Vista Antimalware Fails VB100 Tests
The latest independent Virus Bulletin tests looked at 37 different Vista-based security programs to see which could manage to reach the level of threat detection required for ‘VB100′ Certification. Out of 37 tested, 17 failed the tests, including big name products from McAfee, Sophos, and Trend Micro. The New test of anti-malware products running on the platform has found that many don’t work as well as they should.
VB100 sets an incredibly high detection bar of 100 percent of a subset of malware defined by a malware collection known as the ‘WildList.’ Programs must also, using default settings, avoid false positives – false flagging files as malware infected when they are in fact innocent.
While McAfee, Sophos and Trend detected 99.99 percent of the WildList, Doctor Web reached only 95.21 percent, and Security Coverage PC Live managed a hopeless 84.35 percent. Microsoft’s own oft-criticized Windows Live OneCare and Forefront Client Security both hit the VB100 100 percent mark.
“It is disappointing to see so many products tripping up over threats that are not even new – computer users should be getting a better service from their AV vendors than this,” said Virus Bulletin tester-in-chief John Hawes.
With the SP1 upgrade promising a raft of improvements to performance and functionality of the platform, we are likely to see a significant upturn in the number of people installing it on their desktops and it is therefore imperative that anti-malware vendors are able to provide solid protection on the platform.
Three programs were so problematic that they couldn’t, for a variety of reasons, be made to run properly, and were ditched from the full tests, while some working products struggled to run in a stable fashion on Vista. The tests were done before the SP1 update appeared.
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