My main criteria are (in no particular order):
1) low or vey low system slow down
2) no bloatware
3) detection/prevention is a lot more important than removal/clean up.
After having evaluated for +- 1 year (on different systems simultaneously),
- Webroot Secure Anywhere Complete (so many updates to WRSA means I'm not going to state a version but I've been a user from day 1)
- Avira Premium 2012/2013
- Comodo Internet Security pro 2013 (and also the free 2012 Internet Security version)
- Eset NOD32 version 5
I settled on Avira and Comodo or Eset and Comodo.
Avira pro's:
- Good detection rate (I would rate Bitdefender excellent for its detection rate as Avira has seemingly fallen behind a bit). Check out AV-comparatives as I'm basing myself mainly on that.
- Low on resource use
- Can be configured in great detail (I can leave out the POP3 e-mail check module for instance)
- Good heuristics (although the things it caught were all FP's on the highest setting)
- Support is pretty fast to incorperate new files sent to them or remove FP from the virus definitions
Avira Con's:
- Detection rates seem to have fallen but I have no way to independently verify this. This is just a general impression.
- When it has detected something, and I click on "detail" to investigate, this action is very slow (it takes about 2-5 minutes) to complete.
- Boot up stalls a bit (+- 30 seconds) when it is preforming an update (even when not set to secure start)
Eset pro's:
- You can (almost*) configure it to your heats content
- Detection rate is high (I'd rate it a tad below Avira, however, Eset has been catching up to them this last year)
- FP rate is low
- It's lighter on resources than Avira
- updates get installed quickly
Eset cons's:
- Support is slow to add samples sent to them. I've sent about 13 (checked my e-mail records) and on average they took more than 3 days to add them. A couple even took them 2 weeks(!) to add. Avira had all but 2 already in their database and the one's I sent them got added the same day (always 1 or 2 updates later).
- The HIPS included is not so good. It may be a bridge too far to call it bloat since it can be turned off.
- *There is no easy way to disable the e-mail module. I unchecked a whole lot of things hoping that takes care of it.
- Detection rates are on average lower than the top performers.
Webroot Secure Anywhere pro's:
- It is really very fast so low on resources
- It is as easy or as hard to configure then you want
- It plays well with many other security products
- Supports is very active (even on community forums) and very accessible
Webroot Secure Anywhere con's:
Perhaps this is because it hooks into the system on a very low level (lower than most software?) but it has a fair few deal breaker bugs:
- Numlock intermittently stops working (both on XP SP3 and Windows 7). You'd have to tap the numlock key twice to get it going.
- Some symbols (like the @-sign) double when you are visiting HTTPS websites (both on XP SP3 and Windows 7)
- Sometimes the software will not terminate when you shut down the computer (only on Windows XP SP3 regardless of the system being in a freshly installed state)
- When the firewall is set to its highest setting (confirming access for evey program) the system always stalls for +- 5 or more minutes (only on Windows XP SP3 regarless of the system being in a freshly installed state)
- System (only tested on Windows 7) often crashes (freezes completely) when it is installed alongside Comodo Internet Security pro 2013. I did add their executables to their respective exclusion lists so whether Webroot or Comodo is to fault is hard to say and I did not want to find out
- Raw detection rate is poor. It is said to fair better on executing the malware. This is hard to test for me as it was always installed alongside either NOD32 or Avira. On the occassions I did test Webroot (by shutting down the other installed AV) it always detected the malware.
One note on why I stopped testing Webroot's software. All the bugs I have listed have been present for over a year. I reported them numerous times and on one occasion supported even connected live to my workstation to run some tests. To date, none of my issues have been resolved despite of the many promises. I do feel a bit sad for Webroot as, to me, I regarded as the best product that came along in a long time.
I've only just installed Comodo 2013 so I'm going to hold of commenting about it. I could comment on the 2012 version but I want to compare both a bit first
Cheers,
Jeroen
