The virusscanner of Romanian antivirus vendor Bitdefender is the best antivirus product for Windows 7, according to German test lab AV-Test. The lab tested 21 different antivirus scanners and security suites. Bitdefender's software was the only one to score the maximum of 18 points.
The lab compared 21 virusscanner and security suites for consumers and tested them on several elements, such as detection of malware, system performance and 'false positives'. To test malware the antivirus software was provided 'zero-day' malware and other frequently found malware examples from the last 4 weeks. Bitdefender, Intel Security (McAfee), Avira, F-Secure, Panda Security, Bullguard, Symantec, Trend Micro, AVG, I7 Computing, Qihoo and Ahnlab scored the maximum 6 points on this part of the test. Microsoft and Comodo scored only 3 points and ended last.
When it comes to system performance only Bitdefender and Kaspersky were able to score the maximum of 6 points. G-Data and Quick Heal were last with both 3 points. The last part of the tests, false positives, where AV-Test tested whether clean software isn't accidentally detected as malware, was a piece of cake for most scanners. Most scanners scored 5.5 of 6 points. Ahnlab was the only scanner to score 4.5 points.
Of the free antivirus scanners Panda Security was the best with 17 points, Quickheal and Microsoft Security Essentials were last with 13 and 14 points respectively.
