As far as features go, G Data delivers on lots of what you’d expect from an extensive suite. This includes a straightforward, easy-to-use opening screen that doesn’t muddle things up by glossing over the security status with a ‘Protected!’ caption or a green tick as many other programs do.

The program also does a fantastic job of spotting and blocking new malware. The virus monitor that transmits your web traffic to G Data’s cloud service doesn’t only updates the virus definition file, it also detects and blocks malware based on its behavior. G Data blocked all of the unknown, new malware we threw its way in our tests. There was only one false positive.

G Data performed even better in the AV Comparatives offline detection test than Bitdefender which is a close cousin. This is probably due to the program’s in-house DeepRay engine, which detects malware that is camouflaged by analysing all the actions that malware is typically attempting to perform. Apart from that, it seeks out patterns that could be indicative of malicious intent, such as altering the settings of other software or observing keystrokes.

However it does fall short in a few areas we believe are essential for an antivirus software suite. It doesn’t offer a firewall, VPN, or parental controls. If you’re interested in these features you’ll have to buy G Data’s more expensive Internet Security package. This could be a serious drawback, especially since top-tier competitors like Norton 360 and Bitdefender offer them for a similar price secure storage system or less.