Windows 8 Security Solutions Certified by AV-Test

Windows 8 is almost here. Is your PC's security software ready for it? Researchers at German research lab AV-Test report that over four dozen antivirus and security suite products from almost 20 vendors are ready for use on Windows 8 (32- and 64-bit editions).

Certification Testing

AV-Test conducts ongoing certification tests under Windows XP and Windows 7, reporting results every two months. Products earn up to six points for protecting clean test systems from attack, repairing test systems already infested with malware, and doing it all without causing problems for the user. Products that accumulate a total of 11 points (out of a possible 18) receive certification.

Andreas Marx, CEO of AV-Test, explained that the current Windows 8 report is presented as a market survey rather than a comprehensive test. "All products in the list are carefully tested by us on Windows 8," said Marx, "but not against the entire set of static and dynamic tests yet." The standard full test takes about two months, while many of the tested products weren't even fully ready for Windows 8 until last week. "All tests we're usually covering have been performed, but only against a limited set of samples," continued Marx. For example, a static detection test uses 10,000 samples rather than the usual 130,000.

Marx emphasized that all listed products are full, final releases, not betas, and that they were tested strictly under Windows 8. Without naming names, he suggested that when I look at other tests purportedly conducted under Windows 8 I should carefully examine the product version numbers. In some cases, apparently, "the version numbers point to products which were not yet running on Windows 8 or are not released early enough to get tested." AV-Test will perform the first full Windows 8 test in January and February of 2013.

Who's Ready?

Consumer-side security solutions from the following vendors received Windows 8 certification from AV-Test: AVG, Bitdefender, BullGuard, Commtouch, COMODO, Dr.Web, ESET, F-Secure, G Data, GFI VIPRE, IKARUS, Kaspersky, McAfee, Panda, Quick Heal, Symantec, Total Defense, Trend Micro, and Webroot. According to Marx, Avast has just released Windows 8 products today; those products will be included once they've been tested. Enterprise-focused products from CommTouch, Dr. Web, Norman, and Webroot also received Windows 8 certification.