One day Norton may beat Kaspersky, but yet again it misses out by a tiny margin. Norton’s only point of supremacy is in offering a password manager, but we prefer LastPass anyway. But its chief asset is a software updater that automatically installs the latest (and theoretically safest) version of programs. These include webcam protection, to prevent hackers accessing it, and a safe browser, which blocks malicious websites. SE Labs awarded it the “rare privilege” of a 100 per cent rating.Īs well as Kaspersky’s superiority in avoiding false positives, it has several tools Norton lacks. Its impact on our standard PC was minimal, slowing file-copying by just four per cent (the average is 16) and program launches by 10 per cent (the average is 13). It blocked everything it should have, producing just one false positive (in AV- Test’s analysis) from 1,437,401 samples, which was crucial in pipping Norton. It was the only program to get full marks in all five categories across both tests. Kaspersky claimed top spot for our ninth consecutive test, delivering flawless results. To see the results in full, including those for other programs tested (such as BullGuard, McAfee and Trend Micro) (SE Labs, July to September) and (AV-Test July to August).

Both tested for protection and accuracy (number of false positives), with AV-Test adding scores for performance (the impact on a PCs speed). Croydon- based SE Labs and the German AV-Test. We collated recent results from two of the world’s leading antivirus testers.

Trend micro internet security 2018 test