SafetyDetectives is a publishing group of cybersecurity experts, privacy researchers, and technical product reviewers located all over the world. And we all share the same mission — to give our readers accurate and valuable information so they can make informed decisions about staying safe, secure, and protected on the internet.
Below, you will find our exact testing methodology for the following:
Many antivirus companies brand their products as “the best product available with 100% malware protection” — but that isn’t always the case.
No one antivirus can offer total protection against all existing viruses and malware. But some antiviruses do a much better job than others at protecting against cyberthreats.
Here’s how we test antivirus products:
Our reviewers first pay for an antivirus subscription — usually the most comprehensive package available. We assess the pricing and range of payment options, and we try to find out if there are any hidden costs involved with purchasing each antivirus subscription.
We then download the antivirus installation file to assess the size of each download and whether or not it takes up a lot of storage space on our test devices.
Our reviewers give a score out of 10 based on their experience with purchasing and downloading each product. This score makes up 5% of the final score.
We then run the installation process on a variety of systems, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, to see how easy or difficult the antivirus is to set up.
We also assess the amount of time it takes to install the product and whether or not any technical knowledge is required to successfully complete the installation.
Once installed, our reviewers complete any final setup process and ensure that the application has been fully installed.
We score our experiences with installation and setup out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
We take an in-depth look at the antivirus technology behind each product to ensure it’s secure, accurate, up-to-date, and effective against the latest malware threats.
We use a variety of methods to test the effectiveness of each antivirus:
Our reviewers run a range of system scans to see how many malware files each product’s anti-malware scanning engine is able to detect.
We use hundreds of malware samples in each malware scanning test. But during this particular test, we’re simply assessing each antivirus program’s ability to detect malware files stored on a system, so we don’t open or execute any malware files.
Each antivirus scanner is tested against a wide range of both old and new malware samples, including viruses, ransomware, spyware, trojans, keyloggers, rootkits, and more.
Once the malware scanner detection tests are complete, we see how many malware samples the antivirus scanning engine caught. While we like to see scores of 100%, we consider a 95% malware detection rate to be sufficient enough for us to consider the antivirus as “very secure”.
We convert the overall malware detection percentage to a score out of 10. This score makes up 15% of the final score.
Our real-time protection tests include a series of simulated attacks to see how well each antivirus real-time protection engine blocks each simulated attack.
After completing all of the real-time protection tests and simulations, we see how many threats were blocked by each antivirus’s real-time protection engine. While scores of 100% are obviously excellent, we consider a score above 90% to be good enough for most users.
We convert the overall real-time protection percentage to a score out of 10. This score makes up 15% of the final score.
Our reviewers look at what web protections each antivirus offers, and we run a series of tests to ensure these web protections work as intended.
Many antiviruses come with web protection features like network firewalls, anti-phishing protection, privacy leak detection, tracking link blocking, etc.
We calculate the number of network attacks, phishing links, malware sites, ads, and tracking links blocked by each antivirus’s web protections.
While we give an overall score for web protection in our reviews, we make sure to clearly point out specific web protection features that perform really well and ones that perform poorly.
After we’ve completed our web protection tests, we give an overall score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
Most antiviruses come with more than just malware protections. We take a look at all of the extra features and functions offered by each antivirus.
We test each additional feature to assess its functionality, purpose, and usefulness for most users. Many of these extra features increase the overall cost of the product, so we assess whether or not these features are actually worth this added cost.
Typically, antivirus packages usually offer additional features like a device/performance optimizer, junk file removal, a virtual private network (VPN), a password manager, etc.
We give each feature individual scores based on our findings. We then calculate an average score out of 10. This score makes up 15% of the final score.
Antiviruses need to be effective while not slowing down a user’s system. We measure each antivirus’s impact on CPU, RAM, battery usage, and overall system performance.
To make our research useful and relatable to most users, we look at how each antivirus uses system resources on a variety of old and new systems, including Windows, Mac, and mobile devices to ensure a fair performance average is established.
We assess each antivirus’s performance while idle (not running an active scan), during each scan, and during simulated malware attacks. When testing performance, we look at:
If an antivirus uses around 20% CPU power, less than 500 MB RAM during a full system scan, and has good energy efficiency (as measured with the task management system), we consider it to be a great choice. Anything above 50% CPU usage, over 2 GB RAM, and/or with poor energy efficiency is generally a bad choice.
After we’ve completed our performance tests, we give an overall score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
We assess the packages or subscriptions offered by each antivirus company and determine whether or not they’re low-cost, overpriced, or a good value.
Our reviewers determine the value of each product by looking at the quantity and quality of the features offered in each package. We then compare the price of each package to similar products available to see how well each package aligns with the market average.
This method helps us to clearly define which antiviruses offer a good deal and which antiviruses aren’t worth the money.
