Scanner Review January 1996

    This is a summary of results from Secure Computing's January 1996
    comparative review of Anti-Virus Products.

    Twenty-one products were tested: AntiViral Toolkit Pro (AVP),
    AntiVirus Plus, AVAST!, AVScan, Central Point Anti-Virus,
    Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit, Dr Web, F-Prot Professional,
    IBM AntiVirus, McAfee ViruScan, Microsoft Anti-Virus, Norman
    Virus Control, Norton AntiVirus, Sophos Sweep, ThunderBYTE, Vet,
    Virex for the PC, ViruSafe, Virus Alert, Virus Buster,
    Virus Buster Lite.

    Recognition of Viruses - Full SECURE Computing Collection
    ---------------------------------------------------------

                     Percentage of infections
    Product                 detected              Rank
    ==================================================
    Dr Solomon's AVTK       99.05                 1st
    Sophos Sweep            98.11                 2nd
    F-Prot Professional     98.05                 3rd
    Thunderbyte             97.76                 4th
    AVP                     97.21                 5th
    Virus Alert             96.22                 6th
    McAfee ViruScan         92.89                 7th
    IBM AntiVirus           92.43                 8th
    AntiVirus Plus          90.13                 9th
    Dr Web                  88.41                10th
    Norton AntiVirus        85.40                11th
    AVScan                  83.81                12th
    Vet                     76.58                13th
    Virus Buster Lite       73.75                14th
    Virex for the PC        70.54                15th
    Virus Buster            60.88                16th
    Norman Virus Control    55.69                17th
    ViruSafe                53.66                18th
    AVAST!                   0        Hung machine; scored 99.2% on 56%
                                      of the library
    Central Point AntiVirus  0        Hung machine; scored 91.6% on 7%
                                      of the library
    Microsoft Anti-Virus     0        Hung machine; scored 27.2% on 50%
                                      of the library

    In the wild test - Viruses detected
    -----------------------------------

                     Recent in the Wild   Classical viruses
    Product            viruses missed           missed         Rank
    ===============================================================
    Dr Solomon's AVTK        none                none          1st (joint)
    F-Prot Professional      none                none          1st (joint)
    McAfee ViruScan          none                none          1st (joint)
    Norton AntiVirus         none                none          1st (joint)
    Sophos Sweep             none                none          1st (joint)
    Thunderbyte              none                none          1st (joint)
    AVAST!                      1                none          7th
    Virus Alert                 2                none          8th
    AntiVirus Plus              1                   2          9th (joint)
    IBM AntiVirus               1                   2          9th (joint)
    AVP                         3                   1         11th (joint)
    Norman Virus Control        4                none         11th (joint)
    Virus Buster Lite        none                   4         11th (joint)
    Dr Web                      4                   3         14th
    ViruSafe                    6                none         15th
    Vet                        10                none         16th
    AVScan                     11                none         17th
    Virus Buster               31                   5         18th
    Virex for the PC           32                   2         19th
    Central Point Anti-Virus   50                none         20th
    Microsoft Anti-Virus       67                   5         21st

    Polymorphics
    ------------

    Product               Percent detected         Rank
    ===================================================
    F-Prot Professional         99.8               1st
    Dr Solomon's AVTK           99.7               2nd
    Sophos Sweep                99.5               3rd
    AVAST!                      99.3               4th (joint)
    AVScan                      99.3               4th (joint)
    Norton AntiVirus            99.2               7th
    Vet                         98.9               8th
    Thunderbyte                 98.6               9th
    McAfee ViruScan             96                10th
    IBM AntiVirus               88.1              11th (joint)
    Norman Virus Control        88.1              11th (joint)
    ViruSafe                    87.6              13th
    AVP                         84.4              14th (joint)
    Dr Web                      84.4              14th (joint)
    Virex for the PC            80.5              16th
    Virus Buster Lite           75.8              17th
    Virus Buster                55.6              18th
    AntiVirus Plus              failed            hung computer
    Central Point Anti-Virus    failed            hung computer
    Microsoft Anti-Virus        failed            hung computer

