Avc Sum 201412 en

Summary Report 2014
www.av-comparatives.org
Anti-Virus Comparative
Summary Report 2014

Awards, winners, comments
Language: English
December 2014
Last Revision: 20th January 2015
-1-
Summary Report 2014
Table of Contents
Introduction
Participating Vendors
Management Summary
Product Thumbnails
Overview of levels reached during 2014
Winners
Overall winner of 2014 (Product of the Year)
Top Rated Products 2014
Whole-Product Dynamic Real-World Protection winners
File Detection winners
False Positives winners
Overall Performance (Low System-Impact) winners
Proactive (Heuristic/Behavioural) Protection winners
Malware Removal winners
User-Interface Review Section
AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0
Avast Free Antivirus 2015
AVG Internet Security 2015
Avira Antivirus Pro 14.0
Baidu Antivirus 2015 International/English Version
Bitdefender Internet Security 2015
BullGuard Internet Security 15.0
Emsisoft Anti-Malware 9.0
eScan Internet Security Suite with Cloud Security 14.0
ESET Smart Security 8.0
Fortinet FortiClient 5.2 with FortiGate
F-Secure Internet Security 2015
Kaspersky Internet Security 2015
Kingsoft Internet Security 2013.SP9.5
Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 11.4
McAfee Internet Security 2015
Microsoft Windows Defender 4.5 for Windows 8
Panda Free Antivirus 15.0
Qihoo 360 Internet Security 4.9
Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10.3
Tencent PC Manager 10.3
ThreatTrack VIPRE Internet Security 2015
Trend Micro Internet Security 2015
Copyright and Disclaimer
-2-
3
3
4
5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
24
30
37
42
47
54
60
66
72
78
83
89
95
102
107
115
119
124
129
133
139
145
151
Summary Report 2014
Introduction
At the end of every year, AV-Comparatives releases a summary report to comment on the various
anti-virus products tested over the year, and to highlight the high-scoring products of the various
tests. Please bear in mind that this report looks at all the comparative tests of 2014, i.e. not only
the latest ones. Comments and conclusions are based on the results shown in the various
comparative test reports of AV-Comparatives, as well as from observations made during the tests
(http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparatives-reviews/).
Participating Vendors
The following vendors participated in AV-Comparatives public main test-series of 2014 and agreed
to have the effectiveness of their products independently evaluated. Microsoft asked to be included
in the tests, but to be regarded as a baseline and not as competition to the other products.
We are happy that this years tests have helped several vendors to find critical and other bugs in
their software, and that this has contributed to improving the products.
-3-
Summary Reeport 2014
www.av-comparatives.oorg
Managgement Su
ummary
Tests
This yeaar, AV-Compparatives has again subbjected 23 security pro
oducts for W
Windows to rigorous
investigaation. All th
he programss have beenn tested for their abilitty to protecct against real-world
Internett threats, ideentify thousands of receent maliciou
us programs, and providee protection
n without
slowing down the PC.
P Addition
nally, optionnal tests cheecked how well the prooducts could
d remove
ock new andd unknown th
hreats, and protect
p
the uuser against phishing
malware from an inffected PC, blo
attacks.
Resultss and Awards

Whilst all of the proograms in our test reacheed an accepttable level overall, somee programs performed
p
han others. For details, please see Overview off levels reached during 2014 on paage 7. In
better th
order to recognise th
hose productts that achieeve outstand
ding scores in our tests, we give a number of
ht the best results in eaach test and
d overall. The
e Product off the Year aw
ward and
awards tthat highligh
Top Rateed awards are based on overall perrformance in
n the public main test sseries; there are also
Gold, Sillver and Broonze awards for each inddividual test type. Please
e see the Aw
ward Winnerrs section
for moree details of the awards.
Advice on Choosing Compu

uter Securrity Softwaare
There is no such thing as the peerfect securitty program, or the best one for all nneeds and evvery user.
Being reecognized ass Product off the Year ddoes not meean that a program is thhe best in all cases
and for everyone; itt only meanss that its ovverall perform
mance in ou
ur tests throoughout the year was
consistent and unbeaten.
ndors websitte and evaluaate their sofftware by
Before selecting a seecurity product, please vvisit the ven
ur awards aree based on test results only and doo not consid
der other
downloading a trial version. Ou
portant factoors (such as available interface laanguages, prrice, and
factors as there aree some imp
uate for you rself.
support)), which you should evalu
Producct Thumbnaails
Here we provide an overview of the program
ms tested, wiith a note off each ones successes during the
year. Altthough the user interfacce does not affect any awards, we have noted some of thee best UI
features as well.
AhnLab improved in
n the second half of the yyear, with aw
wards in all three of thee last tests. The
T setup
wizard pprovides the useful choice of using W
Windows Firew
wall or the AhnLab
A
firew
wall.
Avast reeceived one Advanced+ award
a
this yyear. Its inteerface has be
een given a facelift for 2015.
2
We
liked thee choice of components
c
t setup wiizard and thee uninstallerr, and its
and languagges in both the
excellentt online knowledge basee.
AVG win
ns a Top Ratted award fo
or the first ttime this yeear. It secure
ed three Advvanced+ awaards, and
was joint winner of the
t Removall Test. The u ser interfacee has had a facelift,
f
but remains justt as userfriendly as before.
p Rated product this yeear, with a total
t
of 6 Ad
dvanced+ Aw
wards, includ
ding both
Avira is again a Top
es it very straaightforward
d to use.
Real-Worrld Protectioon Tests. Its tried and tessted user intterface make
Baidu diid well in thee Performancce Tests, reaaching Advan
nced+ in both.
Bitdefen
nder is Prod
duct of the Year 2014,, with Advanced+ award
ds in all eigght main tessts, RealWorld Prrotection winner, Proacttive winner, joint Perforrmance winner, joint Rem
moval winneer. It has
an updatted, very useer-friendly in
nterface this year.
BullGuard received an award in
n all eight teests this yeaar, including
g three Advaanced+. We liked the
fact thatt the program
m settings are password protected byy default.
Emsisoft
ft is a Top Rated
R
product this yearr, with five Advanced+ awards.
a
It im
mpressed uss with its
completeely new user interface, which is deescribed in detail
d
in the
e product reeview section of this
report.
eScan reeceived four Advanced+ awards in t his years teests. We liked the updatted graphic design
d
in
this yearrs version, which
w
makes features on the home page stand ou
ut very clearlly.
ESET is aagain a Top Rated produ
uct this yearr, with six Advanced+
A
aw
wards. It wass winner of the False
Positivess category. Its
I tried and tested user interface an
nd help featu
ures are as goood as ever.
Fortinett is Top Ratted, receivin
ng four Advaanced+ awarrds this yearr. Its user innterface is businessb
orientedd but straighttforward.
F-Securee is Top Rateed, with three Advancedd+ awards. We
W felt that its
i completeely new user--interface
design iss very clear and
a easy to use, with exxcellent alertts.
Kaspersky Lab winss another To
op Rated aw
ward this yeaar, missing out
o on Produuct of the Year
Y
2014
only beccause it won the award last year. It reached Advanced+ level in all eighht main testts, and is
the File Detection winner
w
and jo
oint Perform
mance winner. Its new in
nterface desiign retains the
t easeof-use of previous veersions.
5
Kingsoftt received awards

a
in all the tests iit participatted in, inclu
uding two Addvanced+. The
T setup
wizard allows Kingsoofts own Internet browseer to be insttalled as an option.
o
Lavasoftt won three Advanced+ awards thiss year, including both File
F Detectionn Tests. We liked its
manual, the extensiive choice of
o interface languages, and the opttion to instaall it as a secondary
s
scanner.
ding one
McAfee (Intel Secuurity) receiveed awards iin all six of the tests it took parrt in, includ
ard, and its clear and persistent
p
Advanceed+. We likedd the choicee of componnents in thee setup wiza
malware alerts.
ows 8/8.1, an
nd served ass our baselin
ne. It was
Microsofft Windows Defender is incorporatedd into Windo
not in coontention foor awards, bu
ut has a simpple, easy-to-use interface
e.
Panda reeceived threee Advanced+ awards in this years tests. We liked the abillity to custo
omise the
tiles on the home paage of the neewly designeed program window.
w
Qihoo 3
360 (English version) received five Advanced+ awards,
a
and was bronzee winner of the
t RealWorld Prrotection Tesst. We liked its
i clear andd persistent malware
m
alerts.
Sophos received three Advanceed+ awards during the year. Its user-interface
u
e is straightforward,
although
h oriented toowards busin
ness use.
Tencent received aw
wards in alll six tests itt took part in, includin
ng two Advaanced+. The program
displays a Health Sccore (overall system seccurity) after a quick scan
n.
Threat TTrack Vipre received awaards in five out of six teests it particcipated in thhis year. We liked its
clean neew interface design and good
g
malwarre alerts.
Trend M
Micro receiveed three Ad
dvanced+ aw
wards in thiss years testts. It has a new graph
hical user
interfacee, which struuck us as verry clean and effective.
Overvieew of leveels reached

d during 2
2014
AV-Compparatives prrovides a wide rangee of tests and revie
ews in com
mprehensive reports
(http://w
www.av-com
mparatives.orrg/comparatiives-reviews//). Annual awards for 20014 are baseed on the
public m
main test-serries: Real-W
World Protecttion Test, Performance
P
e Test, File Detection Test,
T
and
False-Allarm Test (all
(
compulssory), and tthe Proactivve Test and
d Malware RRemoval Teest (both
optionall). Vendors who
w choose not to have some features of their products puublicly evaluaated (i.e.
did not participate in some of th
he optional ttests) are sttill eligible fo
or Product oof the Year/TTop Rated
ot part of
awards, but obviouslly have feweer opportunitties to score points. Additional testss/reviews (no
n test-seriess, and not relevant
r
to tthe awards) included: Mac
M Security Test/Review
w, Mobile
the main
Security Test/Review
w, Business Security
S
Revi ew.
All the pprograms tested are from
m the reputabble and reliable manufacturers. Pleasse note that even the
STANDAR
RD level/awaard requires a program to reach a good standard, althouggh it indicattes areas
which neeed further improvement
i
t compared to other pro
oducts. ADVA
ANCED indicaates areas which may
need som
me improvem
ment, but aree already verry competent. Below is an
a overview of awards reeached by
the varioous anti-viruus products in AV-Comparratives main
n test-series of 2014.
Key:
* = Standard, ** = Advanceed, *** = Advvanced+
An emptyy box indicatees that the vendor did not pparticipate in the optional test.
Award Winners
The Prodduct of the Year award is given to the productt with the highest overaall score from
m all the
public m
main tests. It depends on the numbber of Advanced+ awardss received inn all our tests. As all
productss receiving an Advanced+
+ award are considered (statistically
(
speaking) to be as good
d as each
other, a product can
n receive thee Product of the Year aw
ward without necessarily reaching thee highest
score in any individuual test.
g
the
A numbeer of productts which reacch a very higgh overall staandard in the public maiin tests are given
Top Rateed award.
For each
h of the testt types1 in the
t public m
main series (Real-World
(
Protection, File Detection, False
Positivess, Performan
nce, Proactivee, Malware RRemoval), wee give Gold, Silver and Brronze awards, for the
first, seccond and third highest-scoring produucts, respecttively.
For som
me test typess, there may be two actuual tests cond
ducted in a year;
y
the awaards are baseed on the
combinedd score of botth tests.
8
Overalll winner of
o 2014 (P
Product of the Year)
For AV-CComparativess Product of
o the Year award, all tests in the public
p
main--test series are
a taken
into con
nsideration. This year, both Bitdefennder and Kasspersky Lab received an Advanced+ award in
all of these tests, i.e. were equaally high-scooring. In succh cases, we use the folllowing tie-break: the
n won the award beforre, or the prroduct that won
w it less rrecently, is given
g
the
product which has not
On this basis, AV-Comparratives 20144 Product of the
t Year awa
ard goes to BBitdefender.
award. O
Biitdefend
der
Top Rated Products 2014

This yeaar, like last year, a number of prooducts reach
hed a very high standaard in all our
o tests.
Although
h we only haave one Product of the Year, we reccognise all those
t
produccts with goo
od overall
results bby giving theem the AV-Co
omparatives Top Rated award.
We havee used the reesults over the
t year to designate prroducts as Top Rated. Results from
m all the
tests aree assigned points
p
as follows: Testedd = 0, Standard = 5, Advanced = 110, Advanced+ = 15.
Productss with 90 pooints or moree were givenn the Top Raated award, with two coonditions. Firrstly, any
productss that failed to win any award (i.e. ggot 0 points)) in either of the Real-W
World Protecttion tests
have nott been considered. Secon
ndly, good reesults in thee performancce tests cannnot make up for weak
results in the detecttion/protecttion tests. W
We intend to
o give the To
op Rated aw
ward again next year,
but the ccriteria may be adapted.
Top Rated products foor 2014 are,, in alphabetical order:

VG, AVIRA, Emsisoft,
E
ESSET, F-Secure
e, Fortinet, Kaspersky LLab
AV
mary and awaards pages links below::

Please seee our summ
http://chart.av-comparatives.org
g/awardslist .php?year=2014
10
Whole--Product Dynamic
D
R
Real-Worldd Protecttion winne
ers
Security products include vario
ous differennt features to protect systems agaainst malwaare. Such
nto account in the Who
ole-Product Dynamic
D
Reeal-World Protection
protectioon features are taken in
tests, w
which test products
p
und
der real-worrld condition
ns. Productss must provvide a high level of
protectioon without producing
p
to
oo many falsse alarms, an
nd without requiring
r
thee user to maake many
decisions.
ge result ovver the year: Bitdefende
er (99.7%, few FPs), Avira
A
and
The figuure shown iss the averag
Kasperskky Lab (99.6%, few FPs), and Qihhoo 360 (99
9.5%, few FPs), all receeived the Ad
dvanced+
award in
n both tests of
o 2014.
AWARDS
efender
Bitde
Avira, Kasspersky Labb
Qiho
oo 360
r
of thee 2014 Real- World Protecction tests, please
p
click tthe link belo
ow:
For details and full results
www.av-compparatives.org
g/dynamic-teests/
http://w
11
File Deetection winners

w
The File Detection Test evaluates the static file scanning engine component, whhich is one subset of
d by security
ty products. A high dete
ection rate oof malware - without
the prottection featuures provided
causing too many false alarmss is, depeending on the
t
situation, one of tthe most im
mportant,
nistic and reeliable features of an annti-virus prod
duct (as e.g. it is not hheavily dependent on
determin
infection
n vectors or other factorss).
The folloowing products received the ADVANCCED+ award in
i both overrall File Deteection tests, in March
and Sepptember 2014. The figure shown iss the averag
ge of the two
t
test ressults: Kaspersky Lab
(99.8%, few FPs), F--Secure (99.6
6%, few FPs)) and AVIRA, Bitdefende
er and eScann (99.5%, few
w FPs).
AWARDS
Kaspe
ersky Lab
F-S
Secure
AVIRA, Bitd
defender, eSScan
r
of thee 2014 File D
Detection tessts, please cllick the link below:
g/detection-ttest/
http://w
12
False P
Positives winners
w
False positives can cause
c
as mucch trouble a s a real infeection. Due to
t this, it is important that
t
antir
to thhe public, in order to
virus prooducts underrgo stringent quality asssurance testting before release
avoid false positivess. AV-Compaaratives carryy out extenssive false-positive testinng as part off the File
Detectioon Tests.
he lowest rates of false positives du
uring 2014 were
w
ESET (2)), Panda and Sophos
The prodducts with th
(3) and Fortinet (6). These figurres representt the SUM off the false po
ositives from
m both FP Tessts.
AWARDS
ES
SET
Panda,, Sophos
Forrtinet
r
of thee 2014 False Positive tessts, please click the link below:
g/false-alarm
m-tests/
http://w
13
Overalll Performaance (Low System-Im

mpact) wiinners
Security products must remain turned
t
on u nder all circcumstances, while users are perform
ming their
oducts may hhave a higheer impact tha
an others onn system performance
usual computing tasks. Some pro
me tasks.
while peerforming som
Bitdefen
nder, Kasperrsky Lab, AV
VIRA and ESSET demonstrrated a lowe
er impact onn system performance
than oth
her products..
AWARDS
Bitdefender,
B
Kaspersky Lab
VIRA
AV
ESET
E
r
of thee 2014 Perfoormance testss, please clicck the link b elow:
g/performancce-tests/
http://w
14
Proactiive (Heuriistic/Behavioural) PProtection winners

The Proaactive Test shows
s
how good
g
the he uristic detecction and be
ehavioural p rotection features of
the various anti-virus products are (i.e. h ow good th
hey are at protecting
p
aggainst new//unknown
I
acccess againstt completelyy new (0-day) malwaree. A high proactive
malware) without Internet
n rate must be
b achieved with a low rate
r
of false alarms.
detection/protection
t highest proactive prrotection rattes in the 20014 test: Bittdefender
The folloowing products showed the
(98%, feew FPs), Kasp
persky Lab (97%,
(
few FPPs) and ESETT (90%, very few FPs).
AWARDS
efender
Bitde
Kasperrsky Lab
ES
SET
r
of thee 2014 File D
Detection tessts, please cllick the link below:
g/retrospectiive-test/
http://w
15
Malwarre Removaal winners

