The Best Anti-virus Products for Windows Small Business Server

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Server systems require an antivirus to help protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, and other types of malware. Antivirus programs for server systems also helps in administering the protection of client computers without the need to install desktop antivirus programs. Some IT administrators would rather protect the desktop clients instead of the server but this is only recommended if you are confident that the server system is up to date in regards to patching security flaws.

Find out which is the best antivirus for Windows Small Business Server in the following section of this article.

Virus Bulletin and AV-Comparatives are the most popular antivirus laboratory testing groups. Both spend some of their time testing antivirus programs for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 R2. If your company prefers using fully tested and certified antivirus solutions you'll likely be comfortable with the following lab-tested software.

Windows Server 2003 certified antivirus solutions awarded by Virus Bulletin:

• Agnitum, Avast, AVG and Avira
• BitDefender, CA Business, eScan, Eset and F-Secure
• Fortinet, GData, Kaspersky and Microsoft Forefront
• Norman, Quick Heal, Sophos and VirusBuster

Windows Server 2008 R2 certified antivirus solutions awarded by Virus Bulletin:

• Agnitum, AhnLab, Avast, AVG and Avira
• BitDefender, Coranti Multicore, eScan, Eset and F-Secure
• Fortinet, GData, Kaspersky, McAfee, Quick Heal and Sophos

To view the complete certification results, visit http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary. Note that e-mail registration is required to view the latest comparative result.

The following antivirus solutions for Windows Server 2008 have received a 5-star approved rating from AV-Comparatives:

• GData
• Kaspersky
• McAfee
• Sophos

Most security solutions are easy to install to the server and desktop clients, but some stand out from the crowd. Programs known for being intuitive include Avira, BitDefender, GData, McAfee, Microsoft Forefront and Sophos.

IT administrators who prefer using a service that provides an excellent management or administration console should consider the solutions from BitDefender, GData, McAfee, Microsoft Forefront, Sophos and Trend Micro.

Only BitDefender, Eset, GData, Kaspersky, Sophos and Trend Micro provide the ability to perform a recursive scan of all e-mails and file attachments in real-time.

Exchange Server protection is provided by BitDefender, Eset and GData.

For complete feature list comparison, check out the comparative/review at http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/corporate-reviews.

So, you might be wondering - which of the solutions above is the best?

In my opinion, most IT admins should first evaluate Trend Worry-Free Business Security or Sophos Antivirus. If these options do not meet your requirements you can proceed to evaluating Microsoft Forefront, McAfee and Kaspersky solutions.

Don't forget to read the article by Microsoft on which components, files and processes in Windows Server 2003 and 2008 systems to exclude for virus scanning. Failure to exclude these files and processes may result in false positives during virus scans.

Image credit: Windows Small Business Server logo (http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/connect.aspx)