Based on our assessments, we give an overall score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of each product’s final score.
We look at each antivirus company’s support options and test each option by sending numerous questions via email, live chat, phone support, website FAQs, forums, and more.
Our reviewers then qualify how well each company’s support team performed by looking at response times, the quality of each response, and whether or not the response was useful in addressing and solving the issue(s).
We give good scores to support teams that have a wide range of contact options, respond quickly with useful solutions, and ensure users are satisfied with the product.
Finally, we see if each company offers a refund policy or money-back guarantee. We assess the entire refund process by requesting a refund within the correct time frame, judging how easy or difficult it is to get our refund request processed, and how long it takes for the money to arrive back in our account.
We give a score out of 10 based on our overall customer experience. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
After carrying out extensive testing, our reviewers calculate a final score for each antivirus based on the score of each test category.
Each test category has a varying influence on the final score, so we divide each test score by the following percentages:
We then add up the figures to reach a final score for each antivirus, which is shown at the top of each review. Products with an overall score above 8/10 are generally considered to be a great choice for most users. Products scoring around 7/10 are generally pretty good, though there are likely better options elsewhere. Scores around 6/10 and below indicate that our reviewers ran into many issues, and the product probably isn’t the best for most users in its current form.
Password managers store and auto-fill passwords so users don’t have to remember or manually enter all of their login credentials every time they’re logging into an online account. Our reviewers conduct a series of tests in order to find out the pros and cons of each password manager.
Here’s how we test password managers:
We purchase the most comprehensive plan offered by each password manager and download it onto our system.
We assess the range of payment options offered, the difficulty of the overall payment process, and whether or not purchasing the product is in any way challenging or off-putting (like hidden costs or upsells).
We then download the password manager installation file onto our system. We look at the size of each download file and see how much storage space is required.
Based on our experience when purchasing and downloading each product, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 5% of the final score.
After downloading, we install the password manager onto a variety of systems using Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
Most password managers also come with a browser extension, so we install the password manager on as many web browsers as possible to fully assess its functionality.
Once the password manager has been installed, we then proceed to set up the program. First, we log into the password manager app or browser extension using our previously created login credentials. We always look closely at the master password creation process to assess whether or not each program guarantees that users are making a strong master password.
Based on our experience with the installation and setup of each product, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
A proper password manager should provide advanced security options to safely store a user’s passwords, including high-level encryption.
Low scores are given to password managers that don’t include strong encryption standards, aren’t built using zero-knowledge architecture, don’t include a range of 2FA/MFA options, and/or don’t have any account recovery options.
Based on our assessment of each product’s security features and protocols, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 25% of the final score.
Each password manager core feature is assessed closely to ensure it functions as expected.
Based on our assessment of each product’s core functionalities, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 25% of the final score.
Many top-rated password managers come with extra features that either offer users additional security or improve productivity.
As the features offered by each brand can differ, we first assess the number of features offered and then decide whether or not each feature works as advertised.
If each additional feature works as advertised, we compare and contrast the feature with other password managers and standalone products that offer the same functionality. We then look at whether or not the extra feature comes at an added cost and determine if the additional feature is worth the added cost.
Based on our experience with each product’s extra features, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 15% of the final score.
Our reviewers assess the cost of each password manager.
We look at the range of packages or subscriptions offered by each company, break down what features come with each package, and determine if each package is worth its price.
Each password manager package is compared to similar packages offered by other password managers to see if the product is low-cost or expensive compared to the competition.
As well as looking at the original price of each package, we look at the available discounts and deals that each company advertises. If available, we’ll let the user know if the discounted price is a good buy or not.
Based on the product’s pricing, we give each password manager a score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
We look at the support options available to users — the more options, the better.
We give good scores to companies that offer a wide range of support options, like email, live chat, phone, forums, and social media.
Our experts contact each password manager’s support team numerous times with various questions and issues to assess the speed and overall quality of each response.
Finally, we see if each company offers a refund policy or money-back guarantee. We assess the entire refund process by requesting a refund within the correct time frame, judging how easy or difficult it is to get our refund request processed, and how long it takes for the money to arrive back in our account.
Based on how fast each support team responds to our requests and how useful the response is in helping us solve an issue, we give each company a score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
Our reviewers calculate a final score for each password manager based on the score of each test category.
Each test category has a varying influence on the final score, so we divide each test score by the following percentages:
We then add up the figures to reach a final score for each password manager, which is shown at the top of each review. Products with an overall score above 8/10 are generally considered to be a great choice for most users. Products scoring around 7/10 are generally pretty good, though there are likely better options elsewhere. Scores around 6/10 and below indicate that our reviewers ran into many issues, and the product probably isn’t the best for most users in its current form.
