TSGL: MicroSoft security programs

[Steve Locke]

Microsoft OneCare Last in Antivirus Tests
In tests involving worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and
other malware, Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare came
in dead last.
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Thursday, March 01, 2007

Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare came in dead last out
of a group of 17 antivirus programs tested against
hundreds of thousands of worms, viruses, Trojan horses
and other malware, an Austrian antivirus researcher
reported Wednesday.

The AV Comparatives Web site, which is maintained by
Andreas Cleminti from Innsbruck, Austria, posts
quarterly results of tests that pit the top antivirus
products against a dynamic list of nearly half a
million individual pieces of malware.

Top dog, according to Cleminti's tests, was G Data
Security's AntiVirusKit (AVK), which nailed 99.5
percent of the malicious code. Not far behind were
AEC's TrustPort AV WS, at 99.4 percent, Avira's
AntiVir PE Premium, at 98.9 percent, MicroWorld's
eScan antivirus, at 97.9 percent, F-Secure's
antivirus, at 97.9 percent, and Kaspersky Labs' AV,
which stopped 97.9 percent of the malware.

Better known products such as Symantec's Norton
antivirus and McAfee's VirusScan posted results of
96.8 percent and 91.6 percent, respectively.

Holding the bottom spot was Microsoft's Windows Live
OneCare, the consumer security suite that the Redmond,
Wash. developer launched last year. OneCare took care
of just 82.4 percent of the malware.

Cleminti also tested the 17 products against
polymorphic viruses, those which produce sometimes
vast numbers of variants as they try to sneak by
scanners. "The results of the polymorphic test are of
importance because they how flexible an antivirus scan
engine is and how good the detection quality of
complex viruses is," said Cleminti in his write-up.

Only Symantec's Norton AntiVirus and ESET's NO D32
antivirus caught every variant of the 12 polymorphic
families, he said. In that test, OneCare placed 15th,
detecting every version of only two families, and
missing seven of the polymorphic families completely.

Cleminti's report is available online
(www.av-comparatives.org).

This is not the first evaluation to give a Microsoft
security program a black eye. Last week, for example,
Australian security company PC Tools released research
that claimed Windows Defender--Microsoft's
anti-spyware title--detected just 46 percent to 53
percent of spyware.

"We are looking closely at the methodology and results
of the test to ensure that Windows Live OneCare
performs better in future tests," a Microsoft
spokesperson said.

Steve