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Trend Micro offers very good protection, but its malware-detection engine creates a heavy system load during scans and returns a fair number of false-positive results. Parental controls, a system optimizer and a file shredder are bundled into the mid-range Trend Micro Internet Security.
Trend Micro Maximum Security adds a password manager, a secure browser and file encryption, while the new Trend Micro Premium Security adds a VPN and dark-web monitoring of personal data. However, none of Trend Micro's programs include a two-way firewall or webcam protection, standard with other brands' midrange offerings. Nor does the premium product have the cloud storage or backup software that some of the best antivirus brands add as enticements to their flagship packages.
Read our full Trend Micro Maximum Security review. ESET is one of the biggest antivirus names in Europe, with a very small system-performance load and fast scans. Its malware-detection rate used to be kind of meh, but has improved markedly in recent lab tests.
However, there's no VPN client, backup software or file shredder. ESET's pricing is per device, which is optimal for users who might have more than a few devices to protect. But if your device count gets into double digits, ESET's costs can add up.
Sophos Home Premium does its job economically, offering reasonable protection from malware at an affordable price. Because it's spun off from Sophos' enterprise software for business clients, Sophos Home Premium lacks many of the bells and whistles other security suites offer, such as a password manager, identity theft protection service or VPN service.
What Sophos Home Premium does have is the essentials: ransomware rollbacks, webcam defenses and protection against keyloggers, malicious websites and boot-sector and fileless malware. It also has a web-filter system for parents and an online management console from which you can tweak most of the settings. Some people might demand more from an antivirus suite, but anyone who would rather buy only what they need will appreciate Sophos Home Premium's just-the-basics approach.
Read our full Sophos Home Premium review. Kaspersky's Windows products have excellent malware-detection scores and a light-to-moderate system-performance impact, the two most important criteria in our rankings.
But it's beaten by Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, which has even more features. It has a secure browser, anti-theft protection for laptops, webcam protection and a limited-use VPN client that kicks in when you connect to an open Wi-Fi network. We think it's the best antivirus software you can buy today.
We must mention that Kaspersky is a Russian company, although it has many operations around the world. It's not yet clear whether the current Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic sanctions on Russia will affect the operations of Kaspersky software.
For more on this issue, please see our note about Kaspersky software at the end of this page. Read our full Kaspersky Total Security review. A good paid Windows antivirus suite bundles in plenty of extras like parental controls, identity theft protection, a password manager and software for Mac, Android and iOS. However, what if you just want antivirus software without any of these extras? Free antivirus software used to offer subpar protection while being full of ads and suggestions to upgrade to a paid antivirus program instead.
Now though, Kapsersky offers a free version with excellent malware protection. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been discontinued, although Tom's Guide readers can still download it using this link opens in new tab. A merger between Avast and AVG created a combined malware-detection engine that is much better than the sum of its parts.
Likewise, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is now one of the best free antivirus programs out there and it comes built-in with both Windows 10 and Windows These are the best free antivirus programs based on their protection, system impact, ease of use and extra features. Windows Defender Antivirus opens in new tab 2. Avast Free Antivirus opens in new tab 3. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition opens in new tab 5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free opens in new tab. In addition to excellent malware protection and a decent set of extra features, it actually sped up our computer after we installed it.
Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine has led to an ethical dilemma when it comes to supporting Russian companies, even for their free products. When it comes to free antivirus software, Microsoft Defender Antivirus, aka Windows Defender, is certainly worth a look. It ships with Windows 8. Malwarebytes functions as a post-infection cleanup crew that can remove less-harmful adware or potentially unwanted programs that many antivirus software ignores.
It works well alongside any antivirus program. Microsoft's built-in antivirus software is now a heavy hitter. While Windows Defender, aka Microsoft Defender Antivirus, doesn't quite beat Norton or Kaspersky in malware-protection lab tests, it comes out ahead of Avast, AVG and most other free antivirus products while operating almost entirely behind the scenes.
You won't be getting many extra features with Windows Defender itself, yet Windows 10 does have parental controls, a gaming mode and protections for its own Edge and Internet Explorer browsers. There's no built-in VPN, but you also won't be bothered by pop-ups trying to upsell you to paid antivirus software. As for a password manager, there's a stealth one built into the Microsoft Authenticator app for Android and iOS that syncs with the Edge browser, as long as you're signed into your Microsoft account on all devices.
