Version: 2008
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Virus alert

CNET 2008 antivirus performance test scores

CNET Labs compares the performance of antivirus apps.

By Robert Vamosi (April 28, 2008) 		Reviews
Once again Kaspersky Anti-Virus earns our Editors' Choice as the best standalone antivirus application we reviewed this year. But, as the performance charts below show, the competition is knocking at the door. In particular, we call out BitDefender Antivirus for making the most gains over the previous year. And while we think Norton Antivirus 2008 offers comparable antivirus protection, it weighs in at 300MB, six times the file size of either Kaspersky or BitDefender on your hard drive. Again, Trend Micro and McAfee hold their own this year, neither rising nor falling with respect to the competition. CA continues to struggle with its place in the consumer market, and Panda pulls up the rear.

To find out how we test antivirus software, see CNET Labs' How we test: Antivirus software page. To see how a given antivirus app performs when stopping malicious code, we recommend viewing the latest test results published by independent antivirus testing organizations AV-comparatives and Checkvir.com.



iTunes 7 deep-scanning performance
In seconds (shorter bars indicate faster performance)
 iTunes  


Microsoft Office peformance
In seconds (shorter bars indicate faster performance)
 Microsoft Office  




Read the CNET editor's take

BitDefender Antivirus 2008
Norton Antivirus 2008 with Antispyware




Panda Antivirus 2008
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BitDefender Antivirus 2008
BitDefender Antivirus 2008
BitDefender Antivirus 2008 has greatly improved since last year; we'd like more access to configuration options beyond simple enabling and disabling features.
7.8 out of 10
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Norton Antivirus 2008 with Antispyware
Norton Antivirus 2008 with Antispyware
Norton AntiVirus 2008 didn't wow us this year. While the protection is solid, the user experience could be much, much better, and the product itself could be more streamlined. Also we can do without the addition of paid services in the technical support section.
6.8 out of 10
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Panda Antivirus 2008
Panda Antivirus 2008
Panda Antivirus 2008 is slower than the competition and lacks independent, third-party antivirus test results, and thus doesn't receive our recommendation.
6.0 out of 10
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