And Trend Micro does a good job of not taxing system resources. Free version? It earns high scores for usability and offers solid virus protection. The free antivirus version of Sophos Home gives you virus protection for three Windows PCs -- using the company's high-scoring anti-malware tool -- plus a day trial of the company's malware-removal tool.
Test after test, Avast Antivirus for Windows performs well for malware detection with options ranging from Avast free antivirus software to Avast Premium Security. And we've included its antivirus in our list of recommended security app options before.
But Avast was in the news for several months for its non-antivirus business, so we looked at the company, specifically reports at the end of that Avast allegedly collected user data with its browser plug-ins and antivirus software and then sold data it collected through its Jumpshot subsidiary in early In response to the reports that his company gathered and sold the details of its customers' online activities, Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek said in a statement that he understood that his company's actions raised questions of trust in his company.
To address that, Avast terminated Jumpshot data collection in January and closed its operations because the data collection business wasn't in line with Avast's privacy priorities. These newer reports follow another in from Avast that its internal network was breached , possibly to insert malware into its CCleaner software, similar to an earlier CCleaner hack that occurred prior to Avast's acquiring the Windows utility.
Avast is now saying the right things about taking its customers' privacy seriously , but it only came to that point after reacting to investigative reporting that revealed the Jumpshot practices.
The CCleaner revelations, while concerning, were self-disclosed, which is important to building user trust. We hope Avast's more privacy-friendly policies mean that there will be no further Jumpshot-style activities and it returns to glory as one of the best antivirus software. In the meantime, we'd recommend using one of the many other solid choices in this realm listed above.
Because the company has been in the news the past few years, let's talk about Kaspersky Lab -- specifically about the federal ban that blocks US government agencies from using Kaspersky Antivirus products. Based in Moscow, Kaspersky Lab has for years produced some of the best antivirus software for business antivirus needs and home customers. But in the US government prohibited Kaspersky security cloud software on federal government computers because of alleged ties between Kaspersky and the Russian government.
But as with China-based Huawei , the question remains: If the federal government doesn't think the products are safe enough for its own devices, should consumers avoid them as well? In a statement sent to CNET, the company said, "Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never, nor will ever, engage in cyber offensive activities.
Kaspersky Lab maintains that no public evidence of any wrongdoing has been presented by the US government, and that the US government's actions against Kaspersky Lab were unconstitutional. In Kaspersky's favor, it continues to earn top scores and awards for virus and malware detection and endpoint protection from independent testing labs.
And it's reasonably priced. In the end, even though no one has ever publicly produced a "smoking gun" linking the company to Russian intrigue, we think any of the options listed above are a safer bet. And if you are a US government employee or work with the federal government, you'll want to steer clear of Kaspersky internet security products -- and perhaps use one of the antivirus software products mentioned here instead.
Picking the best antivirus software for Windows means finding one that keeps your PC safe, doesn't take up a lot of system resources, is easy to use and stays out of the way till you need it. Here's what to look for. Antivirus software runs virus scans for known viruses and malware, of course, and can offer real-time protection. And it watches for shady websites and suspicious links to keep you out of trouble. It can also offer ransomware protection and monitor unexpected behavior that may be a sign of new and not-yet-identified viruses and malware.
You want antivirus software that can successfully identify these unknown online threats without flagging too many false positives. Light on system resources. You don't want antivirus software that taxes your PC's resources. If they do, you might be able to find one that works with your version of Windows. Like Microsoft, Apple has constantly released new versions of its operating system.
Make sure the antivirus package you get is compatible with your version of the Mac OS. Linux The Linux operating system is a portable version of the Unix operating system written from the ground up for PCs. Although Linux is now virtually identical to Windows in its user interface, many people still shy away from it. Therefore, it is difficult to find antivirus software for it. Antivirus software is usually sold according to how many devices it will protect, with a license for each device.
PCs and Macs are commonly covered on most packages, and many packages cover up to five devices in any combination three PCs and two Macs, four Macs and one PC, etc. Some will only protect one to three devices, while a few offer protection for an unlimited number of devices.
