Top Antivirus Software

Which antivirus programs offer the best protection?

Though there are dozens of antivirus programs on the market, several companies get broad, consistent support year after year. Symantec, which produces Norton antivirus software, dominated reviews in 2010 and 2011, but while the 2012 edition of the company's program draws high praise, most reviewers say Kaspersky's antivirus software has unseated the former king. Webroot and ESET also get high marks for their antivirus programs.

Critics recommend Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 (*Est. $25) earns top marks from the majority of reviewers. The antivirus software earns the highest certifications from independent reviewer AV-Comparatives.org, which also names it its Product of the Year. It also scores highly with other independent testers such as Virus Bulletin and AV-Test.org, earns recommendations from professional critics at Download.com and AntivirusWare.com and draws praise from users at Walmart.com. In addition to being effective, the eye-friendly, streamlined design draws praise. "Kaspersky's radically different new interface is a pleasure to use," Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt says.

The proof is in the virus removal pudding, however, and expert evaluations indicate that Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 successfully identifies and blocks malware at a high rate. It was one of the few antivirus programs that earned an Advanced+ Certification from AV-Comparatives.org in standard detection tests and the demanding proactive/retrospective test, which identifies how well programs identify malware that isn't included in the software's detection database. In fact, Kaspersky was the only antivirus software to earn an Advanced+ certification in every single evaluation conducted by AV-Comparatives.org in 2011. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 also misidentifies fewer false positives than other products in tests, which is a 180-degree turn from past iterations, which suffered from high false positive rates.

However, the detection percentages weren't quite as high in testing conducted by PCMag.com's Neil J. Rubenking; Kaspersky had trouble removing viruses installed on Rubenking's PCs, although it blocked 91 percent of new virus installation attempts. It had particular trouble with scareware -- malware that tells you your PC is infected and prompts you to download a bogus antivirus program with your credit card.

Kaspersky gets high marks for its technical support, which is available by phone, email or live chat. Users report the in-program renewal process can be a bit difficult, however.

A knock against past versions of Kaspersky Anti-Virus programs was their impact on system performance. Reports say the problem has largely been taken care of in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012. Download.com's Rosenblatt chalks up the improvements to the software's new Cloud Protection feature, which offloads some of the processing tasks onto Kaspersky's servers and reduces the strain on your system. (Cloud Protection also improves real-time detection rates, as evidenced by Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012's high scores in AV-Comparatives.org's proactive/retrospective test.) AntivirusWare.com tests a number of system performance criteria, and while Kaspersky's product is still average at best for memory usage (23 MB) and added reboot time (16.5 seconds), it is the second fastest-scanning program around after a slower initial scan. Anecdotal testaments also favor Kaspersky, with the majority of Walmart.com users saying the program feels much faster than Symantec's Norton antivirus products.

Norton AntiVirus 2012 also earns high marks

Speaking of Symantec, Norton AntiVirus 2012 (*Est. $30) also garners a number of positive reviews from experts, including an Editors' Choice award from PCMag.com and top nod from AntivirusWare.com. It falters in independent testing, however; while Norton AntiVirus 2012 nabs a VB100 award from Virus Bulletin for Windows XP protection, it fails to earn a certification for any other operating systems. The program also fails to earn an Advanced+ certification in AV-Comparatives.org's on-demand comparative testing. In that evaluation, Norton AntiVirus 2012 performed admirably in malware detection -- with a 95.1 percent removal rate -- but it had a whopping 57 false positives, good for next-to-last among tested products. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 had only a single false positive. Symantec chose to sit out AV-Comparative.org's proactive/retrospective test for real-time virus detection.

Despite those stumbling blocks, experts say Norton AntiVirus 2012 does a bang-up job of detecting and removing computer viruses overall. It outpaced industry averages in AV-Test.org's independent tests (which awarded Norton AntiVirus 2012 a certification) and scored well in PCMag.com's evaluations.

New programs and files are checked against data from Norton Community Watch, which compiles data on untrustworthy files contributed by Symantec's millions of users. The 2012 version also scans any files you download via most email and chat networks, in addition to scanning web downloads. Experts appreciate the Norton Safe Web feature, which automatically scans links on your Facebook page. A new Norton Management tool lets users remotely manage their Norton-protected devices.

