A scary number of security suites fail on Windows Vista

INADEQUATE SECURITY software suites are a plenty according to Virus Bulletin as it has found that 19 of the 54 it tested didn't pass and get VB100 status, which would have been nice.

Doomed from the start probably because they were tested on Windows Vista Business Edition SP2, the tests found a marked inability of some software to cope with heavy attacks. As opposed to Windows Vista's inability to cope, full stop. Virus Bulletin's crack squad also noted that false positive rates were very high, with legitimate files from Corel, Roxio and Adobe having been falsely identified as being infected.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, and a relief for Microsoft no doubt, Microsoft Security Essentials passed Virus Bulletin's tests. Most definitely not surprising was Microsoft Windows marketing group manager Eric Foster's statement that "the most important validation of anti-virus quality comes from independent certification organizations like Virus Bulletin".

However the award for stating the blindingly obvious but often not widely heeded wisdom about those that failed the tests goes to John Hawes, Virus Bulletin's anti-malware test director, who said, "Flaky behaviour will certainly not instil a sense of security in users." µ