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Dennis Technology Labs... this name reminds me this blog post
http://blog.avast.com/2009/10/30/dennis-technology-labs-vs-vince-technology-labs-can-testing-paid-for-by-an-av-company-be-trusted/
I'd like to see how Symantec performs in this recent "paid" test
Yes that blog was from over a year ago, but the principal is I guess still the same with sponsored test, there will always be a suspicion that the man who pays the piper calls the tune.
The same as the last one it paid for.
This is the Symantec sponsored test at Denis Publications labs,
http://www.dennistechnologylabs.com/reports/security/anti-malware/symantec/.
There is a pdf link for the report on that page and avast although a free antivirus, did exceptionally well in the Symantec sponsored test, given what Symantec has said about free products not being able to protect you over paid products. Considering avast 5 free beet many paid suites, I think that particular duck has been shot down.
The problem with the test is that it doesn't take account of people using firefox and NoScript as that negates many of the various site exploits, even without noscript firefox side steps some exploits that only work on IE. So Chrome would also help in this regard.