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2012 Consumer Security Products Performance Benchmarks (Edition 3)

Antivirus, Internet Security & Total Security Windows 7

February 2012

Document: 2012 Consumer Security Products Performance Benchmarks (Edition 3) Authors: M. Baquiran, D. Wren Company: PassMark Software Date: 16 February 2012 Edition: 3 File: totalprotectionsuites-feb2012.docx

Consumer Security Products PassMark Software

Performance Benchmark of 67 Edition 3 16 February 2012

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 2

REVISION HISTORY ............................................................................................................................................ 4

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 5

OVERALL SCORE ................................................................................................................................................ 6

PRODUCTS AND VERSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 8

INTERNET SECURITY SOFTWARE .................................................................................................................................. 8

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE .............................................................................................................................................. 9

TOTAL SECURITY SOFTWARE ...................................................................................................................................... 9

PERFORMANCE METRICS SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 10

INTERNET SECURITY SOFTWARE – TEST RESULTS ............................................................................................ 13

BENCHMARK 1 – BOOT TIME ................................................................................................................................... 13

BENCHMARK 2 – SCAN TIME ................................................................................................................................... 14

BENCHMARK 3 – USER INTERFACE LAUNCH TIME ........................................................................................................ 15

BENCHMARK 4 – MEMORY USAGE DURING SYSTEM IDLE .............................................................................................. 16

BENCHMARK 5 – BROWSE TIME ............................................................................................................................... 17

BENCHMARK 6 – INTERNET EXPLORER LAUNCH TIME ................................................................................................... 18

BENCHMARK 7 – INSTALLATION TIME ........................................................................................................................ 19

BENCHMARK 8 – INSTALLATION SIZE ......................................................................................................................... 20

BENCHMARK 9 – REGISTRY KEYS ADDED .................................................................................................................... 21

BENCHMARK 10 – FILE COPY, MOVE AND DELETE ....................................................................................................... 22

BENCHMARK 11 – INSTALLATION OF THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS ................................................................................... 23

BENCHMARK 12 – NETWORK THROUGHPUT ............................................................................................................... 24

BENCHMARK 13 – FILE FORMAT CONVERSION ............................................................................................................ 25

BENCHMARK 14 – FILE COMPRESSION AND DECOMPRESSION ........................................................................................ 26

BENCHMARK 15 – FILE WRITE, OPEN AND CLOSE ........................................................................................................ 27

BENCHMARK 16 – PE SCAN TIME ............................................................................................................................. 28

BENCHMARK 17 – FILE COPY DISK TO DISK ................................................................................................................ 29

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE – TEST RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 30




















TOTAL SECURITY SOFTWARE – TEST RESULTS ................................................................................................. 47


















DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURE ....................................................................................................................... 56

CONTACT DETAILS .......................................................................................................................................... 56

APPENDIX 1 – TEST ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................ 57

APPENDIX 2 – METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................. 58



Revision History Rev Revision History Date

Edition 1

Initial version of this report, includes new results for Norton Internet Security 2012, G Data Internet Security 2012, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Panda Internet Security 2012, Avast! Internet Security 6, Norton AntiVirus 2012, G Data AntiVirus 2012, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012, Panda Antivirus 2012 and Avast! Pro Antivirus 6.

11 August 2011

Edition 2 Added results for 7 additional Internet Security products and 7 additional Antivirus products. For more details on these products, see Products and Versions.

14 November 2011

Edition 3

Added results for 4 additional Free Antivirus products to the antivirus category. Added results for 5 products in the Total Security category. Replaced all Registry Key Count results using RegistryCount.exe to results taken using OSForensics. For more details see Benchmark 9 – Registry Key Count.

24 January 2012

References

Ref # Document Author Date

1 What Really Slows Windows Down (URL) O. Warner,

The PC Spy 2001-2009

http://www.thepcspy.com/read/what_really_slows_windows_down/2



Executive Summary PassMark Software® conducted objective performance testing on thirteen (13) Internet Security software

products, seventeen (17) Antivirus software products, and five (5) Total Security software products on Windows

7 Ultimate Edition (64-bit) SP1 between April 2011 and January 2012. This report presents our results and

findings as a result of performance benchmark testing conducted for these consumer security products.

Subsequent editions of this report will include new products released for 2012 as they are made available. For

more details on which versions were tested, please see the section “Products and Versions”.

Testing was performed on all products using seventeen (17) performance metrics. These performance metrics

are as follows:

Boot Time;

Scan Time;

User Interface Launch Time;

Memory Usage during System Idle;

Browse Time;

Internet Explorer Launch Time;

Installation Time;

Installation Size;

Registry Keys Added;

File Copy, Move and Delete;

Installation of Third Party Applications;

Network Throughput (previously named “Binary Download Test”)

File Format Conversion;

File Compression and Decompression;

File Write, Open and Close;

PE Scan Time and;

File Copy Disk to Disk.



Overall Score

PassMark Software assigned every product a score depending on its ranking in each metric compared to other

products in the same category.

Internet Security Software

In the following table the highest possible score attainable is 221; in a hypothetical situation where a product has

attained first place all 17 metrics. Internet Security products have been ranked by their overall scores:

Product Name Overall Score

Webroot SecureAnywhere Essentials 195

Norton Internet Security 2012 158

Trend Micro Virus Buster 2012 134

Avira Internet Security 2012 133

Avast! Internet Security 6 128

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 119

AVG Internet Security 2012 116

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012 114

Panda Internet Security 2012 101

G Data Internet Security 2012 103

SourceNEXTstyle ZERO 93

McAfee Internet Security 2012 86

BitDefender Internet Security 2012 68



Antivirus Software


attained first place in all 17 metrics. Antivirus products have been ranked by their overall scores:


Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus 2012 257

Norton Antivirus 2012 203

Avast! Pro Antivirus 6 183

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 165

Trend Micro Titanium 2012 167

PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 9 164

Avira Free Antivirus 12 161

Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 152

Avast! Free Antivirus 6 148

Microsoft Security Essentials 148

AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 141

Quick Heal AntiVirus 2012 138

Avira Antivirus Premium 2012 135

AVG Anti-Virus 2012 123

G Data Antivirus 2012 116

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 108

McAfee Antivirus 2012 90

Total Security Software


attained first place in all 17 metrics. Total Security products have been ranked by their overall scores:


Norton 360 v6 69

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security

2012 55

McAfee Total Protection 2012 49

Kaspersky PURE 9 42

BitDefender Total Security 2012 40



Products and Versions

In all cases, we have tested the full, retail release of the newest generation (2012 versions) of security products.