A very uuseful abilityy for an antii-virus progrram is removval of malwa
are which haas already in
nfected a
system.
In this years test, five produccts received the Advancced+ award, these beingg Bitdefend
der, AVG,
eScan, K
Kaspersky La
ab and Panda:
AWARDS
nder, AVG
Bitdefen
eScan, Kasspersky Labb
Pa
anda
r
of thee 2014 Malwaare Removall test, please
e click the linnk below:
g/removal-teests/
http://w
16
User-Interrface Reviiew Sectio

on
The proggram reviewss in this secttion do not hhave any efffect on the awards.
a
They are intendeed to give
users an
n idea of wh
hat each program is like in everydayy use. We ho
ope that thiis, together with the
results oof the tests, will help reeaders find a security prrogram that meets theirr needs; non
netheless,
we stron
ngly recomm
mend potenttial buyers oof any of th
he programss in this repport to evalluate the
softwaree themselvess by using a free trial vversion. Other factors th
hat should bbe considereed before
purchasee include com
mpatibility, technical
t
suppport and prrice.
The proggrams were tested
t
for thiis years revi ew on 64-bit English Windows 8.1 w
with Update.
Whilst w
we assume th
hat the vastt majority off our readerss are compu
uter enthusiaasts or profeessionals,
the userr-interface reeview primarrily considerss how easy each
e
program
m is to use ffor non-expeert users.
Our Reall-World Proteection Test demonstrates
d
s that in som
me cases, a security
s
proggram will onlly protect
the PC iff the user maakes the righ
ht decision it is possib
ble to allow the
t malware to run. Add
ditionally,
if a proogram is ouut-of-date orr a protectiion componeent is disab
bled, the coomputer will not be
protecteed unless the user is made
m
aware of the prob
blem and prrovided withh a simple means
m
of
hus feel that if a securrity program
m is to provide effectivee protection
n for the
rectifying it. We th
hat needs
average user, it musst either carrry out actionns automaticcally, or make it clear to the user wh
a decision -making or specialist kn
nowledge. W
We hope our feedback
to be doone, withoutt requiring any
will be h
helpful to vendors in opttimising theiir products. Equally,
E
we are
a sure thatt many of ou
ur readers
will provvide IT suppport for non--expert fami ly members, friends and
d customers, and we aim
m to help
them decide which products
p
willl be easiest ffor their supported users to operate.
wing aspectss of the secu
urity program
ms in our testts:
Our everryday-usage report looks at the follow
What options aree available in

n the setup w
wizard?
Doess the uninstaller have additional options, such as addin

ng or removving compo
onents or
repaairing the insstallation?
Is a dedicated reemoval tool provided by the manufaccturer?
How
w does the prrogram registter in Windo ws Action Ceenter?
If th
he programss real-time protection
p
oor firewall (if applicable) are disablled, is a Sysstem-Tray
alertt shown by Action
A
Center or the prodduct itself?
Are eessential fun

nctions and information easy to find
d in the prog
grams user innterface? Wee look for
systeem status, scan,
s
updatee (where appplicable), su
ubscription status (wheere applicablle), help,
quarrantine and logs.
l
Doess the program

m customise Internet Exxplorer by ad
dding a toolb
bar or rankinngs for search results,
or ch
hanging the default searrch service (B
Bing)?
17
Doess the main program

p
wind
dow warn apppropriately in
i the eventt that the re al-time prottection or
firew
wall (where applicable)
a
iss disabled, aand make it easy
e
to rectify this?
What scanning options

o
are available?
a
Is a scan entry added

a
to Win
ndows Explorrers right-cliick menu?
Stan
ndard-User Access:
A
can protection be disabled, or the pro
ogram uninsstalled, with
h a nonadministrator acccount?
Malw
ware alerts: Does
D
the pro
ogram show a clear and appropriate
a
warning
w
wheen the EICAR
R test file
is doownloaded2? If the prog
gram produceed a significcant numberr of user-deppendent deccisions in
our Real-World Protection Test
T
this yeaar (over 1%
% of test cases), the reelevant dialo
og box is
wn. This applies to Bullguard, Emsisooft, F-Secure, Kingsoft an
nd Tencent.
show
Helpp: We look foor a local hellp function, oonline knowledge base, and downloaadable manuual.
Please n
note that maany of the programs
p
in this review
w have addittional featurres, such as parental
control, which we haave not coveered here. Reeaders shoulld consult manufacturerss websites fo
or details
i each prodduct. The queestion we ha
ave attempteed to answerr for each
of other functionalitty included in
w many featu
ures does it hhave?, but Does
it do the
t essentiall things well?.
program is not How
http://w
www.eicar.orgg/85-0-Downlo
oad.html
18
AhnLab V3 Inteernet Secu

urity 8.0..8.1.1531
1
Installa
ation
Choices in the setup wizard: Th
he user has tto accept thee licence agrreement, andd can decidee whether
or not too install the AhnLab Perssonal Firewa ll, change th
he folder loca
ation, and reegister the product.
p
We foun
nd installation very quick and straaightforward. We liked having the option of installing
i
AhnLabss firewall or continuing to
t use Windoows Firewall.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none, only comple
ete removal iis possible.
Removal tool: We coould not find
d a separate removal too
ol.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Win
ndows Actio
on Center: AhnLab V3 Internet Security registters as antivvirus and
antispyw
ware. By deffault, the Ah
hnLab firewaall is not acctivated, and
d Windows FFirewall conttinues to
run.
19
Action CCenter alertts: If real-tim

me protectioon is disableed, Windows Action Centter displays a pop-up
alert:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status is shoown on the home
h
page oof the main program
p
window.
me page (Smaart Scan), while full/cusstom/scheduled scans
Scans caan be run froom a button on the hom
are availlable from th
he System Seecurity link inn the left-hand menu collumn.
Update and Help buuttons are found in the ttoolbar at the top of the window.
on status in
n the prograam. Accordin
ng to the
We weree unable to find any deetails of the subscriptio
manual, the program
m will displayy a warning aand renewal link 30 dayss before the subscription
n expires.
Logs and
d Quarantine: There are links to botth items on the
t System Security
S
and SSystem Tunin
ng pages.
With th
he exceptioon of subscription staatus, all the main functions annd information are
straightfforward to find in V3 Intternet Securi tys interface.
Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion

AhnLab VV3 Internet Security doees not make any changess to Internet Explorer.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: If RTTP is deactivvated, the Reeal-Time System Scan
line readds Disabled, and its icon changes to a cross in an orange cirrcle. Clickingg on Disabled
d displays
a short m
menu from which
w
Enabled
d can be cliccked and thee protection thus restore d.
20
We feel that the status display is

i quite subttle, and thatt some users would not nnotice that there
t
was
anythingg wrong if reeal-time prottection was ddisabled.
Status d
display and
d default co
onfigurationn: After insttallation, the Security SStatus was shown
s
as
Attentionn. Opening the Protection Settingss dialog boxx showed th
hat only 3 out of a po
ossible 8
protectioon componen
nts were activated:
Activatin
ng all 8 of the components changedd the main sttatus displayy to Secure. W
We note thaat neither
email noor messagingg client was installed
i
on our test macchine, makin
ng these feattures redund
dant.
V3s deffault configuuration would appear n ot to meet its own ma
anufacturerss security sttandards,
which m
may leave some users feeling confussed. We wou
uld recommend that AhnnLab alter th
he status
display sso that it shows Secure when
w
the (enntirely sensible and appropriate) deffault configu
uration is
used.
21
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: In addiition to the SSmart Scan on
o the home
e page, V3 offfers full, custom and
scheduleed scans from
m the System
m Security pa ge:
Right-cllick scanning: By defaullt, there is nno addition to

t Windows Explorers
E
coontext menu,, but this
can be aactivated in the
t settings. Two entriess, V3 System
m Scan and V3 Secure Dele
letion, then appear
a
in
the menu.
Standarrduser access
Real-tim
me protectio
on: Users with
w
non-addministrator accounts can disable real-time protection
without having to en
nter administrator credenntials.
Uninstalling the prroduct: A standard user cannot uninstall the product; a Wiindows Userr Account
f administrrator credentials.
control iis displayed, prompting for
We feel tthat by default, standard
d user accou nts should not
n be able to deactivatee real-time
protectioon.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: In our tesst, AhnLab VV3 Internet Security
S
dete
ected the EICCAR test filee silently.
The deteection was reeported in th
he log.
Whetherr or not to sh
how alerts when malwaree is detected
d is arguably a matter off personal preference.
Some peeople at leastt will prefer to see an aleert, so that they
t
have an
n explanationn as to why e.g. they
cannot ddownload a particular
p
filee.
Help an
nd Support
Manual: There is a downloadabl
d
le 120-page manual in PDF
P format, covering
c
all aspects of in
nstalling,
configurring and usin
ng the produ
uct. The sam
me content can
c be found
d by clickingg on Help in
n the top
right-hand corner off the window
w. This openss an HTML veersion of the manual, shoown below:
22
Online k
knowledge base:
b
There is a Productt FAQ page on the AhnLLab website,, although itt appears
not to diisplay any an
nswers relevant to V3 In ternet Securrity 8.0:
We found the manuaal to be comp

prehensive, w
well organiseed and easilyy navigable. However, we
w feel
that the style of writting may be somewhat ccomplicated for
f non-expe
ert users, andd suggest th
hat
simplifyiing the instrructions and adding moree screenshotts (there are only 3 in thhe entire man
nual)
would bee helpful.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
After insstallation, th
he product notifies the reeader that an update is necessary:
n
Summa
ary
AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0
0 is simple tto install and largely easy to use. T he program interface
makes m
most main feeatures and data easily accessible. However, we would sugggest that th
he status
display should be more obvio
ous, and th at it shoulld accept th
he programs (sensible)) default
configurration as safee.
23
Avast Free Antiivirus 201

15.10.0.2
2206
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The
T standardd installation
n asks wheth
her to installl Google Chrrome and
Google TToolbar for Internet
I
Exp
plorer. The ccustom instaallation allow
ws the user to choose the folder
location, componentts and user-interface lan guages, and
d whether to allow data ssharing. The last step
a allows the
t user to go back and
d change
of the ssetup wizard summarisess the selecteed options and
them.
ween a veryy simple defaault installattion and thee custom insstallation
We likedd having thee choice betw
that alloows advancedd users to ch
hoose compoonents and laanguages.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninstaller: As w
well as removing the pro
ogram complletely, the un
ninstaller
can updaate the program version,, repair the iinstallation, and change componentss and languaages.
Removal tool: Avastt provide a separate remooval tool, avvastclear.exe.3
We were pleased to see
s the range of useful ooptions availlable in the uninstaller.
u
http://w
www.avast.com/en-us/unin
nstall-utility
24
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center: Avvast Free Anttivirus registters as antiviirus and antiispyware.
Action CCenter alertts: If the Avvast real-tim

me protectio
on is disable
ed, no pop-uup alert is shown
s
by
Action CCenter or the program itself.
We feel tthat an obvious alert meessage-box s hould be dissplayed when
n protection is deactivated.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status is shoown on the Home
H
page
p
other types of scaan from the SCAN
S
link
Scans caan be run froom the Quickk Scan buttoon on home page,
on the riight.
Updatess can be run by clicking the
t SETTINGSS link, Updatte.
Help is oopened by cllicking the question-mar
q
rk symbol in the top righ
ht-hand corn er of the win
ndow.
Logs aree accessed frrom the STATTISTCS link o n the right.
Quaranttine can be found by cllicking SCAN
N, Scan for viruses;
v
there
e is a link aat the bottom of the
page.
d makes mosst importantt features
We feel that the intterface of Avvast Free Anntivirus is veery clear and
and infoormation eassily accessible. The updaate and quarantine funcctions are noot so simplee to find,
although
h an automattic update ru
uns every fouur hours.

Toolbar:: An Avast button is added to IInternet Exp
plorers existting toolbarr, and disp
plays site
informattion and webb-filter settin
ngs.
Search sservice: Thiss is not changed unless tthe user choo
oses to insta
all Google Chhrome/Googlle toolbar
from thee Avast setupp wizard.
Ratings for search results:
r
Avasst marks sea rch results as
a safe in Goo
ogle, but noot in Bing.
25
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: the alert
a
below is shown in the main window
w
if
RTP is diisabled. Clickking the Resolve All butt on re-enablees all protecttion compon ents.
The alert shown by the status section

s
of thhe main win
ndow is very prominent, and providees a very
obvious one-click opption to reactivate protecction, which we find ideal.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: The scaan dialog boox, found by clicking Sca
an, Scan for vviruses, provvides full,
quick, cuustom, boot--time and removable meddia scans:
Right-cllick scannin
ng: An Avasst scan enttry is added
d to Window
ws Explorers
s context menu,
m
so
individual drives, filees and folders can be scaanned by rig
ght-clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: this can be
b deactivatted by a userr without adm
ministrator pprivileges.
Uninstalling the prroduct: a staandard user cannot do this, either from Controol Panel or using
u
the
Avast removal tool.
ministrator accounts
a
shoould not be able
a
to deacttivate protecction.
We feel tthat non-adm
26
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The warning below iss shown wheen the user attempts to download the EICAR
test file.. The alert clloses automaatically afterr about a min
nute.
The Moree details buttton does no

ot actually pprovide any more detaills, but does make clear that the
threat haas been bloccked:
We feel the warning is reasonab

bly clear, is ddisplayed for long enoug
gh to read, aand does not provide
the user with any opption to run the malwaree, all of which is good.
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: thiss is accessiblle by clickingg the question-mark icon
n in the top right-hand corner of
the winddow. This is context-senssitive, i.e. itt opens at th
he page relatted to the feeature currently being
used. Th
his explains the current feature, butt there is no
o assistance with findingg a particulaar feature
(e.g. quaarantine) in the first place.
27
Online k
knowledge base:
b
Avast Customer
C
& TTechnical Su
upport4 is sea
archable, andd provides
compreh
hensive, stepp-by-step instructions witth screensho
ots for speciffic tasks, staarting with how
h to
open thee program wiindow:
We feel that the local

l
help service
s
is off rather lim
mited use, but
b the onlline knowled
dge base
instructiions are exceellent, being comprehenssive, clear, and
a very welll illustrated.
http://w
www.avast.com/en-us/faq.php
28
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Tutorial: Avast Freee Antivirus provides
p
a s hort tutorial with securrity tips, whhich is shown shortly
after insstallation:
Customiisable butto
ons: the fourr main buttoons on the Status
S
page can
c also be customised by rightclicking and choosin
ng any one of a number oof features, such
s
as upda
ate, quarantiine, and scan
ns.
Pirate TTalk: The useer-interface languages innclude a hum
morous versiion of Englissh called Pirrate Talk,
which in
ncludes phrasses like From the crowss nest, meaaning in thiss case Systeem status. It
I is used
in the prrogram window, and for audio messaages too.
Both thee customisabble buttons and
a the tutoorial strike us
u as very usseful and eassy to use. Piirate Talk
might noot be everyones cup of tea,
t but it m
makes us laug
gh.
Summa
ary
We foun
nd Avast Freee Antivirus 2015 to bee mostly weell-designed and easy tto use. We liked the
componeent and langguage choicees in the settup wizard, and the layo
out of the m
main window
w with its
clear staatus display and custom
misable butttons. The on
nline knowle
edge base iss excellent. Our only
suggesteed improvement would be to preventt non-adminiistrator accounts disablinng protection.
29
AVG In
nternet Seecurity 20
015.0.53 15
Installa
ation
Choices in the settup wizard: The defaultt setup provvides the ch
hoice of lan guage for the
t setup
wizard, ttrial or subsscription liceence key, fo lder location
n, whether to
t join the pproduct improvement
program, and search service:
30
Choosingg the Custoom Installattion optionss provides the

t
addition
nal choices of componeents and
languagees:
We likedd the simple setup for no

on-experts, w
with a choice of compon
nents availabble to advanced user.
We were also pleasedd to be given
n a clear chooice of defau
ult search engine.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Thesse include prroduct updatte, repair, chhanging components,
and dow
wngrading to the AVG Freee Antivirus:
Removal tool: Theree is a separatte removal toool, AVG Rem

mover5.
AVG have proovided an exxcellent rangge of optionss in the unin
nstaller.
We feel A
http://w
www.avg.com/eu-en/utilitiies
31
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center
AVG Inteernet Securitty registers as
a antivirus, antispywaree and firewall. Windows FFirewall is disabled.
Action CCenter alertts: If real-tiime protectiion is disab

bled from the System Trray icon, no
o alert is
shown. IIf it is disabled from the program wi ndow, an Acction Center alert is displlayed:
No Systeem Tray alertt is shown if the AVG fireewall is switcched off.

