For this roundup we tested the virus detection and cleaning capabilities of four corporate antivirus suites and the impact of each suite's virus scanning on a Windows NT server's performance. For the detection and cleaning tests, we hired ICSA Labs, a division of icsa.net, which first tested the ability of each suite's Microsoft Exchange and SMTP gateway components to detect 144 WildList viruses. To evaluate cleaning, ICSA tested with 135 WildList viruses and checked whether each product could successfully clean each infected file. Bold type denotes first place. Norton AntiVirus Enterprise was next-best.
Bold type denotes first place.
These tests measured the time required to copy similarly sized folders of infected and uninfected files from a network client to a Windows NT Server running antivirus software. In every case where we tested a product both ways, it achieved the same scores regardless of the gateway. The viruses that caused the most trouble in testing were hllp. Our performance tests measured the time required to copy folders of infected and uninfected files from a network client to a Windows NT Server running antivirus software. Because the overhead burden these products incur is so slight, we feel that speed should not be a factor in deciding among them.