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| Antivirus scanner | Product type | Street price when ranked | Annual renewal | Ease of use | Scanning speed | Detection performance | Overall malware detection1 | False positives (of 20,000 files checked) | 32-bit Windows malware detection | Trojan horse detection | 32-bit polymorphic virus detection | Backdoor channel detection | Visual Basic Script (.VBS ) virus detection | Comments |
| Eset NOD32 2 | Stand-alone antivirus scanner | $39 (3/15/2004) | $27 | Good | Outstanding | Very good | 94% | 31 | 100% | 72% | 98% | 84% | 100% | Fastest scan speed of all the products we tested. Its small footprint is suited for older PCs. Free online support via Web-based form. No phone support. |
| Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus Professional | Stand-alone antivirus scanner | $33 (3/15/2004) | License is for two years, after which users must purchase a new software package. | Fair | Very good | Fair | 82% | 16 | 90% | 24% | 67% | 87% | 100% | Lackluster detection of zoo viruses and cumbersome interface, but small footprint is ideal for older PCs. Free support via e-mail and fax. No phone support. |
| Network Associates McAfee Internet Security Suite 6 | Part of security suite | $70 (3/15/2004) | $30 | Poor | Fair | Outstanding | 99% | 3 | 100% | 99% | 100% | 96% | 100% | Top scanning performance, but conflicts and errors make it difficult to use. Free online chat support, and $39-per-incident (must be resolved in 48 hours) or $3-per-minute phone support. |
| Panda Platinum Internet Security | Part of security suite | $80 (3/15/2004) | $70 | Very good | Fair | Very good | 92% | 23 | 99% | 72% | 89% | 80% | 100% | Provides relatively good detection and a nice interface. Free online support via Web-based form, $20-per-incident phone support. |
| Symantec Norton Internet Security 2004 | Part of security suite | $69 (3/15/2004) | $30 | Good | Poor | Outstanding | 99% | 2 | 100% | 97% | 100% | 94% | 100% | Very high detection rates, but slow scans. Had a noticeable negative impact on startup and shutdown times. $29-per-incident phone support. Free online knowledge base. |
| Best Buy Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2004 | Part of security suite | $49 (3/15/2004) | $15 | Outstanding | Good | Very good | 92% | 0 | 99% | 76% | 99% | 66% | 100% | Good infection removal and no false positives; includes Web mail protection. Free online knowledge base. Intuitive and easy to use. Free e-mail support. |
1Percentages in this column differ from those reported in the June 2004 print issue PC World. Those earlier numbers were incorrect.
HOW WE TEST: We test rewritable DVD drives under Windows XP Home on PCs with 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ processors and 512MB of DDR SDRAM. To test each drive, we use the bundled DVD video authoring, mastering, and packet-writing software; we use vendor-supplied media or Verbatim media. Tests conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved.