Those who want optimal virus protection must be willing to pay money for it. The German magazine Computer Bild tested five pay anti-virus programmes and three free programmes.
And the winner - with a ranking of 2.16 on the 1-to-5, best-to-worst scale - was the Kaspersky Internet Suite 2012 (60 euro, 78 dollars) for detecting all viruses with a minimal system encumbrance and simple operating. Second place went to G Data's Internet security 2012, which costs 45 euros and received a 2.58 ranking and was found by the testers to slightly slow down the computer.
The AVG Anti-Virus 2012 Free recognised 91 per cent of the viruses and ranked fifth - grade 3.28 - overall and was the best free programme.
The testers found that the AVG software only slightly slowed the computer but users must live with self-advertisements within the programme. A big difference between the free and non-free programmes is the update policies of the manufacturers.
While free software only checks once a day for new information about viruses, the pay programmes are constantly in contact with the manufacturers' servers and offer real-time protection. In addition, the pay programmes often have extra functions such as child protection, spam filters or firewalls.
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