Our reviewers conduct a range of tests for each VPN service to determine if each product is actually as secure, easy to use, and fast as advertised by each VPN company.
Here’s how we test VPNs:
We purchase the most comprehensive VPN package offered by each brand. During the payment process, we look at how much personal information we need to provide to complete a purchase and whether or not the company offers any anonymous payment methods like cryptocurrency.
A VPN company only needs an email address and payment information to create a user’s account, so if the company asks for more identifying information, we assess whether or not the company has a valid reason to do so.
Once we’ve completed our purchase, we read the system requirements and download the installation file from each company’s website.
Based on our experience when purchasing and downloading each VPN, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 5% of the final score
We install the VPN on a variety of systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. The installation process is closely monitored to determine the difficulty of installing the VPN on each system.
Once installed, we set up the VPN by logging into our account and adjusting the settings as required to ensure the VPN is set up correctly on our systems.
We consider how intuitive the VPN program is and whether or not we think both non-technical and technical users could quickly understand how to use the program’s interface.
Based on our experience with the installation and setup of each product, we give a score out of 10. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
We conduct a series of tests to ensure each product indeed protects a user’s information, including browsing activity and IP address, and we strive to find any potential flaws in each VPN’s security features.
Once our security assessments are complete, we give an overall score out of 10. This score makes up 30% of the final score.
All VPNs slow down a user’s internet connection a little bit. This is due to both the time it takes to reroute user traffic through an intermediary and the time it takes to encrypt that traffic.
Our reviewers test the VPN’s overall speeds with a variety of speed tests. Our methodology includes measuring the percentage difference between the speeds without a VPN and the speeds with the VPN (connected to many servers in many different locations).
Typically, good VPNs only have a slight impact on speed. If a VPN only drops the original download speeds by under 10% for local servers, we consider it as a very good VPN. In general, a good VPN won’t slow down connections by more than 50% on any server (keeping in mind that the further away a server is, the slower the speed will be).
Once our tests are complete, we collate our speed test data and give a score out of 10. When calculating the score, we typically place more emphasis on download speed than upload speed and ping, but certain considerations are made in unique instances (like gaming and torrenting). This score makes up 20% of the final score.
Generally speaking, a good VPN should have a large number of servers all over the world. The more server locations there are, the less likely that any one server will experience a high load at any given time (and impact overall speed and performance).
A wide variety of servers is important to ensure most users can connect to a server that’s near their actual location while also allowing users to stream geo-restricted content from different countries if needed.
We also check to see what kinds of servers the VPN service provides. We look for options like obfuscated servers for bypassing government restrictions and VPN geo-blocks, P2P-optimized servers for secure torrenting, and dedicated streaming servers for fast HD streaming with no lags or buffering.
We give high scores for VPNs that offer a range of server types as well as a large number of server locations. This score makes up 15% of the final score.
When judging the price of each VPN, our reviewers look at the range of subscription plans offered by each company, break down what features come with each plan, and determine if each VPN is worth the money.
Each plan is compared to similar packages offered by other VPN providers to see if each product is low-cost or expensive compared to the competition.
As well as looking at the original price of each package, we look at the available discounts and deals that each company advertises. If available, we’ll let the user know if the discounted price is a good buy or not.
We give each VPN provider a score out of 10 for pricing. This score makes up 10% of the final score.
Our reviewers contact each VPN provider’s customer support team. VPN providers are given higher scores if they have a wide range of support options, including email, live chat, phone, support forums, social media, and other support channels.
We send questions to each available support channel and judge how fast the support team responds to our request and how useful the response is in helping us solve an issue. The faster and more helpful the response, the higher we score each provider’s customer support.
Subjective experience can play a factor when reporting our customer support experience. However, to mitigate reporting based on one isolated incident, we contact support teams multiple times over the duration of our full VPN testing process to ensure our results are fair and well-rounded.
Finally, we see if each provider offers a refund policy or money-back guarantee. We then request a refund within the correct time frame to see how easy or difficult it is to get our refund processed and how long it takes for the money to arrive back in our account.
This score makes up 10% of the final score.
Using the results from each individual test, our reviewers calculate a final score for each VPN based on the score of each test category.
Each test category has a varying influence on the final score, so we divide each test score by the following percentages:
We then add up the figures to reach a final score for each VPN, which is shown at the top of each review. Products with an overall score above 8/10 are generally considered to be a great choice for most users. Products scoring around 7/10 are generally pretty good, though there are likely better options elsewhere. Scores around 6/10 and below indicate that our reviewers ran into many issues, and the product probably isn’t the best for most users in its current form.
Parental controls allow you to protect your kids while online or using a computer, tablet, or smartphone device through various features, such as web filtering and screen time monitoring. Yet, some parental control tools work better than others.
