Can you test Superantispyware (portable & installed) and Dr. Web (portable & installed)? I am a computer technician at a university and use both of these scanners and have found them to be the best so far. Thank you!
Those products are portable anti-malware products with more advanced capabilities. My aim was to test only light products that you can use to quickly scan your system and get a second opinion. They don’t fit in the same niche with online antivirus scanners you can run in your browser.
Ben
11 years ago
I’ve noticed you have not included Avast in your best security suite test or in this test. Any particular reason why?
Avast does not provide a free online antivirus scanner or a standalone security scanning application.
My test is not about comparing real security solutions such as antivirus software or internet security suites. It is about testing free tools you can use to quickly scan (and not necessarily disinfect) your system, to get a second opinion. The tools presented in this article cannot and should not be used as a replacement for normal security products. They can only complement your existing security solutions.
The link to the Kaspersky scan tool jumps to their Internet Security page, and from there it’s three clicks (Downloads… Free Virus Scan… File Scanner) to find the scanner. It should be pointed out that it won’t install on your computer if you are already running Kaspersky Internet Security.
Neil Sheridan
11 years ago
Hi Ciprian,
Is there any chance you could tell me where you got your malware from as I enjoy testing AV’s and AS’s, I have contacted a few AV vendors in the past but got nowhere and deliberately downloading progs from dodgy sites hasn’t given me anything (typical when you want one you can’t have one…).
So if you can help me out I would really appreciate it.
It includes the latest malicious urls and downloads. However, most of those reported malware locations get banned and disbanded pretty quickly. So you need to do a bit of searching until you can download some real malware.
Neil Sheridan
11 years ago
Thanks for the link will look into this. 🙂
Andrey Oliveira
11 years ago
Avira Free is a cool solution. Thin, fast and efficiency
Emil Dusio
11 years ago
There have been malware that prevent downloading s/w to clean them. Then I use Housecall as it runs from their servers. I would wait all day to get my computer cleaned if that is what it takes over not being able to determine what is the problem and needing another tool to correct it.
Ezrab
11 years ago
1) Avast! is the best. Liked the control and automatic updating.
2) tried others, including
Mcaffee- intrusive removed after a long long struggle
Norton- Did not find some viruses I had- over the years, and interfered with other programs/language I had.
3) The main limiting issue of Freeware anti-virus programs is that it is a no-no for computer illiterates.
Can you please read the article carefully, the notes I have shared & marked in bold, plus the comments I shared for people who posted similar questions?
You are confusing the type of tools tested in this test comparison. Avast does not provide free online scanners or simple security scanners such as the ones tested here.
Jbig
11 years ago
what do you think of AVG free?
Ralph Dodds
11 years ago
I`ve used a lot of AV and Security pgms and prefer Kaspersky Security suite.
I also use their rescue disk and Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool pgm.
Use MajorGeeks web site for downloading these and other Kaspersky pgms free and otherwize.
Gary
11 years ago
THANK YOU! It a great study and I appreciate your efforts on our behalf. (why is that only half and not bewhole? At least not an a-hole!- oops, random train of thought- sorry) But, where would you assign in ESET? You stated “ESET Free Online Scanner is one of the very few good online scanners available” but then … what? I’ve used it and MS’s MSERT locally with good results. I’d like to see a structured test w/MSERT. Hopefully, you can give us an update.
Thanks again for the effort!
Because Microsoft Security Essentials is a complete antivirus solution, not an online antivirus scanner or a basic security scanner. In this article I am testing only solutions that you can use to complement fully-featured security solutions. None of the products tested in this article should ever replace your security solutions.
dragonduder
11 years ago
Jesus effing Christ people cannot read.
Good article nonetheless!
harmony
11 years ago
Good article – I have previously used Housecall (like it) and tried Comodo (didn’t like it ), and plan to check out Kaspersky. Re comment about MSSE and your response, while Microsoft Security Essentials is a complete a/v solution, they do offer an online safety scanner that can be accessed through their Safety and Security Centre webpage. Perhaps that is what the previous poster was thinking about – would be interesting to see how the Safety scanner fared against other scanners you tested.
Anyway, thanks for the article – it was helpful
Paul
11 years ago
A few months late, but thanks for the useful article. Once or twice a year, my computer makes me a bit nervous. I run a few online scans on my PC to make sure nothing got past my installed security – especially if I did any recent installs. One of my go-to online scans is Symantec’s. It’s a long download and takes hours to run (on my setup, which is much bigger than your 30GB test environment). I was surprised it’s not mentioned here. BTW, I interrupted Panda’s online scan because I was worried it wasn’t going to reveal the locations of the infections. Panda’s scan got through 18% overnight.