Installation is fast and easy -- compared to other antivirus software -- although some other programs do manage to install a hair faster. If malware is lurking on your system and interfering with the install process, Norton AntiVirus 2012 can conduct a preinstall scan to wipe it out. For 2012, Symantec has streamlined the user interface after hearing complaints that last year's version was too complicated for novices. Now, the main screen contains options to scan your PC or check for updates, with the rest of the options just a click away in the Advanced tab. The program also has minimal impact on your computer's performance. "All things being equal, you're not going to notice much when Norton is running as you go about your computing business," says Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt.

However, most reviewers say they wish the program completed scans faster, with middle-of-the-pack scan times reported by Download.com, AntivirusWare.com and PCMag.com. "Scan times É were disappointingly average in the Labs; in previous years, they were aggressively competitive," Rosenblatt says. PCMag.com's Neil J. Rubenking says the initial scan took nearly half again as long as the initial scans from competing programs.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus protects from the cloud

While Kaspersky dabbles in the cloud, Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2012 (*Est. $40) dives into it. The completely redesigned and recoded program relies heavily on an Internet connection, as it stores most of its virus detection profiles on the Webroot servers rather than on your computer. As new threats affect other Webroot users, that information is rapidly added to the detection database, giving users up-to-date protection around the clock. The reliance on the cloud also helps Webroot SecureAnywhere have a tiny  footprint on PCs; PCMag.com's Neil J. Rubenking reports that the program requires less than 600 KB of space, and he calls install and scan times "lightning fast."

In PCMag's evaluation, Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus detects 94 percent of viruses  installed on Rubenking's systems and blocks every attempt to install new ones. No other program tested comes close to matching those numbers. Rubenking says the program is very effective at removing the threats it detects, as well. Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus detects 94.2 percent of malware in AV-Comparatives.org's on-demand testing, even with its cloud connection disabled, although it fails to earn a VB100 certification from Virus Bulletin, thanks to a large number of false positives.

Relying on the cloud does have its downsides, however -- the program stores only a small number of virus profiles locally, and it can't connect to Webroot's cloud database without an active Internet connection. The program keeps track of which programs were installed during connectivity blackouts, though, and checks back in with Webroot servers upon reconnection; if the new files are identified as malicious, Webroot removes all traces of the program from your computer. Rubenking says this process is pretty effective, plus, he says, "in the real world, if you're not connected to the Internet you're insulated from the vast majority of threats." In addition, Webroot is coded so that you can use it in conjunction with another antivirus program, a rare feature that allows users to mitigate their reliance on Webroot's servers.

However, while the majority of Download.com users say they are happy with the program, a handful report issues with Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus adversely affecting the speed of their computers. None of the 100-plus user reviews at Amazon.com mentions similar issues; there, the software carries a 4.3 (out of 5) rating.

Independent labs like ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5.0

Unlike some of its competitors, ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5.0 (*Est. $40) protects against malware and spyware. The software doesn't earn as many recommendations as Norton or Kaspersky antivirus programs, but it joins Kaspersky's program as one of the few to earn the highest Advanced+ certification in AV-Comparatives.org's on-demand and proactive/retrospective tests. False positives are also very rare, testing there reveals. NOD32 Antivirus also earns VB100 certifications across the board from Virus Bulletin. In PCMag.com's test, the program removed 88 percent of installed malware and blocked 86 percent of attempted malware installs; both are decent scores, but not class leading.

ESET stumbles during installation, however. Critics say the process isn't fast. "It's slowed down by a preponderance of screens, including registration, and an unnecessary query as to whether or not the user wants Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) protection activated or not," Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt writes. "While a legitimate query, there's no reason for it to slow down the install by yet another screen to click through." In addition, PCMag.com's Neil J. Rubenking ran into problems installing the software on pre-infected machines, and one such PC became unresponsive and required extensive tweaking to get it to work again.

Scan speeds are decent -- if not great -- and don't interfere with system performance, although Rubenking encountered an issue where the program locked into a rebooting loop after removing a threat. Experts say the program isn't as streamlined and user friendly as the alternatives, either. "Though the benchmarking is generally solid, we found the interface too annoying and the installation too cumbersome to award it higher marks," Rosenblatt concludes at Download.com.