AV Test

AV-TEST provides independent comparative tests and reviews for antivirus software, antimalware tools, and more.

AV-TEST provides independent comparative tests and reviews for antivirus software, antimalware tools, and more. It is an IT security and antivirus research institute that rates various antivirus programs and products. Each product can earn up to six points in three categories: protection, performance, and usability. To measure protection, the testers of AV-TEST expose each product to a collection of the newest zero-day malware attacks and to a collection of malware samples that were widely prevalent during the previous four weeks. To measure performance, the researchers time various ordinary activities before and after installing antivirus protection. For a product to earn a good usability score, it must avoid identifying legitimate programs or websites as malicious. In order to receive AV-TEST’s certification, a product must earn a total of 10 points with no zero score in any category.