2pipes
11 years ago
Bullguard marks the status of files as Infected when Malware and Skipped if the file is password protected.
manoj saini
11 years ago
sir i am using eset antivirus 4 and having problems in my system
i tried avg and avast also on my system please tell me the solution for this after reading your article m installing now the key-sparky online scanner
can u tell me anything better because i think my system has exposed to risk
window 7 ultimate i am using
thanks
Cram
11 years ago
Hi, a late comment here. Looking at your summary table for online antivirus scanners, I am wondering at your conclusion. If you look at the number of threats found, Bullguard Online Scanner and Panda Active Scan are clearly miles ahead (both found 15 threats). In your conclusion you rate F-Secure (11 threats found) as number one, and Panda as number two, and Bullguard doesn’t get a mention.
Although Bullguard doesn’t remove detected threats, surely it is a huge bonus to know they are there, including location.
After reading your individual product summaries, while none of the online scanners are ‘perfect’, surely Bullguard deserves more praise than you give it.
Thanks anyway for a very informative article, you have given me just the info I was looking for, regarding choosing an online scanner.
BTW, as a couple of readers have commented on the dubious need of an online scanner, apart from a second opinion, I believe it also has value in determining that your main AV has not been corrupted.
Cram
11 years ago
For what it’s worth, I just completed an online scan running ESET.
It found and quarantined or deleted 7 threats, which I’m happy about but a bit upset as well: I run Avira Antivir, Emsisoft Anti-Malware (purchased version)and use SandboxIE.
I’m surprised seven threats got past that lot, but it dos confirm the strength of the additional line of defense.
Hi, it’seems that Avira antivir is not as good as it used to be 2 or 3 years agowhen it was number one in virus detection. I used it with Comodo firewall and malbware byte. I got hacked and detetected by looking manually, a rootkit.
I switched to Kaspersky Internet security, hoping that it will do a beter job than Avura + Comodo
Pablo
11 years ago
Nice article, I also find that having a copy of the AVG Rescue CD invaluable, it’s Linux based and downloads/updates the virus definitions before running the scan. You do have to set the BIOS to boot off a CD/DVD, but after that, it’s simply a matter of following the prompts.
Personally, I prefer ESET and F-Secure online scanners. I work for a state gov agency and we’ve got 10,000+ desktops and 2,500 laptops. Used to use Symantec(Norton) corporate…which was slow and bloated, but had the best detection rates. Then switched to Trend Corporate, and now on Mcafee. Trend was pretty worthless, and Mcafee is slightly better. My point is, our techs will often go behind Mcafee now and run ESET and F-secure online and they’ll find stuff the full blown Mcafee corporate misses. They also swear by Malwarebytes, one of my personal favs.
Incidentally, I run an old home built XP machine that’s been up and running strong with no viruses/malware/crashes for 8 years. I use Zone Alarm firewall, ccleaner to keep the registry clean and to get rid of “crap” files, Spybot & Malwarebytes for on-demand scanning, only browse with Opera and Firefox if I can help it, and now I’m using Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus. It actually works pretty well, seems Microsoft did a good job with it.
Humble Bro
11 years ago
Perfect! This article was dead on, exactly what I was looking for. Very detailed and in depth analysis.
I’m glad our work is useful to you. Don’t hesitate to browse more of our website. You will surely find other interesting and useful articles.
BillR
10 years ago
Just ran across this evaluation and both wanted to express my appreciation for your work and offer a few comments:
1. I think BitDefender QuickScan is a better product now (2013). Please consider giving it a try and annotating your comments.
2. Like Cram, I’m unclear why F-Secure was considered the best. My top criterion is correct identification because I can always find a number of tools to remove the threats once I know it is there. Many vendors offer seperate free removal tools, including most mentioned in this review.
3. Is number of files the same as number of infections? Are products “counting” the same way?
4. Watch out. Some products (namely BitDefender’s free AV) will automatically remove “malware”. This left me with a completely unbootable PC in one case when the AV flagged and then removed part of the monthly Tuesday automatic MS update. Grrr!
Again, thanks for the hard work.
Rob A
10 years ago
Holy crap! I can’t believe the number of people who didn’t read what this article was all about. It has nothing to do with AVG or Avast! Read it people!!!