The names and versions of products which were tested can be found below from each category table:

Internet Security Software

Manufacturer Product Name Release Year Product Version Date Tested

Symantec Corporation Norton Internet Security 2012 2011 19.1.0.21 Aug 2011

G Data Software AG G Data Internet Security 2012 2011 22.0.2.25 Jun 2011

Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 2011 12.0.0.374 Jun 2011

Panda Security SL Panda Internet Security 2012 2011 17.00.00 Jul 2011

AVAST Software a.s. Avast! Internet Security 6 2011 6.0.1203 Aug 2011

AVG Technologies AVG Internet Security 2012 2011 2012.0.1809 Sep 2011

Trend Micro Inc. Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012

2011 5.0.1280 Oct 2011

Sourcenext Corporation

SourceNEXTstyle ZERO 2011 11.0.0047 Oct 2011

Trend Micro Inc. Trend Micro Virus Buster 2012 2011 5.0.1280 Oct 2011

Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG

Avira Internet Security 2012 2011 12.0.0.871 Oct 2011

BitDefender BitDefender Internet Security 2012 2011 15.0.31.1282 Oct 2011

McAfee, Inc. McAfee Internet Security 2012 2011 11.0.393 Nov 2011

Webroot Webroot SecureAnywhere Essentials 2011 8.0.0.66 Feb-2012



Antivirus Software


Symantec Corporation Norton AntiVirus 2012 2011 19.1.0.21 Aug 2011

G Data Software AG G Data Antivirus 2012 2011 22.0.2.25 Jun 2011

Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 2011 12.0.0.374 Jun 2011

Panda Security Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 2011 11.00.00 Jul 2011

AVAST Software a.s. Avast! Pro Antivirus 6 2011 6.0.1203 Aug 2011

AVG Technologies AVG Anti-Virus 2012 2011 2012.0.1809 Sep 2011

Trend Micro Inc. Trend Micro Titanium 2012 2011 5.0.1280 Oct 2011


Avira Antivirus Premium 2012 2011 12.0.0.871 Oct 2011

Quick Heal Technologies (P) Ltd.

Quick Heal AntiVirus 2012 2011 13.00(6.0.0.1) Oct 2011

McAfee, Inc. McAfee AntiVirus 2012 2011 11.0.623 Nov 2011

PC Tools PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 9

2011 9.0.0.888 Nov 2011

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Security Essentials 2011 2.1.1116.0 Nov 2011

AVAST Software a.s. Avast! Free Antivirus 2011 6.0.1289 Dec 2011

AVG Technologies AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012 2011 2012.0.1873 Dec 2011

Panda Security Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 2011 1.5.1 Dec 2011

Webroot Webroot SecureAnywhere Essentials 2011 8.0.0.60 Dec 2011


Avira Free Antivirus 12 2011 12.0.0.870 Dec 2011

Total Security Software


Symantec Corporation Norton 360 v6 2011 6.0.0.141 Dec 2011

Trend Micro Inc. Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012

2011 5.0.1280 Jan 2012

McAfee, Inc. McAfee Total Protection 2012 2011

SecurityCenter 11.0.649

Virus Scan 15.0294

Jan 2012

Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky PURE 9 2011 9.1.0.124 Jan 2012

BitDefender BitDefender Total Security 2012 2011 15.0.35.1478 Jan 2012



Performance Metrics Summary

We have selected a set of objective metrics which provide a comprehensive and realistic indication of the areas

in which an antivirus may impact system performance for end users. Our metrics test the impact of the antivirus

software on common tasks that end-users would perform on a daily basis.

All of PassMark Software’s test methods can be replicated by third parties using the same environment to obtain

similar benchmark results. Detailed descriptions of the methodologies used in our tests are available as

“Appendix 2 – Methodology Description” of this report.

Benchmark 1 – Boot Time

This metric measures the amount of time taken for the machine to boot into the operating system. Security

software is generally launched at Windows startup, adding an additional amount of time and delaying the

startup of the operating system. Shorter boot times indicate that the application has had less impact on the

normal operation of the machine.

Benchmark 2 – Scan Time

All antivirus solutions have functionality designed to detect viruses and various other forms of malware by

scanning files on the system. This metric measured the amount of time required to scan a set of clean files. Our

sample file set comprised a total file size of 982 MB and was made up of files that would typically be found on

end-user machines, such as media files, system files and Microsoft Office documents.

Benchmark 3 – User Interface Launch Time

This metric provides an objective indication as to how responsive a security product appears to the user, by

measuring the amount of time it takes for the user interface of the antivirus software to launch from Windows.

To allow for caching effects by the operating system, both the initial launch time and the subsequent launch

times were measured. Our final result is an average of these two measurements.

Benchmark 4 – Memory Usage during System Idle

This metric measures the amount of memory (RAM) used by the product while the machine and antivirus

software are in an idle state. The total memory usage was calculated by identifying all antivirus software

processes and the amount of memory used by each process.

The amount of memory used while the machine is idle provides a good indication of the amount of system

resources being consumed by the antivirus software on a permanent basis. Better performing products occupy

less memory while the machine is idle.

Benchmark 5 – Browse Time

It is common behavior for security products to scan data for malware as it is downloaded from the internet or

intranet. This behavior may negatively impact browsing speed as products scan web content for malware. This

metric measures the time taken to browse a set of popular internet sites to consecutively load from a local

server in a user’s browser window.



Benchmark 6 – Internet Explorer Launch Time

This metric is one of many methods to objectively measure how much a security product impacts on the

responsiveness of the system. This metric measures the amount of time it takes to launch the user interface of

Internet Explorer 8. To allow for caching effects by the operating system, both the initial launch time and the

subsequent launch times were measured. Our final result is an average of these two measurements.

Benchmark 7 – Installation Time

The speed and ease of the installation process will strongly influence the user’s first impression of the antivirus

software. This test measures the minimum installation time required by the antivirus software to be fully

functional and ready for use by the end user. Lower installation times represent antivirus products which are

quicker for a user to install.

Benchmark 8 – Installation Size

In offering new features and functionality to users, antivirus software products tend to increase in size with each

new release. Although new technologies push the size limits of hard drives each year, the growing disk space

requirements of common applications and the increasing popularity of large media files (such as movies, photos

and music) ensure that a product's installation size will remain of interest to home users.

This metric aims to measure a product’s total installation size. This metric is defined as the total disk space

consumed by all new files added during a product's installation.

