The Anti-Virus Research and Data Security Organization AV-Test just finished up spending three months testing 19 security products in the areas of protection, repair and usability. On Monday, August 16th they released the test results, and Microsoft is pleased they have received another certificate, this time from AV-Test.

According to AV-Test , the “Protection” category covers static and dynamic malware detection, including testing for real-world 0-Day attacks. “Repair” evaluates the system disinfection and rootkit removal in detail, which is critical for ensuring AV solutions effectively clean malware off of consumers’ computers. The “Usability” testing criteria includes the amount of system slow-down caused by the tools and the number of false positives. Full test results can be viewed at AV-Test Test results page

Reported last week by Microsoft, the most important validation of AV quality comes from independent certification organizations like VB100, AV-Test and others.

With the current version of Microsoft Security Essentials and the Beta now released for review, our commitment remains constant: to provide security you can trust that is easy to use and provides protection that runs quietly and efficiently in the background, ensuring a great Windows user experience, according to Microsoft.

The results are surprising for some as Microsoft Security Essentials scored a 4.0 for Protection, 4.5 for Repair and a 5.5 for Usability out of 6 in each category. Bullguard Internet Security 2009, Mcafee Internet Security 2010, Norman Security Suit 8.0 and Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010 did not pass the certification.

This isn’t too bad when looking at Microsoft Security Essentials as a relatively new Security Suite hitting its 1 year anniversary compared to companies that have been around for years ! This is good news for Microsoft as many concerns over the years by consumers have been how Microsoft felt about Security.