Protection can also be purchased for mobile devices, although this is less common. Determine how many devices in your home need protection before you start comparing antivirus software. A firewall is a software tool that monitors network traffic, both incoming and outgoing, to determine which traffic to allow or block. It performs this function based on a predetermined set of security rules. Early firewalls were mainly hardware.
Today, a firewall can be software, hardware, or a combination. A firewall is the first and most basic feature an antivirus software package should have. Online data breaches have become a growing problem in recent years, and identity theft is on the rise. Antivirus companies have stepped up to the plate by incorporating privacy and identity protection in the suite of services offered in their software packages. The implementation can be spotty, which is why we encourage you to investigate our highly reviewed products.
The file itself is still there, but is essentially invisible. It can be overwritten, either in whole or in part, by other programs or files. Because of this, file recovery software can often recover a file you thought you deleted. In the case of sensitive, personal, or financial files or data, this is a bad idea. A file shredder overwrites the file with random binary data not once but multiple times. Ransomware is a big — and criminal — business. If the attacker has used bit encryption standard these days your chance of recovering your files without that key is zero.
Anti-ransomware will detect ransomware by its unique profile or according to an updated list of ransomware that has been identified or both. It will prevent it from being installed, quarantine it, and alert you to its presence. A rootkit is a collection of malicious computer software designed to access restricted areas of a computer and mask its true purpose while doing so. Rootkit installation is often the result of a corrupt website or malicious download. For this reason, an anti-rootkit feature is important and possibly vital in an antivirus software.
The obvious answer is staring you in the face Consult our rankings in this article, which is based on our expert knowledge and thorough, continually updated reviews of the top antivirus players.
That said, obviously you also have to bear in mind your own particular needs. Or at the other end of the scale, maybe you have a large family with a ton of devices to protect, and you need a package to cater for that.
Or maybe you want a VPN service as well as antivirus, so a bundled package will save you a lot of money on subscription fees. In short, our recommendations are here as firm guidance, but modify these appropriately based on your individual requirements.
For more thoughts on this, check out our article exploring how to choose the best antivirus. The good news is that the best antivirus products are getting cheaper and cheaper to purchase, and free products are getting more and more effective A good free antivirus — like the ones we recommend on this page below — is a perfectly reasonable option for protecting your PC, with Microsoft Defender now the best we've ever seen it.
That said, premium antivirus programs offer extra features above and beyond the fundamentals. A robust system of parental controls could be a huge win for those with kids, for example. Or a dedicated anti-ransomware layer of protection that only comes with the paid-for product could help catch one of the most dreaded infections and halt it in its tracks.
For more on this, read our full piece on whether free antivirus is enough to protect you. Or just keep scrolling as we reveal today's best free antivirus software providers Paying for a premium service means you get more features like spam filters, parental controls, system scans and advanced firewalls.
This makes them more suitable for power users, those who want a bit of extra security and anyone who needs their system to run as smoothly as possible. It also means you avoid annoying pop-ups that try and tempt you to upgrade to the full version. In fact, these days you can get top quality protection absolutely free, with just about every single major vendor out there offering a free antivirus. Avira Free Antivirus is today's best free security download If you're determined to get free antivirus, we strongly suggest that you go for our pick of best security downloads - Avira Free Antivirus.
We've highlighted its long list of features below, together with information on how well it performs at independent testing labs. A very impressive freebie. That's pretty good for a freebie, and why we have no qualms at all in naming it as our 1 best free antivirus download.
As well as the essential security smarts, we also love the clean, friendly interface and the fact it has a track record of throwing up minimal false positives.
In fact, the list of features reads more like a fully paid premium package. It throws in identity protection, a password manager, anti-scam protection to prevent phishing attempts, and even a PC cleaner to keep your system spick and span. If there's one thing we'd change then it's the tad overeager badgering - although popups and advertisements are very common to free products, and that doesn;t prevent us from wholeheartedly recommending Avira Free Antivirus. Review and where to download: Avira Free Antivirus.
Avast and AVG haven't yet fully merged, despite the former formally acquiring the latter in mid The newly combined company says the two free antivirus products will remain separate, although there's apparently a joint AV package on the way soon. Obviously, though, Avast now has a lot more data to work with, having expanded its effective userbase and, therefore, its threat detection network to a whopping million users.
