AV-Comparatives Performs Dynamic Antivirus Testing
AV-Comparatives has received dynamic antivirus testing results for Windows 10 for the period February/March 2021.
Dynamic Antivirus Testing (also called “Real-World Protection Test”) is conducted monthly by AV-Comparatives, an independent laboratory, throughout the year. Full reports (covering a period of 4 months) are published twice a year – in June and December, and include antivirus detection rate results and false positive rates for these periods.
“Dynamic testing is the most comprehensive comparison test available, conducted under conditions that are close to real-world use”, — researchers of the laboratory say.
AV-Comparatives uses a large number of test samples for each test, and antivirus requires the use of all security components to pass successfully.
In 2021, testing is carried out on the Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit platform with current (updated at the time of testing) third-party applications installed (for example, Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Java, etc.).
Test samples used
Each month, testing is performed on a test set of active samples (malicious URL links found) consisting of working exploits (such as drive-by downloads) and URL links leading directly to malware downloads.
Thus, exactly the same infection paths can be used by ordinary users in their daily use of a computer with an Internet connection. The test samples used cover a wide range of current threats and demonstrate the capabilities of complex anti-virus solutions (which use all their functions) during active Internet use.
Tested antiviruses
The following antiviruses are participating in AV-Comparatives’ dynamic testing in 2021:
- Avast Free Antivirus
- AVG Free Antivirus
- AVIRA Antivirus Pro
- Bitdefender Internet Security
- ESET NOD32 Internet Security
- G Data Internet Security
- K7 Total Security
- Kaspersky Internet Security
- Malwarebytes Premium
- McAfee Total Protection
- Microsoft Defender Antivirus
- NortonLifeLock Norton 360 Deluxe
- Panda Free Antivirus
- Total AV Total Security
- Total Defense Essential Antivirus
- Trend Micro Internet Security
- VIPRE Advanced Security
At each stage of testing, the latest versions of antivirus available at the time of testing are used.
February-March 2021
Number of test samples: 354
Legend on the chart
- Blocked (Block,%) – blocked threats
- User dependent (Decision,%) – action on the threat depends on the user’s decision
- Compromised (Skip,%) – missed threats
- False Positives – false positives
Results (table):
Note:
AV-Comparatives notes that even if some products show 100% protection in testing, this does not mean that these antivirus programs will always protect against all threats on the Internet. It simply means that they are able to block 100% of the common malware samples used in this particular test.
Read also: AVLab has chosen the “Antivirus 2020”
