I really have no idea how good any of these "independent" testers are, but most of the ones I've seen have rated MSE very well, including this one (though it's a bit old now).

Also, I kind of take issue with that AV-Test chart. MSE isn't "certified," but Avast is, even though its protection score is lower? Because it's slightly better at repair and is more usable? Usability won't help my click-happy clients


Here's my thoughts on antivirus:

I stand by MSE for day to day protection. For computer users who are pretty good about not clicking on the wrong things, it does a great job. Most of my clients have not had viruses return after I've installed it.

As far as I've seen, a disturbing number of antivirus programs do not catch the type of virus that I see most often these days and that disturbs me greatly. I can't tell you the number of times I've removed viruses from people's computers that got onto the system pretending to be an antivirus its self. I've seen these for years now in many different variations, and they're only getting worse. What gets me is that I haven't seen a single one of the major products block this thing. Norton, McAfee, and the second tier ones including MSE and AVG, none of them even see these viruses on an infected machine let alone block it.

The only one that consistently finds this type is Malwarebytes. You can tell it's effective because in several instances, I've seen the installer targeted specifically by the virus. I'll be able to install other programs, but when I try to launch "mbam.exe" the file is deleted. Sometimes I've even seen the virus search the USB drive I insert, and delete the installer right off of it. That tells me it's effective

So that might be my recommendation, in fact. For my clients, I don't mind recommending a for-pay program, but usually the only way I can get them to stop using Norton or McAfee is to draw them away with the promise of dropping that yearly fee. If they don't mind paying, Malwarebytes would be the one I'd go for myself.


I do have one more tool that I use on seriously infected computers, mostly as a last resort. It's called ComboFix, and I primarily use it as a last resort. It's most certainly not a day-to-day antivirus, but I've rarely seen it fail at getting a computer clean, although occasionally at the expense of certain user settings or programs that have trouble launching again. It's the last step I take before nuking and reinstalling Windows.

Lastly, no offense Stig, but I don't use software firewall products. It might be a good idea, but I'm fine with the combination of the Windows firewall and the hardware firewall I get with my router, which is probably more effective anyway. It might be good to have one just to know if anything you've installed is making unexpected calls out to the internet, but I don't care that much.