Benchmark 9 – Registry Keys Added

A large registry increases a machine’s use of resources. This may negatively impact system performance,

especially on much older machines. This test measures the amount of keys and values added to registry, after

rebooting the test machines, following a successful product installation. Lower numbers mean that a product has

added fewer keys during installation and had less impact on the registry.

Benchmark 10 – File Copy, Move and Delete

This metric measures the amount of time taken to move, copy and delete a sample set of files. The sample file

set contains several types of file formats that a Windows user would encounter in daily use. These formats

include documents (e.g. Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDF, Zip files, etc), media formats (e.g. images,

movies and music) and system files (e.g. executables, libraries, etc).

Benchmark 11 – Installing Third Party Applications

This metric measures the amount of time taken to install and uninstall third party programs. The installation

speed of third party applications may be impacted by antivirus behavior such as heuristics or real time malware

scanning.

Benchmark 12 – Network Throughput

The metric measures the amount of time taken to download a variety of files from a local server using the

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is the main protocol used on the web for browsing, linking and data

transfer. Files used in this test include file formats that users would typically download from the web, such as

images, archives, music files and movie files.



Benchmark 13 – File Format Conversion

This test measures the amount of time taken to convert an MP3 file to a WAV and subsequently, convert the

same MP3 file to a WMA format.

Benchmark 14 – File Compression and Decompression

This metric measures the amount of time taken to compress and decompress different types of files. Files

formats used in this test included documents, movies and images.

Benchmark 15 – File Write, Open and Close

This benchmark was derived from Oli Warner’s File I/O test at http://www.thepcspy.com (please see Reference

#1: What Really Slows Windows Down). This metric measures the amount of time taken to write a file, then

open and close that file.

Benchmark 16 – PE Scan Time

All antivirus solutions have functionality designed to detect viruses and various other forms of malware by

scanning files on the system. This metric measured the amount of time required to scan a set of PE (Portable

Executable) files. Our sample file set comprised a total file size of 2.03GB and consisted of .exe (329MB), .dll

(920MB) and .sys files (827MB).

Benchmark 17 – File Copy Disk To Disk

This test measures the amount of time taken to copy files between two local drives. The data set comprised a

total file size of 5.44GB, and the formats used included documents, movies, images and executables.

http://www.thepcspy.com/



Internet Security Software – Test Results

In the following charts, we have highlighted the results we obtained for Norton Internet Security 2012 in yellow.

The average has also been highlighted in blue for ease of comparison.


The following chart compares the average time taken for the system to boot (from a sample of five boots) for

each Internet Security product tested. Products with lower boot times are considered better performing

products in this category.

82.12

38.51

38.21

36.99

36.26

34.10

32.91

32.61

31.73

30.80

30.78

28.95

27.32

26.37

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s 70 s 80 s 90 s

McAfee Internet Security 2012

BitDefender Internet Security 2012

G Data Internet Security 2012

Panda Internet Security 2012

Average

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012

SourceNEXTstyle ZERO

Avira Internet Security 2012

Norton Internet Security 2012

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012

AVG Internet Security 2012

Avast! Internet Security 6

Trend Micro Virus Buster 2012





The following chart compares the average time taken to scan a set of 6159 files (totaling 982 MB) for each

Internet Security product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and subsequent (Runs 2-

5) scan times. Products with lower scan times are considered better performing products in this category.

88.00

75.79

45.58

44.25

43.50

42.75

41.08

36.75

36.21

27.50

25.38

23.25

22.63

22.50

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s 70 s 80 s 90 s 100 s







Average











The following chart compares the average time taken to launch a product’s user interface. Products with lower

launch times are considered better performing products in this category.

1,636.60

1,082.47

991.78

790.14

789.20

523.33

395.00

305.06

289.99

241.30

127.77

90.35

32.63

31.04

0 ms 200 ms 400 ms 600 ms 800 ms 1,000 ms 1,200 ms 1,400 ms 1,600 ms 1,800 ms






Average












The following chart compares the average amount of RAM in use by an Internet Security product during a period

of system idle. This average is taken from a sample of ten memory snapshots taken at roughly 60 seconds apart

after reboot. Products with lower idle RAM usage are considered better performing products in this category.

86.60

85.10

80.26

71.17

62.49

56.50

55.03

52.54

52.16

44.37

40.30

24.04

16.93

2.70

0 MB 10 MB 20 MB 30 MB 40 MB 50 MB 60 MB 70 MB 80 MB 90 MB 100 MB









Average









The following chart compares the average time taken for Internet Explorer to successively load a set of popular

websites through the local area network from a local server machine. Products with lower browse times are

considered better performing products in this category.

147.03

92.51

89.54

84.65

64.80

60.04

53.05

49.57

47.76

47.65

47.37

44.47

43.09

35.66

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s





Average













The following chart compares the average launch times of Internet Explorer after rebooting the machine for

each Internet Security product we tested. Products with lower launch times are considered better performing


1,542.66

1,467.79

1,431.90

1,414.76

1,104.90

1,082.24

1,061.29

1,051.27

1,037.22

889.90

860.34

853.93

843.83

826.63






Average













The following chart compares the minimum installation time it takes for Internet Security products to be fully

functional and ready for use by the end user. Products with lower installation times are considered better

performing products in this category.

631.90

343.36

309.00

264.80

248.80

242.30

230.50

221.79

208.14

193.70

82.70

64.90

52.50

10.70

0 s 100 s 200 s 300 s 400 s 500 s 600 s 700 s








Average










The following chart compares the total size of files added during the installation of Internet Security products.

Products with lower installation sizes are considered better performing products in this category.

1,209.82

800.32

632.78

529.98

520.30

485.70

456.44

450.58

339.90

302.28

249.54

233.24

172.18

7.13

0 MB 200 MB 400 MB 600 MB 800 MB 1,000 MB 1,200 MB 1,400 MB







Average











The following chart compares the amount of Registry Keys created during product installation for each Internet

Security product tested. Products with lower key counts are considered better performing products in this

category.

20,079

9,120

8,121

7,690

7,064

6,613

6,478

5,865

5,737

4,760

4,698

4,353

3,102

110

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000





Average













The following chart compares the average time taken to copy, move and delete several sets of sample files for

each Internet Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in

this category.

40.33

34.71

33.33

32.66

30.65

30.01

29.11

26.74

26.22

25.93

24.66

24.57

24.37

24.27

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s 40 s 45 s







Average










Benchmark 11 – Installation of Third Party Applications

The following chart compares the average time taken to install 3 different third party application for each

Internet Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this

category.

