How effective is antivirus software if the computer doesn’t have the latest patch updates?

Secunia tested 12 Internet security suites (PDF report) and found them all wanting. Symantec came in first, but it only detected 64 out of 300 exploits.

This suggests that McAfee, Norton, Windows OneCare, ZoneAlarm, AVG, CA, F-Secure, TrendMicro, BitDefender, Panda, Kaspersky, and Norman may be ignoring a key strategy to improve their products; products that claim to do so…