The latest edition of Avast's free antivirus - now branded Avast One Essential - adds an automatic gaming mode to mute popups and reduce system load when you're firing up a processor-hungry game, which is very handy indeed, and the interface has been given a clean new overhaul.
There's a password manager, too, which is an undeniably good addition to your security portfolio. It scores well on AV-TEST's widespread malware benchmark and continues a clean sweep against 0-day attacks — presumably that expanded detection network is really helping. Less impressive is the slight negative effect Avast has on software launch times, and its slightly popup-heavy attitude. Review and where to download: Avast Free Antivirus.
Microsoft Defender formerly Windows Defender was generally seen as a bit of a joke in the not-too-distant past. It performed terribly by most measures and was a good advert for why you should really pay for antivirus. But as we explain further up this article, Microsoft Defender has come on leaps and bounds and can now legitimately be mentioned in the same company as Bitdefender, Norton and Kaspersky. As well as very solid virus protection, Defender has extra bits and bobs like a ransomware shield, webcam protection, privacy tools and even basic parental controls and cloud backup.
And the best bit No need to download a thing, just find it in your menu and get protected straight away. Read more and see how to use: Microsoft Defender review. The paid-for version of Kaspersky's Windows security software frequently tops charts of best virus prevention solutions and AV-TEST once again gave it full marks across the board in its latest round of testing.
As you would expect, Kaspersky Free is a scaled down version of the full program - a tool that we really like more on which below. The free version ditches additional features such as privacy protection and safe payment sandboxes to concentrate on powerful, no-frills and - most importantly - free protection for your PC.
The result is a tremendously easy to use and navigate bit of software that does an effective job of keeping you protected from viruses. Using the nuts and bolts real-world scanning engine of the paid-for suite, Kaspersky Free is fiendishly hard for viruses and trojan horses to break down.
And we love that it doesn't constantly pester you with nudges to upgrade to the full version. But, ironically, we will just for a moment, because Kasperksy Anti-Virus isn't expensive to buy and yet affords much better protection to your PC or PCs.
Review and where to download: Kaspersky Free. Marketing itself as "business-grade security", Sophos Home does a little more than most free antivirus software, and actually seems better suited to families. You get standard virus protection and anti-malware protection, along with browser tools like anti-phishing and, most importantly, content control.
Combined with central management of up to 10 PCs, this means you can effectively lock down your kids' browsing options. Although Sophos Home has always had desktop notifications, there was no premium version of the software for it to encourage an upgrade to.
Ransomware protection is very important for businesses, too. An attack can lock you out of your key business resources and cost you a significant amount of money. Personal threats are widespread—the goal of cyberwarfare is to infect as many people as possible. Business threats are often targeted, using tactics like phishing to gain access to business networks and resources in a directed way.
Forbes Advisor closely analyzed the top antivirus services to bring you this ranking. First, we gathered hundreds of data points on the top products from the top antivirus companies. The dataset was divided into the key features for an antivirus service: price, customer support, user experience, app ratings, and core features.
With the key features set apart, we weighted the results and assigned each of the features a score. The combination of these scores is what you see in the five-star rating above. Although we looked at everything from support to ransomware protection, there were a few key areas that took precedence in our ranking. The first was the price. Outside of that, we paid attention to features and extra protection measures. Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender, which is a free antivirus service.
If you have highly sensitive data, an antivirus program can serve as an insurance policy if nothing else. Between browser security and Windows Defender a built-in antivirus in Windows 10 , you can keep yourself protected by following good security practices like avoiding suspicious links and using unique passwords across websites. That said, a dedicated antivirus program has upsides. Antivirus providers have business plans that can help keep company resources protected from ransomware attacks and employees from phishing schemes.
Jacob Roach is a writer and technology enthusiast. He specializes in computing and small business software, lending his experience to sites like Digital Trends, Business Insider, and Cloudwards. You can follow him on Twitter ManowarElves. In that role, he was responsible for writing, editing, and strategizing content geared toward small business owners. Before that, he worked at PCMag as a business analyst.
Select Region. United States. United Kingdom. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team. Jacob Roach, Rob Watts. Contributor, Editor. Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
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