The German AV-Test has tested which special malware cleanup tools and security suites are best in removing malware from Windows computers after an infection. They tested 15 applications and only 3 applications achieved a perfect score.
AV-Test tested 7 cleanup tools and 8 security suites that had to remove 22 and 40 active malware samples respectively. The security applications were tested with two different scenarios, the first time they were installed on an already infected computer, the second time the security applications were already installed but briefly disabled to install the malware and then enabled again.
It was then checked if the malware sample prevented clean-up, if active malware components were completely removed, if any harmless file remnants remained, and whether all the changes to the system were reversed. And last, did the security or clean-up software perfectly remove and repair everything?
Of the cleanup tools, only Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool scores a perfect score of 100%. In case of the security suites only Avira Antivirus Pro and Malwarebytes Anti-malware achieved a score of 100%.
Especially Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool disappoints with a score of 22.7%. This tool is built into Windows and receives new virus definitions every month and is only able to detect a limited number of malware variants. Of the 22 samples, only 6 were detected.
Also with the security suites Microsoft didn't impress. Security Essentials is last with a score of 86.7%.