We feel there should always bee a clear Acction Centerr warning when
w
a proteection comp
ponent is
disabled, as the warrning trianglle on the AVVG icon itself is far too small
s
to stannd out, and the icon
itself is hidden by deefault.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
Protection status, scans,
s
subsccription stattus, and upd
dates (Protection is up-tto-date) are shown in
the main
n program wiindow.
Help is ffound in thee Options men
nu in top rigght-hand corrner of windo
ow.
Logs andd quarantinee are also located in thee Options menu, under Hiistory.
We found the prograam interfacee very clear and easy to navigate, with
w the mosst importantt features
availablee at-a-glancee in the main
n window, annd everythin
ng else locate
ed in the sinngle menu.
32

The searrch service can be changed to AVGss Yahoo-based search se
ervice as an option durin
ng setup.
Otherwisse, no changges are made to Internet Explorer.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on and firew
wall warningg & reactivaation: If the RTP is disabbled, the aleert below
is shown
n:
A corresponding alerrt is shown in

i the eventt that the firrewall is inacctive. In eithher case, cliccking the
Click to ffix it button will reactivaate all protecction featurees.
We feel the alerts in
n the program window a re very clearr, and it is simple
s
to reaactivate any disabled
componeents.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optio
ons: The Sca
an Options paage, found by
b clicking th
he cogwheel next to Scan
n Now on
the home page, provvides full, cu
ustom, schedduled and roo
otkit scans:
33
ng: There is a Scan withh AVG entry in the conttext menu oof Windows Explorer,
allowingg files, folderrs and drivess to be scannned by right--clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: This cann
not be deactiivated witho
out administrrator credenttials.
Uninstalling the product:
p
Thiis requires administrator credentia
als, regardleess of whetther AVG
Removerr or Programss and Featurres is used.
AVG Inteernet Securitty 2015 prevvents non-addministratorss from disab
bling or remooving the prrogram in
any way,, which we find
f
ideal.
Malwarre warningss
test file.. It remains open until the user closees it.
Clicking Show details

ls provides a few additioonal details, such as the
e severity off the threat,, and the
mponent thatt identified it.
AVG com
We woulld describe the
t alert as very informaative. Users have to make a choice,, although there
t
is a
clearly reecommendedd option, and no means of running the
t maliciouss program, bboth of which
h we find
ideal.
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: thiss is shown in
i the screennshot below
w. This uses the familiar,, accessible Windows
Help layout, with an overview off topics liste d in the leftt-hand pane and details oon the right.
34
Online k
knowledgebaase: There iss a searchablle FAQ page6 which proviides simple aanswers to common
c
queries.
VG Internet Security. To
opics are
We weree particularlyy impressed with the loocal Help feeature of AV
clearly aand succinctlly explained,, with screennshots provid
ded wheneve
er this is obvviously useful.
http://ssupport.avg.coom/support_IInternet_Secuurity
35
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Initial sscan: Shortlyy after the installation, a dialog bo
ox is shown that promptts the user to
t run an
initial sccan of the coomputer.
AVG PC TuneUp: Th
he Fix Performance buttton on the main progra
am window promotes a separate
product, AVG PC TuneUp.
Summa
ary
AVG Inteernet Security 2015 hass kept all th e simplicity and clarity of earlier ve
versions, and
d remains
very eassy to use. We
W particularrly liked the installation
n and deinsttallation opttions, easy access
a
to
importan
nt features in the prograams main wiindow, and excellent
e
local help. The status displlay in the
program itself is exccellent; our one
o suggesteed improvem
ment would be to report m
more consisttently via
Windowss Action Centter.
36
Avira A
Antivirus Pro 14.0
0.7.306
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: There
T
are Exppress or Custom optionss. The Custom
m Installatio
on allows
the userr to choose the installation folder, which prog
gram compon
nents to insstall, and wh
hether to
confirm before sendiing suspicious files to A
Avira. The Co
onfiguration Wizard, show
wn after installation,
a types of threat to deetect.
lets the user decide on heuristics and detecttion levels, and
nfiguration W
Wizard allow
w advanced users
u
to conffigure the prroduct as
The Custtom Installattion and Con
they waant. Non-expperts can usse the Expreess installattion option, and simplyy accept thee default
options in the Configguration Wizzard.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal optionss in the uninstaller:
u
There is a Change option, whicch allows individual
componeents to be addded or remo
oved.
ol.
s
us ass a useful option for
The abillity to changge installed componentss from the uninstaller strikes
advancedd users.
37
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Actio
on Center: A
Avira Antiviru
us Pro registters as antivvirus and anttispyware
in Action
n Center:
Action CCenter alerts: If real-tim

me protectio n is disabled
d, Windows Action
A
Centeer displays itts normal
bubble aalert:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System Status, Scan
n, Update, Subscription
S
n Status, Logs and Quarrantine are aall accessiblee directly
from thee home pagee of the main
n program w
windows. Hellp can be found in the H
Help menu at the top
of the w
window.
The layoout of the program win
ndow makess it extremeely easy to find all impportant feattures and
informattion.

Antiviruss Pro does not add a toolbar
t
to Innternet Expllorer, or cha
ange the seaarch engine or mark
search reesults.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivaation: If RTP is disabled
d, the statuss display in the main
window changes to an alert, shown
s
below
w. Clicking the Fix prob
blem buttonn will reactiivate the
protectioon.
38
Firewalll warning an
nd reactivattion: Antivirrus Pro doess not include
e its own firrewall, but users
u
can
monitor and controol the Windo
ows Firewalll from Aviraas program window. If Windows Fiirewall is
disabled (by whatever means),, Antivirus Pro displayss a correspo
onding warnning, along with Fix
Problem button.
ng status and controls foor Windows Firewall
F
in th
he interface is a very cleever idea,
We feel tthat includin
as it alloows the user to see and change
c
all m
major securityy features in one place.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optiions: A widee range of sccan options,, including quick,
q
custom
m and comp
plete, can
be foundd by clickingg System Sca
anner in thee left-hand pane of the program wiindow. The Scheduler
S
entry in the same meenu panel alllows scheduuled scans to be set up.
E
Right-cllick scanning: An entry entitled Scaan selected fiiles with Avirra is added tto Windows Explorers
context menu, allow
wing drives, folders
f
and fi
files to be scanned by rig
ght-clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A non-ad
dministrator account cannot disable
e protection features; a Windows
User Acccount Controol dialog box appears, deemanding adm
ministrator credentials.
c
p
If a standard user attemp
pts to uninsstall the prooduct or ch
hange its
configurration, a UACC prompt agaain demands details of an admin account.
Avira have effectivelly prevented standard ussers from disabling the product.
39
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The follow
wing alert is shown in the browser:
We feel tthe web pagge alert is excellent, makking very cleaar what has happened. TThis remains until the
user closses it.
Help an
nd Support
Manual: Clicking the Help menu
u, Overview, opens the local help service,
s
whicch uses the Windows
nsole:
Help con
40
The Suppport entry in the Help meenu opens thhe products online Forum7. This alloows users to ask their
own queestions, and search for an
nswers alreaddy provided for other use
ers.
We woulld describe the local help
p service as good; it is comprehensiv
c
ve, and provi
vides simple and clear
instructiions, with occasional sccreenshots. W
We noticed that
t
one or two of thesse show German text
instead of English, but
b Avira havve confirmedd that these will be replaced in the next version
n of Avira
Antiviruss Pro.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
A quick sscan is run after
a
the insttallation andd configuratiion wizards have
h
been coompleted.
Summa
ary
We found Avira Antiivirus Pro to
o be very sim
mple to use,, with the home page pproviding a very
v
clear
status diisplay, and easy
e
access to
t all importtant featuress. We particu
ularly liked tthe ability to
o monitor
and conttrol Windowss Firewall dirrectly from tthe program window, and
d the malwarre-alert web page.
http://w
www.avira.com
m/en/supportt
41
Baidu Antiviruss 2015 (5

5.0.3.843 33) Interrnational//English V
Version
Installa
ation
he only choi ce in the staandard installation is whhether to join Baidus
User Expperience Proggram. The custom installlation allow
ws the user a choice of 7 languages,, and the
location of the progrram folder.
ndard installaation is extreemely simplee and could be carried out with a sinngle click. Th
he choice
The stan
of languuages will be
b useful to
o some useers, although
h we found that the link for thee custom
installattion was veryy subtle and could easily be overlookked.
42
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninstaller: Baiddus Uninstalll/Change dia
alog box enccourages useers not to
uninstall the product, by suggesting solutionns to any pro
oblems that have been eencountered:
d a separate uninstall tool.

ws Action Cen
nter Windowss
Window
ndows Action
n Center: Baaidu Antiviru
us registers as
a antivirus aand antispyw
ware. The
product does not incclude its own
n firewall, soo Windows Fiirewall remaiins active:
d, no pop-up
p alert is shoown by Actio
on Center
or Baiduu itself.
We feel it would be an improveement to havve Windows Action Centter display itts normal allert when
malware protection is
i disabled.
43
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan
n, update, lo
ogs and quaarantine can
n all be found on the ho me page of the main
ded in the foorm of a linkk to the Baid
du website. This can be found in
program window. Heelp is provid
the menu in the top right-hand corner of thee window.
me page show
ws icons for all three of the program
ms antivirus engines, nam
mely Baidu Antivirus,
A
The hom
Baidu Clloud, and Avria Antiviruss. All of thesee are activatted and upda
ated by defa ult.
w
of Baidu Antiviruus makes alll essential fe
eatures easyy to access, although
The main
n program window
the Updaate link is in
n very small text, light bblue on a medium
m
blue background,, and could easily be
missed, in our opinioon.

Baidu An
ntivirus doess not custom
mise Internett Explorer.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: If RTTP is disable
ed, the textt and symbo
ol on the
home paage change to
t show this::
Clicking Get Full Prottection immeediately reacttivates the RTP.

R
how that prootection is disabled,
d
we feel it wouuld stand out more if
Whilst teext and grapphic both sh
colouredd red. Reactivvating the RTP is very quuick and simple.
44
Scannin
ng
ons: Quick, full
f and custtom scans arre available directly
d
from
m the home page:
p
ng: A Scan with
w
Baidu AAntivirus entry is added
d to Window
ws Explorerss context
menu, alllowing drivees, folders an
nd files to bee scanned byy right-clickiing.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A standard user cann disable RTTP without having to pprovide admiinistrator
credentials.
Uninstalling the prroduct: This cannot be done by a non-adminisstrator accouunt, a Windows User
Account Control prom
mpt demands administraator credentials.
a improvem
ment to preveent standard
d user accoun
nts from disaabling protecction.
We feel iit would be an
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test filee is downloaaded, the fo
ollowing alerrt is displayeed in the
browser::
45
Help an
nd Support
The onlyy help feature we could find
f
was the Baidu Antivirus Forum8.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The userr can changee the backgrround imagee of the main window to
o one of anoother twelve designs.
These apppear to havve been carrefully choseen so that the
t white te
ext of the pprogram conttrols still
stands oout clearly. Itt is also posssible to channge the user-interface language from
m the setting
gs.
Summa
ary
We found Baidu Anttivirus to be largely very simple to use,
u with a well-designed
w
d interface. However,
we feel that a moree secure deffault configuuration, makking it more
e difficult too disable prrotection,
would bee an improveement.
http://fforum.antiviruus.baidu.com//
46
Bitdeffender Intternet Seccurity 201

15 (18.17
7.0.1227)
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The
T default setup lets the
t user decide whetherr to send an
nonymous
usage reeports. The Custom opttion providees the addittional choice
es of folderr location and proxy
details. At the end of the instaallation, the user is prom
mpted to acttivate the pproduct by lo
ogging in
with a B
Bitdefender, Microsoft or Google acccount. Bitdeefender inforrm us that tthis is to en
nable the
online seervices such as Parental Control.
The stan
ndard installaation is veryy simple and even inexpeerienced use
ers should haave no difficculty with
it.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre is a repairr function in addition to removal.
Removal tool: Theree is a separatte removal toool, the Bitd
defender Uninstall Tool9.
i a useful ad
ddition to thhe uninstalleer, in our opinion.
The repaair function is
http://w
www.bitdefender.com/site//Downloads/uuninstallIntro//uninstall_con
nsumer_paid. html
47
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Wiindows Action Center:: Bitdefendeer Internet Security re gisters as antivirus,
a
antispyw
ware and fireewall.
Action CCenter alertss: When we disabled

d
reall-time protecction, the fo
ollowing Systtem Tray warrning was
shown by Action Cen
nter:
window, whicch shows tha

at the RTP iss disabled an
nd allows
Clicking on the alertt opens Action Center w
it to be reactivated. Additionallyy, the Bitdeffender widgeet displays a warning in the form off a red Xovered by proogram windo
ows).
symbol ((although this may be co
If the firrewall is deaactivated, thee following W
Windows Acttion Center alert
a
is displaayed:
48
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, updaate, subscription statuss, and defau
ult scan can all be foundd on the hom
me page.
ow.
Help is ffound in thee menu in thee top right-hhand corner of the windo
Quaranttine and logs are both accessed from
m the Events window (Meenu | Events)). The Eventss window
shows a list of malw
ware items found and alloows them to be restored or deleted.
portant functtions and information arre very easilyy accessible from the
We woulld say that the most imp
main proogram windoow. It took us a little w
while to work out that the
t quarantinne function and logs
functions are integgrated into the same window, bu
ut having realised thiss, we recog
gnise the
convenieence of haviing both items togetherr. Bitdefendeer inform us that when a threat is moved
m
to
quarantine, a popupp message ap
ppears, notiffying the user of the event and alloowing him/her to see
the detaails in the loggs.

Toolbar:: A toolbar with
w one item
m, Bitdefendder Wallet, iss added to In
nternet Expllorer. It can easily be
closed byy clicking th
he X symbol at
a the end.
Search sservice: Thiss is not changed.

Ratings for search results: Rattings for seaarch results are provided
d for Bing annd Google, as
a shown
Bitdefender inform
i
us that the ratinggs are also applied
a
to Ya
ahoo and Baiidu, and linkks posted
below. B
on Facebbook and Twiitter.
Bitdefen
nder inform us that theey are worki ng on integ
grating the Bitdefender Wallet icon
n into an
existing toolbar, to save
s
screen space.
49
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Firewalll and real-tiime protectiion warningg and reactivation: If either the reaal-time protection or
the firew
wall is disablled, the alertt below is di splayed in th
he main window:
Bitdefen
nder inform us
u that the same alert w
will be show
wn if the phishing protecction or Anttimalware
Filter is disabled, orr if the product has not been updateed for 72 ho
ours. Clickingg on Fix all issues!
i
or
pens a dialoog box with a Fix button, clicking w
which reactiivates all
anywherre in the staatus area op
protectioon componen
nts.
We feel Bitdefenderr Internet Security
S
pro vides a veryy clear alert, and a veery simple means
m
of
rectifying the probleem.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan opttions: Clickin
ng on Proteection provid
des the scan
n options shhown below.. Manage
Scans alllows custom and scheduled scans to be created.
Right-cllick scanning: The entryy Scan with BBitdefender iss added to Windows
W
Exp lorers conteext menu,
so that tthe user can scan drives,, folders or ffiles by rightt-clicking the
em.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: Protectio
on componennts cannot be disabled by non-adminnistrator accounts, as
the conttrols are greyyed out.
p
Staandard userss cannot un
ninstall the program, eeither from Windows
Control Panel or usiing the prod
ducts removaal tool. In both
b
cases, a Windows U
User Account Control
c
prompt ddemands adm
Bitdefen
nder have seccured the pro
oduct effectiively againstt deactivatio
on or removaal by standard users.
50
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: When the user attemppts to download the EICA
AR test file, the following alert is
shown in
n the browseer:
If the usser clicks the link at thee bottom (I understand the risks),, and continnues to down
nload the
file, a Syystem Tray alert is shown
n:
Clicking on More dettails opens the suites Evvents page att the relevan
nt entry.
a very clear and succin ct.
We feel bboth alerts are
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: Theere is a local help servicce in HTML format,
f
whicch opens in the default browser.
Topics caan be found with a searcch box.
51
Online knowledge base: Bitdeefender provvide an FAQ page10, which has ansswers to 59 common
queries. There are haas step-by-sttep simple innstructions that
t
work witth different vversions of Windows:
W
g
as far as it goes. The knowleedge-base
The locaal help serviice struck us as fairly bbasic, but good
articles explain taskks comprehen
nsively and are very well illustrated with screennshots. We note
n
that
Bitdefen
nder have considered useers of Window
ws XP, Vista,, 7 and 8, an
nd provided separate insstructions
where neecessary, or as shown in the screeenshot abovee used dire
ections that work with any of the
supporteed Windows versions.
v
Thiis is very we ll thought-out, we feel.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Desktop widget: Bittdefender provide a des ktop widgett, similar to those in W
Windows 7/Viista. This
shows th
he status, sccans in progrress, and thee number of unread events; clicking on it opens the main
program window.
10
http:///www.bitdefen
nder.com/support/internett-security-2015/
52
Bitdefen
nder consisteently uses th
he same alerrt symbol, a red cross on
o black bacckground. Sh
harp-eyed
users willl see this is even used for
f the Syste m Tray icon..
The use of the same warning sym

mbol throughhout strikes us very sensible.
Summa
ary
Bitdefen
nder should prove very straightforwa
s
ard to use, even
e
for non
n-experts. Innstallation is simple,
and the online know
wledge base provides cle ar and well-illustrated in
nstructions. The program
m window
has an oobvious stattus display and
a makes e ssential feattures and information eeasy to find. Malware
alerts are simple butt effective.
53
BullGu
uard Interrnet Securrity 15.0..288.1
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: There
T
are noone; the useer has to acccept the liccence agreem
ment and
click Insstall, no furth
her interventtion is requirred or possib
ble.
The instaallation proccess is effecttively as simpple as can bee.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none, only comple
ete removal iis possible.
ol.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Actio
on Center: B ullGuard reg
gisters as anttivirus, antisspyware and
d firewall.
Windowss Firewall is not disabled
d, but BullGuuard inform us
u that their firewall inteegrates with Windows
Firewall and does noot cause any conflicts.
54
Action CCenter alertss: If real-tim

me protectionn is disabled
d, Action Cen
nter shows thhe alert belo
ow. If the
BullGuarrd Firewall iss disabled, no Action Cennter warning
g is shown, but
b this is aas it should be,
b given
that Win
ndows Firewaall is also acttive.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status: Oveerall system status is s hown brieflyy in the ma
ain program
m window when it is
opened:
uarantine caan be found in the menu

u on the Antiivirus tile:
Scan opttions and qu
55
Update has a dedicaated button at

a the right--hand end off the title bar.
ption statuss is found on the Generall page of Setttings.
Subscrip
Help can
n be accessed from the Support
S
buttoon in the bottom left-hand corner.
Logs can
n be found in the Messagging Centre, to the left of
o the minim
mise button iin the top right-hand
corner of the window
w.

