AV-TEST Windows 10: April 2021

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

I don't trust this test anymore. All AVs get almost 6/6

 

Maybe all of them paid the fee this time to receive a perfect score.

 

There is still a few that went cheapo and paid less than the full fee Some companies prefer the cheap route as you know

 

Winaero's editors totally blinded by this test company's results. Windows 10: October 2021


AV-TEST: Microsoft Defender is one of the best antivirus apps in 2021 winaero.com

 

I recently tried BullGuard (it came included free from ASUS with the Crosshair VIII motherboard) and the GUI was disgusting to look at and very awkward to navigate. To put it bluntly, I thought it was garbage.

I also recently tried BitDefender and it was fine other that it was consuming far too much memory and seemed overly bloated. The GUI was decent though.

I recently tried Kaspersky and removed it after a couple of days. They've made changes to it that really annoyed me. It was also more bloated than when I last tried it several years ago. The are headquartered in Moscow, and I can't think of a scenario other than a company being based in China that should be viewed with a greater deal of suspicion and distrust.

I don't like any security software and don't really need any. I can see Defender being a popular option because it is easy to configure and works well enough. It is included with Windows and requires no subscription. That is actually very compelling. I absolutely DO NOT trust Micro$lop, but I don't know that trusting them is any more stupid than trusting a security company that is headquartered in a country whose governments do not have the best interests of citizens in other countries at heart and are actively engaged in cyber warfare. I think trusting foreign countries to not do naughty things when you're not paying attention is less than smart. That is like leaving the fox in charge of the henhouse.

Trusting Micro$lop seems like a somewhat lesser evil, but primarily because they are selfish and only care about what is best for them. I doubt they are conducting cyber warfare against North American citizens on behalf of the US Government, but anything is possible.

I think the one that bothers me the least is ESET Antivirus. I am not sure how I feel about trusting a company based in Slovakia, but at least they are viewed as an ally to North American governments and most of their allied nations.

Because they are based in the US, Symantec (Norton) might be the only one that it makes sense for me to give any trust to, but I hate their bloated products. I haven't tried using them in quite a few years. Maybe I should investigate what they offer, but I doubt they've become less bloated in time. The opposite seems to be the case for all of them. Computers are more powerful and have more resources than they used to, and it seems like all software developers abuse that because they can get away with it. Part of that is having to make everything idiot-proof to accommodate the lowest common denominators when it comes to technical knowledge.

The bottom line is, I think no "security solutions provider" should be viewed as reliable or trustworthy. On an "all things considered" basis, I can't identify any that are deserving of trust, and none of them can fix stupidity, dishonesty and bad habits. Nor do they do anything to rid us of the criminal minds that seek to harm anyone that is vulnerable. Our biggest problem is the depravity of the human race and the naturally nefarious nature of mankind.

 

And you can't trust on Microsoft either. Today's tech is either screwed up in birth or driven by incompetence. Or both.

Microsoft Defender Version 1.353.1874.0 version 1.353.1874.0 incorrectly reports Emotet borncity.com


A brief note for administrators. Microsoft Defender reportes a PowEmotoet.SB infection has been blocked and quarantined and possibly triggers Microsoft Office? This is a false alarm, which was triggered by an update of the signature files to version 1.353.1874.0. Here is some information on what is known so far.

Addendum: Bleeping Computer colleagues also report the same issue here. A week ago, there has been also an issue with Defender, see Windows Server 2019/2022: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint fails after Nov. 2021 updates.