Which tests do you trust?

[Alanon]

I'm always browsing the net for security stuff. just the other day, I went on a spree looking at al the major and well known websites that offer free test results of various anti-virus and/or firewalls, suites, etc... What I've noticed especially on this forum, that those tests are all refferred to. People call on to them in the now famous argumeents ESET vs. Kaspersky. and so on.

Without trying to sound patronising, plain and simpl, my oppinion is, not all of the testers are the same. For instance, vb100 is almost exclusively "compatible" with ESET, even if it barely passed av-tests (not an ESET hater, but an former lont-time user)? Or when Webroot dramatically fails the av-comp. whole dynamics tests, and it is among the best of av-tests? And so on, and so on.

I'd like to know what's your trusted tester? Whose oppinion do you value most? Who do you think is the most objective one (or perhaps, who do you think has the best and undetectable method - undetectable in the sense that an AV can not modify itself so as to do well on a type of test)?

Discuss. :P

[DKT27]

Comparatively, I trust AV Comparatives more than anyone out there. But in the end, it's about personal preference.

Do note, people aren't out there just to cheat, however, what matters is the way of testing and what they are testing.

[masterupc]

Matousec is an option...

[avmad]

I only trust my own tests. I might use only 1000th of what the pros use as malware but if something can't deal with what I throw at it then it has problems.

Funny thing is my tests pretty much mirror what you'd expect anyway :lol:

Out of all the others I think AV-Comparatives do the best job.

[Alanon]

Personally, I too seem to instinctively rely on my own experiences using various products, which is why I sometimes get concerned when a product I've found to be good, is rated dramatically lower. For instance, after several years of running ESET, I've discovered a declining streak in its ratings (I think round the time they lost their legendary vb100 streak), and went for Kaspersky. I still remember it finding a lot of crap that I didn't know was there, that ESET missed. Nowadays, while I'm pretty convinced that K. is better than ESET, I've not used both in a while.

Yet the need of an AV is pervasive in me. I think I have a good prevention front from the getgo, but still. XD

So the tests help me choose which one to try in certain periods of time. Interestingly, though, I've never tried Norton, and have an unexplicable aversion towards it. And for the life of me, I can not understand the blazing results bitdefender is getting on nearly all of the tests - partly why I started this topic.

[rudrax]

Testing yourself is the best..you don't need to be an advanced user for that..choose a product and use that until it dissapoints you..and if you heard that some product is giving more than what you are using now, then test it in a virtual machine for some days and if you find that beneficial, you can migrate..

[ck_kent]

I've been using ESET for several years now since v2. I look at av tests just as a guide for me. Ultimately, I base my choice from experience especially when working with hundreds of computers with different specs and configurations. It's not like I haven't tried the other top antiviruses, it's just that ESET gives me better performance (speed/lightweight/protection) overall when using it in my environment. The environment I'm working with still consists of Pentium III, Pentium 4, Sempron computers <_< among others. I used to have Symantec AV but, at that time, it was just a resource hog and wasn't effective enough that an outbreak even occurred. I tried McAfee and again, was a resource hog and the updates just got bigger and bigger. After that contract expired, I tried Kaspersky and ESET. Kaspersky was very good but using it on a Pentium III or a Pentium 4 computer with 256MB of RAM just won't do. I'm not saying that these antiviruses don't have its merits, they do. It's just that ESET gave me better overall results even on a Pentium III computer!

Like I said, ultimately my decision to choose an antivirus wasn't influenced by these av tests but was based on my experience, testing, and the environment I'm working in. :)

[fumia]

AV Comparatives

but mostly i trust my own experiences

like these day ESET keep dropping down in reviews,but til now ESET still good for me :)