SE Labs Home Anti-Malware Protection - January - March 2019

[alakazam]

This is the second test only. The K7 participates in SE Labs tests (Consumers category) from December 2018.
Paradoxically, the vendor of AV that scores not well has more advantage from such tests, than other vendors. The failure can be a hint on how to improve the product. This was the way of Windows Defender, which was the second last a year ago.

So if someone were to have the K7 Computing security suite installed on their PC with a licence for 1 year, should they keep it, or should they remove it and install a free antivirus like Avira?

 

[Andy Ful]

So if someone were to have the K7 Computing security suite installed on their PC with a licence for 1 years, should they keep it, or should they remove it and install a free antivirus like Avira?

I am not sure if your question is well posed. Why should one choose the AV on the base of a single particular test?
Furthermore, it can depend on many factors. For example, If the user has the computer with Windows 10, then the first factor is closely related to the following question:
Why did someone choose to install K7, instead of Windows Defender which was already installed on the computer? There can be several interesting answers to this question.

They should have a disclaimer. “For entertainment purposes only”.

They put another one:
"This test report was funded by post-test consultation services provided by SE Labs to security vendors. Vendors of all products included in this report were able to request early access to results and the ability to dispute details for free."

For me, it means that the primary customers of this report were AV vendors. The report was not prepared to help people with choosing the best AV.

 

[alakazam]

Why did someone choose to install K7, instead of Windows Defender which was already installed on the computer? There can be several interesting answers to this question.

Hypothetical question. Maybe it came installed when they bought the PC. Maybe they got the PC as a gift from their boss, who is an Indian and supports Indian antivirus companies.

Should they use K7 until the license expires, or should they replace it with a free antivirus?

 

[blackice]

They put another one:
"This test report was funded by post-test consultation services provided by SE Labs to security vendors. Vendors of all products included in this report were able to request early access to results and the ability to dispute details for free."

For me, it means that the primary customers of this report were AV vendors. The report was not prepared to help people with choosing the best AV.

It’s a good disclaimer already . I actually enjoy looking at these reports for 5 minutes. They’ll be a good indicator for if a product goes way down hill. Otherwise it’s kinda fun. Hopefully these tests are useful to the vendors for improving. Seemed to work for WD.

 

[Andy Ful]

Hypothetical question. Maybe it came installed when they bought the PC. Maybe they got the PC as a gift from their boss, who is an Indian and supports Indian antivirus companies.

Should they use K7 until the license expires, or should they replace it with a free antivirus?

Is your question related to the results of this particular SE Labs test, or just you ask me for my general opinion?

It’s a good disclaimer already . I actually enjoy looking at these reports for 5 minutes. They’ll be a good indicator for if a product goes way down hill. Otherwise it’s kinda fun. Hopefully these tests are useful to the vendors for improving. Seemed to work for WD.

I replied because it seems that we try to use the surgical scalpel to apply the butter on the bread, and then complain that it is not especially useful.
It can be useful for surgeons, I think.