OREANDA-NEWS. December 27, 2011. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 has been granted the highest award in independent anti-virus software performance testing carried out by respected research laboratory AV-Comparatives in November 2012. The testing was made up of several different types of individual trials, all of which evaluated the load anti-virus software places on a PC.

The trials were conducted on a new computer containing an Intel Core i5 processor and running the Windows 7 operating system. Computer performance was measured with and without anti-virus software installed, and then the two results were compared. Performance was judged based on both synthetic testing (benchmarking) and with the application of scenarios a user commonly comes across in real world situations. The scenarios covered such commonly used operations as copying files, installing and launching applications, downloading files from the Internet, and archiving files.

In the synthetic test, which used the third-party PC Mark 7 Professional benchmarking software, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 found itself firmly among the leaders. System performance with the software installed was just 1.1% lower than that of the system with no anti-virus installed. In the realistic testing scenarios Kaspersky Lab’s product scored 90 points – the highest score awarded – based on the minimal influence it had on system performance. In the overall results, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 was awarded the highest rating given in the testing - “Advanced+”. Interestingly, the testing showed that the products of several other manufacturers, including McAfee, BitDefender and TrendMicro, had a markedly greater impact on PC performance on the whole.

Commenting on the results, Oleg Ishanov, Head of Infrastructure Development and Deputy Director of Antimalware Research at Kaspersky Lab, said: “In working on the 2012 version of our home products, we put the greatest emphasis on optimizing the process of scanning files and minimizing the impact of the anti-virus program on such tasks as launching applications, downloading files, and surfing the web. AV-Comparatives’ testing proves how our solutions protect a computer without impacting on performance. Thus, the myth about Kaspersky Lab’s products significantly affecting system resources stays exactly just that - a myth.”

Full results of AV-Comparatives’ anti-virus performance testing can be found on the site of the independent testing laboratory.