Henry Wood
10 years ago
I don’t know how much you got paid by Kaspersky for your recommendation but you will be glad to know I got sucked into it. The “5 minute scan” they talked about took nearly 1 hour. The “results” of 20 IMPORTANT faults on my system could not be found anywhere after the scan was finished. It looks like I had to go back to the site for what? Pay money? DON’T advertise FREE scans when THEY are NOT FREE!
HouseCall is still the best, the fastest, and IS FREE!
Jack
10 years ago
Excellent! You answered all the questions I wanted answered by default. You also saved me a lot of time and trouble helping me to narrow my choices to Trend Micro HouseCall, F-Secure Online Scanner and ESET Free Online Scanner. Thank you!
Nice blog, Thanks for sharing such a good info about Kaspersky Antivirus
Phil
8 years ago
Agreed to your conclusions of the tests results. However please anti malware bytes to your list. I found it to be very effective & top contender to your list.
Jennifer Martin
7 years ago
Thanks for sharing such an informative post. I do believe that these seems to be the most popular Protegent antivirus software in the antivirus industry. But I have recently found out an antivirus which comes with data recovery software. I thought it to be a fake one, But I have used the trail version of it as well and it worked tremendously good.
I got its trial version: http://www.protegent360.com/protegent-complete-security.html
Try it and give your view on this.
teszter
7 years ago
“Online” means it’s on the Net and does the job there, not it’s available on the Web. Everything you have is “standalone programs which must be downloaded and installed”.
Fattywompus
6 years ago
Is it just me or was anyone else expecting the likes of Virus Total and Jotti? I appreciate the time that went into this review and comparison but I find the title a bit misleading. As soon as I am downloading and installing things it ceases to be “online” because now it’s on my hard drive and in my registry. I feel like these are some kind of weird middle ground. But really if I’m going to install something why not just pick the best one and go for the whole antivirus? And just use some of the many good portable scanners for second opinion / on demand stuff? These all seem to junk up my hard drive with parts of a program that are useless if I am not online, and also add no real time protection.
Can you test Superantispyware (portable & installed) and Dr. Web (portable & installed)? I am a computer technician at a university and use both of these scanners and have found them to be the best so far. Thank you!
Those products are portable anti-malware products with more advanced capabilities. My aim was to test only light products that you can use to quickly scan your system and get a second opinion. They don’t fit in the same niche with online antivirus scanners you can run in your browser.
I’ve noticed you have not included Avast in your best security suite test or in this test. Any particular reason why?
Avast does not provide a free online antivirus scanner or a standalone security scanning application.
My test is not about comparing real security solutions such as antivirus software or internet security suites. It is about testing free tools you can use to quickly scan (and not necessarily disinfect) your system, to get a second opinion. The tools presented in this article cannot and should not be used as a replacement for normal security products. They can only complement your existing security solutions.
I’ve used both Avast and AVG for over 5 years and never had to pay for either one. Have to renew once per year, but that’s all.
If you have to renew, you are still paying for it
How do you figure that? Avast is FREE! You have to re-register once a year, but it doesn’t cost a cent.
Hi,
Good job. Congratulations .
Best regards !
PS. http://forum.raymond.cc/spyware-viruses/33431-test-comparison-what-is-the-best-free-online-antivirus-scanner.html
What about MSERT (Microsoft Emergency Response Tool)?
It’s a standalone product.
Thank very much for a great article though.
It is the first time I hear about it. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome.
Sorry about that typo.
Can you test quickheals online scanner?. Thanks.
The link to the Kaspersky scan tool jumps to their Internet Security page, and from there it’s three clicks (Downloads… Free Virus Scan… File Scanner) to find the scanner. It should be pointed out that it won’t install on your computer if you are already running Kaspersky Internet Security.
Hi Ciprian,
Is there any chance you could tell me where you got your malware from as I enjoy testing AV’s and AS’s, I have contacted a few AV vendors in the past but got nowhere and deliberately downloading progs from dodgy sites hasn’t given me anything (typical when you want one you can’t have one…).
So if you can help me out I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.
I use mostly a public malware database such as http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/
It includes the latest malicious urls and downloads. However, most of those reported malware locations get banned and disbanded pretty quickly. So you need to do a bit of searching until you can download some real malware.
Thanks for the link will look into this. 🙂
Avira Free is a cool solution. Thin, fast and efficiency
There have been malware that prevent downloading s/w to clean them. Then I use Housecall as it runs from their servers. I would wait all day to get my computer cleaned if that is what it takes over not being able to determine what is the problem and needing another tool to correct it.