111.69

110.02

107.53

107.09

107.03

106.03

104.55

103.20

100.08

100.05

98.04

97.98

97.21

94.35

85 s 90 s 95 s 100 s 105 s 110 s 115 s








Average










The following chart compares the average time to download a sample set of common file types for each Internet

Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

*Results for Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 could not be obtained as the test was blocked by the software.

33.73

32.17

26.56

26.26

17.90

14.75

13.34

13.23

12.20

10.89

10.70

10.56

10.47

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s 40 s





Average












The following chart compares the average time it takes for five sample files to be converted from one file format

to another (MP3 WMA, MP3 WAV) for each Internet Security product tested. Products with lower times are


77.74

77.13

77.10

76.91

76.74

76.40

76.32

76.20

76.07

75.99

75.84

75.74

75.73

75.69

75 s 75 s 76 s 76 s 77 s 77 s 78 s 78 s






Average












The following chart compares the average time it takes for sample files to be compressed and decompressed for

each Internet Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in

this category.

99.59

95.49

92.68

92.57

89.29

86.60

85.32

84.44

82.40

82.37

81.97

81.66

79.45

78.59

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s






Average












The following chart compares the average time it takes for a file to be written to the hard drive then opened and

closed 180,000 times, for each Internet Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better


1,450.85

1,054.84

697.21

274.13

66.36

64.80

59.29

29.97

27.33

26.83

26.64

26.46

17.13

15.95

0 s 200 s 400 s 600 s 800 s 1,000 s 1,200 s 1,400 s 1,600 s




Average














The following chart compares the average time taken to scan a set of 6351 portable executable files (totaling

2076 MB) for each Internet Security product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and

subsequent (Runs 2-5) scan times. Products with lower scan times are considered better performing products in

this category

169.61

168.74

153.88

106.63

95.38

95.13

92.38

85.25

69.88

65.24

58.00

58.00

44.25

30.95

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s 180 s







Average










Benchmark 17 – File Copy Disk to Disk

The following chart compares the average time taken to copy a total of 8,501 files, with a total file size of 5.44GB

files, from one local drive to another local drive for each Internet Security product tested. The test was

performed 5 times, and the average of all 5 runs was taken as the result. Products with lower times are


175.11

153.42

138.07

134.47

128.78

128.67

125.13

123.42

121.42

120.10

116.27

116.24

114.30

106.02

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s 180 s 200 s






Average











Antivirus Software – Test Results

In the following charts, we have highlighted the results we obtained for Norton AntiVirus 2012 in yellow. The

average has also been highlighted in blue for ease of comparison.



each Antivirus product tested. Products with lower boot times are considered better performing products in this

category.

40.67

39.91

36.64

35.31

35.00

34.95

34.73

33.32

33.18

32.60

32.34

32.15

32.15

30.56

29.84

29.21

29.14

28.07

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s 40 s 45 s

AVG Anti-Virus 2012

PCTools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 9

AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012

Panda Antivirus Pro 2012

Quick Heal AntiVirus 2012

Avira Antivirus Premium 2012

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012

Average

G Data Antivirus 2012

Avast! Free Antivirus 6

Avira Free Antivirus

McAfee Antivirus 2012

Panda Cloud Antivirus Free

Trend Micro Titanium 2012

Avast! Pro Antivirus 6

Norton AntiVirus 2012

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus 2012

Microsoft Security Essentials




The following chart compares the average time taken to scan a set of 6159 files (totaling 982 MB) for each

Antivirus product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and subsequent (Runs 2-5) scan

times. Products with lower scan times are considered better performing products in this category

116.96

73.14

71.50

51.88

49.75

47.50

45.44

45.38

43.88

43.88

37.00

36.38

31.00

30.33

26.75

24.88

21.88

20.38

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s







Average






AVG Anti-Virus 2012











3,833.45

2,334.58

1,902.89

1,346.08

907.21

879.91

801.67

734.62

557.51

521.84

440.57

345.00

334.22

289.24

240.39

236.95

95.04

37.27

0 ms 500 ms 1,000 ms 1,500 ms 2,000 ms 2,500 ms 3,000 ms 3,500 ms 4,000 ms 4,500 ms




AVG Anti-Virus 2012


Average
















The following chart compares the average amount of RAM in use by an Antivirus product during a period of

system idle. This average is taken from a sample of ten memory snapshots taken at roughly 60 seconds apart


96.50

83.88

68.57

56.80

55.77

55.03

55.03

42.75

42.11

41.61

38.30

29.19

27.62

24.45

22.50

8.75

7.00

2.08

0 MB 20 MB 40 MB 60 MB 80 MB 100 MB 120 MB








AVG Anti-Virus 2012

Average
















237.38

144.07

87.70

85.52

78.28

70.67

60.13

57.87

54.53

50.28

48.64

47.50

44.80

44.07

41.35

40.27

39.57

39.34

0 s 50 s 100 s 150 s 200 s 250 s






Average



AVG Anti-Virus 2012














each Antivirus product we tested. Products with lower launch times are considered better performing products

in this category.

1,573.84

1,350.79

1,337.53

1,300.87

1,233.80

1,092.61

1,076.46

1,074.64

1,025.66

1,020.85

1,004.46

966.04

934.80

913.33

896.06

889.12

872.89

812.60








Average

AVG Anti-Virus 2012














The following chart compares the minimum installation time it takes for Antivirus products to be fully functional

and ready for use by the end user. Products with lower installation times are considered better performing


507.60

313.80

268.20

232.20

211.00

201.70

189.50

156.79

120.60

115.20

113.00

76.00

74.90

74.40

59.60

52.50

47.60

7.70

0 s 100 s 200 s 300 s 400 s 500 s 600 s







AVG Anti-Virus 2012

Average














The following chart compares the total size of files added during the installation of Antivirus products. Products

with lower installation sizes are considered better performing products in this category.

1,029.40

924.41

795.82

572.35

474.75

435.28

392.35

384.90

349.65

308.67

280.40

231.27

219.79

204.72

179.45

168.67

104.53

5.88

0 MB 200 MB 400 MB 600 MB 800 MB 1,000 MB 1,200 MB




AVG Anti-Virus 2012



Average















The following chart compares the amount of Registry Keys created during product installation for each Antivirus

product tested. Products with lower key counts are considered better performing products in this category.

34,516

16,414

7,289

6,416

5,909

5,785

5,546

5,520

4,395

3,896

3,656

3,273

3,035

2,532

2,427

2,311

2,137

434

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000




Average


AVG Anti-Virus 2012

















each Antivirus product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this

category.

