The tests, which took place in October 2012, included thirteen anti-virus products and focused on how well the software could remove malware. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 finished in first place, earning Advanced+ status, AV-Comparatives’ highest rating.

The product received a score of 94 points out of a possible 100, successfully removing all 14 malware samples used by the experts. The only minor blemish, which denied Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 a 100 per cent score, was caused by some difficulty in removing the toughest malware samples. One was removed by the product, but a few fragments (executable files, MBR and/or registry changes) remained. Another sample was eliminated with help from the Rescue Disc. Only three of the other twelve rival solutions managed to detect and remove all the malware samples.

Oleg Ishanov, Head of Anti-Malware Research, Kaspersky Lab commented;“According to AV Comparatives, the main aim of these tests was to demonstrate that professional antivirus products need to do far more than merely delete malicious files. We are pleased to reaffirm that our consumer product has once again fulfilled the expectations of the experts and proven its high quality and earned the laboratory’s highest rating.”

According to the malware removal testing rules, the participating products were installed on pre-infected machines. Eleven malware samples were taken randomly from a pool of specially selected samples and a further three samples, which featured in last year’s tests, were added to see if there had been any improvements. After the products were installed, a full system scan was run and the removal process was started following the instructions displayed by the antivirus programs.

The experts at the laboratory set out to recreate the experience of a typical home user, confronted with a situation where malware needs to be removed. After the system scan the machines were rebooted and the experts conducted a detailed analysis of each PC to see how much malware had been successfully removed.

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