A report by Dennis Technology Labs that compared the effectiveness of anti-malware products provided by well-known security companies showed that Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 was the best software to handle both malware and legitimate applications. The report concluded that the most accurate programs were Kaspersky Endpoint Security For Windows Protection Enterprise Edition. Trend Micro OfficeScan came third, while Sophos Endpoint Protection ran a close fourth.

According to the report, the effectiveness of anti-malware security suites tested was very high, with one exception. Most products were compromised at least twice but half protected against 98–100 per cent of the threats. The least effective (Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection) was in a league of its own, being compromised by 28 per cent of the threats.

Blocking malicious sites based on reputation is an effective approach. Those products that prevented users from visiting the malicious sites in the first place gained a significant advantage. If the malware can’t download onto the victim’s computer then the anti-malware software faces less of an ongoing challenge.

Most tested anti-malware programs were accurate when handling legitimate software. Few of the products bothered users when installing legitimate software or visiting clean websites. McAfee’s was the exception, blocking seven per cent of the legitimate applications and websites.