The results presented by AV-Comparatives in this antivirus performance benchmarking report only show the impact on system performance (mainly the real-time/on-access protection components) of various antivirus programs under given conditions.
Users are encouraged to try the antivirus program on their own computer and see how the antivirus performs on a specific system configuration.
In April 2018, budget computers with HDD hard drives (instead of SSD) were used for performance testing.
Test computer
Antivirus performance testing was carried out on a Lenovo G50 laptop with an Intel Core i3-4005U CPU, 4 GB (RAM) of RAM and a HDD drive. Performance tests were carried out on a clean and fully updated Windows 10 (1709) system (64-bit, English version), and then with an antivirus program installed (with default settings). Tests were conducted with an active Internet connection to ensure real-world impact of cloud services and features.
Tested antiviruses
The following antiviruses took part in this comparative testing for performance and speed (default settings were used):
Tested antiviruses
- Tencent PC Manager 12.3 (English)
AV-Comparatives laboratory specialists used the latest versions of antiviruses available at the time of testing (April, 2018). The test includes products from both the Antivirus and Internet Security categories - all of which are marked as "security programs". The laboratory tested products that vendors provide for the main series of tests. Please note that the report results only apply to individual versions of the products listed above (i.e. a specific version for a specific system architecture, such as a 64-bit OS). You also need to take into account that different development companies offer different functions (and their number) in their antiviruses.
The following types of operations/tests were performed on a computer running the latest Windows 10 version 1709 64-Bit:
- Copying files
- Archiving / Unarchiving
- Installing / Uninstalling Applications
- Launching applications
- Downloading files
- Visiting websites
- PC Mark 10 Professional Testing Suite
Testing methodology
Care was taken to minimize external factors that could affect test results and/or system compatibility. The optimization technologies used in the products were also reviewed - meaning that the results represent the impact of the product on the system after a period of user use of the product. Tests were performed several times (with optimization technology enabled and disabled) to obtain average values and eliminate measurement errors. After each launch, the test computer was defragmented and rebooted 6 times. The researchers simulated different types of file operations: copying clean files from one location to another, compressing files into archives, unpacking archives, downloading files from the Internet, and launching applications (opening documents). The Windows Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (Windows ADK) with Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) was used to conduct individual tests. This toolkit is widely used in the industry to measure the performance of computer systems. This tool allows vendors to easily replicate results and discover what is causing slowdowns. To prevent possible optimization of products for the test, our own drivers for ADK were implemented. These tools allow you to evaluate the impact of foods on performance on individual subtests, independent of other tests.
The lab used a third-party industry-recognized test suite (PC Mark 10 Professional) to confirm system impact during real-world use. Users are invited to evaluate various products on their own systems (results may vary due to software conflicts, user preferences, and varying system configurations).
Antiviruses should be loaded early on the system to provide maximum protection - such loading affects the startup time of the computer. Accurately measuring load times is challenging. The biggest challenge is determining when the system is fully ready, because in many environments startup activity continues for some time after the system has become fully responsive to the user. It is also important to consider when antivirus protection is fully active, because this can be an important criterion for completing the boot process. Some vendors implement very late loading for their products - in this case, the system may be sluggish for some time after it has fully booted. In reality, the product simply loads its services and processes late, leaving the system vulnerable for some time. The laboratory believes that this situation may be misleading and therefore loading times are not published in reports.
Test results
AV-Comparatives rating
- File copying- Copying files
- Archiving/unarchiving- Archiving / Unarchiving
- Installing/uninstalling applications- Install/Uninstall applications
- Launching applications- Launch applications - Download files
- Browsing Websites- Visiting websites
- Slow- slow
- Mediocre- average
- Fast- fast
- Very fast- very fast
Overall score including PC Mark test
Assessing the impact of the antivirus on the system (less is better)
Performance test. Which antivirus is the fastest?
Certificates issued based on the performance of antivirus programs with default settings on Windows 10 64-Bit:
(6) AV-Comparatives experts suggest considering products with the same award to have the same impact on system performance.
To assess the effectiveness of antivirus protection, look at the results of dynamic testing and checking the level of detection of malware, which were carried out at the beginning of 2018.
You can view the full report at this link.
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