39.72

38.73

33.94

32.85

31.52

30.54

30.52

29.81

29.71

29.41

28.72

27.53

26.86

26.57

25.88

24.35

24.13

24.07

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s 40 s 45 s







AVG Anti-Virus 2012


Average













The following chart compares the average time taken to install a third party application for each Antivirus

product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

127.84

127.75

118.27

113.59

113.23

108.37

107.07

107.00

106.91

104.61

103.83

100.32

100.01

98.43

98.40

98.24

97.21

96.18

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s


AVG Anti-Virus 2012





Average















The following chart compares the average time to download a sample set of common file types for each

Antivirus product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

*Results for Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 could not be obtained as the test was blocked by the software.

27.35

26.06

16.42

16.37

15.30

14.16

13.68

12.94

12.37

12.13

11.48

11.18

10.76

10.59

10.27

10.18

9.48

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s





AVG Anti-Virus 2012

Average
















to another (MP3 WMA, MP3 WAV) for each Antivirus product tested. Products with lower times are


77.63

77.32

77.02

76.96

76.92

76.89

76.73

76.37

76.24

76.19

76.16

76.07

75.95

75.93

75.91

75.86

75.65

74.92

74 s 74 s 75 s 75 s 76 s 76 s 77 s 77 s 78 s 78 s








Average


AVG Anti-Virus 2012













each Antivirus product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this

category.

98.94

95.17

89.56

89.50

88.10

86.62

85.72

85.30

84.88

84.79

84.20

84.12

82.84

82.44

81.25

81.12

79.32

79.14

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s







Average







AVG Anti-Virus 2012









closed 180,000 times, for each Antivirus product tested. Products with lower times are considered better


1,431.52

238.23

121.32

33.67

31.68

31.09

30.94

29.19

27.66

27.13

26.78

26.31

24.05

23.60

22.67

22.65

18.07

17.26

0 s 200 s 400 s 600 s 800 s 1,000 s 1,200 s 1,400 s 1,600 s



Average














AVG Anti-Virus 2012






2076 MB) for each Antivirus product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and


this category

162.73

156.13

155.13

152.50

138.39

97.00

95.13

90.11

84.05

81.63

78.38

70.13

67.88

65.89

54.63

33.63

22.88

15.88

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s 180 s








Average


AVG Anti-Virus 2012












The following chart compares the average time taken to copy a set of files from one local drive to another local

drive for each Antivirus product tested. The test was performed 5 times, and the average of all 5 runs was taken

as the result. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

155.82

155.25

136.22

134.52

131.61

130.42

129.01

127.55

126.80

126.74

126.74

122.79

121.35

120.42

116.90

115.08

111.97

106.79

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s 180 s





AVG Anti-Virus 2012



Average













Total Security Software – Test Results

In the following charts, we have highlighted the results we obtained for Norton 360 v6 in yellow. The average

has also been highlighted in blue for ease of comparison.



each Total Security product tested. Products with lower boot times are considered better performing products in

this category.


The following chart compares the average time taken to scan a set of 6159 files (totaling 982 MB) for each Total

Security product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and subsequent (Runs 2-5) scan

times. Products with lower scan times are considered better performing products in this category

40.24

38.22

36.28

36.14

35.23

30.75

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s 40 s 45 s

BitDefender Total Security 2012

Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6

Average

McAfee Total Protection 2012

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012

56.50

42.57

39.13

36.37

24.50

19.18

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s

Kaspersky PURE 9



Average

Norton 360 v6








The following chart compares the average amount of RAM in use by a Total Security product during a period of

system idle. This average is taken from a sample of ten memory snapshots taken at roughly 60 seconds apart


1,184.62

748.64

630.84

567.98

247.11

28.70

0 s 200 s 400 s 600 s 800 s 1,000 s 1,200 s 1,400 s

Kaspersky PURE 9


Norton 360 v6

Average



80.84

80.68

79.23

60.02

34.71

24.64

0 MB 10 MB 20 MB 30 MB 40 MB 50 MB 60 MB 70 MB 80 MB 90 MB




Average

Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6









each Total Security product we tested. Products with lower launch times are considered better performing


84.64

81.39

62.79

59.51

45.80

42.60

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s 70 s 80 s 90 s



Average

Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6


1,338.72

1,217.78

1,209.08

1,139.00

1,084.04

845.41

0 ms 200 ms 400 ms 600 ms 800 ms 1,000 ms 1,200 ms 1,400 ms 1,600 ms


Kaspersky PURE 9


Average

Norton 360 v6





The following chart compares the minimum installation time it takes for Total Security products to be fully

functional and ready for use by the end user. Products with lower installation times are considered better



The following chart compares the total size of files added during the installation of Total Security products.

Products with lower installation sizes are considered better performing products in this category.

583.00

217.71

181.78

181.78

78.77

63.20

0 s 100 s 200 s 300 s 400 s 500 s 600 s 700 s


Average

Kaspersky PURE 9



Norton 360 v6

1167.76

619.19

614.95

535.70

474.15

303.38

0 MB 200 MB 400 MB 600 MB 800 MB 1,000 MB 1,200 MB 1,400 MB


Average

Kaspersky PURE 9



Norton 360 v6




The following chart compares the amount of Registry Keys created during product installation for each Total

Security product tested. Products with lower key counts are considered better performing products in this

category.



each Total Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this

category.

20,578

11,061

9,958

7,656

5,752

4,741

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000


Kaspersky PURE 9

Average


Norton 360 v6


30.74

29.61

27.85

27.78

25.80

25.34

0 s 5 s 10 s 15 s 20 s 25 s 30 s 35 s



Average


Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6




The following chart compares the average time taken to install a third party application for each Total Security

product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.


The following chart compares the average time to download a sample set of common file types for each Total

Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

111.29

106.03

103.60

101.16

100.11

99.41

92 s 94 s 96 s 98 s 100 s 102 s 104 s 106 s 108 s 110 s 112 s 114 s

Norton 360 v6

Kaspersky PURE 9

Average




59.17

23.19

17.57

14.56

13.17

11.48

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s 70 s

Kaspersky PURE 9

Average



Norton 360 v6






to another (MP3 WMA, MP3 WAV) for each Total Security product tested. Products with lower times are




each Total Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this

category.

