Every two months, AV-Test takes a look at popular antivirus software and security suites and tests them in several ways. In their latest test which was performed on Windows 7 during September and October, Microsoft Security Essentials didn’t pass the test to achieve certification. Although that may not sound that impressive, Microsoft’s program was the only one which didn’t receive AV-Test’s certificate. For comparison, the other free antivirus software, including Avast, AVG and Panda Cloud did.
There are three categories where the programs receive points: protection, repair and usability. When added all up, the software needs to have at least 11 out of 18 points to pass the test. Security Essentials only got 10,5 points, which brings up the question: What’s the cause?