AV-TEST, a well-known company that evaluates anti-malware solutions and the situation around malware, is back to work after testing eighteen security packages on Windows 10, including the upcoming Microsoft Defender (formerly Windows Defender) on the system by default. The company tested these eighteen security packages against 12,000 malware samples and is processing 1.5 million files to see if they correctly distinguish between benign and malicious.

Among the security packages tested on Windows 10, how could it be otherwise, the most famous are: AhnLab, Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, K7 Computing, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Microsoft, Microworld , Norton, PC Matic, Protected.net and Trend Micro. The tests were conducted between January and February 2023, and the company evaluated each package through three separate sections, protection, performance and usability, with a maximum score of six for each.

Developers of anti-malware solutions seem to take AV-TEST ratings seriously Fourteen of the eighteen security packages received their “top product” seal, which the company awards to those that are at least close to perfection.. Because there are three sections, each with a maximum score of six points, the maximum mark is 18. Packages that received the “best product” seal scored 17.5 or 18.

From the published results, you might be surprised to see Microsoft Defender or Windows Defender without a “top product” label. This contrasts with the fact that the Redmond giant’s antimalware received the best score three years ago in AV-TEST tests. As you can see in the table, it gets a six in the protection and usability sections, but only scores a five in performance.

Regarding the performance score, AV-TEST explained that “the highest system load in testing was generated by Windows Defender Antivirus. Because the system load is significantly higher than other productsDefender lost a full point, so it ended up with 5 out of 6.” The firm singled out Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, G DATA, K7 Computing, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, PC Matic, Protected.net and Trend Micro for their resource efficiency, while AhnLab , AVG, ESET, F-Secure, McAfee, Microworld and Norton behaved well according to their version, but did not prove to be round.

As for the tests scanning with 1.5 million files, to which in each case a visit to 500 harmless websites was added, sixteen of the eighteen security packages were perfectly compatible for a score of 6 out of 6. Here, only Microworld made a few mistakes to achieve a score of 5.5, while PC Matic went off the rails with a 3 due to the return of “more than two dozen false positives and blocked applications”.

AV-TEST’s latest results are, at least to some extent, another blow to Microsoft Defender, which was recently found to have a bug that caused increased CPU usage in Firefox when used on Windows. This, logically, has angered users and followers of the Mozilla browser.