Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 takes fifth place in our roundup of 2011 antivirus software, closely trailing fourth-place finisher G-Data AntiVirus 2011. It did a great job at stopping brand new malware attacks, and a reasonable -- though not top-notch -- job at detecting known malware, and it sports a well-designed interface. On the downside, its impact on PC performance was worse than average.
Avira AntiVir Personal ranked second in our late 2010 roundup of free antivirus products. AntiVir has strength where it counts most: It did a great job at detecting and blocking malware. That said, its interface needs some improvement.
Panda Cloud Antivirus is a unique entry in the free antivirus race. Most free antivirus products still rely on signature updates to detect new malware, but Panda's program instead uses fresh data about malware direct from Panda's servers. As a result, Cloud Antivirus put up some excellent results in some malware detection tests, but its scan speeds were slower than we would have liked to see.
G-Data AntiVirus 2011 (US$30 for a single-PC, one-year license as of 11/23/2010) placed fourth -- albeit a close fourth -- in our roundup of 2011 antivirus products. G-Data continues its recent trend of strong malware detection, blocking, and removal in 2011, and couples it with a good interface.
Comodo Internet Security Premium came in fifth in our late 2010 roundup of free antivirus products. Although it was last among the products we tested, it did a very good job at blocking brand-new malware. Its detection of known malware lagged behind top performers, though, and it tied for the most false positives.
BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 ($US40 for a one-year, three-PC license as of 11/23/2010) ranks second in our roundup of 2011 paid antivirus software. In our tests, it did a good job at detecting malware, and was the top performer at removing infections from a PC, which pushed it up the leaderboard, but it had some trouble blocking live malware attacks, preventing it from climbing any higher.
The appearance of the Stuxnet worm in June should serve as a wake-up call to governments and businesses, especially those relying on Internet-based industrial control systems, a group of cybersecurity experts told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday.
These are frugal times for business, and an organization starting out might have very little money to spend on IT. Even if you're part of an established business, you're probably feeling the pinch.
These are frugal times for business, and an organization starting out might have very little money to spend on IT. Even if you're part of an established business, you're probably feeling the pinch.
Microsoft has offered free protection with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for some time, and it recently expanded the availability of the antivirus protection for small businesses. A recent move to push out Microsoft Security Essentials to Windows systems that don't have any antivirus protection, however, has some rival security vendors up in arms. From Microsoft's perspective, though, it's a little "damned if you do, damned if you don't".
One of the first places people often turn to when searching for antivirus protection for their new computer is Symantec's Norton suite of security tools. The company is now looking to extend that protection beyond the PC to your mobile phone through its Norton Mobile Security app. This app, although currently in beta, adds an extra layer of protection to your phone well above just having a lock screen.
Juniper this week unveiled software, based on its recent purchase of sMobile, to protect mobile devices from security threats.
Microsoft Security Essentials is fake. Well, it is and it isn't. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antimalware protection program from Microsoft, but a new malware threat identified by security software vendor F-Secure is also masquerading as Microsoft Security Essentials. You want to avoid that one.
Everyone knows that the Mac OS X operating system is just inherently secure. Any Apple loyalist will gladly explain to you everything that is wrong with Microsoft Windows, and how happy they are with not having to worry about malware and exploits on their shiny new Mac. So, I guess Macs don't need security software and we have nothing left to talk about...
AVG may not have the brand recognition of McAfee or Symantec, but with two decades of experience and over 110 million customers it's no slouch in security either.
