Antivirus Test: A Quest for Nearly Objective Rankings

* AV: F-Secure Infections found: 36,692* Comments: On my fourth attempt at installation I finally got something that looks like it might scan for malware. The previous 3 installations failed at various points and the software failed with no error message or notification. After the software did run, it found an extra 2,642 files to scan and discovered 254 more instance of malware than actually existed on the computer.

* AV: G Data Infections found: 36,423 Comments: Highest success of any AV solution tested, identifying 99.95 percent of all the malware in my data file; downside is that everything is in German and the GUI is a little bit quirky.

* AV: Hacker Eliminator Infections found: 1 Comments: Yes, this software found exactly 1 piece of malware. Perhaps this is a limitation to the trial version because the set up screen said "will not remove Trojans unless you purchase a license." Regardless, by finding 1 malware, it performed better than in did in another report where it identified absolutely zero.

* AV: Hauri Infections found: 35,325 Comments: The scanner said that it scanned 63,828 files but I only had 36,438 pieces of malware for it to look at. The only possible explanation I have is that it scanned the 27,390 files in the Windows directory in addition to my malware. Nevertheless, if we believe the scanner results, this AV identified 97.21 percent of my malware collection.

* AV: Kaspersky Infections found: 20,289 Comments: I read about Kaspersky Labs often, and I have to admit that my expectations were high for this product. Sadly, this was another major AV company that failed to impress me. The software only identified 55.68 percent of the malware.