We test Antivirus Defenses against Malware, Spyware, and Adware

 We test Antivirus Defenses against Malware, Spyware, and Adware

We have also put each product through its own hands-on anti-malware test to get an idea of how the product works. Depending on how well the Antivirus software prevents the installation of malware, up to 10 points can be earned for protection against malware. Our malware protection test will necessarily use the same examples for months. To check a product's handling of new malware, we tested each product against 100 extremely new malware-hosting URLs provided by MRG-Effitas and noted the percentage of URLs that were blocked. Products receive equal credit for preventing malicious URL access and removing malware while downloading. Some products get rave reviews from independent labs, but they don't perform as well in our field tests. In such cases, we turn to labs as they devote far more resources to their testing. Would you like to know more? You can find a detailed description of how we test security software.

Layered Malware Protection

Antivirus products stand out because they go beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time malware protection. Some rating URLs that you visit or appear in search results use a red, yellow, and green color-coding system. Some actively block your system processes from connecting to known malware-hosting URLs or fraudulent sites (phishing).

The software has flaws that sometimes affect its security. Careful users will keep Windows and all programs patched and fix these errors as soon as possible. Vulnerability scanning offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are in place and even apply the missing ones.

Spyware comes in many forms, from covert programs that record your every keystroke to Trojans that masquerade as valid programs while extracting your personal information. Any antivirus program must deal with spyware, as well as all other types of malware. However, some contain specific components for protection against spyware.

They expect an antivirus to detect and remove bad programs and leave good programs alone. What about the strangers, the shows you can't identify as good or bad? Behavioral-based detection can, in theory, protect you from malware that new researchers have never encountered. However, this is not always a pure blessing. It is not uncommon for behavior detection systems to report many harmless behaviors carried out by legitimate programs.

Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A Total security software system based on a whitelist allows only known good programs to run. Strangers are prohibited. This mode is not suitable for all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing allows unknown programs to run, but isolates them from full access to your system so that they cannot cause permanent damage. These various additional layers are there to enhance your protection against malware.