Detailed Antivirus Product Comparisons for Small Business Clients
By Robert Crabbs
4-27-2010
INTRODUCTIONOne of our larger clients just had an Avast! license expire. Because of the wide range of malware threats found on the internet, having a current antivirus subscription is imperative for all computers running Windows.
Unfortunately, Avast’s product fell far short of Berkeley Logic’s expectations. The product was not easily managed from an IT standpoint, and thus took time away from other tasks at the client. In addition, Avast’s technical and sales support staff responded slowly to help requests, and often failed to understand the basic nature of the requests themselves. Their support structure was clearly disorganized and ineffective.
Because of the shortcomings of the client's current security software, Berkeley Logic is replacing it with a competing product. We put substantial effort into searching for suitable replacements, evaluating various offerings based on three primary criteria:
- Low performance overhead. The client has a significant number of older computer systems in place in its network. Antivirus software we use should not impair system speed and usability, especially for these older machines.
- Strong technical support. Quality product support reduces the overall costs of deploying and managing software, and allows Berkeley Logic to focus on other IT needs of the client.
- Low yearly cost. Naturally, reducing operating costs is desirable. Security software should be within budget without sacrificing performance or quality of support.
Berkeley Logic investigated products from sixteen major vendors: Avast!, AVG, Avira, BitDefender, CA, CoreTrace, ESET, F-Secure, G-Data, Kaspersky, McAfee, Microsoft, Panda, Sophos, Symantec, and TrendMicro. This report covers the five antivirus suites that satisfied all three criteria above; the other eleven were found lacking in at least one major aspect. The finalists were:
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Avira Antivir Professional
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AVG Antivirus Business 9.0
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BitDefender Small Office Security
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F-Secure Antivirus
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G-Data Business Antivirus
PRODUCT: Avira Antivir Professional
Avira’s business antivirus software was one of the fastest security products we evaluated. Performance was minimally impacted, even on the older Dimension 2400 computers at out client. The centralized management software operates smoothly and is generally straightforward.
PROS
- Remote deployments proceeded quickly and smoothly
- Centralized console is clean and simple
- Antivirus engine is known to be quite effective
- Software uses little memory and CPU time
- Generates custom reports of security status
- Can easily configure client software settings en masse or individually
CONS
- Somewhat expensive for 1-year licensing
- Cannot send alerts or notification emails to Berkeley Logic
- Server locates all network computers, but cannot perform mass deployments
PRODUCT: AVG Antivirus Business 9.0
AVG offers a strong security suite which is both fast and effective. Though somewhat slower than Avira’s Antivir, AVG’s engine also does not affect system speed much. The ability to control individual components of each installation is quite useful, and allows a large degree of performance tweaking. Virus-scan reports can be generated and saved on a schedule. In addition, the AVG server can send email alerts to Berkeley Logic in case of a critical security issue.
PROS
- Remote deployments proceeded without errors
- Centralized console is clean and simple
- Antivirus engine is known to be quite effective
- Software uses little memory and CPU time
- Generates custom reports of security status
- Can send alerts or notification emails to Berkeley Logic
- Can easily configure client software settings en masse or individually
CONS
- Somewhat expensive for 1-year licensing
- Server locates all network computers, but cannot perform mass deployments
- Installations take a long time to finish (expensive deployment)
PRODUCT: Bit Defender Small Office Security
Bit Defender’s software stands out for two reasons. First, it had almost no performance impact, even on very old Dell Dimension 2400 computers. Second, the license pricing is the least expensive of any of the 15 major antivirus products we reviewed. Its centralized management is quite streamlined and easy to use. But despite its simplicity, it also contains many powerful administrative tools beyond the scope of normal antivirus software.
PROS
- Remote deployments proceeded quickly and smoothly
- Centralized console is clean and simple
- Software uses almost no memory or CPU time
- Generates custom reports of security status
- Can send alerts or notification emails to Berkeley Logic
- Supports deployment to any of number of workstations at a time
- Can easily configure client software settings en masse or individually
- Includes many tools for IT users to manage networked computers
- Lowest cost of all antivirus products reviewed
CONS
- Antivirus engine effectiveness is somewhat of an unknown to Berkeley Logic
PRODUCT: F-Secure Antivirus
F-Secure’s biggest strength lies in its centralized management interface. Of all the antivirus products we reviewed, F-Secure had the cleanest, most well-organized front-end. Performance impact was noticeable but by no means excessive. We did have an issue using the remote installation tool, though it may simply be a limitation of the trial version we downloaded.
PROS
- Centralized management user interface is best-in-class
- Generates custom reports of security status
- Can send alerts or notification emails to Berkeley Logic
- Supports deployment to any of number of workstations at a time
- Can easily configure client software settings en masse or individually
CONS
- Antivirus engine effectiveness is somewhat of an unknown
- Yields somewhat slower performance than the other offering
- Could not use remote deployment with the software package we downloaded
PRODUCT: G-Data Business Antivirus
G-Data’s antivirus product is unique in that it employs two separate scanning engines (Kaspersky and BitDefender) to search for viruses. While we expected this approach to make a larger drain on computer resources, G-Data actually impacted performance less than most of the other antivirus suites. The centralized console is well-organized and relatively easy to use, though it does not generate on-demand reports like many other products do.
PROS
- Remote deployments proceeded quickly and smoothly
- Centralized console is clean and simple
- Software uses little memory or CPU time
- Can send alerts or notification emails to Berkeley Logic
- Supports deployment to any of number of workstations at a time
- Can easily configure client software settings en masse or individually
CONS
- Does not generate custom reports of security status
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Each antivirus product was evaluated based on the following:
- Ability to install and uninstall on network computers via a server-end application
- Ease of client management (updating, changing settings, etc.) after installation
- Quality of client status monitoring and virus reporting
- Performance impact on workstations (i.e. startup times, file access, internet browsing)
- Support of Windows Server 2003 and Server 2008
- Effectiveness of scanning engine at detecting/preventing/eliminating threats
- Yearly licensing cost
CONCLUSIONS
The table below shows the relative rankings of each product in several categories, with 1 being best and 5 being worst.
| Avira | AVG | Bit Defender | F-Secure | G-Data |
Yearly Cost | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Performance | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
Ease of Deployment | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Ease of Client Management | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Reporting and Alerts | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Effectiveness | Good | Good | Unknown | Unknown | Good |
OVERALL RANK | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
All five of the finalist security suites proved to be strong candidates; there is no clear “best” antivirus product. For example, it is true that BitDefender ranks top in most of the categories. However, the differences were often small. Other differences in features were not readily quantifiable; each central interface had advantages the others did not.
Each offering’s centralized management interface seemed polished and easy to use, though F-Secure’s stood out among the rest. There were a few caveats as well. Some of the products did not seem to support mass network installations, which increases their total cost of deployment. Others, like Avira, did not have advanced notification and alert tools to inform Berkeley Logic of possible virus threats.
Performance is important, naturally, but less so as older Celeron and Pentium computers are gradually replaced by newer Intel and AMD processors. Still, not all of the aging workstations have been replaced. Fortunately, every one of the antivirus suites ran smoothly on 6-year-old Dell Dimension 2400 Celeron systems. F-Secure was somewhat slower than the others, and BitDefender appeared to barely impact performance.
Because all of the offerings are strong, perhaps yearly cost is the deciding factor. Berkeley Logic happened to get a good deal since we signed up as new reseller for BitDefender.
For other organizations looking to pick a new antivirus solution, we hope these notes will provide you with some insight into your research and help you make a good choice.
-- Robert Crabbs (rcrabbs@berkeleylogic.com)
