They ran a comparison of virus removal software in Oct ’09. Full results are here. Question is, why not compare latest versions throughout? Their methodology (a “work in progress”) suggests that the vendos provide their software, which is updated “as per the manual”…Symantec 2010 vs AVG 8.5? Full list of scanners compared?

• Avast Professional Edition 4.8
• AVG Anti-Virus 8.5
• AVIRA AntiVir Premium 9.0
• BitDefender Anti-Virus 2010
• eScan Anti-Virus 10.0
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.0
• F-Secure AntiVirus 2010
• G DATA AntiVirus 2010
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010
• Kingsoft AntiVirus 9
• McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009
• Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0
• Norman Antivirus & Anti-Spyware 7.10
• Sophos Anti-Virus 7.6
• Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010
• Trustport Antivirus 2009.

Results are very subjective and based on “some” vs “a lot” set out in a “scale”… buy you knew that already (though the methodology is quite vague on this – which one would have hoped it isn’t…) … And they’re testing virus scanners for malware; Malware Bytes etc have a beautiful suite far better suited for this purpose. It’s an approach to security that matters, and it’s supported by software – the software itself won’t make it happen… Disappointing…