BullGuarrd does not add
a a Toolba
ar to Interneet Explorer or
o change the
e search serrvice. It does provide
ratings ffor search results in Bin
ng and Googgle:
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: If reeal-time prottection is diisabled, the program
window will show the following alert when fi
first opened:
mains until th
he user clickss one of the buttons, aftter which the normal hoome page is shown.
s
If
This rem
real-timee protection or the firewall is disabbled, the co
omponents tile
t is shownn with a pink border,
and an eexclamation mark symbol in red. Thee big button at the botto
om of the tille changes to Enable,
and clickking it will reeactivate thee componentt.
56
We did w
wonder whether the em
mpty space inn the main window cou
uld not be uused for a peermanent
status ddisplay. How
wever, we are informed by BullGuarrd that in geographical regions where their
Premium
m Protection product is supported, exxtra tiles aree added for the
t addition al features. As noted
above, aan alert in the event of
o disabled pprotection covers
c
the whole
w
window
w and remaains until
dismisseed by the useer.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optiions: Quick, full and cusstom scans can be run from the buutton in the Antivirus
tile.
Right-cllick scanning: A Scan with BullGuardd entry is ad
dded to Wind
dows Exploreers context menu, so
that drivves, folders and
a files can be scanned by right-clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: If a user without addministratorr privileges attempts
a
to access the settings,
the proggram promptts for the Bu
ullGuard acccount passwo
ord. The settings cannott be accesseed unless
the correect passwordd is entered.
Uninstalling the product: A Windows
W
Useer Account Control prompt appearss if a stand
dard user
attemptss to uninstalll the producct. Unless addministrator credentials are
a supplied,, the softwarre cannot
be uninsstalled.
Using th
he BullGuard Account passsword to prootect the setttings strikess us as an iddeal means of
o
preventing unauthorrised access.
57
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: When the user attemppts to download the EICA
AR test file, the following alert is
shown:
M
details shows the nname of the malware,
The alertt is displayeed until the user closes iit. Clicking More
its locatiion on the computer,
c
and the processs that accesssed it:
We find BullGuards malware-detection alertt to be veryy well thought-out. The message maakes very
clear thaat the compuuter is safe, and that thee user does not
n need to take any acttion. We likee the fact
that the alert stays until dismisssed, so theree is no possiibility of it closing
c
beforre it can be read. For
advancedd users, the Quarantine and
a More Dettails links are very conve
enient.
User-dependent dettection: In cases where the program
m does not identify
i
malw
lware unambiguously,
the folloowing alert iss shown:
58
Help an
nd Support
Clicking the Supportt link in the bottom righht-hand corn
ner of the window
w
openns the Product Guide,
an onlin
ne manual:
This listts tasks and componentss on the lefft-hand side of the page, with detaails displayed on the
right.
nd BullGuardds online manual to bee very easy to find and
d navigate. The instructtions are
We foun
clearly w
written and very
v
well illustrated with screenshotss.
Summa
ary
BullGuarrd Internet Security
S
15 stands out foor very simplle installation, sensible m
malware alerrts, and a
good on
nline help feeature. The home
h
page pprovides an overview of the program
ms functionality and
access too the most important feaatures. We a lso like the fact
f
that the
e settings aree password-p
protected
by defauult, thus prevventing unau
uthorised deaactivation.
59
Emsiso
oft Anti-M
Malware 9.0.0.457
9
0
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The
T user cann change pro
oxy settings,, enable dettection of po
otentially
unwanteed programs, join the Em
msisoft Anti-M
Malware Netw
work (data-ssharing schem
me), choose the type
of initial scan, and enter/buy a licence keyy or use the program as a 30-day triial. The setu
up wizard
providess explanation
ns of licensiing options,, data-sharin
ng, updates, scanning, rreal-time prrotection,
and Poteentially Unw
wanted Programs (PUPs)). The illustrrated pages for scanninng/RTP and PUPs are
shown below:
60
We partticularly likeed the simp

ple but helppful descripttions of pro
otection feaatures, and the very
effectiveely illustratedd explanatio
on of PUPs.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none.
Removal tool: A rem
moval tool, emsiclean.exee, is availablle on the Em
msisoft websiite11.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Windows
W
Acction Centeer: Emsisoft Anti-Malwa
are registerrs as antivirus and
antispyw
ware:
Action CCenter alertss: If all prottection compponents (Surf

rf Protection, File Guard, Behavior Blo
ocker) are
deactivaated, Window
ws Action Cen
nter displayss its normal warning:
w
11
https://helpdeesk.emsisoft.com/Knowledggebase/Articlee/View/150/0/how-can-i-coompletely-uniinstall-anemsisoft--product
61
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan, update, subscriptioon status, help,
h
logs and quarantiine are all available
me page.
directly from the hom
a
all im
mportant funnctions and data
d
very
Emsisoftt Anti-Malwaares new dessign allows tthe user to access
quickly aand easily, without
w
any searching
s
or head-scratching required.

Internett Explorer is not customissed in any w
way.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning
g and reacttivation: If all the pro
otection co mponents (real-time
protectioon, behaviooural detectiion, Surf PProtection) are
a disabled, the statuus display reads
r
No
Protectioon! on a redd background. If only oone or two components
c
are inactivee, the status display
reads Paartial Protection! on an orange bacckground. In
n both cases, the inacttive compon
nents are
shown w
with an x symbol
s
next to their reespective naames, and clicking
c
thiss will reactiivate the
componeent and chan
nge its symb
bol to a tickk (checkmarkk) to show that it is now
w active. Pleease note
that the illustration below repreesents two seeparate screeenshots; only one or thee other will be
b shown
at any one time.
which compon
nents are
We found Emsisofts status displlay to be ve ry clear, whiilst showing precisely w
active an
nd which are not. Howeever, we notte that clickiing the uppe
er part of thhe status dissplay (No
Protectioon!) opens the Applicatio
on Rules dia log; this is irrelevant
i
to
o the problem
m and mightt confuse
some ussers. We wonder whetheer Emsisoft might not make this work
w
as a Fix-All buttton that
reactivattes all compoonents at on
nce.
62
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: The Sca
an panel in tthe main pro
ogram windo
ow provides Quick, Full and
a Smart
Scans, w
while clickingg on the upper part of tthe panel sh
hows the sca
an dialog, w
which also provides a
Custom ooption:
ng: An entryy entitled SScan with Emsisoft
E
Anti-Malware iss added to Windows
Explorers context menu, enablin
ng the user tto scan files, folders and drives by rigght-clicking..
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A stand
dard user caan disable th
he protectio
on without having to enter
e
any
additional credentials.
Uninstalling the product: If a non-adminnistrator acccount attempts to uninnstall the prroduct, a
Windowss User Accouunt Control dialog promptts for admin credentials..
We note that compreehensive acccess control ffunctions can be found under
u
Settinggs, Permissio
ons:
63
We were impressed with

w the com
mprehensive bbut easy-to-use user acccess functionn. However, we
w
suggest that for non
n-admin acco
ounts, the thhree Protectioon componen
nts, and Shuut down proteection,
should bbe deactivateed by defaultt, or that theere should be a prompt to
t set a passsword during setup.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test filee is downloaaded, the allert below iss shown. It gradually
fades aw
way over the course of ab
bout 10 secoonds.
We foun
nd the alert clear and reeassuring. Thhere is no opportunity
o
provided
p
forr the user to
o run the
malware.
User-dependent aleert: In some cases, wheree the prograam does not identify mallware unambiguously,
the alertt below is shown:
64
Help an
nd Support
There is a searchablee local help file with texxt explanatio
ons of the fe
eatures in thhe program:
m, which alllows users too submit theeir own quesstions and reead answers provided
There is also a forum
to other users queriees.
t help fun
nctions as baasic, but adequate, give
en the easy--to-use nature of the
We woulld describe the
program.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Emsisoftt provide freee malware-rremoval assiistance via their
t
website12. This is available to
o anyone,
regardlesss of whetheer they are an Emsisoft ccustomer or not.
n
Although
h it is scarceely a very im
mportant poi nt, we note that the name of the prroduct, Anti--Malware,
is more aappropriate than Antiviru
us (commonlly used by many
m
other programs), ass the program
m detects
all kindss of malicious programs.
Summa
ary
We weree very imprressed with the new ddesign of Emsisoft Antti-Malware. W
We feel it does an
outstandding job of making
m
impo
ortant functiions easy to
o access. Installation is very straightforward,
and provvides useful illustrated explanationss of protectiion features, though wee would sugg
gest that
promptin
ng the user to
t password--protect the settings wo
ould useful. Malware
M
alert
rts are reassu
uring and
secure.
12
http:///support.emsisoft.com/foru
um/6-help-myy-pc-is-infecteed/
65
eScan Internet Security Suite witth Cloud Security

S
14.0.1400
1
0.1632
Installa
ation
he only optioon is the location of the program follder.
The setuup wizard dissables Windo
ows Defenderr as soon as it is started. We checkedd what would happen
if installlation weree interrupted
d half-way through the file copyiing process;; Windows Defender
reactivatted itself alm
most immediately.
We found installatioon very simp
ple. Once thee user has clicked
c
Insta
all, there is nothing more to do.
The insttaller program
m takes seveeral minutess to complette, and displays a messaage box showing the
current ttask, but no user interacction is requiired.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
Removal tool: Therre is a remo
oval tool, essremove.exe, which can be downloaaded from the eScan
website13.
13
http:///wiki.escanav..com/wiki/ind
dex.php/Technnical_Info
66
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action Center: eSScan Interneet Security re
egisters as aantivirus, anttispyware
and firew
wall:
Action CCenter alertss: Full alerts are shown iif real-time protection
p
orr the firewalll are switcheed off:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan
n, update, subscription status, log
gs and help can all be acccessed directly from
the main
n program wiindow.
Quaranttine: A link to quarantin
ne can be foound by clicking on the File Anti-Virrus tile on the
t home
page.
ms in the programs main window. W
We liked the updated
We had no difficultyy finding important item
graphic design, usin
ng black texxt on white tiles, which we feel ma
akes the feaatures stand out very
clearly.

way.
67
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
a reactivaation: If real-time protection is disaabled, the sttatus text
and symbol at the toop of the window changge appropriattely. There iss no Fix All
l button, so the user
must ideentify the component
c
that
t
is not functioning and go intto its settin gs to reactiivate the
protectioon.
nd reactivatiion: If the fi
firewall is dissabled, a Win
ndows Actio n Center alert will be
shown, bbut the programs own sttatus displayy continues to
t show Sysstem is securred:
The real--time protecction alert is reasonably clear, althou

ugh we feel it
i would be easier for no
on-expert
users to rectify the problem
p
if a Fix All buutton (or sim
milar) were diisplayed alonng with the alert. We
are surpprised to seee that the program
p
itse lf shows no actual alertt if the firew
bled, but
wall is disab
relies en
ntirely on Windows Action Center to w
warn the useer of this.
68
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optiions: Clickin
ng Scan in tthe bottom right-hand corner
c
of thhe window opens
o
the
scan opttions page, shown
s
below
w:
Right-cllick scanning: The entryy Scan for Virruses using eScan

e
is adde
ed to Windo ws Explorerss context
menu, soo files, foldeers and drives can be sca nned by righ
ht-clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A user with
w
a non-aadministrator account ca
annot disablle the proteection, as
the relevvant controlss are greyed out.
Uninstalling the prroduct: If a standard useer attempts to uninstalll the program
m from Conttrol Panel
or the reemoval tool, the followin
ng message iis shown:
eScan haave effectiveely secured the product aagainst remo

oval or deactivation by sttandard userrs.
69
Malwarre warningss
wing alert is shown when
n the EICAR test
t file is doownloaded:
We feel that some users

u
will bee left unsuree as to whetther their sysstem has beeen protected or not.
Whilst the message states thatt the file haas been quaarantined, it also says This is a dangerous
d
situation
n, which maay unsettle some
s
people..
Help an
nd Support
Clicking the ? symbool in the top
p right-handd corner of the window opens
o
the Heelp page whiich has a
link entiitled eScan Online
O
Help. This opens tthe productss support pa
age on the eeScan websitte, which
providess only a verry brief overrview of thee programs functions. There
T
is how
wever a linkk to User
Guides, w
which takes the user to a page from
m which the manual can be downloaaded. The maanual is a
very com
mprehensive 144-page do
ocument whiich covers alll aspects of installing, cconfiguring and
a using
the prodduct.
We foun
nd the manual to be very
v
detailedd and well produced. It
I has beenn suitably organised,
bookmarrked, and haas a clickab
ble contents page, makiing navigatiion very eassy. It has been
b
well
illustrateed with screeenshots. Wee do howeveer think it is rather diffficult to acccess, and the eScan
should pput a direct link
l
to it in the
t programs Help page.
70
Addition
nal points o
of interest
An initiaal scan is run
n after installlation:
The tiless on the proograms hom

mepage can be moved around by drragging and dropping, which
w
we
liked:
Summa
ary
We foun
nd eScan ISSSC to be larrgely easy tto use, with important functions e asily accessible. The
manual is very good, albeit no
ot easy to fi
find. We feeel the progra
ams own sttatus alerts could be
improvedd.
71
ESET SSmart Secu

urity 8.0..304.0
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: These are wheether to be part of ESETT Live Grid (ddata-sharing
g scheme,
activatedd by defaultt), and whether to deteect potentiaally unwante
ed applicatioons (we cho
ose to do
this):
We liked the fact that

We found the installlation of Smart Security to be simplee and straightforward. W
the setup wizard proovides explan
nations of thhe two choicees that have to be madee (as shown above).
a
72
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: The uninstall wizard can also
o repair the product:
Removal tool: A deddicated uninstall tool is available fro

om the produ
ucts knowleddge-base web
bsite14.
We feel tthe repair opption is a useful additionn.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action Center: ESSET Smart Seecurity 8.0 re
egisters as aantivirus, anttispyware
and firew
wall:

me protectio n or the fireewall is disabled, ESET ddisplays an alert
a
from
its own SSystem Tray icon, which is remarkab ly similar to Action Centter alerts:
14
http:///kb.eset.com//esetkb/index??page=contennt&id=SOLN22
289
73
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status and subscription
s
n status: Theese are show
wn in the main panel of tthe program window.
w, with moree options
Scan: A Smart Scann can be staarted straighht from the main progrram window
n link in the menu panell on the left--hand side oof the window
w.
availablee from the Coomputer Scan
Update: There is an Update link in the menuu panel.
here is a Helpp and Supporrt link in thee menu panel.
Help: Th
Logs andd Quarantine: These can
n be found byy clicking Toools in the menu panel.
We find the layout of
o the prograam window m
makes all esssential items easy to finnd, with security and
subscripttion status in
i the main panel, and aall other item
ms accessible
e by clickingg the big icons in the
menu paanel on the left.