79.00

78.01

77.28

77.26

76.13

76.03

75 s 75 s 76 s 76 s 77 s 77 s 78 s 78 s 79 s 79 s 80 s

Kaspersky PURE 9


Average



Norton 360 v6

96.34

87.30

86.48

84.21

82.81

81.72

70 s 75 s 80 s 85 s 90 s 95 s 100 s



Average


Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6





closed 180,000 times, for each Total Security product tested. Products with lower times are considered better




2076 MB) for each Total Security product tested. This time is calculated by averaging the initial (Run 1) and


this category

1,168.04

271.71

66.91

66.71

29.23

27.64

0 s 200 s 400 s 600 s 800 s 1,000 s 1,200 s 1,400 s


Average



Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6

76.50

67.47

49.26

45.13

38.25

18.94

0 s 10 s 20 s 30 s 40 s 50 s 60 s 70 s 80 s 90 s



Average

Norton 360 v6

Kaspersky PURE 9





The following chart compares the average time taken to copy a set of files from one local drive to another local

drive for each Total Security product tested. The test was performed 5 times, and the average of all 5 runs was

taken as the result. Products with lower times are considered better performing products in this category.

148.80

135.55

129.47

125.67

118.71

118.60

0 s 20 s 40 s 60 s 80 s 100 s 120 s 140 s 160 s



Average

Kaspersky PURE 9

Norton 360 v6




Disclaimer and Disclosure

This report only covers versions of products that were available at the time of testing. The tested versions are as

noted in the “Products and Versions” section of this report. The products we have tested are not an exhaustive

list of all products available in these very competitive product categories.

Disclaimer of Liability

While every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented in this report is accurate, PassMark

Software Pty Ltd assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or out-of-date information and shall not be

liable in any manner whatsoever for direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages resulting

from the availability of, use of, access of, or inability to use this information.

Disclosure

Symantec Corporation funded the production of this report, selected the test metrics and list of products to

include in this report, and supplied some of the test scripts used for the tests.

Trademarks

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact Details

PassMark Software Pty Ltd

Suite 202, Level 2

35 Buckingham St.

Surry Hills, 2010

Sydney, Australia

Phone + 61 (2) 9690 0444

Fax + 61 (2) 9690 0445

Web www.passmark.com

Download Location

An electronic copy of this report can be found at the following location:

http://www.passmark.com/tpsreport12

http://www.thedegenerates.com/Disclaimer.htm

http://www.passmark.com/



Appendix 1 – Test Environment

For our testing, PassMark Software used a test environment running Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) SP1 with the

following hardware specifications:

Windows 7 (64-bit) System

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core @ 2.67GHz

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT

Motherboard: Intel x58 Motherboard

RAM: 6GB DDR3 RAM

HDD: Western Digital 500GB 7200RPM

Network: Gigabit (1GB/s) switch



Appendix 2 – Methodology Description

Windows 7 Image Creation

As with testing on Windows Vista, Norton Ghost was used to create a “clean” baseline image prior to testing.

Our aim is to create a baseline image with the smallest possible footprint and reduce the possibility of variation

caused by external operating system factors.

The baseline image was restored prior to testing of each different product. This process ensures that we install

and test all products on the same, “clean” machine.

The steps taken to create the base Windows 7 image are as follows:

1. Installation and activation of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

2. Disabled Automatic Updates.

3. Changed User Account Control settings to “Never Notify”.

4. Disable Windows Defender automatic scans to avoid unexpected background activity.

5. Disable the Windows firewall to avoid interference with security software.

6. Installed Norton Ghost for imaging purposes.

7. Disabled Superfetch to ensure consistent results.

8. Installed HTTP Watch for Browse Time testing.

9. Installed Windows Performance Toolkit x64 for Boot Time testing.

10. Installed Active Perl for interpretation of some test scripts.

11. Install OSForensics for testing (Installation Size and Registry Key Count tests) purposes.

12. Disabled updates, accelerators and compatibility view updates in Internet Explorer 8.

13. Update to Windows Service Pack 1

14. Created a baseline image using Norton Ghost.


PassMark Software uses tools available from the Windows Performance Toolkit version 4.6 (as part of the

Microsoft Windows 7 SDK obtainable from the Microsoft Website) with a view to obtaining more precise and

consistent boot time results on the Windows 7 platform.

The boot process is first optimized with xbootmgr.exe using the command “xbootmgr.exe -trace boot –

prepSystem” which prepares the system for the test over six optimization boots. The boot traces obtained from

the optimization process are discarded.

After boot optimization, the benchmark is conducted using the command "xbootmgr.exe -trace boot -numruns

5”. This command boots the system five times in succession, taking detailed boot traces for each boot cycle.

Finally, a post-processing tool was used to parse the boot traces and obtain the BootTimeViaPostBoot value. This

value reflects the amount of time it takes the system to complete all (and only) boot time processes. Our final

result is an average of five boot traces.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c17ba869-9671-4330-a63e-1fd44e0e2505&displaylang=en




Scan Time is the time it took for each product to scan a set of sample files. The sample used was identical in all

cases and contained a mixture of system files and Office files. In total there were 6159 files whose combined size

was 982 MB. Most of these files come from the Windows system folders. As the file types can influence scanning

speed, the breakdown of the main file types, file numbers and total sizes of the files in the sample set is given

here:

File Extension Number of Files File Size

.dll 2589 490MB .exe 695 102MB .sys 332 23MB .gif 302 1MB

.doc 281 64MB .wmf 185 2MB .png 149 2MB .html 126 1MB .nls 80 6MB .jpg 70 1MB .ini 59 2MB .ico 58 <1MB

.mof 43 6MB .ax 39 4MB .xls 38 3MB

.ime 35 5MB .drv 31 1MB .txt 31 1MB

.chm 30 6MB .cpl 29 4MB .mfl 29 3MB .inf 26 2MB .hlp 22 3MB .imd 20 18MB .py 20 <1MB

.msc 18 1MB .vbs 18 1MB .xml 18 1MB .rtf 16 62MB .ocx 16 4MB .tsp 14 1MB

.com 14 <1MB .xsl 14 <1MB .h 13 <1MB

.vsd 12 2MB .scr 12 2MB .aw 12 2MB .js 12 1MB

.zip 11 25MB

.lex 9 10MB .ppt 9 4MB .acm 9 1MB .wav 7 5MB Total 6159 982



This scan was run without launching the product’s user interface, by right-clicking the test folder and choosing

the “Scan Now” option. To record the scan time, we have used product’s built-in scan timer or reporting system.

Where this was not possible, scan times were taken manually with a stopwatch.