1) Avast! is the best. Liked the control and automatic updating.
2) tried others, including
Mcaffee- intrusive removed after a long long struggle
Norton- Did not find some viruses I had- over the years, and interfered with other programs/language I had.
3) The main limiting issue of Freeware anti-virus programs is that it is a no-no for computer illiterates.
I’m fully agreed with you
I agree Avast is the best where is Avast on your test???
Can you please read the article carefully, the notes I have shared & marked in bold, plus the comments I shared for people who posted similar questions?
You are confusing the type of tools tested in this test comparison. Avast does not provide free online scanners or simple security scanners such as the ones tested here.
what do you think of AVG free?
I`ve used a lot of AV and Security pgms and prefer Kaspersky Security suite.
I also use their rescue disk and Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool pgm.
Use MajorGeeks web site for downloading these and other Kaspersky pgms free and otherwize.
THANK YOU! It a great study and I appreciate your efforts on our behalf. (why is that only half and not bewhole? At least not an a-hole!- oops, random train of thought- sorry) But, where would you assign in ESET? You stated “ESET Free Online Scanner is one of the very few good online scanners available” but then … what? I’ve used it and MS’s MSERT locally with good results. I’d like to see a structured test w/MSERT. Hopefully, you can give us an update.
Thanks again for the effort!
I am not sure I understand your point. ESET is a good online scanner but not the best. I found F-Secure and Panda to be slightly better.
I was wondering why you didnt include Mircosoft Security Essentails in your testing. Could you temm us why please?
Because Microsoft Security Essentials is a complete antivirus solution, not an online antivirus scanner or a basic security scanner. In this article I am testing only solutions that you can use to complement fully-featured security solutions. None of the products tested in this article should ever replace your security solutions.
Jesus effing Christ people cannot read.
Good article nonetheless!
Good article – I have previously used Housecall (like it) and tried Comodo (didn’t like it ), and plan to check out Kaspersky. Re comment about MSSE and your response, while Microsoft Security Essentials is a complete a/v solution, they do offer an online safety scanner that can be accessed through their Safety and Security Centre webpage. Perhaps that is what the previous poster was thinking about – would be interesting to see how the Safety scanner fared against other scanners you tested.
Anyway, thanks for the article – it was helpful
A few months late, but thanks for the useful article. Once or twice a year, my computer makes me a bit nervous. I run a few online scans on my PC to make sure nothing got past my installed security – especially if I did any recent installs. One of my go-to online scans is Symantec’s. It’s a long download and takes hours to run (on my setup, which is much bigger than your 30GB test environment). I was surprised it’s not mentioned here. BTW, I interrupted Panda’s online scan because I was worried it wasn’t going to reveal the locations of the infections. Panda’s scan got through 18% overnight.
Bullguard marks the status of files as Infected when Malware and Skipped if the file is password protected.
sir i am using eset antivirus 4 and having problems in my system
i tried avg and avast also on my system please tell me the solution for this after reading your article m installing now the key-sparky online scanner
can u tell me anything better because i think my system has exposed to risk
window 7 ultimate i am using
thanks
Hi, a late comment here. Looking at your summary table for online antivirus scanners, I am wondering at your conclusion. If you look at the number of threats found, Bullguard Online Scanner and Panda Active Scan are clearly miles ahead (both found 15 threats). In your conclusion you rate F-Secure (11 threats found) as number one, and Panda as number two, and Bullguard doesn’t get a mention.
Although Bullguard doesn’t remove detected threats, surely it is a huge bonus to know they are there, including location.
After reading your individual product summaries, while none of the online scanners are ‘perfect’, surely Bullguard deserves more praise than you give it.
Thanks anyway for a very informative article, you have given me just the info I was looking for, regarding choosing an online scanner.
BTW, as a couple of readers have commented on the dubious need of an online scanner, apart from a second opinion, I believe it also has value in determining that your main AV has not been corrupted.
For what it’s worth, I just completed an online scan running ESET.
It found and quarantined or deleted 7 threats, which I’m happy about but a bit upset as well: I run Avira Antivir, Emsisoft Anti-Malware (purchased version)and use SandboxIE.
I’m surprised seven threats got past that lot, but it dos confirm the strength of the additional line of defense.
Scan took 6.5 hours for a 450GB hard drive.
