Every two months, AV-Test takes a look at popular antivirus software and security suites and tests them in several ways. In their latest test which was performed on Windows 7 during September and October, Microsoft Security Essentials didn't pass the test to achieve certification. Although that may not sound that impressive, Microsoft's program was the only one which didn't receive AV-Test's certificate. For comparison, the other free antivirus software, including Avast, AVG and Panda Cloud did.

There are three categories where the programs receive points: protection, repair and usability. When added all up, the software needs to have at least 11 out of 18 points to pass the test. Security Essentials only got 10,5 points, which brings up the question: What's the cause?

It seems that Security Essentials failed to recognize enough zero-day threats with detection rates of only 69% in September and 64% in October, where the average is 89%. The rest of the scores remain largely unchanged when compared to the previous test. It's only honest to mention though that most of the programs tested scored lower than in May and June.

Bitdefender Internet Security is the winner with 17 out of 18 points. F-Secure Internet Security and Kaspersky Internet Security came in second and third respectively with 15,5 and 15,0 points. Out of the free programs, ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall got the highest score with 14,5 points. In the similar test for business protection software, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint only gathered 9,5 points.

Source: PCMag | Images via AV-Test