In the latest test by Secunia, Windows Live OneCare ended up fifth, detecting only 1,67% of the exploits tested on. The test cases were a mix of three different kinds of exploits: Proof of Concept (PoC), GameOver PoC and Exploit. The test cases were separated into two groups, malicious files (.gif, .mov etc.) and malicious web pages (ActiveX and other browser vulnerabilities).

Not happy with the results Microsoft labeled the results as misleading and confusing to average consumers.

“At first glance, it would seem that this test would be very helpful to consumers to determine the best security suite in the specific scenario – although none of the suites did particularly well in this specific situation. However, Secunia's test focused only on the on-demand scanner functionality and did not take into account any of the other built-in security protections in Windows Live OneCare or other suites included in the test.”

“The on-demand scanner functionality in Windows Live OneCare is a useful tool, but it is only one piece of the overall solution. To be fully effective, it must work in conjunction with other functionality in the suite including, but not limited to, the real-time anti-malware detection engine, the firewall, and automatic update engines like Windows Update and Microsoft Update…”

Did they really only consider the on-demand scanner? How did they conduct these tests?