Total Defense Essential Anti-Virus

byvijay -November 04, 2018

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There are antivirus utilities that load on so many bonus features you'd be tempted to call them security suites. And there are antivirus tools that focus strictly on the task at hand. As the name suggests, Total Defense Essential Anti-Virus doesn't stray far from the essential task of protection against viruses and other malware. It does a decent job, but with no protection against malicious and fraudulent websites it misses a significant opportunity to prevent attacks.

The most common price point among commercial antivirus products is just under $40 for a year of protecting one PC. Total Defense costs $49.99 per year, but that gets you three licenses, so it's a good bit less expensive than average. That same $49.99 subscription gets you three licenses for IObit, while three Kaspersky licenses run you $59.99. McAfee AntiVirus Plus also costs $59.99, but that gets you unlimited licenses for your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

While not as well-known as Norton or ZoneAlarm, Total Defense matches the virus-free guarantee that these products offer. If malware gets past the antivirus, Total Defense techs will dig in to actively remove it. If the malware proves so pernicious that the experts can't remove it, you get your money back. Of course, this commitment from Total Defense requires a similar commitment from you, in that you must sign up for automatic subscription renewal, but that's reasonable. Note, too, that Norton and Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security reserve this guarantee for their suite-level products.

After a fairly quick install to a test system, Total Defense started a download of the very latest malware signatures. The product's very simple main window reflects its laser focus on antivirus protection. A big status indicator dominates the left side of the chocolate-brown main window, with buttons for Scan and Devices sharing the right site. A simple menu of icons at far left lets you choose the home, Scan, and Devices pages, or invoke settings or help. As noted, your subscription lets you protect three devices, and the Devices page is where you manage them.

No Information From Independent Labs

How do you know if an antivirus product actually does its job? Researchers at independent testing labs put hordes of products to the test in various ways, challenging them to do the job they're designed for, and reporting the results on a regular basis. I rely heavily on these test results, given that the labs have such impressive resources devoted to testing.

For review purposes, I consult lab results from AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, SE Labs, and MRG-Effitas. Alas, none of these labs include Total Defense in their latest reports.

Back in 2016, Total Defense did receive 16.5 of 18 possible points from AV-Test Institute, and took an Advanced rating in one test by AV-Comparatives. In 2017, it managed next-to-top level certification from SE Labs. That's interesting, but, as the threat landscape is constantly changing, only the latest tests are truly relevant.

Lab Test Results Chart

In contrast to the absence of Total Defense from the lab reports, quite a few products show up in reports from all four labs. I use an algorithm that maps all the results to a 10-point scale and comes up with an aggregate lab score. Kaspersky Anti-Virus is tops here, with an aggregate score of 10, the maximum. Bitdefender didn't show up in the latest report from SE Labs, but 9.9 points based on three labs is still very good.

Decent Local Malware Protection

When the labs don't give me anything to work with, my hands-on malware protection testing is all I have to go on. This test starts when I open a folder containing a collection of malware samples I've selected and analyzed myself. Total Defense's real-time protection sprang into action at this point, wiping out 79 percent of the samples on sight.

When I launched the surviving samples, the real-time and behavioral detection systems got a few more; in a couple of cases they eliminated the malicious component while leaving the innocuous carrier intact. Overall, Total Defense detected 86 percent of the samples and scored 8.6 of 10 possible points.

That's a decent score, but others have done better against this same set of samples. Cylance, F-Secure, McAfee, and Symantec Norton AntiVirus Basic all tied at the top, with 9.3 points.

Tested using an earlier sample set, Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus did even better. It detected and thoroughly prevented installation of all the samples, earning a perfect 10 points.

I also timed a full antivirus scan on a clean test system. The initial scan took almost 80 minutes, rather longer than the current average of 45 minutes. However, Total Defense used that initial scan to optimize for subsequent scans. A second scan completed in just 7.5 minutes. That's pretty good, but an optimized second scan by F-Secure Anti-Virus did the job in just one minute.

Malware Protection Results Chart

In addition to the full scan, you can choose a quick scan for active malware, or a custom scan targeting specific drives or folders. By default, Total Defense schedules a monthly full scan; you can change that to a daily or weekly schedule if you prefer.

Dismal Blocking of Malware Downloads

Gathering and analyzing a collection of malware takes quite a while, so I can't refresh those samples very often. For a view on how each antivirus handles current, prevalent malware, I start with a feed of malware-hosting URLs recently discovered by experts at MRG-Effitas. I launch each URL, discarding any that don't load properly, and note whether the antivirus diverts the browser from the dangerous URL, eliminates the malware download, or misses the boat altogether.

Total Defense is at a disadvantage here, because the standalone antivirus doesn't include the web-based protection component found in suite products from this company (and in most competing antivirus products). Its defense necessarily relied on detecting the malware samples at download, and it seriously fell down on the job there. With just 8 percent protection, Total Defense has the lowest score among all current products. I'll run this test again when I evaluate Total Defense Premium Internet Security.

Note that the absence of web-based protection means that Total Defense doesn't offer protection against phishing websites. These fraudulent sites don't contain malware. Rather, they imitate sensitive websites in hopes of tricking hapless visitors into giving away their login credentials. If you do choose to rely on Total Defense antivirus, don't turn off the phishing protection built into your browser.

Aim Higher

Total Defense Essential Anti-Virus skips the cornucopia of bonus goodies presented by some competitors, which is fine. The point of an antivirus is to eliminate existing malware and prevent new infestations, after all. However, it omits web-based protection against malicious and fraudulent sites, and it earned a record low score against downloads of recent malware. Soon we'll test the Total Defense Premium Internet Security suite, which does include that web-based protection, and more. Very likely it will prove to be a better choice than the company's basic antivirus.

Better still, consider using one of our Editor's Choice antivirus tools. Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus earn near-perfect scores from the labs, and they also score well in our hands-on tests as well. The unusual journal-and-rollback feature of Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus means it can reverse damage done by zero-day malware, even ransomware. And with McAfee AntiVirus Plus you can protect every Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS device in your household.