We still recommend going for Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, which has even less of a system impact, better malware protection and more useful extras, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with using Windows Defender as your primary antivirus solution.
Read our full Windows Defender review. Kaspersky doesn't talk much about its free antivirus product, and you might have a hard time finding the free Kaspersky software download page opens in new tab on the company's website. That's too bad, because Kaspersky Security Cloud Free is the best free antivirus product we've ever tested.
We've never seen such a combination of excellent protection and extra features in a free antivirus program. It's got a bright, comprehensible interface, a lot of customization potential and Kaspersky's unbeatable malware protection.
The program also lets you schedule scans, and its performance impact was so small that it actually sped up our test machine a bit. Kaspersky's useful extra features include a file shredder, an on-screen keyboard and an email scanner. The password manager and VPN service are fairly limited, however, unless you pay. As mentioned above, Kaspersky is a Russian company, although it has many operations around the world.
We don't yet know whether the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic sanctions on Russia will affect the operations of Kaspersky software.
Read our full Kaspersky Security Cloud Free review. Bitdefender has officially discontinued Antivirus Free Edition, and it will be supported only until June 30, We still love it and you can still get it opens in new tab , but proceed at your own risk. Compared to premium paid antivirus programs that are big, heavy and loaded with extra bells and whistles, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is like a '60's sports car, stripped to the essentials but still providing plenty of power.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition offers nothing but the basics. There's no password manager, no gaming mode, no quick scans and no scan scheduling. You can manage the software from the program's System Tray icon, but you don't really need to interact with Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition after its installation.
Yet Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has the excellent Bitdefender malware-detection engine, which sits just below Kaspersky and Norton in the lab-test rankings. It's the best free antivirus software if you want a security solution that you can set up and then forget about. It's also perfect if you need to protect the computer of an elderly relative but don't have time to manage antivirus software from afar. Read our full Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition review.
Avast Free Antivirus has the best assortment of extra goodies of any free antivirus program, including a hardened browser, a gaming mode, a Wi-Fi network scanner and a recently added ransomware shield.
Unfortunately, the unlimited password manager has been discontinued. The program is also very customizable, letting you tweak its appearance and functions to suit your style. It even offers limited access to Avast's VPN service. However, Avast Free Antivirus caused a pretty heavy system load in our testing and its scans took a long time. It also kept nagging us to upgrade to Avast's paid antivirus protection, and played bait-and-switch with features that looked like they were free but weren't.
Most significant of all, the malware protection in Avast Free Antivirus is a peg down from Kaspersky's or Bitdefender's, whose free programs also bothered us less about paid upgrades and had lighter system loads. Read our full Avast Free Antivirus review. AVG shares a decent, if unspectacular, malware-detection engine with its corporate sibling Avast while having a much lighter system-performance impact. Download Kaspersky Now.
Panda Dome is a good anti-malware program with high detection rates, decent extra features, and various plans and payment options. In my testing, it detected malware about as accurately as Windows Defender, catching the majority of the malware files on my test PC, but it missed some newer adware and ransomware files that competitors like Norton caught.
Panda lets you remotely lock your devices and erase information from them, take a photo of the thief after 3 failed logins, and locate your lost device. I encrypted some of my most sensitive files like health records so they were completely unreadable to a hacker or even someone else who may borrow my computer.
Panda offers 5 different packages , including a free plan for users on a budget. Panda Dome has a good antivirus scanner with an intuitive interface, decent additional features, and flexible payment options.
It offers 4 different packages, monthly, annual, 2-year, and 3-year subscription options and a day money-back guarantee. Download Panda Now. Malwarebytes offers advanced protection against a wide range of malware threats, including zero-day attacks and ransomware. Its scanning engine is just as high quality as top competitors like Norton — I was pleasantly surprised that Malwarebytes caught every single malware sample during my tests. Another area where Malwarebytes is superior to Defender is scheduling system scans.
Defender, on the other hand, forces you to meander through annoying steps via the Task Scheduler app to schedule a scan. Inexperienced users may find this process difficult and confusing. Malwarebytes provides excellent malware protection and anti-phishing controls with a user-friendly dashboard, but not much else.
Malwarebytes comes with a day money-back guarantee. Download Malwarebytes Now. Trend Micro offers 4 different plans. Trend Micro offers good malware detection rates and excellent anti-phishing protection, but its additional features are hit or miss.
