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Top Antivirus Software

BitDefender, McAfee, and Kaspersky Lab top our chart, showing excellent ability to detect both known and unknown malware.

Narasu Rebbapragada

Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 07:00 PM PST
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Test Center About the Test Center
How We Test • What Our Ratings Mean • How the Charts Work
Compare
Use the Check Boxes to See a Side-by-Side Comparison
Rank Name PCW Rating
Antivirus software
1
BitDefender 9 Standard
BitDefender 9 Standard
• Performance: Superior
• Ease of Use: Very Good
• Features: Very Good
• Price when ranked: $30
•
Vendor's Website
Inexpensive product received excellent scores in our performance tests, although its scan speed was sluggish.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
2
McAfee VirusScan 2006
McAfee VirusScan 2006
• Performance: Superior
• Ease of Use: Very Good
• Features: Very Good
• Price when ranked: $40
•
Check latest prices
Relatively good heuristics help VirusScan provide solid protection. Phone support costs $3 per minute.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
3
Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 5.0
Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 5.0
• Performance: Superior
• Ease of Use: Good
• Features: Good
• Price when ranked: $40
•
Vendor's Web Site
Program had the fastest response to new malware outbreaks. Interface is clean but not exceptional.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2005)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
4
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2006
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2006
• Performance: Superior
• Ease of Use: Good
• Features: Good
• Price when ranked: $40
•
Check latest prices
Solid performer responded quickly in tests and provides best breaking news on malware outbreaks.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
5
Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006
Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006
• Performance: Good
• Ease of Use: Very Good
• Features: Very Good
• Price when ranked: $40
•
Check latest prices
Veteren utility offers solid threat detection and a nice interface. Phone support costs $30 per incident.
(Last Rated: January 26, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
6
Panda Software Panda Titanium 2006 Antivirus + Antispyware
Panda Software Panda Titanium 2006 Antivirus + Antispyware
• Performance: Very Good
• Ease of Use: Good
• Features: Very Good
• Price when ranked: $50
•
Check latest prices
This former Best Buy performed well, but not exceptionally, in our newest nonspyware tests.
(Last Rated: January 26, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
7
AntiVir Personal Edition Classic 6.32
AntiVir Personal Edition Classic 6.32
• Performance: Good
• Ease of Use: Good
• Features: Fair
• Price when ranked: Free
•
Vendor's Website
AntiVir performed the best of the free programs, although it failed to clean several old macro viruses.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
8
Alwil Software Avast Home Edition 4.6
Alwil Software Avast Home Edition 4.6
• Performance: Fair
• Ease of Use: Very Good
• Features: Good
• Price when ranked: Free
•
Vendor's Website
Free product has a slick media-player-style interface that hides some features. Scan speed was slow in tests.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
9
Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security Security 2006
Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security Security 2006
• Performance: Fair
• Ease of Use: Superior
• Features: Good
• Price when ranked: $50
•
Check latest prices
Former Best Buy performed poorly in heuristics and zoo tests but has the best interface of the bunch.
(Last Rated: January 26, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
10
Grisoft AVG Free Edition 7.1
Grisoft AVG Free Edition 7.1
• Performance: Fair
• Ease of Use: Fair
• Features: Fair
• Price when ranked: Free
•
Vendor's Website
Free program has subpar heuristics and one of the clunkier interfaces among the products we tested.
(Last Rated: January 25, 2006)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
Compare
Use the Check Boxes to see a Side-by-Side Comparison
HOW WE TEST: We test rewritable DVD drives under Windows XP Home on PCs with 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ processors and 512MB of DDR SDRAM. To test each drive, we use the bundled DVD video authoring, mastering, and packet-writing software; we use vendor-supplied media or Verbatim media. Tests conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved.
Next page: Top Antivirus Software (Page 2)
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