Here’s how we test parental controls:
For every parental control program we test, we purchase the plan that contains the most features. As we check out, we look at all the different ways you can pay for the plan and how easy the payment process is — for example, we assess the number of payment options and whether there are any hidden costs you need to know about before downloading the product.
We then download the parental control program onto the parents’ and kids’ devices. We use a test device if the reviewer doesn’t have kids.
As we’re downloading the parental control program, we look at the download size and whether it’ll take up a lot of storage space on our devices.
Depending on the overall purchasing & downloading experience, our reviewers give the parental controls a score out of 10. This contributes to 5% of the final score.
Once we’ve downloaded the product, we install both the app for parents and the app for kids on all compatible devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chromebook, and more.
We look at quite a few different areas while going through the installation. First, we assess how long the app takes to install, comparing it to other parental control products on the market.
We also look at how easy the installation is. Can you click one installation button and sit back while the app sets itself up automatically, or do you need technical expertise to complete the installation?
Finally, we look at the impact the installation has on our devices and whether we can still use our devices while installing and setting up the app.
Once we’ve installed the apps, our reviewers analyze the setup process and how easy it is. This includes connecting the parents’ app to the kids’ app and enabling all necessary permissions on the kids’ app (such as location permissions). We award extra points to parental control tools with a setup wizard to take you through the process.
We then provide a score out of 10 based on our installation and setup experience, which contributes 10% to the parental control’s final score.
A good parental control tool is one that you can fully trust and rely on to protect your kids, so we test various features to ensure this fact:
The lowest scores are given to parental control tools that are inconsistent in issuing notifications to parental devices and don’t update quickly to show your kid’s latest location or online activity.
Depending on our results within these 3 criteria and anything else we deem impacts trustworthiness and reliability, we give the parental controls a score out of 10. This score impacts 25% of the final score.
There are certain features we expect to see in every parental control app. We perform in-depth tests on these features to see how well they work.
These core features include:
Based on our results, we give the core features a score out of 10, which impacts 25% of our final score.
The best parental control tools include additional ways to monitor your kids.
We test each of the additional features, determine if they work well, and whether they provide the parental control tools with an edge over other tools on the market. We also look at whether the extra features are actually useful. Some parental controls include extra features just to lengthen their feature list, but they don’t provide any real benefit to parents.
Some of the extra features we look out for and test include:
If an extra feature works well and is a decent addition to the parental control tool, we compare it with other products with similar extra features and determine which is better. We also highlight unique extras that make the parental control tool stand out when compared to others on the market.
Depending on how well these extra features work, we score the product out of 10, which impacts 15% of our final score.
Next, our reviewers assess how much each parental control tool costs. We look at various areas, such as what features are included in each plan and whether those features make the plan worthwhile.
First, we determine whether the product’s pricing is in line with the industry average. We then compare each plan with competitors and determine whether the product you’re looking at offers a good value or is overpriced.
Finally, we assess what deals and extras come with each plan. For example, does the plan offer coverage on multiple devices or include additional applications that help parents to monitor their kids? Are the deals a good value for money or do they leave you wanting more?
Based on our assessment and the product’s pricing, we award each parental control tool a score out of 10, which contributes to 10% of the final score.
Finally, we look at the different customer support options offered in parental control tools and the number of languages supported by each option.
We contact each of the available support teams during different hours of the day and ask them basic and technical questions to determine how quickly they respond and how helpful those responses are.
We also look at knowledge bases and community forums to see how easy to navigate they are and if they’re updated regularly. We award higher points to parental control tools with comprehensive knowledge bases covering every feature, with helpful pictures and videos showing you how to use their software.
Next, we look at the money-back guarantee and refund policy. We check the refund’s terms & conditions for any small print or shady practices and test how easy getting a refund is. To do this, we actually go through the refund process and measure how long it takes to process the refund and get the money back into our bank account.
Based on how helpful and communicative the customer support options are and how easy the refund process is, we give the customer support team a score out of 10, which impacts 10% of the parental control’s overall score.
Based on the above, our parental control review team calculate a final score on how well the parental control tool performed.
Each category we test influences the final score a varying amount. We divide our test scores into the following percentages:
We add up all of the figures to reach our final result for the parental control tool. You can see the final results at the top of each review. Generally speaking, products with a score of 8/10 are an excellent choice for most users. If a product scores 7/10, it’s pretty good — but there are probably better choices on the market. Anything below that indicates our reviewers had problems with the parental control tool and you should probably look at other options.
SafetyDetectives is proud to be one of the only unbiased sources of information about the leading cybersecurity products on the internet. If you feel there is any false or misleading information contained within our website content, please don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know. We frequently adjust and revise our reviews based on our readers’ feedback, and we are always on the lookout for the most up-to-date and accurate information.
Fill the fields below and we’ll get back to you
