Antivirus reviews operation Virus Bulletin has announced that during a recent test of 54 anti-malware products on Windows Vista Business Edition SP2, 19 of the products did not reach the required standard for VB100 certification.

Virus Bulletin publishes some of the industry’s top antivirus reviews and it has found that many products are failing in their bid to protect internet users against potential malware dangers.

These products failed in a number of areas, and in areas that anyone would consider basic if they were to buy the product for the protection of their computers. The products failed to detect a number of viruses that were well known to be circulating, meaning that viruses that are entirely preventable are slipping through the rather patchy net. Other problems included false alarms appearing on files that are in fact clean; these were not from private users but from some of the top software houses, such as Roxio and Adobe.

Design and stability were also an issue. John Hawes, Virus Bulletin’s Anti-Malware Test Director, says “Most notable this month….has been the remarkable level of instability under pressure noted in many of the products – while our tests do not put unusual strain on the products, it is clearly important that security software should continue to function under pressure, and should not crumble in the face of heavy attack.”

The tests are stringent, with each of the products being tested against the WildList; this list is publicly available and shows up-to-date information on the malware that is known to be circulating at this current time, or has circulated in the past. To earn their VB100 certification, the products must detect 100% of these.

Unlike many of the products in this round of testing, a VB100 certified product would not generate false alarms when it scans a set of files the testers know to be clean. This kind of behaviour would not endear the products to the user: “Flaky behaviour will certainly not instil a sense of security in users, and developers need to ensure their quality control is thorough and comprehensive, to keep their users properly protected at all times,” continues John Hawes.

The antivirus reviews and tests give an insight in to what products are at the cutting edge of antivirus security, and take information from their tests and users’ experience to gather detailed analysis on every product. See BUYability’s antivirus reviews here.

Guest Article by Neil Camp