For each product, five samples were taken with the machine rebooted before each sample to clear any caching

effects by the operating systems.

In 2009, we noticed many more products showing a substantial difference between the initial scan time (first

scan) and subsequent scan times (scans 2 to 5). We believe this behavior is due to products themselves caching

recently scanned files.

As a result of this mechanism, we have averaged the four subsequent scan times to obtain an average

subsequent scan time. Our final result for this test is an average of the subsequent scan average and the initial

scan time.


The launch time of a product’s user interface was taken using AppTimer (v1.0.1006). For each product tested, we

obtained a total of fifteen samples from five sets of three UI launches, with a reboot before each set to clear

caching effects by the operating system. When compiling the results the first of each set was separated out so

that there was a set of values for the initial launch after reboot and a set for subsequent launches.

We have averaged the subsequent launch times to obtain an average subsequent launch time. Our final result

for this test is an average of the subsequent launch average and the initial launch time.

In some cases, AppTimer did not correctly record the time taken for UI launch. For instance, some applications

would open their window and look like they were ready, but then continued to be unresponsive. Where the

measurement from AppTimer appeared inaccurate, we have taken the time manually with a stop watch.

AppTimer is publically available from the PassMark Website.


The Perflog++ utility was used to record process memory usage on the system at boot, and then every minute

for another fifteen minutes after. This was done only once per product and resulted in a total of 15 samples. The

first sample taken at boot is discarded.

The PerfLog++ utility records memory usage of all processes, not just those of the anti-malware product. As a

result of this, an anti-malware product’s processes needed to be isolated from all other running system

processes. To isolate relevant process, we used a program called Process Explorer which was run immediately

upon the completion of memory usage logging by PerfLog++. Process Explorer is a Microsoft Windows

Sysinternals software tool which shows a list of all DLL processes currently loaded on the system.


We used a script in conjunction with HTTPWatch (Basic Edition, version 6.1) to record the amount of time it

takes for a set of 106 ‘popular’ websites to load consecutively from a local server. This script feeds a list of URLs

into HTTPWatch, which instructs the browser to load pages in sequence and monitors the amount of time it

takes for the browser to load all items on one page.

http://www.passmark.com/products/apptimer.htm



For this test, we have used Internet Explorer 8 (Version 8.0.6001.18783) as our browser.

The set of websites used in this test include front pages of high traffic pages. This includes shopping, social,

news, finance and reference websites.

The Browse Time test is executed five times and our final result is an average of these five samples. The local

server is restarted between different products and one initial ‘test’ run is conducted prior to testing to install

Adobe Flash Player, an add-on which is used by many popular websites.


The average launch time of Internet Explorer interface was taken using AppTimer. This test was practically

identical to the User Interface launch time test. For each product tested, we obtained a total of fifteen samples

from five sets of three Internet Explorer launches, with a reboot before each set to clear caching effects by the

operating system. When compiling the results the first of each set was separated out so that there was a set of

values for the initial launch after reboot and a set for subsequent launches.

For this test, we have used Internet Explorer 8 (Version 8.0.6001.18783) as our test browser.

We have averaged the subsequent launch times to obtain an average subsequent launch time. Our final result

for this test is an average of the subsequent launch average and the initial launch time.


This test measures the minimum Installation Time a product requires to be fully functional and ready for use by

the end user. Installation time can usually be divided in three major phases:

The Extraction and Setup phase consists of file extraction, the EULA prompt, product activation and user

configurable options for installation.

The File Copy phase occurs when the product is being installed; usually this phase is indicated by a progress

bar.

The Post-Installation phase is any part of the installation that occurs after the File Copy phase. This phase

varies widely between products; the time recorded in this phase may include a required reboot to finalize the

installation or include the time the program takes to become idle in the system tray.

To reduce the impact of disk drive variables, each product was copied to the Desktop before initializing

installation. Each step of the installation process was manually timed with a stopwatch and recorded in as much

detail as possible. Where input was required by the end user, the stopwatch was paused and the input noted in

the raw results in parenthesis after the phase description.

Where possible, all requests by products to pre-scan or post-install scan were declined or skipped. Where it was

not possible to skip a scan, the time to scan was included as part of the installation time. Where an optional

component of the installation formed a reasonable part of the functionality of the software, it was also installed

(e.g. website link checking software as part of an Internet Security Product).



Installation time includes the time taken by the product installer to download components required in the

installation. This may include mandatory updates or the delivery of the application itself from a download

manager. We have noted in our results where a product has downloaded components for product installation.

We have excluded product activation times due to network variability in contacting vendor servers or time taken

in account creation.


A product's Installation Size was previously defined as the difference between the initial snapshot of the Disk

Space (C: drive) before installation and the subsequent snapshot taken after the product is installed on the

system. Although this is a widely used methodology, we noticed that the results it yielded were not always

reproducible in Vista due to random OS operations that may take place between the two snapshots. We

improved the Installation Size methodology by removing as many Operating System and disk space variables as

possible.

Using PassMark’s OSForensics we created initial and post-installation disk signatures for each product. These

disk signatures recorded the amount of files and directories, and complete details of all files on that drive

(including file name, file size, checksum, etc) at the time the signature was taken.

The initial disk signature was taken immediately prior to installation of the product. A subsequent disk signature

was taken immediately following a system reboot after product installation. Using OSForensics, we compared

the two signatures and calculated the total disk space consumed by files that were new, modified, and deleted

during product installation. Our result for this metric reflects the total size of all newly added files during

installation.

The scope of this metric includes only an ‘out of the box’ installation size for each product. Our result does not

cover the size of files downloaded by the product after its installation (such as engine or signature updates), or

any files created by system restore points, pre-fetch files and other temporary files.

Benchmark 9 – Registry Key Count

This test measures the amount of keys and values added to registry, after rebooting the test machine following a

successful product installation. The test was conducted using PassMark’s OSForensics, to count the number of

keys, errors and values that were added under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS. The Create Signature

feature is used to take a before and after signature of these folders, and the signatures are then compared so

that the new keys can be identified.

Benchmarks 10-15 – Real-Time Performance

We used a single script in testing Benchmarks 10-15. The script consecutively executes tests for Benchmarks 10-

15. The script times each phase in these benchmarks using CommandTimer.exe and appends results to a log file.

Benchmarks 10 – File Copy, Move and Delete

This test measures the amount of time required for the system to copy, move and delete samples of files in

various file formats. This sample was made up of 812 files over 760,867,636 bytes and can be categorized as

documents [26% of total], media files [54% of total] and PE files (i.e. System Files) [20% of total].