ESET Smart Security does not cusstomise Inteernet Exploreer in any wayy.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: If th
he RTP is dissabled, the sstatus displaay in the
main proogram windoow turns from
m green to reed, and statees Maximum protection iss not ensured
d:
The bluee highlightedd text, Startt all antivirus

us and antisppyware protection modulees, can be clicked
c
to
reactivatte the protecction.
Firewalll warning and
a
reactivvation: If tthe firewall is disabled
d, the statuus display shows a
correspoonding warning and reacttivation textt:
We feel that ESETs status disp

play shows cclear alerts if a protection compon ent is disab
bled, and
makes itt easy to reacctivate it.

74
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan opttions: These are Smart Scan (most vulnerable areas), a loocal drive scan, and
custom sscan. There is
i also a removable mediia scan (e.g. USB, DVD).
Right-cllick scanningg: There is a Scan with EESET entry in the contextt menu of Wiindows Explo
orer.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: This cann
not be turnedd off without administrator credentiaals.
Uninstalling the pro
oduct: This also
a requiress administrattor credentia
als.
oving the pro
ogram in anyy way, which
h is
ESET preevents non-administratorrs from disabbling or remo
ideal.
Malwarre warningss
test file.. It remains for about 15
5 seconds.
We feel the alert shows clearly enough thatt the threat has been bllocked, and is displayed
d for long
enough tto read.
75
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: Thiis is shown in the Screeenshot belo
ow. It uses the
t familiar,, accessible Windows
Help layout, with an overview off topics liste d on the leftt and detailss on the righht:
nct 13-page Quick Start Guide and a compreheensive 120-p

page User
Manual: ESET produuce a succin
d basic functtions of thee program, whilst
w
the
Guide in pdf format. The formerr covers insttallation and
duct, in greaat detail.
latter coovers all aspeects of installling, config uring and ussing the prod
Online k
knowledge base:
b
There is
i a searchabble FAQ pagee15 which pro
ovides answeers to a wide range of
common questions. There are sttep-by-step instructionss with abund
dant annotatted screensh
hots, and
ory videos:
many topics also havve explanato
15
http:///kb.eset.com//esetkb/index??page=home&
&locale=en_USS&option=en_
_EN
76
In our oopinion, ESETTs help facillities are seccond to none. Both of the manuals are very well written
and orgaanised, and use a very simple, easyy-to-read layyout, well-illlustrated witth screensho
ots where
appropriate. In keeping with itts size and complexity,, the User Guide
G
is boookmarked an
nd has a
d
clickablee contents page to makee navigation easy. There is even a link in the doocument to download
the mostt recent verssion, which we find veryy thoughtful. The knowle
edge base arrticles and videos are
of the saame excellen
nt standard.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Initial sscan: ESET sttarts automatically a scann when the installation
i
is finished.
Summa
ary
We found ESET Smarrt Security 8 a very easyy program to install and use. The proogram windo
ow makes
everything easily acccessible, warnings andd alerts are clear, and the softwaree is secured
d against
unauthorised accesss. ESET provvides exemp lary help faacilities in the
t form of two manuaals and a
knowledge base.
77
Fortineet FortiCllient 5.2.1.0605 w

with FortiG
Gate
Note ab
bout the pro
ogram
Fortinet FortiClient is primarilyy intended ffor use in business
b
envvironments, and in partticular in
conjuncttion with a FortiGate security
s
apppliance. Whiilst it functtions perfecctly as a sttandalone
security product, users should note
n
that its interface iss primarily designed for business ratther than
home usse.
For our tests, we used
u
the pro
ogram with a Fortigate appliance. The
T only efffect this has on the
ppliance are shown in th
he dark blue pane at the top of the window.
w
interfacee is that detaails of the ap
78
Installa
ation
Choices in the settup wizard: First of all,, there is a choice of whether
w
to install the endpoint
security software, orr just the inccluded VPN ssoftware:
c choose the
t folder loccation. Theree are no othe
er choices.
After thiis, the user can
Installattion is extrem
mely simple.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre is a repairr option.
d a separate uninstaller.
We feel tthe repair opption is a valuable additiion.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center: FoortiClient reg
gisters as anttivirus and a ntispyware:
79
Action CCenter alertts: Windowss Action Cennter displayss its normall alert if reaal-time prottection is
disabled:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status and scan
s
can both be found on the hom
me page. We could not fiind a manuaal update
control, but Fortinett inform us that
t
when thhe About iteem is opened
d from the H
Help menu, an
a update
is autom
matically carrried out. The available heelp features can be found in the Help
lp menu.
Logs andd Quarantine can both be
b accessed by clicking the
t threats detected
d
link on the homee page.
We woulld say the intterface is suitably orientted towards the
t programs intended bbusiness usee.

way.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: The status display changes to show an
n alert if
real-timee protection is disabled, along with an Enable bu
utton to reacctivate the pprotection:
We feel tthe alert is clear

c
and thaat switching the protectiion back on is simple.
80
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optiions: Custom
m, full, quickk and removvable-media scans can bbe run from the Scan
Now men
nu on the hoome page.
Right-cllick scanning: A Scan with FortiCliennt AntiVirus entry

e
is adde
ed to Window
menu, alllowing drivees, folders an
nd files to bee scanned byy right-clickiing.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A standaard user can not disable the protectiion, as the relevant con
ntrols are
disabled or hidden.
oduct: The uninstall
u
wizzard prompts for administrator credenntials, witho
out which
the prodduct cannot be
b removed.
Fortinet have secured the prograam against uunauthorised access.
Malwarre warningss
wing warningg is shown iff the EICAR test
We feel the alert is reasonably clear that nno further acction is requ
uired, and ceertainly prevvents the
malware being run.
81
Help an
nd Support
The Helpp menu has two entries, Technical DDocumentatiion and Fortiinet Knowleddge Base. Th
he former
allows th
he Administrration Guidee to be downnloaded; thiss is very mucch oriented towards IT managers
m
rather th
han end userrs. We looked
d in the know
wledge base, but could not
n find manny articles reelating to
version 55.2 of the prroduct.
We woulld say that help for ForrtiClient 5 iss definitely oriented tow
wards IT staaff rather than home
users.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The instaaller runs an
n initial scan before the ssetup wizard
d starts, this can be stoppped by the user:
u
Summa
ary
We found Fortinet FoortiClient to be very straaightforward to use. Whiilst it is aim ed at busineess users,
it could be used to protect a ho
ome computeer too. Userss should be aware
a
that tthe help faciilities are
aimed m
more at IT staaff than end users.
82
F-Secu
ure Intern
net Security 2015 (14.115)
Installa
ation
Choices in the setup wizard: These are w
whether to join
j
Securityy Cloud (F-SSecures dataa-sharing
scheme), and whether to use F-SSecure Safe Search. In our
o test, we left the defaault settings shown
below unchanged.
ghtforward.
We found installation very straig
83
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the unin
nstaller: Thee uninstaller provides the
e choice of ccomplete rem
moval, or
removingg selected coomponents there are oonly two:
Removal tool: F-Seccure provide a separate uuninstaller, Uninstallatio

U
nTool.exe16
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Wiindows Actiion Center: F-Secure Internet Security registeers as antivvirus and
antispyw
ware in Actioon Center, using the nam
me Antiviru
us; F-Secure
e inform us tthey use this generic
name beecause custom
mised versions of their ssoftware is provided by many
m
Interneet service pro
oviders.
Action CCenter alertts: If real-time protectioon is disablled, F-Secure

e reports viaa both Actio
on Center
warningss and its own message box,
b
with a TTurn on butto
on. The F-Se
ecure alert diisappears aftter about
10 secon
nds.
F-Securees own message box is very

v
clear andd prominentt, and allows the user to re-enable protection
with a siingle click. We
W feel it is a very goodd idea, but that the alertt should stayy open untill the user
closes itt.
16
https:///community.ff-secure.com//t5/Security/FF-Secure-Uninstallation-Too
ol/td-p/312655
84
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status and Scan
S
(standaard quick scaan) are found
d on the hom
me page.
T
Update is found in Tools.
ption statuss is displayed
d by clicking the ? menu | View my su
ubscription.
Subscrip
Help is llocated in th
he ? menu.
Logs aree shown by clicking
c
Toolss | Advanced Scan | Open last scannin
ng report.
Quaranttine is shown
n on the Tools tab.
We found F-Secures new program
m design to be very good, with virtu
ually all the bbasics displaayed on a
simple, uncluttered home page.. Almost all other functtions are acccessed by sw
witching to the
t Tools
tab. We suggest thatt the Settinggs button couuld swap plaaces with the
e Update buttton on the Tools
T
tab,
thus puttting all the essentials on
n the home page.

Toolbar:: By default, the option to install th e toolbar forr Internet is selected in the setup wizard. Its
main feaature is a seaarch box that will searchh the web usiing F-Secures own searc h service.
Search sservice: F-Seecures own search

s
servicce is only added to Interrnet Explorerr as a search provider
if the relevant option in the setu
up wizard is selected (th
his is off by default).
d
Ratings for search results: These are sho wn for Bing
g, Google, Yahoo and F--Secures ow
wn search
service:
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivaation: The following
f
ale
ert is displayyed on the programs
p
home paage if real-tim
me protectio
on is switcheed off:
85
We note there is no quick meanss of reactivatting the protection. The user has to know how to
t do this
via the ssettings dialoog.
We find the alert very
v
clear an
nd prominennt, but feel a Fix-All button wouuld be a very useful
addition.
Scannin
ng
ons: Full cusstom and schheduled options under To
ools | Advancced Scan.
Right-cllick scanning: Scan Fold
ders for Virusses and Spyw
ware is adde
ed to Window
menu, soo that drivess, folders and
d files can bee scanned byy right-clickiing.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: This cannot be dissabled by standard-userr accounts, as a Windo
ows User
mpts for adm
ministrator crredentials ass soon as the
e user clicks the Settingss button.
Uninstalling the prroduct: A non-administrrator accoun
nt cannot un
ninstall the program viaa Control
Panel orr the manufaacturers rem
moval tool, aas in both caases a UAC dialog prom pts for admiinistrator
credentials.
d the producct against deeactivation by
b standard uusers.
F-Securee have effecttively secured
Malwarre warningss
wing alert is shown when
n the EICAR test
The messsage box is displayed

d
un
ntil the user closes it.
We like F-Secures very
v
simple and
a clear allert, which reassures
r
the
e user that all is well, does not
provide any means of
o running th
he program, aand remains in place unttil deliberateely dismissed
d.
86
User-dependent dettection: In cases

c
where the program
m does not do
oes not identtify malwaree
unambigguously, the following alert is shown :
Help an
nd Support
The locaal help file is opened by clicking thee question-m
mark symbol in
i the main pprogram win
ndow.
87
The same content is available ass a downloaddable PDF manual.

m
This is slightly eeasier to navvigate, as
there aree bookmarkss, a clickablee contents ppage, and Ad
dobe Readerss thumbnail bar. Finally, there is
an FAQ p
page17 on th
he F-Secure website,
w
whicch has similaar simple texxt-only page s for specificc tasks.
We woulld say that all
a of F-Securres help funnctions have useful instructions, butt are also ratther textheavy. TThere is quite a lot of informationn about whaat the progrram can do,, and some effort is
required to get to th
he actual instructions. W
We also feel some screenshots would bbe very helpful.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
F-Securee have revertted to a morre conventioonal interfacee in this verrsion. Insteaad of having multiple
windowss started from
m a pop-up launcher, thhe program has
h one wind
dow, started directly from
m normal
Windowss shortcuts.
We regarrd the new design
d
as a good
g
thing, aalthough thee multi-windo
ow interfacee surely had its
i fans.
The grapphic of the computer screen
s
on tthe home paage changess to show tthe current Windows
wallpapeer, as shown below:
Summa
ary
We weree impressed with
w
the dessign of F-Seccures new siingle-window
w interface. The very cleean home
page hass status, hellp and scan functions,
f
w
while all otheer features arre easily acccessed by cliccking the
Tools tabb. We also liiked its simp
ple but effecctive alerts. Our only sig
gnificant sugggestion wou
uld be to
provide a Fix-All button to reactivate disabbled protectiion compone
ents with a ssingle click.
17
http:///community.f--secure.com/tt5/English/tkbbc-p/EN
88
Kasperrsky Interrnet Security 2015

5 (15.0.1.415)
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The only opption is wheether or not to participaate in the Kaspersky
K
Security Network (daata-sharing scheme).
s
Thiis is accepted by default.
Completiing the setup wizard onlly requires thhe user to cliick Install.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal optionss in the uninstallerr: Although
h KIS 2015 displays a button marked
Uninstalll/Change, in reality it can
c only rem
move the pro
oduct, with the option of retaining settings
and licen
nce informattion in the event that thhe product is later reinsta
alled.
Removal tool: Theree is a dedicatted uninstalller, kavremover.exe18
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center: KIIS 2015 regissters as antivvirus, antispyyware and fiirewall:
18
http:///support.kaspeersky.co.uk/co
ommon/servicce
89
Action Center alerrts: If real-ttime protecttion is disabled, the normal Actio n Center waarning is
displayed:
A
Centeer alert is sh
hown, althou
ugh Kasperskky Labs own
n alert is
If the fiirewall is dissabled, no Action
displayed for about 2 seconds:
ppears so bri efly that it is

i impossible
e for anyone to read, and
d suggest
We feel tthat the fireewall alert ap
that it should be dissplayed for much
m
longer.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan
n, update, subscription
s
n status and
d help can all
a be found directly in the main
program window. Cllicking on Show Additionnal Tools in the bottom
m right-handd corner disp
plays the
logs andd quarantinee functions.
We found it very eassy to access important ffunctions and informatio
on from KIS 2015s main program
window.
90

Kasperskky Internet Security
S
doess not add a Toolbar or change the Search servvice. It does however
provide Ratings for search results via a pluug-in:
The searrch ratings sttrike us as a simple but uuseful additiion.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
a reactivaation: If RTP
P is deactivated, the folllowing alert is shown
in the prrogram window:
Clicking anywhere in the red area

a
opens a page that displays mo
ore informattion, and alllows the
protectioon to be reacctivated:
An equivalent warning in oran

nge is show n if the firrewall is switched off, and this alllows the
componeent to be reaactivated thee same way.
We find the program
m windows alerts to bee clear and prominent, and allow tthe protection to be
reactivatted very easiily.
91
Scannin
ng
an page alloows Full, Quick, Custom and
a Removabble Drives scaans to be
run, andd a scheduledd scan to be set.
ng: A Scan for
f viruses eentry in Win
ndows Explorers contexxt menu allo
ows files,
folders aand drives too be scanned
d by right-cli cking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A standarrd-user acco unt can disaable RTP with
hout additionnal credentiaals.
Uninstalling the prroduct: The product can not be uninstalled by a non-admini strator account, as a
Windowss User Accoount Controll prompt deemands adm
min credentiials, regardlless of wheether the
removal tool or Proggrams and Features is useed.
o prevent unnauthorised users
u
It is possible to passsword-protecct the prograam (Settings | General) to
changingg the protection settingss. We suggesst that the setup wizard could promppt the user to
o set
this up.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR test-file alert: If the EIICAR test fille is downlo
oaded, the alert
a
below pops up forr about 2
seconds::
The brow
wser window also displayys an alert paage:
In our test, the popp-up alert ap

ppeared so bbriefly that it was imposssible to readd it before it
i closed.
We woulld suggest th
hat it should
d appear for considerablyy longer, or that Kasperssky Lab could remove
it and reely on the brrowser warning page insttead.
92
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: Thiss has a comp
prehensive lisst of topics, with simple text instrucctions for each:
Manual: A 103-pagee manual in

n PDF formatt can be do
ownloaded frrom the Kasspersky webssite. This
covers all aspects off installing, configuring
c
aand using th
he product.
nline knowlledge base, which provvides step-b
by-step instrructions for common
There iss also an on
tasks, illlustrated witth annotated
d screenshotss:
As we have come too expect from

m Kaspersky Lab, the on
nline knowledge-base insstructions are simple
and cleaar, with exceellent illustraations. The m
manual is allso very welll produced, aalthough scrreenshots
have beeen used veryy sparingly, which
w
we feeel is a pity.
93
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The Scann and Updatee tiles display the progreess of their respective current actionss:
Summa
ary
Despite a significantt redesign of
o the prograam window, Kaspersky la
ab have retaained the easse of use
found in
n previous versions
v
of the program
m. Essential functions are
a easily foound in the program
window, while the status displayy is clear an d allows thee user to act on alerts veery easily. Th
he online
knowledge base prrovides exceellent illustrrated instructions for using the pproduct. Tw
wo minor
suggestions for imprrovement wo
ould be displlaying alerts for long enough to readd, and promp
pting the
user to ppassword prootect the pro
ogram.
94
Kingso
oft Intern
net Security 2013.SSP9.5.110
0400
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: After
A
startin g the setup wizard, the
e user can deecide which location
the proggram will be installed to. The progra ms end-user licence agrreement is aalready preseelected as
agreed. TThe installattion of the Kingsoft
K
brow
wser Cheetah
h is also alrea
ady preselect
cted.
We likedd the extrem

mely simple setup. How
wever, we beelieve that the end-useer licence ag
greement
should n
not be preseelected, and
d the prograam should also not auto
omatically aassume that the user
wants too install the Kingsoft bro
owser in addiition to King
gsoft Interne
et Security.
95
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
The proggram advertises One seccond uninstaallation as a new featurre. The unin staller window offers
various program fun
nction for co
omputer probblems such as trash rem
moval and tuune up to cope
c
with
unction offerred is to actu
ually uninsta
all the produ ct.
slow PC performancee. The last fu
i offered.
Removal tool: No reemoval tool is
a excellent range of opttions in the uninstaller tto prevent users from
We feel KINGSOFT haas provided an
accidenttally uninstaalling the prroduct. Howeever, we feeel uninstall should be ppreselected when
w
the
uninstaller is startedd.
Window
ws Action Ceentre Windo
ows

ndows Action
n Centre
KINGSOFFT Internet Security reg
gisters as anntivirus and antispyware
e. As Kingsooft Internet Security
does nott provide a firewall,
fi
the Windows
W
Fireewall is still enabled.
96
Action CCenter alertts: If real-time protectioon is disablled from the

e System Traay menu or from the
program window, an Action Centter alert is diisplayed:
w
the reall-time protecction is disab
bled.
We feel tthat the program deliverrs a sufficiennt warning when
97
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
Protection status, scans,
s
and updates can be found on the program
ms Computeer scan page.
b.
The resuult of the most recent scaan is shown in the Computer Scan tab
K
Help: Via the main menu in thee top right-hhand corner of window, the user hass access to Kingsofts
Weibo seervice and bllog.
Logs and quarantin
ne: The quarrantine is caalled Restorre Area and
d can be fouund on the computer
c
scan tabb.
We found the prograam interface mainly clearr and easy to
o navigate.