    Archived and compressed files
    -----------------------------

    Product             Percentage detected      Rank
    ===================================================
    Dr Solomon's AVTK          100.0             1st
    AVP                         88.8             2nd
    AVScan                      66.6             3rd
    Central Point Anti-Virus    61.1             4th
    AVAST!                      44.4             5th (joint)
    Dr Web                      44.4             5th (joint)
    Virus Alert                 44.4             5th (joint)
    Sophos Sweep                38.8             8th (joint)
    Virex for the PC            38.8             8th (joint)
    AntiVirus Plus              27.7            10th (joint)
    Norton AntiVirus            27.7            10th (joint)
    F-Prot Professional         22.2            12th
    IBM AntiVirus               16.6            13th (joint)
    Thunderbyte                 16.6            13th (joint)
    Vet                         16.6            13th (joint)
    Virus Buster                16.6            13th (joint)
    Virus Buster Lite           16.6            13th (joint)
    ViruSafe                    16.6            13th (joint)
    Microsoft AntiVirus         11.1            19th (joint)
    Norman Virus Control        11.1            19th (joint)
    McAfee ViruScan              5.0            21st

    Boot sector viruses
    -------------------

    Product             Percentage detected      Rank
    ===================================================
    AVP                        100.0             1st (joint)
    AntiVirus Plus             100.0             1st (joint)
    AVAST!                     100.0             1st (joint)
    AVScan                     100.0             1st (joint)
    Dr Solomon's AVTK          100.0             1st (joint)
    F-Prot Professional        100.0             1st (joint)
    IBM AntiVirus              100.0             1st (joint)
    McAfee ViruScan            100.0             1st (joint)
    Norman Virus Control       100.0             1st (joint)
    Sophos Sweep               100.0             1st (joint)
    Virus Alert                100.0             1st (joint)
    ViruSafe                   100.0             1st (joint)
    Central Point Anti-Virus    95.0            13th (joint)
    Norton AntiVirus            95.0            13th (joint)
    Vet                         95.0            13th (joint)
    Virex for the PC            95.0            13th (joint)
    Virus Buster                95.0            13th (joint)
    Virus Buster Lite           95.0            13th (joint)
    Thunderbyte                 85.0            19th
    Microsoft Anti-Virus        65.0            20th
    Dr Web                      35.0            21st

    False alarms
    ------------

    Product                  False alarms      Rank
    ===============================================
    AntiVirus Plus                0            1st (joint)
    AVP                           0            1st (joint)
    Central Point Anti-Virus      0            1st (joint)
    Dr Solomon's AVTK             0            1st (joint)
    IBM AntiVirus                 0            1st (joint)
    Microsoft Anti-Virus          0            1st (joint)
    Norman Virus Control          0            1st (joint)
    Norton AntiVirus              0            1st (joint)
    Sophos Sweep                  0            1st (joint)
    Vet                           0            1st (joint)
    Virex for the PC              0            1st (joint)
    McAfee ViruScan               1           12th (joint)
    Virus Buster                  1           12th (joint)
    Dr Web                        2           14th
    F-Prot Professional           4           15th
    AVAST!                        8           16th
    AVScan                        9           17th
    Virus Alert                  22           18th
    Thunderbyte                  39           19th
    ViruSafe                    123           20th
    Virus Buster Lite           180           21st

    Speed Trials
    ------------

    Product         Relative Time (secs)
    ====================================
    Thunderbyte            12
    VirusBuster Lite       29
    Vet                    40
    Virus Alert            48
    AVScan                 70
    Dr Solomon's AVTK      73
    Microsoft Anti-Virus   81
    Dr Web                 83
    ViruSafe               85
    Norton AntiVirus      116
    McAfee ViruScan       145
    Norman Virus Control  154
    Sophos Sweep          157
    AVAST!                173
    F-Prot Professional   176
    Virus Buster          297
    Virex for the PC      301
    AntiVirus Plus        316
    IBM AntiVirus         359
    Central Point AV      554
    AVP                   717

    Overall Virus Scanner Performance
    ---------------------------------

    Product             Score       Percentage     Rank
    ===================================================
    Dr Solomon's AVTK     495           93.5        1st
    Sophos Sweep          482           91.8        2nd
    Virus Alert           479           91.4        3rd
    Thunderbyte           478           91.3        4th
    Norton AntiVirus      470           89.5        5th
    F-Prot Professional   455           86.5        6th
    McAfee ViruScan       450           85.7        7th
    Vet                   440           83.8        8th
    Virus Buster Lite     431           82.1        9th (joint)
    AVScan                431           82.1        9th (joint)
    AVAST!                430           81.9       11th
    AVP                   418           79.6       12th
    Norman Virus Control  411           78.3       13th
    Dr Web                409           77.9       14th
    IBM AntiVirus         401           76.4       15th
    ViruSafe              377           71.8       16th
    AntiVirus Plus        362           69.0       17th
    Virex for the PC      353           67.2       18th
    Virus Buster          342           65.1       19th
    Central Point AV      338           64.4       20th
    Microsoft AntiVirus   317           60.4       21st