The breakdown of the main file types, file numbers and total sizes of the files in the sample set is shown in the

following table:

File format Number Size (bytes)

DOC 8 30,450,176

DOCX 4 13,522,409

PPT 3 5,769,216

PPTX 3 4,146,421

XLS 4 2,660,352

XLSX 4 1,426,054

PDF 73 136,298,049

ZIP 4 6,295,987

7Z 1 92,238

JPG 351 31,375,259

GIF 6 148,182

MOV 7 57,360,371

RM 1 5,658,646

AVI 8 78,703,408

WMV 5 46,126,167

MP3 28 191,580,387

EXE 19 2,952,914

DLL 104 29,261,568

AX 1 18,432

CPL 2 2,109,440

CPX 2 4,384

DRV 10 154,864

ICO 1 107,620

MSC 1 41,587

NT 1 1,688

ROM 2 36,611

SCR 2 2,250,240

SYS 1 37,528,093

TLB 3 135,580

TSK 1 1,152

UCE 1 22,984

EXE 19 2,952,914

DLL 104 29,261,568

AX 1 18,432



CPL 2 2,109,440

CPX 2 4,384

DRV 10 154,864

ICO 1 107,620

MSC 1 41,587

NT 1 1,688

ROM 2 36,611

SCR 2 2,250,240

SYS 1 37,528,093

TLB 3 135,580

TSK 1 1,152

UCE 1 22,984

Total 812 760,867,636

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average time to copy, move and delete the sample files, with

the test machine rebooted between each sample to remove potential caching effects.

Benchmark 11 – Third Party Program Installation

This test measured how much time was required to install and uninstall a third party application. For this test, CommandTimer.exe timed how long it took to install and uninstall the following applications on the test machine:

Firefox 3.6.3 (11,909 KB) (MSI File)

Microsoft .NET 3.5 (34,121 KB) (MSI File)

Steam (1,551 KB) (MSI File)

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average time to install/uninstall the above third party programs, with the test machine rebooted between each sample to remove potential caching effects.


This benchmark measured how much time was required to download a sample set of binary files of various sizes

and types over a 100MB/s network connection. The files were hosted on a server machine running Windows

Server 2008 and IIS 7. CommandTimer.exe was used in conjunction with GNU Wget (version 1.10.1) to time and

conduct the download test.

The complete sample set of files was made up of 553,638,694 bytes over 484 files and two file type categories:

media files [74% of total] and documents [26% of total]. The breakdown of the file types, file numbers and total

sizes of the files in the sample set is shown in the following table:

File format Number Size (bytes)

JPEG 343 30,668,312

GIF 9 360,349

PNG 5 494,780



MOV 7 57,360,371

RM 1 5,658,646

AVI 8 78,703,408

WMV 5 46,126,167

MP3 28 191,580,387

PDF 73 136,298,049

ZIP 4 6,295,987

7Z 1 92,238

Total 484 553,638,694

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average time to download this sample of files, with the test

machine rebooted between each sample to remove potential caching effects.

Benchmark 13 – File Format Conversion (MP3 WAV, MP3 WMA)

This test measured how much time was required to convert five (5) different MP3 files into WAV files and

subsequently, convert the same MP3 samples into a WMA files. The total size of the five (5) MP3s used was

25,870,899 bytes.

To encode the MP3 into another format, we used an application called ffmpeg.exe. The format conversion

process was timed using CommandTimer.exe.

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average conversion speed between these formats, with the test



This test measured the amount of time required to compress and decompress a sample set of files. For this test,

we used a subset of the media and documents files used in the File Copy, Move and Delete benchmark.

CommandTimer.exe recorded the amount of time required for 7zip.exe to compress the files into a *.zip and

subsequently decompress the created *.zip file.

This subset comprised 1,218 files over 783 MB. The breakdown of the file types, file numbers and total sizes of

the files in the sample set is shown in the following table:

File Type File Number Total Size

.xls 13 9.23 MB

.xlsx 9 3.51 MB

.ppt 9 7.37 MB

.pptx 11 17.4 MB

.doc 17 35.9 MB

.docx 19 24.5 MB

.gif 177 1.10 MB



.jpg 737 66.2 MB

.png 159 48.9 MB

.mov 7 54.7 MB

.rm 1 5.39 MB

.avi 46 459 MB

.wma 11 48.6 MB

.avi 46 459 MB

.wma 11 48.6 MB

Total 1218 783 MB

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average file compression and decompression speed, with the

test machine rebooted between each sample to remove potential caching effects.


This benchmark was derived from Oli Warner’s File I/O test at http://www.thepcspy.com (please see Reference

#1: What Really Slows Windows Down).

For this test, we developed OpenClose.exe, an application that looped writing a small file to disk, then opening

and closing that file. CommandTimer.exe was used to time how long the process took to complete 180,000

cycles.

This test was conducted five times to obtain the average file writing, opening and closing speed, with the test



This test measures the on demand scan times of a file set comprised only of executable files (.exe, .dll and .sys

files). We performed five scans of the sample file set, with a machine restart between each scan to remove

possible caching effects. The time taken to scan the files is taken from an antivirus product’s scan logs, or where

logs are not available, manually with a stopwatch. Scans were launched by right clicking on the folder to be

scanned.

A breakdown of the sample file set is as follows:

File Type Number

of Files

File Size

Sys Files 2174 329MB

Dll Files 2037 920MB

Exe Files 2140 827MB

Total 6351 2076MB

The final result is calculated as an average of the five samples.

http://www.thepcspy.com/




This test measures the amount of time taken to copy files between two local drives. The data set comprised of

8,501 files with a total file size of 5.44GB, and the formats used included documents, movies, images and

executables. A breakdown of the sample file set is given below:

File

Extension

Number

of Files

File Size

.jpg 2903 588MB

.dll 773 25MB

.exe 730 197MB

.gif 681 63MB

.wav 430 260MB

.sys 501 79MB

.png 451 27MB

.mp3 333 2157MB

.wma 585 925MB

.docx 267 81MB

.avi 247 1079MB

.doc 160 57MB

.xls 329 132MB

.ppt 97 148MB

.zip 14 177MB

Total 8501 5995MB

A total of five runs of this test were performed, with a machine restart between each run. The time taken to

copy files was measured and recorded by CommandTimer.exe. All the files were copied between a folder on the

local drive and a 2nd

folder on a different drive. Files were deleted from the 2nd

drive once the copy was

complete. The final result is calculated as an average of the five samples

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