Note: The scanning speeds shown below are for default settings for each antivirus program. Since the default settings for each program are quite different, the testing below doesn't necessarily indicate which antivirus program has the fastest virus scanner. However, since most users don't alter the default settings, it's useful to see how fast each program is in default mode.

Scan speeds were found for the first/initial scan after installation (a 1.0 GB set of 3000 files was scanned - which included Windows system files, media files, and other files commonly found on a computer system). Subsequent scans are generally faster than the initial scan speeds shown below. (See our Antivirus Performance Tests where we also tested Subsequent Scan Speeds.)


Antivirus Versions Tested: Avast! AntiVirus Pro 6.0, AVG AntiVirus 2011, Avira AntiVir Premium 10.0, BitDefender AntiVirus Pro 2012, eScan AntiVirus 11.0, ESET NOD32 AntiVirus 5, F-Secure AntiVirus 2011, G Data AntiVirus 2012, Kaspersky AntiVirus 2012, McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2011, Norton AntiVirus 2012, Panda AntiVirus Pro 2011, Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2011, Trend Titanium AntiVirus+ 2011, and Webroot AntiVirus w/Spy Sweeper 2011.

Graph compiled September 23, 2011.

Previous Testing: 2011 Scan Speeds

Other 2011/2012 Antivirus Software Tests:

• 2011/2012 Antivirus Performance Tests
• Updates Per Day for 2011/2012 Antivirus Software

See our Internet Security Scan Speeds also!