Kingsoftt does not ch
hange the seearch servicee of the Inteernet Explore
er. The user iis offered th
he chance
to proteect his or her
h browser by
b changing the default browser pag
ge to either a Kingsoft page,
p
the
portal site hao123.com or to a blank
b
page. A
Additionally, Kingsoft prrovides its oown Internet browser,
b default, although
a
thee user can deselect
d
it when
w
startingg the installlation of
which iss installed by
Kingsoftt Internet Security.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning & reactivatiion: The RTP can be dissabled from the program
m GUI by
deactivaating one or several elem
ments on the proactive taab.
98
Clicking the Enablle proactive defence bbutton in th

he menu orr the respecctive button
n on the
a protectioon features. Expert use
ers can acti
tivate/deactivate the
proactivee tab will reactivate all
proactivee features on
ne by one on
n the respecttive sub-tab..
99
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan opttions: On th
he main proggram window, Kingsoft offers only Cloud Scan. On the
Computeer Scan tab Kingsoft
K
add
ditionally offfers Completee Scan, Custtom Scan, Sttrong Scan, USB-Scan
U
and Antii-Hacker Scann.
Right-cllick scanningg: There is a Scan with KKINGSOFT enttry in the context menu of Windows Explorer,
Real-tim
me protectio
on: This can
n be deactivvated from the
t system tray menu aand from wiithin the
program without adm
c
oduct: This requires
r
adm
ministrator crredentials.
uld not be alllowed to dissable the pro
otection.
We feel tthat standarrd users shou
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: No warnin
ng is shown w
when the user attempts to downloadd the EICAR test
t file.
Help an
nd Support
Kingsoftt does not prrovide a locaal help file. Via the men
nu in the upper-right corrner users caan access
the Kinggsoft Weiboo and Kingsoft blog. O n the Kingssoft Weibo page the uusers can seend their
question
ns directly too Kingsoft su
upport staff.. On the sam
me page, use
ers can find vvery brief an
nswers to
ten common questioons.
he Weibo serrvice might be a new aapproach to product sup
pport, we beelieve that at
a least a
While th
simple loocal help fille should be provided, a nd that the support info
ormation avaailable onlin
ne should
be expan
nded.
100
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Local viirus definitiions: Per deefault, the llocal Avira engine
e
does not have llocal virus definition
d
databasee.
We belieeve that in
n a security product eaach local engine shoulld have an initial set of virus
definitioons.
Summa
ary
KINGSOFFT Internet Security
S
2013 has kept aall the simplicity and cllarity of earllier versions but also
providess many featuures for experienced userrs. However, we have som
me suggestioons for improvement.
We belieeve that all local enginees should com
me with an initial set of virus definnitions. It would also
be betteer to let the user decide whether to accept the end-user
e
lice
ense agreemeent, and wheether the
Kingsoftt browser sh
hould be installed alonng with thee Security product. Thee installation
n of the
Kingsoftt browser shoould definiteely not be th e default sellection.
101
Lavaso
oft Ad-Aw
ware Free Antiviruss+ 11.4.6792.0
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The
T user can choose from
m a wide sellection of la nguages, change the
installattion folder, choose
scheme, an d install as a second
c
whetther to join Lavasofts data-sharing
d
line of defense only.
102
There aree also option

ns for installling Ad-Awarre Web Proteection:
We were impressed with

w the range of languaage choices, and liked th
he option too install with
hout realtime prootection, for use as a seccondary scan ner.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nstaller: Theere is a Chaange option provided. H owever, thiss did not
work in oour test, prooducing the same
s
error m
message on two
t differentt test machinnes:

m
be usseful, if it worked. Lavvasoft inforrm us that they are
We think the Change option might
investigaating this
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Wiindows Acttion Centerr: Ad-Aware Free Antivvirus registeers as antivvirus and
antispyw
ware:
103
Action CCenter alertts: If real-tim

me protectioon is disableed, Windows Action Cen ter shows itts normal
alert in tthe System Tray:
T
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status and Scan
S
can botth be found on the homee page.
S
Computeer, Modify Se
Settings. Additionally,
Update: A definitions update can be run bby clicking Scan
the proggram checks automaticallly for updatees every hour.
We feel that accessing the upd
date functionn is not verry intuitive, although itt is describeed in the
manual.
ption statuss is not applicable, as thee product is free.
Subscrip
Help: Th
here is a ccollapsed menu
m
bar, a ccessed by clicking the
e graphic att the bottom
m of the
window, as shown beelow:
ol in the hiddden menu, shown above which opeens help and

d support
There is a question--mark symbo
options.
Logs: Loogs can be found by clicking Real- Time Protecttion in the left-hand meenu panel, Detection
History, View Details..
Quaranttine: This can
n be seen byy clicking Scaan Computer on the left, then View QQuarantined Files.
F
Although
h most functtions are reaasonably eassy to find in
n Ad-Awaress program innterface, we feel that
the botttom menu bar,
b
which contains the Help button
n, is effectively hidden.. The graphic at the
bottom oof the windoow is very su
ubtle, and wee suspect some users at least will eitther not see it at all,
or not reealise that itt has a functtion. Lavasofft tell us that they are co
onsidering thhis issue.

Toolbar:: An Ad-Awaare toolbar iss installed iff the user seelects the Ad
d-Aware Webb Protection features
during setup (pleasee see the Installation secction above).
Search sservice: Thiss is one of th
he optional W
Web Protection features. It is Yahoo--based.
Ratings for search results: Theese are not displayed in
n Bing, Goog
gle, or the pproducts ow
wn search
service.
104
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reacti vation: If real-time
r
protection is disabled, th
he status
display cchanges to Protection In
nactive on a red backgrround, as shown below. Clicking thee Options
link dispplays a short menu witth the entryy Fix probleem now (reccommended),, which imm
mediately
reactivattes the proteection.
We feel the warningg shown is clear, and th at reactivatiing the prottection from the Optionss menu is
straightfforward.
Scannin
ng
ons: Clicking
g Scan Compuuter provides quick, full and custom scans:
ng: Scan with
h Ad-Aware is added to Windows Exxplorers conntext menu, allowing
files, follders and drives to be scaanned by rigght-clicking.
105
Real-tim
me protectio
on: After insstallation, tthe program prompts the user to crreate a PIN for such
access. A
Any user witth any type of Windows account theen has to enter the PIN before being able to
access seettings.
p
Botth the Uninnstall and Change optio
ons in Conttrol Panel produce a
Windowss User Accouunt Control prompt for addministrator credentials.
Lavasoftt have effectiively secured
d Ad-Aware aagainst non--administrato
or access.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR ttest-file aleert: The following alert is shown when
w
the EICAR test fille is downlo
oaded. It
disappeaars after a feew seconds. Clicking on the alert has no effectt, so users w
who want to find out
more havve to look in
n logs/quarantine.
The alerrt makes clear that the malware ha s been deleted. Howeve
er, the writi ng is small, and the
messagee closes afterr just a few seconds,
s
so m
many users will
w not have
e time to reaad it anyway..
Help an
nd Support
Manual: A compreheensive 114-p
page manual in PDF format is downlo
oadable direcctly from thee Support
Center page of the program.
p
It covers
c
all asppects of instaalling, config
guring and uusing the pro
ogram.
Online k
knowledge base: There is an FAQ section on Lavasofts website,
w
also accessible from the
programs Support Center.
C
This appears to hhave the sam
me content as the manuual, in the form
f
of a
searchabble web pagee.
We weree very impresssed with th
he manual. IIt is laid outt in a very simple, easy--to-read form
mat, with
clear insstructions. These
T
are so
o lavishly illlustrated witth annotated
d screenshotts that it iss actually
hard to ffind a page without a sccreenshot. Thhere are no bookmarks,
b
but
b topics caan be accesssed easily
from thee clickable coontents pagee.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
A reboott is required after installation. The w
wizard remind
ds users to save their woork first.
Summa
ary
We found Ad-Aware Free Antiviru
us+ to be sim
mple to instaall and use. We
W liked the option to use it as a
secondarry scanner without
w
real-ttime protecttion. The intterface is larg
gely clear annd user-frien
ndly, with
the exceeption of thee help functiion, which w
we feel is mo
ore or less hiidden. Userss who manag
ge to find
it will bee able to dow
wnload an exxcellent mannual.
106
McAfee Interneet Securityy 2015 (1

12.8.992))
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: Th
here is a chooice of Compplete or Custo
om installatiion. The lattter allows
the user to choose which
w
components to insstall:
107
At the eend of the seetup wizard, the user caan also decid
de whether to
t share dataa with McAfeee. When
Internett Explorer is first started after the installation, a McAfee dialog box prompts thee user to
activate Secure Searcch:
s
servicce.
We optedd for the deffault setting, i.e. using tthe McAfee search
We like tthe choice of
o componen
nts in the seetup wizard. Although se
etup is fairlyy simple, thee installer
took aboout 15 minuttes to download and insttall the comp
ponents we had
h selectedd.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uniinstaller: Thhe only optiion is wheth
her to delette or retain personal
settings.. Site Advisoor (URL blockker) has to bbe uninstalled separately:
19
Removal tool: Theree is a removaal tool availaable called MCPR.
M
19
http:///download.mccafee.com/pro
oducts/licenseed/cust_suppo
ort_patches/M
MCPR.exe
108
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Wiindows Actiion Center:: McAfee In
nternet Secu
urity registeers as firewaall, virus
protectioon and spyw
ware/unwanteed software pprotection:
Action CCenter alertts: In our test, no Actiion Center pop-up

p
alert was shownn when the real-time
protectioon or firewaall was disab
bled. Whilst an exclamattion mark ap
ppeared on M
McAfees Sysstem Tray
icon, thiis would not be apparentt to many ussers, as Wind
dows 8.1 hides this icon by default.
McAfee have demon
nstrated to us that on their test systems,
s
a McAfee
M
alertt box (shown below)
ested this thhoroughly on
n our own
appears jjust a couple of secondss after the RTTP is switcheed off. We te
test systtems (all 644-bit Window
ws 8.1 Updaate), but weere not able to replicatee this behavviour. On
some off our machines, the aleert appearedd two or three minutess after real--time protecction was
disabled; on others, it did not ap
ppear at all.
m
effectivve and persiistent than the
t Windowss Action Center alert.
We feel McAfees aleert is much more
Howeverr, it would apppear to us that
t
it does not always work
w
perfectlly on all systtems.
109
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scaan, update, subscriptioon status, help and lo
ogs (securityy report) caan all be
ntine can be found by clilicking the Navigation
N
accessedd directly froom the programs home ppage. Quaran
button in the top rigght-hand corrner of the s creen:
portant featuures in McAffees interfacce. We liked the Navigatiion page,

We had no difficultyy finding imp
which is rather like the
t site map
p of a websitee. It providees an overvie
ew of all the available functions.

Toolbar:: A McAfee tooolbar is installed. It ha s a search box, and show
ws a rating ffor the page currently
open in the browser..
Search sservice: McA
Afees own Yaahoo-based ssearch servicce is made th
he default, iif the relevan
nt option
is chosen
n after instaallation.
r
Ratings for searcch results arre shown for Bing, Googlle and Yahoo
o:
ngs for searcch results strrike us as verry useful.

The ratin

110
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
nd reactivattion: If the firewall is deactivated,
d
the overall sstatus displaay at the
top and the firewallls own tile both show a warning. An
A overlay displays
d
a Tuurn On butto
on, which
immediaately reactivaates the prottection:
Real-tim
me protectio
r
he status
display and virus-protection tile display vvery similar alerts to those
t
for thhe firewall. In some
situation
ns, however,, the overlayy with the Tuurn On butto
on is not sho
own, meaninng the user has
h to go
into the settings to reactivate th
he protectionn:
S
prrotection warrnings by
As with all the progrrams in this review, we ttested McAfeee Internet Securitys
using itss own interfaace to disablle the protecction. If we selected the option to ddisable the protection
permaneently, and reestarted the computer, tthe overlay with the Tu
urn On buttoon was show
wn. If we
chose a shorter timee, or did not restart the ccomputer, th
he overlay wa
as not shownn.
111
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: Clickin
ng Schedule and run scans on the antivirus ti le on the home
h
age
allows sccheduled scaans to be seet up. Clickinng Scan You
ur PC on the same page provides a choice
c
of
quick, fuull or custom
m scans:
ng: There is a McAfee SScan entry in the conttext menu oof Windows Explorer,
Real-tim
me protectio
on: The prottection cannnot be turneed off by a standard usser, and the program
does nott prompt for administrato
or credentia ls.
Uninstalling the product: Thee product caannot be un
ninstalled without admiinistrator crredentials
being prrovided.
McAfee h
have effectivvely secured the program
m against unaauthorised non-administtrator access.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test file iis downloadeed, the following alert iss shown:
The alertt remains un

ntil closed byy the user.
112
We feel the alert makes perfecttly clear tha t the malwaare has been
n dealt with and that no further
action iss necessary. We like that fact that iit stays untiil closed by the user; hoowever, furth
her alerts
can be eeasily blockedd if the userr so desires.
Help an
nd Support
On the pprograms Help and Suppo
ort page, theere are links entitled McA
Afee Support Website and
d Help.
The form
mer opens MccAfees Produ
uct Support200 page in a browser,
b
from
m which the user can buyy support
services (e.g. McAffee Set-Up and Optimisee for 49.99
9 (GBP), equ
uivalent to aabout 60. Users
U
will
m here to the
t technicaal FAQ with a further 5 clicks, rep resenting opening 4
be able to get from
nician.
differentt pages and closing an alert that enccourages thee user to try the McAfee VVirtual Techn
The Helpp link eviden
ntly attemptts to open ccloud-based content in the program
ms own window, but
providedd a variety of
o problems in our test. These inclu
uded a 404 Not
N Found m
message, and
d a script
error meessage, both shown below
w:
We also frequently experienced

e
a blank pagee in the help
p window, wiith no conteent shown att all. This
o attemptss to access tthe help servvice were
persistedd for a numbber of minuttes each timee. Some of our
eventuallly fruitful, with
w a help function in thhe style of a Windows He
elp file beingg displayed:
20
http:///home.mcafeee.com/root/su
upport.aspx
113
We cannot describe McAfees hellp services ass satisfactoryy. The Help feature
f
proveed unreliablee in our
test, andd slow on the few occasions when it worked at all. We feel th
hat the Prodduct Support page
serves prrincipally to push premiu
um support sservices, and
d that getting from theree to the tech
hnical
FAQ page requires soome persistence from thee user.
Summa
ary
We foun
nd McAfee In
nternet Secu
urity 2015 laargely very straightforwa
s
ard to use. TThe program
m window
makes itt easy to find importantt features, annd we liked the clear an
nd persistentt malware allerts. The
suite cannot be disabled or rem
moved by ussers without appropriate
e credentialss. We would however
suggest that the local help service could be improved.
114
Microssoft Windows Defender (4.5

5.218.0) for
f Windo
ows 8
Note ab
bout the pro
ogram
This review covers Windows Deefender for W
Windows 8, which is a complete aantimalware solution.
note that Wiindows 7 and Windows Vista also have
h
an integrated progrram called Windows
Please n
Defender, but that this is not a complete aantimalware solution and should be supplementted by an
antiviruss program. Microsoft Seecurity Essenntials can be
b installed additionallyy on Window
ws 7 and
Windowss Vista, and provides com
mparable prootection to the
t Windowss 8 version oof Windows Defender.
D
A compaarison of Win
ndows Defender for Winddows 8 and Microsoft
M
Seccurity Essenttials can be found on
21
the Winddows websitee .
Installa
ation
This is not applicablle, as the pro
ogram is preiinstalled witth Windows 8.
8
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
This is aalso not appllicable. The program cann be complettely disabled
d under Settiings | Admin
nistrator |
Turn on this applicattion. It can be
b reactivateed from the Windows
W
Defender icon inn Control Panel.
21
http:///windows.micrrosoft.com/en
n-us/windowss/security-esseentials-download
115
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center: Wiindows Defen
nder is show
wn as antiviruus and antisp
pyware:
Action CCenter alertts: The standard Action Center alerrt is shown if Windows Defenders real-time
protectioon is disableed:
As is to be expectedd of a Microssoft product,, Windows Defender

D
co-o
ordinates peerfectly with Windows
Action CCenter.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan
n, update, help, logs annd quarantin
ne can all be accessed di rectly from the
t home
page. Th
he History tabb shows logss and quaranntined items together.
The proggram window
w makes it veery easy to fiind importan
nt functions.