Download Trend Micro Now. ESET includes a very advanced anti-malware engine that thoroughly scans Windows systems. HIPS worked well when I tested it, blocking the ransomware simulations and rootkits I tried to install. ESET comes with a day money back guarantee. ESET provides advanced malware protection with near-perfect detection rates and a great anti-theft feature. The HIPS feature offers much-improved protection against hard-to-remove malware such as rootkits.
The Smart Security Premium plan is a good value, and it comes with a day money-back guarantee. If you try to download a malicious file or visit a dangerous website, Windows Defender SmartScreen will stop the download or prevent you from opening the site.
If Windows Defender detects malware, it will remove it from your PC. Relying on Windows Defender as your sole antivirus puts your entire PC at risk of infection. While there are better free antiviruses out there, no free antivirus can offer the kind of guaranteed malware protection that the best anti-malware software can. Mostly, yes. Again, there are better free Windows antiviruses out there, and again, no free antivirus is going to provide the kind of protection that you will get with a full-featured premium antivirus.
In terms of malware detection, it often ranks below the detection rates offered by top antivirus competitors. And finally, in terms of essential security features, Defender is severely lacking. Using Windows Defender as a standalone antivirus, while much better than not using any antivirus at all, still leaves you vulnerable to ransomware, spyware, and advanced forms of malware that can leave you devastated in the event of an attack.
However, there are some free antiviruses that are better than Windows Defender in terms of usability, performance, and extra features. Premium antiviruses like Norton and Bitdefender score a lot higher in terms of overall protection and value when compared to both Windows Defender and free antivirus programs.
Note that in most cases, when installing a third-party antivirus on your PC, Windows will automatically disable Windows Defender — either putting it into passive mode or disabling its protections entirely. Windows Defender will now be deactivated. Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions. Reviews Guidelines. Katarina Glamoslija Updated on: September 1, This article contains. Avira — More and Better Free Features 6.
Panda — More Extras and Flexible Pricing 8. One of our favorite things about Bitdefender is it can scan for any active vulnerabilities: whether that's out of date software, missing Windows Updates, or even woeful passwords, and it presents this in easy-to-read reports. We rarely ever see antivirus programs go the extra mile as much as Bitdefender does. Like most antivirus programs, the pricing structure for Bitdefender is based on how many years of coverage you want for five or 10 devices.
McAfee has always been a big name in the antivirus world. Chances are, if you bought a PC in the early s, it came pre-loaded with McAfee antivirus software. Fast-forward to today, and McAfee has made an antivirus specifically for gaming. It streamlines the process so you can rest easy, knowing that you can still play Apex Legends without having your performance bogged down with security-related pop-up notifications.
McAfee Gamer Security opens in new tab knows when you're in a game, and it will stop anything running in the background as you play. It makes gaming a priority for system resources, mutes notifications, and anything else that would interrupt your fun. It's great for someone who wants to know they are protected from all the usual bad actors online but don't want to tinker around with any settings.
McAfee Gamer Security does it all for you. SecureAnywhere was and still is a remarkable outlier in AV. Webroot also makes a special version of SecureAnywhere for gamers.
It differs from the regular version in that it offers a system optimizer tool to "analyze your devices and the operating systems to detect system issues, wipe away all traces of online activity, and make deleted files unrecoverable. SecureAnywhere also politely stays in the background, so you're not bothered by updates or added lag when playing games. Since it's cloud-based, SecureAnywhere works best when there's an Internet connection. In the ubiquitous broadband era, that's not going to be a problem for many people, particularly gamers.
And, though it's lightweight and short on local storage requirements, SecureAnywhere is surprisingly high on adjustable settings. There are well over of them, and you can export your settings to make setup on another PC quick and easy.
We chose Avira as our free option because of the level of customization available. Whether you want to duck your head into the software's menus and start fiddling with knobs and dials is up to you, but if you do decide to tweak Avira's behavior, you'll find a modest tool chest of options. One setting we highly recommend enabling is to search for rootkits before scanning. It will increase scan times, but rootkits are particularly nasty in how they dig their hooks deep in the OS, so it's better to err on the side of safety.
You can also configure how aggressively Avira scans for zero-day threats through heuristic analysis, set to a medium detection level by default. Cranking it up to high puts Avira in an extra cautious state but at the risk of reporting false positives. Putting it on low has the opposite effect, or you can turn off heuristic analysis altogether, an option we don't advise.
- Avira Free Antivirus: Download free virus protection
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