Best Anti-Virus Solutions for Windows 7 SP1 Revealed [av-test.org]

Windows 8 already comes with Windows Defender turned on by default, but as far as Windows 7 users are concerned, turning to a third-party software solution to protect their PCs is the only solution.

A new round of tests performed by German institute AV-TEST reveals that Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) customers have a wide array of anti-virus solutions to choose from, some of which can provide maximum protection in most of the cases. The July/August round of tests put Bitdefender’s anti-virus products on the first place, with a maximum score of 6 points out of 6 in all three main categories, namely protection, performance, and usability. The same top score was also achieved by Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Norton, and Bullguard, all of which managed to perform impressively well in this new test.

Free solutions not the best choice

If there’s anything important that can be seen in this chart is the performance of freeware anti-virus solutions, all of which obtained really disappointing scores in this new tests. 

Panda Cloud Free is the software solution that scored the best in the free category, gaining 6 points for protection, 5.5 points for performance, and 5.5 points for usability.

Avira received 6, 4.5, and 6 points, respectively, while Avast did even worse and scored 3.5 points for protection, 4.5 points for performance, and 6 points for usability.

AVG Free, which is currently one of the top freeware solutions on the market with millions of downloads, is the freebie that’s ranked the worst, with 3.5 points for performance and protection, and 5.5 points for usability.

Microsoft’s Security Essentials again at the bottom of the pack

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft’s Security Essentials solution, which is available with a freeware license for those running Windows 7, performed really bad and received the second worst score after Norman. MSE obtained 0 points for protection, 4.5 points for performance, and 6 points for usability. Of course, protection is the most important chapter, and given MSE’s score, some might obviously want to try out a different security solution. Microsoft Security Essentials is available with a freeware license for users of all Windows versions before Windows 8. MSE has recently dropped support for Windows XP, while in Windows 8 the app has been improved and rebranded as Windows Defender.

Windows 8 comes with Windows Defender turned on by default, and the app is automatically disabled once the user deploys a third-party anti-virus product, no matter its name.

Bitdefender continues to be the leader of the anti-virus market
Image credits to AV-TEST

Posted in: News, Review, Software