This is not applicablle.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
P is disabled, the alert bbelow is show
wn in the
status seection of thee program wiindow. The TTurn on butto
on immediately reactivattes the proteection.
116
Windowss Defender makes very clear that protection is switched

d off, and makes it simple to
reactivatte it.
Scannin
ng
ons: Quick, full
f and custtom scans caan be started
d from the m ain program window:
Right-cllick scanningg: This is no

ot available.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: If a stan
ndard user atttempts to disable
d
real-ttime protecttion, a Windows User
mpt appears, demandingg administrattor credentia
als.
oduct: Not applicable
a
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the EICAR test file iis downloadeed, the following alert iss shown:
This fadees away after a few seconds.

We feel tthe alert is reasonably
r
clear, and proovides no opportunity to let the malw
ware run.
117
Help an
nd Support
Clicking the Help iccon in the program wi ndow openss a Windowss Help pagee, entitled Why
use
ble to find a couple of oother articless relating
Windowss Defender?. Using the search box, it is possib
to Windoows Defendeer, although these are veery brief. Theere is a Micro
osoft forum222 where userrs can ask
question
ns about Microsoft prod
ducts, includding Window
ws Defender. Using thee search boxx on the
Windowss home pagee23 to search for Window
ws Defenderr will also find
f
some reelevant articlles about
the prodduct.
Summa
ary
We found Windows Defender to be simple aand easy to use. Alerts are clear, im
mportant feaatures are
very easy to find, an
nd the progrram is entireely unprobleematic in use
e. Help facillities are fairly basic,
but the ssimplicity off the program
m means thaat extensive support
s
shou
uld not be reequired.
22
23
http:///answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows//forum/windo
ows_8-securityy?auth=1
http:///windows.micrrosoft.com
118
Panda Free Antivirus 15.0.4
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The user caan choose th
he installatio
on folder, laanguage, wh
hether to
install th
he Panda tooolbar, and ch
hange searchh/home-pagee options to Yahoo:
After insstallation, th
he user is pro
ompted to crreate a Panda account, though this ccan be postp
poned.
Installattion is very simple, and we liked thhe clear info
ormation abo
out the searc
rch service and
a home
page.
119
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nstaller: Theere are three Panda entriies in Prograams and Feattures, for
the antiivirus compoonent, toolb
bar and URLL filter. Thesse can be uninstalled
u
sseparately frrom each
other.
Removal tool: An un
ninstaller can be downlooaded from th
he Panda we
ebsite24.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Windows
W
Acction Centeer: Panda Free
F
Antivirrus registerrs as antivirus and
antispyw
ware:

d, Windows Action
A
alert:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, quarantine, log
gs and scan are all on the
t home pa
age of the pprogram, wheereby the
Threats bblocked tile represents
r
th
he logs.
Help is iin the menu in the top right-hand
r
coorner of the window.
We had tto search a little
l
bit to find
f
logs, bu t otherwise the importan
nt features aare easily acccessible.
24
http:///www.pandaseecurity.com/reesources/sop//UNINSTALLER
R_08.exe
120

Toolbar:: This is instaalled if seleccted in the s etup optionss.
Search sservice: Thiss is changed to Pandas YYahoo-based service if se

elected in thee setup options.
r
No search
s
ratinggs are applied to Yahoo, Bing or Gooogle search reesults.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
P is disabled, the status tile changess to show
this:
Clicking on the tile opens the antivirus seettings page, where the protection can be switched on
again ussing the swittch in the top right-handd corner:
We feel tthe warning is clear and that reactivvating the prrotection is straightforwa
s
ard.
121
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: Clicking the Scan ttile on the home
h
page opens
o
the scaan dialog bo
ox, which
has a choice of Full, Critical areas and Custom
m:
n the home page.

p
Scheduleed scans can be set by cllicking the s tatus tile on
ng: The entrry Scan withh Panda Freee Antivirus is added too Windows Explorers
E
context menu, so that drives, folders and file
les can be scanned by rig
ght-clicking.
Real-tim
me protection: Standard users caan disable protection without enttering admiinistrator
credentials.
p
Thee product caannot be uninstalled without
w
adm
min credentiaals, as a
wing deinstalllation.
Windowss User Accouunt Control dialog promptts for these before allow
There is the option of
o password--protecting tthe product in
i the settings. We suggeest that the setup
wizard should promppt the user to
o set this, too prevent unauthorised access.
a
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The alert below is shoown when th
he EICAR testt file is downnloaded. It fades
f
out
after aboout 10 secon
nds.
We feel tthe warning makes clear that the maalware has beeen dealt with.
122
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: There is a web-b
based help fe
feature, whicch is very sim
milar in layouut to a Windows Help
file. Thiss lists topics on the left, and displayys details of the topic on the right:
The coveerage strikess us as comp

prehensive, and the insttructions are
e clearly wriitten, althou
ugh there
are unfortunately noo screenshotss.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The main program window
w
can be customissed by clickiing Edit at the
t bottom of the wind
dow. This
Process moniitor and WiFii are available) or movedd around. Th
here are a
allows exxtra tiles to be added (P
total of 3 pages thaat can be dissplayed, provviding more than enough room for aall the tiles. We note
that twoo of the defaault tiles, Firrewall and W
WiFi, relate to
o features no
ot included iin the free version
v
of
the proggram. Clickin
ng on them prompts
p
the user to buyy and enter a licence keyy for the Pro
o version.
This is in
ndicated by the shopping
g-trolley ico n in the corn
ner of each tile.
t
We likedd the customisation featu
ure, but lookked in vain fo
or a means to
t restore thee default layyout.
Summa
ary
We woulld describe Panda
P
Free Antivirus
A
as a simple and
d straightforw
ward antiviruus program. We liked
the abiliity to custom
mise the hom
me page of tthe program. Our one su
uggestion forr improvemeent would
be to proompt the useer during settup to passw
word-protect the program
m settings.
123
Qihoo 360 Inteernet Secu

urity 4.9.0
0.4902
Program
m version teested
Please n
note that th
he product version reviiewed here is not the same as thhe version commonly
c
availablee in China. Whilst
W
the user interfacee is similar, there are te
echnical diffferences betw
ween the
two, succh as the enggines used and
a default ssettings. Qih
hoo 360 deciided to take part in various tests
with thiis English version (ww
ww.360safe.ccom), which
h has the Bitdefender and Cloud engines
activatedd by defaultt, but the Avira
A
and Q
QVM enginess deactivated
d. Users of the Chinesee version
should n
not assume that the efffectiveness of the Eng
glish product is necessaarily relevan
nt to the
Chinese product theyy use.
Installa
ation
he user can cchange the installation folder.
f
Installattion is very simple
s
and only requires one click.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninstaller: Alt
lthough the button in Programs
P
an d Features is
i named
Uninstalll/Change, th
he dialog box that open s does not provide any options othher than uniinstall, it
merely aasks for feedbback on the product.
d a separate uninstall tool.
124
Window
ws Action Ceenter
Registraation in Windows Actio
on Center: Qihoo 360 Internet Seccurity registters as antivvirus and
antispyw
ware:
Action CCenter alertts: If real-time protectioon is disablled, there is no System--Tray alert shown
s
by
Action CCenter or the program itself.
We feel that showing a pop-up alert
a
when pprotection iss disabled is a valuable w
warning, and
d suggest
that Qihoo 360 implement this in some way..
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan, update, quarantine:: All of these can be accessed
a
dirrectly from the
t main
window.
f
a help feature
f
as suuch in the program.
Help: Wee could not find
Logs: Th
hese can be found
f
in the menu, just to the left of
o the minimise button.
The main
n program window
w
makess all importaant features easy to find.

No changes are madee to Internett Explorer.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
P is disabled, the status display at the top of
the winddow changes to show this,
t
and a Switch On button
b
appe
ears, clickingg which imm
mediately
reactivattes the proteection.
125
Although
h the symbool and text of
o the statuss display chaange to show
w that prote ction is disaabled, we
feel that as the coolour remain
ns the samee, the warning could be
b overlookeed. We sugg
gest that
changingg the text orr background
d to red or o range would make the alert much moore prominen
nt.
Scannin
ng
ons: Quick, full
f and custtom scan opttions are ava
ailable on th e home pagee.
ng: A Scan Now
N entry iss added to Windows
W
Exp
plorers conteext menu, so
s drives,
folders aand files can be scanned by right-cliccking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: When wee logged on to our test PC with a sttandard userr account, a Windows
User Acccount Controol prompt was
w immediaately displayyed, before we had eveen tried to open
o
the
program:
d
protection; whhen we tried,, the following message was displayeed:
We were unable to deactivate
126
Uninstalling the prroduct: A further Window

ws UAC prom
mpt appeared
d when we ttried to unin
nstall the
program, demandingg administrattor credentiaals.
h we were un
nable to swittch off proteection with a standard-usser account, we feel thatt the
Although
automattic appearancce of the UAC prompt whhen the user has just logged in may bbe confusing
g to
some people. The meessage statin
ng that the Protection service
s
could
d not be starrted strikes us as
misleading.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The alert below is sh own when the EICAR test file is dow
wnloaded. Itt remains
until thee user closes it.
The alerrt strikes us as very cleear, and we like the fact that it remains untiil the user closes
c
it,
providing enough tim
me to read itt.
Help an
nd Support
We couldd not find a help functio
on as such.
127
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The men
nu contains the
t item Feed
dback, whichh appears to be a means or reportingg bugs:
Summa
ary
We found Qihoo 3600 Internet Seecurity to bee simple to in
nstall and usse. It has a largely well--designed
interfacee that makees importantt features eeasy to find. Malware alerts are goood, althoug
gh status
warningss are not veery prominen
nt. We suggeest that the user experie
ence for stanndard users could be
improvedd.
128
Sophoss Endpoin
nt Securitty and Con
ntrol 10.3
3
Note ab
bout the pro
ogram
Sophos EEndpoint Seccurity and Control is dessigned for use
u in busine
ess environm
ments in which it will
be manaaged remotelly from a cen
ntral consolee. Readers sh
hould note th
hat because of this, the interface
design m
may differ froom products primarily inttended for home
h
users.
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: These
T
are thhe location of
o the installlation foldeer; whether to
t install
Sophos CClient Firewaall (we chosee not to, whhich is defau
ult); whetherr to remove existing AV software
(not appplicable in ouur case).
We found installation to be quitee straightforrward.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
129
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Actio
on Center: TThe default Sophos
S
insta
allation (whiich does not include
the Soph
hos firewall) registers as antivirus annd antispywaare:
Action CCenter alertts: If real-time protecti on is disablled, there iss no pop-up alert from Windows
Action CCenter, but Sophos itself displays an alert using the
t Windows 8 notificati on system:
We feel tthe alert shoown by Sophos is just as effective as Windows Acction Center alerts.
Location
n of man prrogram features
System status: Theere is no ovverall system
m status as such. The status
s
of reaal-time prottection is
shown in
n the top lefft-hand corneer of the winndow as On-aaccess scanniing.
Scan: Sccans can be run
r from Scan my computter on the ho
ome page.
Update: Signatures can be updated by righht-clicking the programss System Traay icon, then Update
now.
ption statuss: We could not find anyy informatio
on regarding the subscri ption. Howeever, in a
Subscrip
businesss environmen
nt, we would
d expect the administrattor to see this in the adm
ministration console,
making iit unnecessaary in the end
dpoint proteection client..
Help: Th
here is a Helpp button on the toolbar, and a Help menu with further optionns.
Logs: Th
he View anti-virus and HIP
PS log butto n on the hom
me page ope
ens the logs..
Quaranttine: There iss a link to qu
uarantine in the status section
s
of the home pagee.
We feel tthat the program interfaace provides appropriate access to im
mportant feattures.
130

There aree no changes made to In
nternet Exploorer.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and reactivvation: If reaal-time prote
ection is dissabled, the On-access
scanningg line changges to Disab
bled. The usser has to go into the
e antivirus ssettings in order to
reactivatte the protecction.
Although
h the producct is intended for use in a managed business envvironment, w
we see no reaason why
the proggram should not display a more prom
minent alert and provide
e the user wiith an easy means of
reactivatting the prottection, such
h as a Fix-A
All button.
Scannin
ng
ons: Standarrd and custoom scans can
n be run from
m Scans on thhe home pag
ge.
ng: A Scan with
w Sophos Anti-Virus en
ntry is added to Window
menu, soo files, foldeers and drives can be sca nned by righ
ht-clicking.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: A user without
w
admiinistrator prrivileges cannot disable RTP, as thee controls
are greyeed out.
Uninstalling the prroduct: A Windows UAC prompt appeears, demand
ding adminisstrator credeentials, if
mpts to unin
nstall the prooduct.
a standaard user attem
Sophos h
have effectivvely secured the product against unaauthorised acccess.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The alertt below is s hown when the user triies to downlload the tesst file. It
remains for about 10
1 seconds and
a then faddes out. If the
t user cliccks on the aalert, the Sophos ESC
window opens at thee quarantine page.
d fairly clearr. There should be just about enouggh time to read and
We feel the alert is simple and
understaand it beforee it fades outt.
131
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: Theere is a comp
prehensive loocal help fille. As is to be
b expected for a producct of this
type, thee instruction
ns appear to be aimed att IT professio
onals rather than
t
home uusers.
Manual: The produccts download

d page also has a link to
t the Stand
dalone Startuup Guide, which
w
is a
concise guide to in
nstalling and
d configurinng the progrram for stan
ndalone usee, i.e. witho
out being
nsole. Althouugh the guid
de has 22 pages, only haalf of these are
a actual
controlleed by a manaagement con
configurration instructions. The manual is cclearly laid out
o and writtten, but un fortunately does not
have anyy screenshotts.
Online k
knowledge base: Theree is a Sophoos Support website
w
with
h a knowledggebase25. Th
he search
function can be usedd to find ansswers to speccific queries or informatiion relating tto specific keywords.
k
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The maiin program window loo
oks remarkabbly similar (from a gra
aphic designn point of view) to
Windowss XPs defaullt Explorer window. Winddows XP is no
o longer sup
pported by M
Microsoft, meeaning no
more seccurity updatees for system
ms still runniing it. We wo
onder whether the associiation is a good one.
Summa
ary
Sophos EEndpoint Seccurity and Co
ontrol is straaightforward
d to install and use. Readders should be aware
that it iis intended for use in a managed bbusiness environment, which
w
is refleected in its interface
and helpp features.
25
http:///www.sophos.com/en-us/su
upport.aspx
132
Tencen
nt PC Man
nager 10.3
3.15564.218
Program
m version teested
We testeed the standdalone version availablee on the maanufacturerss main pagee. On the saame page
Tencent QQ PC Man
nager can be
b downloadded as comb
bo version together
t
witth Kingsoft Internet
Security or as standaalone version
n for the prootection of Windows
W
XP.
Installa
ation
Choices in the settup wizard: In the setuup wizard, the
t user can only chooose the locaation the
program should be installed to. During the iinstallation process the user can savve a very sim
mple user
guide too the desktopp in form of a single grapphical file in
n PNG formatt.
While wee liked the extremely
e
sim
mple setup, w
we missed th
he importantt step of giviing the user a choice
to familiiarize himsellf/herself witth the end-uuser license agreement.
a
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
The unin
nstallation of
o the produ
uct is pretty straightforw
ward. During
g the uninsttallation process, the
user is ggiven the chooice to delette any patchhes for third party progra
ams, and Tenncent QQ PC Manager
configurration files, on
o the computer:
133
Removal tool: No reemoval tool is

i offered.
t handle eveen for absolu
ute beginnerrs.
The Tenccent uninstaller is easy to
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action
n Center
Tencent PC Manager registers as
a antivirus and antisp
pyware. As the
t product does not contain
c
a
firewall, the Window
ws Firewall is still enabledd.
134

me protectionn is disabled
d from the prrogram winddow, an Actio
on Center
alert is ddisplayed:
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
The sub--tab AV scaan, cleanin
ng, tuning and tool box
b
can be reached fro m the main complete
check-upp window.
The stattus of the reeal time pro
otection staatus as resullt of the lastt check-up iis shown in the main
program window.
An onlin
ne help webssite can be accessed from
m the main menu
m
in the upper right ccorner.
Logs andd quarantinee can be acccessed from tthe bottom of
o the AV sca
an sub-tab.
We found the prograam interface in general vvery clear an
nd easy to na
avigate, withh the most important
features available att-a-glance in
n the main w
window. We feel the log file is hard to locate, especially
e
for begin
nners.

