which is attributable to benchmark error. Our benchmarks showed less than a five percent difference before and after installing the security software. All of the products in this antivirus software roundup certainly did. Time it took to complete a full scan of our test system (5 points)įortunately, modern security products perform well in this area, for the most part. System performance impact measured with Futuremark PCMark benchmark suite (5 points)Ģ. Two components make up this section (10 total points):ġ. McAfee and Kaspersky did not get full credit because t hey just could not match Symantec’s Norton for sheer simplicity.Īnother important aspect of a security suite is its ability to “set it and forget it” – that is, not be noticed once installed.
#Mc afee speed update
Microsoft received one point off because it took too long to update after installation. All of the installations were relatively easy. Norton continues to offer the simplest installation process of any antivirus software I’ve tested. Additionally, all the interfaces were aesthetically pleasing and had good color choices. All of the products in this roundup provide the need-to-know information up front and clearly indicate protection status as well as any issues that need resolution. In previous buyer’s guides I have taken off considerable amount of points for poor user interfaces some provide too much information and in more than one case, not the right information. How effective is the interface (5 points)?Īll of these security products had impressive interfaces this is a rarity in our software comparisons.
#Mc afee speed install
The install process: download size, amount of time, and amount of user interaction (5 points)Ģ. Companies producing these products need to assume most of their user base is not technically inclined unless the product is easy to use, customers will get frustrated and may not purchase the product again. The next most important aspect of a security suite is its ease of use. Both Symantec‘s Norton product and Kaspersky Anti-Virus did not even allow the malicious files to be downloaded in the first place, blocking my download attempts at the source.
Fortunately all of these solutions did and left no traces of the download.
However, in the past I have tested software that did not fully remove them. The test virus files are rather elementary and easy to detect I have not tested a product that did not identify them as malicious.