The Top 5 Antivirus Programs

The top 5 antivirus programs are in a class apart. The differences between the dud products and the real thing are enormous, but millions of PC users are blissfully unaware of how little protection their antivirus is giving them. If they aren't experiencing symptoms then they assume that their antivirus is working. That's a very dangerous assumption!

Since the late 1990's when Melissa was released the business of virus development has progressed from a game for amateurs to a business for professionals. There still are and always will be script kiddies and cyber punks intent on demonstrating their "smarts." Their motivation comes from achieving notoriety and boasting. They want their victims to know they're infected. If the victim doesn't know that their PC has been compromised there's no point.

The kiddies and punks generate masses of malware. Most of it is flawed and is easily detected by any AV, but every now and then one of their products will create havoc for a few days. As the authors want their work to be recognized the antivirus companies will typically identify them within hours of release, add them to the database of known viruses and an updated signature file will be made available.

Detecting the work of script kiddies and cyber punks is the basic minimum that every AV should be capable of, but it's not enough. In the post 2000 era the greatest threat comes from coders and cyber terrorists with totally different motivations. They are in it for money, big money. They don't want notoriety and they really don't want their code detected.

Coders and cyber terrorists are now recruited by organized crime syndicates operating out of Eastern Europe and Asia. They use facilities such as the so-called 'bulletproof hosting' service, which supported the Russian Business Network (RBN). Massive volumes of malicious - criminal content associated with money laundering, identity theft and child porn were broadcast from these servers . That content is now coming out of hosting facilities in China, Turkey and Taiwan since the Russian services were closed down. The Asian services will be more difficult to close down because they are almost certainly state sponsored.

Organized crime has introduced sophistication and strategic thinking to the business of virus production. The scale of these activities is well beyond anything encountered before 2000. Massive distributed denial of service(DDOS)attacks and vast botnets that evolve through generations of refinement. A number of the brands synonymous with antivirus technology in the 1990's have yet to respond comprehensively to this new world. They're still focused on the less challenging threats put up by script kiddies.

The top 5 antivirus programs don't rely on just one tool to detect risks. They use a combination of tools and methods that may include:

1. Signature files
2. Heuristics
3. Behavioural scoring
4. and networking with coders on the other side.

Another characteristic of the top 5 antivirus programs is their attention to customer service. Time is of the essence, it's essential that signature files are updated frequently and efficiently. Weekly and even daily updates are not adequate. The best products provide hourly updates and they're delivered as compact uploads resulting in little or no impact on performance.

Based on the above factors we have a strong preference for Kaspersky. Independent testing labs consistently confirm that Kaspersky has the highest rate of virus detection.

The essence of identifying the top 5 antivirus products is prevention. If a product does an exceptional job of detection then virus repair shouldn't be required.

See also the Top 10 Antivirus Software Products and if your're in the market for free software, see: Best Free Antivirus Software.