirmed several years ago. The initial definition update was just as pokey as Kaspersky, and we also noticed similarities in how downloads are able to reach the desktop before they're neutralized. Scanning our test bed was nearly as quick, too.
ZoneAlarm also includes identity protection. Facebook priva-cy scanning, advanced do-not-track controls, and SOB of online backup. to a welt-rounded feature-set. and it's all available in the free version, too. There's just not enough added value to recom-mend the paid suite.
Norton Internet Security
$80 (3 PCs, 1 Year) www.norton.com
That doesn't mean we can't nitpick. At nearly 24-and-a-half minutes for an initial sweep of our test bed and a little over 10 minutes for a subsequent scan. Norton finds itself a few car lengths behind pole position in this roundup. And as Long as we're pick ing nits, we're a bit disappointed Norton still hasn't ad-opted a virtual keyboard as an added layer of protection against keyloggers. which would come in handy when signing into bank-ing sites. Oh, and it's not free.
Big whoop—our manufactured reprimands notwithstanding, Norton Internet Security (NISI is the total package. Notice we left out the year from the product name. That's because Symantec dropped the annual label and has promised to push out new prod-uct and feature updates throughout the year so that you always have the latest version, so long as your subscription is current.
On the surface, NIS Looks similar to Last year's release, minus the Threat Map and with Larger tiles on the main screen. Between automatic background scansand pulse updates that are doled out every five to 15 minutes, there's really no reason to bring up the interlace, unless you want to check how many days are remaining on your subscription or need to adjust advanced settings. In case of the Latter. Norton allows you to dig as deep as you want to go.
Symantec is constantly improving its SONAR technology, which analyzes how programs behave to determine if they pose a threat. It also takes into account how old a file is and how many other Norton users have downloaded it. This can be problematic for inexperienced developers learning the ropes of clean code, though SONAR is easily disabled. In most cases, we recommend leaving it on and letting it zap potential threats.
Speaking of which, NIS pounces on poisonous downloads like a fumbled football. That is, it it doesn't block the offending site first. On top of it all, Norton had the least impact on system per-formance out of all the paid suites.
Avast Free Antivirus Version 7
Free www.avast.com
Well, that's not entirely true. Avast requires a modicum of system resources to work its mojo, and though its free to install, Avast frequently tries to sway you into purchasing ad-ditional protection. It starts during the installation scheme, and again you're encouraged to upgrade to a paid package when you fill out the registration form, which you have to do within 30 days for it to continue working. On top of it all, there's a persistent banner ad integrated into Avast's main menu.
Should you remain steadfast in your conviction to save your money, you won't be the worse for wear since the free version takes security just as seriously as its paid brethren. The level of fine-grain control is almost dizzying, and one setting we recom-mend checking right off the bat is to scan for potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).
Avast usually scores high marks from independent testing labs, and we can see why. It's very good at sniffing out hidden dangers, and when we were finished stepping on virtual land-mines, Avast mitigated the damage, leaving just a few harmless remnants behind. Only Norton blocked more malware.
Avast automatically shoves suspicious programs into a sand-box, thereby isolating them from the OS. Unfortunately, you can't invoke the sandbox at wilt, nor will you find a firewall or antispam controls, features that are reserved for the Pro version.
Unique to Avast is a remote assistance tool. If you (or your parentsi run into a jam, you can share a special code with an-other Avast user to open up a remote support session similar to programs like Log Mein—nifty!
Microsoft Security Essentials 4.1
Free, www.microsoft.com
If you're rocking Windows 7 or earlier, MSE offers more robust protection than Windows Defender, and it's free to boot. But it's also somewhat limited in scope compared to its freebie competitors. There are just a handful of settings to play with, such as enabling/ disabling real-time protection and setting up file-type exclusions. You can also schedule an automatic scan and (optionally) allocate CPU usage from 10-100 percent in 10 percent increments (50 per-cent is the default settingl. Beyond those controls, micromanagers will quickly grow bored.
MSE wielded one of the lowest system footprints of all the an-tivirus solutions we tested. It had virtually no impact on PCMark and only added a few seconds to our 6GB file transfer test. That's impressive, but lest Microsoft pull a muscle patting itself on the back, MSE's scan engine ran abysmally slow in our tests. It took over an hour to sweep our hard drive, more than twice as long as the next-slowest contender, and even a subsequent scan took a comparatively lengthy 25 minutes to complete.
So the scan engine is slow, but is it methodical? That's a bit hard-er to assess. MSE was recently criticized for failing to receive cer-tification from AV-Test.org, though Microsoft contends that 0.0033 percent of MSE users -were impacted by malware samples riot de-tected during the test.- Other labs rate MSE favorably, though in our own tests, MSE was average, blocking most dirty downloads but also letting a few malicious programs write to the registry.
MSE passes muster for low-risk users, but there are better AV solutions.
AVG Antivirus Free 2013
Free, http://free.avg.com
There are plenty of options to keep you busy, and like last year's release, you can upload custom sounds and attach them to specific events. One thing we found annoying is that a few of the settings are ploys to upsell AVG's paid security software, and it's not always clear at first glance. For example, one of the main tiles reads Fix Performance, yet there's nothing to indicate it's not included in the free version until after it's finished analyzing your system for regis-try errors and other potentially performance-hobbling cruft.
For anyone paranoid about privacy, the Do Not Track feature integrated into AVG's browser toolbar tattles on websites and ad-vertisers trying to collect data about your online activity. It works with 1E, Chrome, and Firefox. There's also an Identity Alert feature !not to be confused with Identity Protection, which AVG uses to de-scribe behavior-based scanning], but that's another paid extra.
Large file transfers are noticeably slower with AVG installed, though not much else gets bogged down. Scan times were among the fastest, and though we were able to overwhelm AVG's defenses with dirty downloads, it defused most of the payloads, and was es-pecially adept at blocking browser exploits. Out of the three free AV contenders, Avast offers the best bal-ance of performance and features; AVG is a close second.