Tencent PC Manager does not change Inteernet Explorrer. The use
er is offeredd the opporttunity to
protect the current browser byy changing tthe default home
h
page to either Tenncents hao.q
qq.com or
b this is nnot bundled with the
to a selff-defined paage. Tencentt offers its oown Internet browser, but
Tencent PC Manager..
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on alert & reactivationn: If the RTTP is disable
ed in the prrogram settiings, the
status off the RTP, an
nd a fix-all button,
b
is shoown on the main tab:
135
Scannin
ng
an Options caan be accesssed as a pulll-down menuu on the scan
n AV tab.
The options quick, fuull and custo
om scan are provided:
ng: There iss a Scan wit

ith Tencent PC Manager entry in thhe context menu of
Windowss Explorer, alllowing files, folders andd drives to bee scanned byy right-clickiing.
Real-tim
me protectio
on: This cann
not be deactiivated witho
out administrrator credenttials.
oduct: This also
a requiress administrattor credentia
als.
Tencent PC Managerr prevents non-administ
n
trators from disabling or
o removing the program
m in any
way, whiich we find ideal.
i
Help an
nd Support
Local heelp file: this is shown in
i the screeenshot below
w. The user can
c save a ggraphical help file in
PNG-form
mat, either during
d
the in
nstallation prrocess or later on, from the
t main meenu.
136
Online k
knowledgebaase: From th
he main men u the user can access an
n online know
wledge base, which
providess simple answ
wers to comm
mon queries,, and a produ
uct forum to post questioons or browsse
through questions posted by oth
her users.
We weree particularlyy impressed with the onnline knowledge base of Tencent PC Manager. Topics are
clearly aand succinctlly explained,, with screennshots provid
ded wheneve
er this is obvviously useful.
137
Addition
nal points o
of interest
Default installation
n without virus definiti on database
e: Tencent PC Manager iss by default installed
without the Avira virus definitio
on database. The only reminder of th
he missing daatabase is a question
mark on the Avira iccon on the AV scan tab. Even if this database is NOT installedd, the user can
c reach
1
The Heaalth Score iss shown afterr Tencents Check-up
C
(quiick scan).
a Health Score of 100.
Summa
ary
Tencent PC Manager has kept alll the simpliccity and clariity of earlierr versions, annd remains extremely
e
easy to uuse. We partticularly liked the fact thhat Tencent does not bu
undle their oown browser with this
product.
We would suggest some impro
ovements, h owever. We believe that an initiaal set of lo
ocal virus
definitioons for the Avira
A
enginee should be included in the installa
ation packagge. We also feel that
Tencent should remind their ussers more vi sibly to install missing virus definiitions. Without virus
definitioons downloadded and insttalled, a userr should not be able to reach 100 heealth points.
138
ThreattTrack VIP
PRE Intern
net Securiity 2015 (8.0.3.3))
Installa
ation
Choices in the settup wizard: The only o ptions are the
t location of the insstallation follder, and
whether to join ThreeatNet, VIPREEs data sharring scheme..
e
and can be completeed with a co
ouple of clickks.
Installattion is very easy
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: The uninstall pro
ogram has a repair optioon.
The repaair option is a useful add
dition to the uninstaller, we feel.
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Action Center: VIIPRE Interneet Security re
egisters as fiirewall, antivvirus and
antispyw
ware. Window
ws Firewall iss disabled:
139

d, Windows Action
A
alert:
d, Windows Firewall is automatically

a
y activated, and thus no
o alert is
If the VIPRE firewalll is disabled
shown or needed by Action Centter.
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scan
n and update
e are all founnd on the ho
ome page.
ption statuss and help arre found on tthe Account page.
Subscrip
Quaranttine and Loggs (Antivirus History) are found on the Manage pa
age.
Although
h important functions and informattion are foun
nd on three different paages, we fou
und them
logicallyy organised, and it is eaasy to switchh between th
he pages usiing the threee tab button
ns at the
top. We liked the lin
nk to a web page
p
that ex plains the new interface design.

Toolbar:: A VIPRE tooolbar is instaalled, which displays thee safety ranking for the ccurrent site:
Search sservice: Thiss is not changed.

140

r
Thesse are addedd to search reesults for Bin
ng and Googgle:
h ratings to be
b useful. Thhe VIPRE too
olbar uses qu
uite a lot of sscreen spacee, and we
We found the search
wonder w
whether the functionalitty could be sshown elsewh
here.
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
on warning and
P is disabled, the text Youur Computer is Safe &
Protectedd disappearss from the blue
b
status information box, but iss not replacced by an equivalent
warning.. The arrow symbol
s
next to Antiviruss changes fro
om green to orange, andd the text sttates that
the compponent is dissabled:
nd reactivatiion: The fireewall status display
d
changes in a sim
milar manner to RTP if
the compponent is dissabled.
When RTTP is disableed, the statu
us text statees clearly Acctive Protection is off. H
However, we feel the
alert is rrather subtlee and that so
ome users miight not notiice the problem.
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan options: Quick, full, schedulled and custtom scans can all be run from the ho
ome page
of the prrogram:
141
Right-cllick scanning: Windows Explorers coontext menu is modified with a Scann with VIPRE entry, so
scanningg files and folders
f
by rig
ght-clicking is possible. We note th
hat this doess not apply to entire
drives, h
however.
Real-tim
me protection: This caan be disabbled by a non-adminisstrator accoount withou
ut admin
credentials being reqquired.
p
A Windows User Accou
unt Control dialog dem
mands admiinistrator
p
credentials if a standdard user atttempts to unninstall the program.
nternet Securrity does nott prevent staandard users disabling th
he protectionn, and we co
ould not
VIPRE In
find any means of seetting accesss control. Th is may be a disadvantage on e.g. a ffamily compu
uter, as
parents cannot preveent their children switchhing the antiivirus off.
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: The alert below is shoown when th
he user attem
mpts to dow
wnload the EIICAR test
file. It rremains for about twentty seconds. CClicking the Learn More link opens the relevantt page of
ThreatTracks online virus encyclopaedia.
v
clear th
hat the threaat has been stopped,
s
and
d is displayedd for long en
nough for
The messsage makes very
the user to read it coomfortably.
142
Help an
nd Support
The helpp feature alloows the user to type a seearch term in
nto a search box in the pprogram win
ndow; the
results aare displayedd in the brow
wser as a pagge of the online knowle
edge base. AAnswers inclu
ude stepby-step iinstructions for common
n tasks, as shhown below:
We found the help articles

a
clearr and very w
well illustrateed with anno
otated screeenshots. Users should
note thaat search ressults may incclude articlees relating to
o older versions of the pproduct, so including
i
2015 iin the search term may help producce more relevant results. We also noote that som
me of the
search reesults relate to discussio
on forums as well as actu
ual help articcles.
143
Addition
nal points o
of interest
After insstallation, VIIPRE promptss the user too state wheth
her the curre
ent network is private orr public:
The coloour scheme can be chang

ged to black as an option
n:
We likedd the ability to change the colour sscheme, as some

s
users find
f
white te
text on blackk hard to
read, wh
hereas otherss may find an
n all-white i nterface rath
her dazzling..
Summa
ary
We likedd the clean new
n design of
o VIPRE Inteernet Securitty 2015 and found it easy
sy to locate necessary
n
functions and inforrmation. Aleerts are goood, and thee online help feature pprovides cleear, wellillustrateed articles. Our
O one sugg
gestion for iimprovementt would be to
t enable paassword protection of
the settiings.
144
Trend Micro Intternet Seccurity 201

15 (8.0.1
1133)
Installa
ation
Choices in the setu
up wizard: The user can choose the language for the interfaace, and thee location
nstallation foolder.
of the in
We found installation to be very simple, requuiring only a couple of clicks to com plete.
Uninsta
alling the prroduct
Addition
nal options in the uninsstaller: Therre are none, complete removal is thee only possib
bility.
Removal tool: Instrructions are provided onn the Trend Micro website26 for uninnstalling thee product
using th
he Diagnosticc Toolkit; this is alreadyy installed on the compu
uter and so does not neeed to be
downloaded separateely.
26
http:///esupport.tren
ndmicro.com/solution/en-uus/1037161.asspx?
145
Window
ws Action Ceenter
ndows Actio
on Center: TTrend Micro Internet Se
ecurity registters as antivvirus and
antispyw
ware:

me protectionn is disabled, Action Center displays its normal alert:
a
Addition
nally, Trend Micro
M
displayys its own allert, which reemains until the user clooses it:
Trend Miicros own alert is very prominent, aand as it remains until the user clooses it, impo
ossible to
miss. Wee feel that th
his is a usefu
ul security feeature, especcially for non
n-expert userrs.
146
Location
n of main p
program fea
atures
System status, scaan, help, subscription
s
n status, logs
l
(Securiity Report) and update
e (latest
protectioon) can all bee accessed directly
d
from the home page.
Security Report is thee bar-chart symbol
s
to thee right of the Scan butto
on.
Quaranttine: We werre unable to find a quaraantine featurre in the pro
oduct, or anyy reference to
t one in
the docuumentation.
We feel Trend Micrros new pro
ogram desig n makes it very easy to find impportant feattures and
informattion easily.

Toolbar:: A Trend Miccro toolbar is installed:
Search sservice: Thiss is not changed

r
Thesse are displaayed for Bing
g and Google
e searches:
M
toolbar takes up quite a lot of
o screen spa
ace, given thhat there is only one
We feel that Trend Micros
icon in it. We wondder whether the button could be placed elsewh
here, to savee space. Thee searchresult ratings are verry clear, and
d a useful adddition.
147
Status a
alerts in pro
ogram wind
dow
Real-tim
me protectio
r
he status
display in the main
n program window
w
channges to show an alert. An obviouss Enable Now
w button
appears, which will reactivate
r
th
he protectionn with a sing
gle click:
d makes reacttivating prottection very easy.

The status alert is veery clear and
Scannin
ng
Availablle scan optiions: The Scan Options m
menu enablees quick, fulll and custom
m scans to be run, as
shown below. Scheduled scans can be set in Protection Settings.
S
ng: Trend Micro adds a Scan for Security

S
Threa
ats entry too Windows Explorers
E
shortcutt menu, allow
wing the user to scan driives, folders and files by right-clickinng.
Real-tim
me protectiion: Standaard users ccan disable the protection withoout entering admin
credentials.
Uninstalling the product: Adm
ministrator ccredentials are
a demande
ed by a Winndows User Account
Control ddialog box when
w
the user attempts tto uninstall the
t program.
It is possible to passsword protecct the protecction in Otheer Settings. We
W suggest thhat the setup
p wizard
should pprompt the user
u to activaate this, to pprevent unau
uthorised acccess.
148
Malwarre warningss
EICAR teest-file alerrt: If the useer attempts tto download the EICAR te
est file, the download is blocked,
and the following alert shown in
n the browse r:
pen this pagee, despite thee risk? the EICAR test fille is downloaaded, but
If the usser clicks Stiill want to op
immediaately deletedd by the reaal-time proteection. An alert
a
to this effect is shhown, which
h remains
until thee user closes it:
We feel tthe alert pagge in the bro

owser is extrremely clear,, and provides a very obbvious defaullt option,
Close thiis window. The
T option to
t continue to the site is much mo
ore discreet, and emphasizes the
risk. Thee pop-up aleert that appeears if the uuser continuees makes verry clear thatt no further action is
required, and we likee the fact that it remainss until closed, so the use
er has plentyy of time to read it.
149
Help an
nd Support
Manual: There is a comprehensiv
c
ve 151-page guide to thee product in PDF format..
knowledge base: Clickin
ng the quesstion-mark syymbol on th
he main win dow or a diialog box
Online k
opens th
he products support website at thee appropriatee page for the feature bbeing curren
ntly used.
There is also a search function.
s
webssite to be cleearly written
n and laid
We found the instrucctions in botth the manuual and the support
out, andd very well illustrated witth annotatedd screenshotts. The conte
ext-sensitivee nature of th
he online
help is vvery useful in
n showing th
he user the rright informaation for the
e current tas k. We would describe
the help facilities foor Trend Micro Internet S ecurity 2015
5 as excellent.
Addition
nal points o
of interest
The dow
wnload page includes
i
a viideo on how to install th
he product.
Summa
ary
We found Trend Micro Internet Security 20115 very easy to install and use. The program intterface is
well desiigned, and status
s
reportts and alertss are clear an
nd practical.. The help feeatures are excellent.
e
Our one suggestion for improvement is to pprompt the user
u
to passw
word protectt the program during
setup.
150
Copyriight and Disclaime

D
er
This pubblication is Copyright
C
2015
2
by AV--Comparativees . Any use of the resuults, etc. in whole or
in part, is ONLY permitted with
h the expliccit written agreement off the managgement boarrd of AVt any publication. AV-CComparativess and its testters cannot bbe held liablle for any
Comparaatives, prior to
damage or loss whicch might occcur as a resuult of, or in connection with, the usse of the infformation
providedd in this papper. We take every possibble care to ensure
e
the correctness oof the basic data,
d
but
liability for the correctness off the test rresults cannot be taken
n by any reepresentativee of AVa guaranteee of the co
orrectness, completenesss, or suitability for a
Comparaatives. We doo not give any
specific purpose of any
a of the in
nformation/ccontent provvided at any given time. No-one else involved
pecial or
in creatting, produccing or delivering testt results shall be liable for any indirect, sp
consequeential damagge, or loss of
o profits, arrising out off, or related to, the use (or inabilityy to use),
the serviices providedd by the web
bsite, test doocuments or any related data.
For moree information
n about AV-CComparativess and the tessting method
dologies pleaase visit ourr website.
AV-Co
omparatives (January 20
015)
151

Avc Sum 201412 en

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Avc Sum 201412 en

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Summary Report 2014

Summary Report 2014

Summary Report 2014

Summary Report 2014

Summary Reeport 2014

Resultss and Awards

Advice on Choosing Compu

Summary Reeport 2014

Summary Reeport 2014

Kingsoftt received awards

Summary Reeport 2014

Overvieew of leveels reached

* = Standard, ** = Advanceed, *** = Advvanced+

Summary Reeport 2014

Summary Reeport 2014

Summary Reeport 2014

Top Rated Products 2014

Top Rated products foor 2014 are,, in alphabetical order:

mary and awaards pages links below::

Summary Reeport 2014

Avira, Kasspersky Labb

Summary Reeport 2014

File Deetection winners

Summary Reeport 2014

Summary Reeport 2014

Overalll Performaance (Low System-Im

Summary Reeport 2014

Proactiive (Heuriistic/Behavioural) PProtection winners

Summary Reeport 2014

Malwarre Removaal winners

eScan, Kasspersky Labb

Summary Reeport 2014

User-Interrface Reviiew Sectio

What options aree available in

Doess the uninstaller have additional options, such as addin

Is a dedicated reemoval tool provided by the manufaccturer?

Are eessential fun

Doess the program

Summary Reeport 2014

Doess the main program

What scanning options

Is a scan entry added

Summary Reeport 2014

AhnLab V3 Inteernet Secu

Summary Reeport 2014

Action CCenter alertts: If real-tim

Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion

Summary Reeport 2014

We feel that the status display is

Summary Reeport 2014

Right-cllick scanning: By defaullt, there is nno addition to

Summary Reeport 2014

We found the manuaal to be comp

Summary Reeport 2014

Avast Free Antiivirus 201

Summary Reeport 2014

Action CCenter alertts: If the Avvast real-tim

Internet Explorer ccustomisatiion

Summary Reeport 2014

The alert shown by the status section

Summary Reeport 2014

The Moree details buttton does no

We feel the warning is reasonab

* = Standard, = Advanceed, * = Advvanced+