I wouldn't install these four antivirus programs on my worst enemy's computer... We recommend you avoid them.
Today, connecting to the internet without any protection is a bad idea. The internet is teeming with cyber threats waiting for the slightest opportunity to infiltrate and take control of your computer. That's why, since Windows 10, the operating system includes built-in antivirus software, Microsoft Defender, which provides a reasonably acceptable level of protection, although it's basic and lacks the additional features offered by third-party solutions. For this reason, many users continue to install other, more comprehensive antivirus programs, even though choosing the wrong program can backfire and make us more vulnerable to all kinds of attacks.
Although many antivirus programs today use cloud-based intelligence systems to share information about new threats, each security company's databases and engines remain unique, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. It's practically impossible to test every antivirus program on the market ourselves. That's why platforms like AV Comparatives exist, analyzing the security, performance, and ease of use of leading antivirus software to help us choose the best security program.
We've discussed the best antivirus software for Windows on several occasions, based on this platform's tests. Avast and Norton are generally safe choices, boasting a 100% detection rate with minimal false positives. Kaspersky, ESET, and Microsoft Defender also have low false positives, but their detection rates are lower at 99.5%. But which antivirus programs perform the worst?
Antivirus programs to avoid on Windows operating system
The first antivirus program that the Houhou for Information blog advises against installing is Quick Heal. As we can see in the AV-Comparatives graphs, it has the lowest threat detection rate, at 94.2%, meaning it fails to detect and block 5.8% of cyber threats, which is unbelievable for any security program.
Second from the bottom is Panda Security. This antivirus program only managed to detect 97.4% of the threats it encountered, and it also registered a significantly higher number of false positives compared to its competitors. Personally, Panda Security's results are disappointing. It was the first antivirus program I used back in the Windows 98 era, and I still have floppy disks of various MS-DOS versions, including a Panda 98 disc. But since the problems with Windows XP in 2009, the program hasn't been able to recover.
Third, there's another antivirus program we absolutely do not recommend installing: Malwarebytes. This program boasts a very low detection rate of 98.1%, along with a large number of false positives. However, while we don't recommend it as an antivirus program per se, we do recommend it for its original purpose: malware protection. Malwarebytes is highly effective at detecting threats that other security programs often miss. Therefore, thanks to its on-demand scanning feature (as opposed to instant scanning), it's an ideal choice as a secondary antivirus program for your computer.
Two antivirus programs, K7 and Trend Micro, are vying for fourth place. While both boast relatively high threat detection rates (99.3% and 99.5%, respectively), their false positive rates are concerning. In fact, even this high number of false positives is dangerous, as it could lead to a legitimate user or system file being flagged as a "threat" and automatically blocked or deleted. Therefore, these are two more programs we do not recommend installing.
Why are false positive results dangerous?
We pay close attention to false alarms, but why? A false alarm occurs when an antivirus program classifies a file, program, or website as a threat when, in fact, it is perfectly legitimate. In other words, the antivirus program thinks it has detected malware when there is actually no danger. While it may seem trivial at first glance, it can actually cause a lot of trouble.
An antivirus program that generates a large number of false alarms can block programs we need to work with, prevent the installation of legitimate applications, or even isolate personal or important files from the system. In practice, this leads to work interruptions or unexpected malfunctions in the operating system or the programs we use daily. Sometimes, antivirus programs classify DLL libraries for legitimate programs as threats, rendering those programs completely unusable. They can even classify Windows' own DLL libraries as threats, completely freezing the computer and preventing it from restarting.
We would like to clarify that this is an editorial assessment based on the results published by AV-Comparatives. This does not mean that these security programs are useless or ineffective in protecting computers, but rather that they demonstrated more limitations in these tests (lower detection rates or more false alarms) compared to the other security programs analyzed.