Hi, it’seems that Avira antivir is not as good as it used to be 2 or 3 years agowhen it was number one in virus detection. I used it with Comodo firewall and malbware byte. I got hacked and detetected by looking manually, a rootkit.
I switched to Kaspersky Internet security, hoping that it will do a beter job than Avura + Comodo
Nice article, I also find that having a copy of the AVG Rescue CD invaluable, it’s Linux based and downloads/updates the virus definitions before running the scan. You do have to set the BIOS to boot off a CD/DVD, but after that, it’s simply a matter of following the prompts.
http://www.avg.com/ww-en/avg-rescue-cd-download
Personally, I prefer ESET and F-Secure online scanners. I work for a state gov agency and we’ve got 10,000+ desktops and 2,500 laptops. Used to use Symantec(Norton) corporate…which was slow and bloated, but had the best detection rates. Then switched to Trend Corporate, and now on Mcafee. Trend was pretty worthless, and Mcafee is slightly better. My point is, our techs will often go behind Mcafee now and run ESET and F-secure online and they’ll find stuff the full blown Mcafee corporate misses. They also swear by Malwarebytes, one of my personal favs.
Incidentally, I run an old home built XP machine that’s been up and running strong with no viruses/malware/crashes for 8 years. I use Zone Alarm firewall, ccleaner to keep the registry clean and to get rid of “crap” files, Spybot & Malwarebytes for on-demand scanning, only browse with Opera and Firefox if I can help it, and now I’m using Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus. It actually works pretty well, seems Microsoft did a good job with it.
Perfect! This article was dead on, exactly what I was looking for. Very detailed and in depth analysis.
I’m glad our work is useful to you. Don’t hesitate to browse more of our website. You will surely find other interesting and useful articles.
Just ran across this evaluation and both wanted to express my appreciation for your work and offer a few comments:
1. I think BitDefender QuickScan is a better product now (2013). Please consider giving it a try and annotating your comments.
2. Like Cram, I’m unclear why F-Secure was considered the best. My top criterion is correct identification because I can always find a number of tools to remove the threats once I know it is there. Many vendors offer seperate free removal tools, including most mentioned in this review.
3. Is number of files the same as number of infections? Are products “counting” the same way?
4. Watch out. Some products (namely BitDefender’s free AV) will automatically remove “malware”. This left me with a completely unbootable PC in one case when the AV flagged and then removed part of the monthly Tuesday automatic MS update. Grrr!
Again, thanks for the hard work.
Holy crap! I can’t believe the number of people who didn’t read what this article was all about. It has nothing to do with AVG or Avast! Read it people!!!
I don’t know how much you got paid by Kaspersky for your recommendation but you will be glad to know I got sucked into it. The “5 minute scan” they talked about took nearly 1 hour. The “results” of 20 IMPORTANT faults on my system could not be found anywhere after the scan was finished. It looks like I had to go back to the site for what? Pay money? DON’T advertise FREE scans when THEY are NOT FREE!
HouseCall is still the best, the fastest, and IS FREE!
Excellent! You answered all the questions I wanted answered by default. You also saved me a lot of time and trouble helping me to narrow my choices to Trend Micro HouseCall, F-Secure Online Scanner and ESET Free Online Scanner. Thank you!
I’m happy you found this useful.
Nice blog, Thanks for sharing such a good info about Kaspersky Antivirus
Agreed to your conclusions of the tests results. However please anti malware bytes to your list. I found it to be very effective & top contender to your list.
Thanks for sharing such an informative post. I do believe that these seems to be the most popular Protegent antivirus software in the antivirus industry. But I have recently found out an antivirus which comes with data recovery software. I thought it to be a fake one, But I have used the trail version of it as well and it worked tremendously good.
I got its trial version: http://www.protegent360.com/protegent-complete-security.html
Try it and give your view on this.
“Online” means it’s on the Net and does the job there, not it’s available on the Web. Everything you have is “standalone programs which must be downloaded and installed”.
Is it just me or was anyone else expecting the likes of Virus Total and Jotti? I appreciate the time that went into this review and comparison but I find the title a bit misleading. As soon as I am downloading and installing things it ceases to be “online” because now it’s on my hard drive and in my registry. I feel like these are some kind of weird middle ground. But really if I’m going to install something why not just pick the best one and go for the whole antivirus? And just use some of the many good portable scanners for second opinion / on demand stuff? These all seem to junk up my hard drive with parts of a program that are useless if I am not online, and also add no real time protection.