Twenty Windows antivirus products, each scored on six criteria: protection, trust, cost, upkeep, CPU/RAM usage and false alarms. The scores come from 2026 independent lab tests, and costs are estimated per year. Technical merit carries the most weight.
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Overall score, all 20 products
Weighted total out of ±40. Hover for details.
Each cell shows the score (−2 to +2) and the evidence behind it. Click a column header to sort. The top 3 rows are tinted green and the worst 3 red. Lab figures: AV-Comparatives Real-World, 2026 · Malware Mar, 2026 · Malware Sep, 2026 · Performance, 2026 · Business, 2026 · AV-TEST, 2026 · SE Labs, 2026.
| # | Product | Total Score±40 | Summary | 🛡️ Protection×5 · independent lab tests | 🤝 Trust×4 · vendor record | 💰 Cost/yr×3 · 3 PCs, renewal | ⏱️ Upkeep×3 · nags, renewals | 💻 CPU/RAM usage×3 · slowdown score, lower is better | 🎯 False alarms×2 · total across 3 tests |
|---|
Costs are estimates in RM for 3 PCs at the renewal (year-2) price. Foreign prices are converted at about RM 4.20/USD and RM 4.90/EUR. “est.” means no Malaysian price was found. Free editions of Avast and AVG are licensed for home use only (AVG EULA, 2026).
Not ranked, because fewer than two labs tested them in 2026: AhnLab V3, Avira Free, Webroot, PC Matic, Comodo/Xcitium, 360 Total Security, and Trend Micro Worry-Free (business).
Six things decide whether an antivirus is a good choice. They're listed from most to least important.
How much malware it actually stops. This comes from three independent labs, which attack PCs with real threats every month: AV-Comparatives (Austria), AV-TEST (Germany) and SE Labs (UK). A product's award drops if it blocks too much that's safe.
An antivirus can see everything on your PC, so the company behind it matters. This looks for fines, data sales, government bans and renewal traps.
What 3 PCs cost each year after the first-year discount ends. Prices are Malaysian where available.
The time it takes from you: installing, renewing, closing pop-ups and avoiding upsells. Built-in protection needs none of that.
How much it slows the PC down when you open apps, copy files or browse. AV-Comparatives measures this as a slowdown score, where lower is better.
How often it blocks something safe. Too many false alarms train people to click “allow” on every warning, including the real ones.
Each criterion is scored from −2 to +2, then multiplied by its weight. The weighted scores add up to the total, out of ±40. Ties are broken by the heaviest criterion first.
| Criterion | Weight | +2 | +1 | 0 | −1 | −2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🛡️ Protection | 5 | Top award across AV-Comparatives, plus 6/6 at AV-TEST or AAA at SE Labs | 2nd-tier award, or one weak test | One lab only, or mixed | Lowest or 3rd-tier awards | Untested in 2026, or worst in a test |
| 🤝 Trust & privacy | 4 | No incidents found | Minor or old incident | Aggressive marketing, renewal traps | Regulator action, or a national-security ban | Sold user data, or sanctions plus cheating tests |
| 💰 Cost / yr, 3 PCs | 3 | Free | ≤ RM 150 | RM 150–300, or unknown | RM 300–500 | > RM 500 |
| ⏱️ Upkeep | 3 | Built in: nothing to install or renew | Set and forget | Some nags or renewal steps | Heavy nags, upsell, steep auto-renew | Ads, bundled junk, hard to cancel |
| 💻 CPU/RAM usage | 3 | Slowdown score ≤ 5 | 5–10 | 10–15, or not measured | 15–25 | > 25 |
| 🎯 False alarms | 2 | ≤ 10 across 3 tests | 11–25 | 26–45 | 46–80 | > 80 |
Time, money and PC resources carry equal weight. Business editions are scored on AV-Comparatives’ Business Security Test where they differ from the home product (AV-Comparatives, 2026).
Microsoft Defender ranks 5th, and it's the highest-ranked free option. It earned the top award with zero false alarms in the 2026 real-world test (AV-Comparatives, 2026) and full 6/6 protection at AV-TEST (AV-TEST, 2026). It's built into Windows, updated through Windows Update, and has no licence to expire (Microsoft, 2026). It also has a hidden strength. Its attack-surface-reduction rules block the script and brand-new-file lures behind most chat and email malware, on any Windows edition, with no extra licence (Microsoft, 2026). Installing any other antivirus switches those rules off, because Windows puts Microsoft Defender into disabled mode (Microsoft, 2026).
In the Sep malware-file test, Microsoft Defender dropped to a third-tier award because of 28 false alarms, even though it still blocked 99.89% (AV-Comparatives, 2026). Worth watching.
It catches 82% of malware with the internet off and 98% with it on (AV-Comparatives, 2026). Keep cloud protection on, and don't mark the connection as “metered”, which pauses updates.
It slows the PC more than most: a slowdown score of 12.9, against 3–5 for the lightest products (AV-Comparatives, 2026). On old PCs, adding RAM helps more than switching antivirus.
Each step uses only what's already in Windows 11, with no extra licence (Microsoft, 2026).
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