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| Program | Street price (5/27/01) | Viruses missed in signature test: Full scan/file access1 | Unknown viruses missed | False positives | Scan time (min:sec) | Automatic updates and scans | Update duration, annual fee after first year | Comments |
F-Secure Anti-Virus for Workstations 5.21  | $125 | 0/5 | 1 | 0 | 14:26 | Yes | 1 year, $62.50 | PRO: Provides excellent information on viruses. CON: Missed viruses, slow scan times. |
Network Associates McAfee VirusScan 5.13  | $29 | 1/1 | 2 | 0 | 7:30 | Yes | 1 year, $4.95 | PRO: Many scanning features; provides utility for backing up files. CON: No automatic updates, confusing interface. |
| Norman Virus Control 5 | $60 | 0/0 | 6 | 0 | 23:30 | No | 1 year, $45 | PRO: Remote-management features for networks. CON: Lethargic full scans; confusing interface. |
Panda Antivirus Platinum 6.23  | $602 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 5:06 | Yes | 1 year, $30 | PRO: Perfect performance, quick scans, clear interface. CON: Registration and updating could be simpler. |
Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 95/98/Me  | $603 | 6/6 | 14 | 4 | 10:30 | No | 1 year, $603 | PRO: Excellent documentation, flexible license. CON: Missed several viruses and caused false positives. |
| Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2001 | $40 | 1/1 | 3 | 0 | 3:47 | Yes | 1 year, $3.95 | PRO: Fast scan times; great auto-update feature. CON: Awkward to install and uninstall. |
| Trend Micro PC-cillin 2000 | $402 | 1/1 | 10 | 3 | 6:45 | Yes | 1 year, n/a4 | PRO: Great interface, informative virus encyclopedia. CON: Missed one virus and had three false positives. |
For details see PC World's Star Ratings.
1For details on our testing methods and environment, see "How We Tested."
2Download-only version is available for $30.
3Per-user price; Sophos sells licenses for a minimum of ten users.
4No charge until next version is released.