The best Total Security suites for Windows

Virus scanner test 2021: The best Total Security suites for Windows

All computers with Windows 10 have virus protection included, including Microsoft Defender. Some users rely on this. Is that such a good idea? The CHIP test shows: The majority of the virus and malware monitors tested by CHIP can do more, even the free ones. The most important test results and the test winner can be found in the overview. We also provide price tips and provide you with insightful information on how you can protect your PC from computer viruses.

Virus scanner test 2021: test winner and price tip

In addition to updates and backups, virus protection is one of the basics of Windows security. This is why the Windows Defender virus scanner as part of standard Windows equipment. Microsoft has put a lot of development work into this tool and in the test, it is now doing better than before. But how well does Windows Defender compare to protection programs from other vendors? For the virus scanner test, we have selected products from major manufacturers that are particularly important for the German market. The spectrum is broad, in addition to Windows Defender there are Protegent, and Pandarepresent three other free virus scanners, which are popular with many private users. In addition, there are the 13 most important paid security packages. The licenses cost between 15$ per year. In extensive tests like this one, CHIP works with specialists from AV-Comparatives. The first test started in October 2020, the last ended in Feb 2021.

First of all, you can see the top candidates from our test here as an introduction: The three programs on the winner's podium of the virus scanner best list plus Protegent Antivirus as the best-placed program:

In terms of system load, it, unfortunately, pulls significantly more than our test winner, especially with regard to older or less powerful devices. On newer and more powerful computers, however, it shouldn't noticeably slow down the working speed. On the other hand, the candidate falls a little out of place with false positives, i.e. false positives. This is where the Protegent virus scanner hits a little too often. In the real-world test, this means 18 false reports of threats that do not even exist; that can really unsettle users.

Only the basic functions were tested in the test, so the results can also be transferred to the paid equipment variants.

All virus scanners at the same time

In the real-world test, it does not matter which protection technology the virus scanner uses to ward off the attacks. Classically, this can be a signature as well as a heuristic or a reputation query in the cloud. In the test, it is only important to us that in the end there is no infection on the tested system. However, only external attacks are tested. For maximum equality of opportunity, each virus scanner in the test runs on its own Windows 10 system with all updates. 

A manual update is started on all test PCs before each test run. The virus scanners run in the standard configuration and of course, also have Internet access. A script triggers the tests in parallel on all machines, and special monitoring software logs the changes to the system in order to determine an infection without any doubt.