av-comparatives[.]org/tests/malware-protection-test-march-2022/
av-comparatives[.]org/tests/real-world-protection-test-feb-mar-2022-factsheet/
In the Malware Protection Test, malicious files are executed on the system. While in the Real-World Protection Test the vector is the web, in the Malware Protection Test the vectors can be e.g. network drives, USB or cover scenarios where the malware is already on the disk.Please note that we do not recommend purchasing a product purely on the basis of one individual test or even one type of test. Rather, we would suggest that readers consult also our other recent test reports, and consider factors such as price, ease of use, compatibility and support. Installing a free trial version allows a program to be tested in everyday use before purchase.
In principle, home-user Internet security suites are included in this test. However, some vendors asked us to include their (free) antivirus security product instead.
Maybe unfortunately, several sites are using these test results in a sort of click-bait fashion, focusing on Defender's comparatively poor results in Offline -- no internet connection -- mode. Maybe that's important to some -- in corp. IT you might want to disconnect a suspect PC to prevent [further] infecting the network -- but I can't recall running a scan where I disconnected from the internet. It can be useful to run a scan on a drive or drives when Windows isn't running, since malware may have rendered itself invisible to that copy of Windows, and I normally do that after booting to something like my Windows To Go drive. And software like Bitdefender lets you re-boot & run a scan before Windows starts, but I've not seen a need to disconnect from the network first.