Avast Cleanup Pro For Mac Is Worth It
Today's best Avast Free Mac Security deals
The differences between Avast Free and Avast Pro are few, but we still think an upgrade is worth it. Sandbox is a nice inclusion and it’ll give you a taste of what the more feature rich Internet. Although the price for one Avast Cleanup Pro license is pretty high, there are ways to save money. For example, the annual subscription price drops to one-third if a further two Mac users join into a group.
- Avast Free Mac Security is free. It supports Macs running any version of OS X, as long as they have 128MB of RAM and 750MB of available disk space. Avast Free Mac Security keeps Macs free of.
- Avast does have a paid antivirus program, but we wanted to look at Avast FREE Antivirus because we receive a lot of questions about how well free antivirus programs perform. And Avast is one of the more popular free programs.
- To uninstall Avast Cleanup Pro, follow these steps: Click the Avast Cleanup Pro icon on your menu bar and select Open Avast Cleanup Pro. Click AvastCleanup on the menu bar and select Uninstall Avast Cleanup Pro from the context menu. In the Avast Cleanup Pro Uninstaller dialog, click Continue. Enter your system credentials, then click OK.
- Avast Cleanup Activation Code is the best application to clean junk files from your device, and the new version consists of advanced technologies that recently included with it. This program fulfills all the requirements that related to trash cleaning or any spyware and adware.
Avast Free Mac Security doesn't break a lot of new ground. As is the case with most free software, it does an OK job and — like popular free-to-play games — aims to pull money from your pockets after it's installed.
The one major perk of Avast Free Mac Security is that it can identify attacks in your email inbox, a feature that we'd like to see in all Mac antivirus services. At the end of the day, though, Avast's Mac malware protection rate isn't quite as good as its competitors', which is the most important part of antivirus software.
Avast Free Mac Security costs and what's covered
Avast Free Mac Security is free. It supports Macs running any version of macOS, as long as they have 128MB of RAM and 750MB of available disk space.
Antivirus protection
Avast Free Mac Security keeps Macs free of malware using traditional signature-based detection by unpacking Mac-specific file formats and scanning them for malicious content. It also uses its artificial-intelligence system to apply lessons from its user base to train its software.
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Avast also thwarts PC malware on Mac, to prevent it from spreading on networks, and scans unopened ZIP files. It performs system protection scanning in the background, permits both on-demand and scheduled scans, and can scan your router to protect you against DNS hijacking and other threats.
Antivirus detection
Avast Free Mac Security's on-demand malware-scanning engine has a mixed record in recent lab tests. It stopped 100% of malware in tests conducted by Austrian lab AV-Comparatives in July 2018 and June 2019.
Results from German lab AV-Test were less consistent: 100% of Mac malware was detected by Avast in June 2018 and June 2019, but Avast caught only 96.3% of malware in December 2018.
That means Avast tied with Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac on the AV-Comparatives test (both hit 100%). However, it failed to match Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton 360 Deluxe on the AV-Test study, in which all three earned 100% scores.
Of all the Mac antivirus programs we tested, Avast Free Mac Security was the only one that flagged items already on our system as threats. Specifically, it found three email messages in my old, inactive, Outlook database that contained links to phishing websites.
Security and privacy features
Avast Free Mac Security includes Avast's Online Security browser extension, which automatically installs itself in Chrome unless you opt out, while Firefox provides a confirmation prompt to make sure you approve the extension. The Avast extension appears as a button that is green when you're safe and red if a site is potentially harmful. Similar flags will appear next to search results.
If you're wary of sites that monitor your actions, the Avast browser extension also displays a counter badge that tallies the number of activity trackers found in a website and provides an additional option to block social network-based tracking.
Not only does Avast scan activity on your hard drive and web browsers, but it also monitors POP3 and IMAP email clients, including Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Postbox and Airmail, and scans email attachments as well as email messages.
Avast monitors your computer and its network connections in the background, scans new files upon installation and lets you schedule scans. However, Avast Free Mac Security doesn't have any of the extra features offered by paid competitors, such as parental controls, a VPN service, firewalls or webcam blockers.
Performance and system impact
Avast Free Mac Security had a moderate impact on system performance, which we assessed by running our custom Excel VLOOKUP benchmark test, which matches 60,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. Our test machine wasa 2017 MacBook Air with a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i5 CPU and approximately 54GB of data stored on a 128GB SSD.
With Avast Free Mac Security installed on our MacBook, but without any active scans running, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 3 minutes and 38 seconds, 1 second longer than without any antivirus software installed. That's a passive system hit of less than 1%, and not something you would likely perceive.
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Other antivirus products' passive system impacts ranged from 5% (Sophos Home Premium) to zero percent (Bitdefender). This is overall great news for Mac users: Most of the time, you'll never notice that you've got antivirus software running.
You would be more likely to notice the slowdowns created by Avast's active scans. During full-system scans, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 4 minutes and 59 seconds, resulting in a big performance dip of 37 percent. That's not as bad as McAfee AntiVirus Plus' 47% fall (the worst offender), although it wasn't as good as Sophos' 7% full-scan system hit.
Avast's full-scan completion time, which took an hour and 11 minutes on average, was on the longer end of scores but was not the longest we found — Sophos' 2-hour-and-56-minute time was the longest. Malwarebytes for Mac Premium's full scan took a miraculous 16 seconds, while Bitdefender closed its full scan in 4:25. Kaspersky (41:20) and Norton (25:49) fell in the middle of the pack.
Interface
Avast Free Mac Security may not be the prettiest antivirus app, but it provides a number of functions and options. Its main window shows users a Protected status, as scans are enabled by default. All other features, including on-demand scans, are located in a menu bar on the left.
Avast's main window presents users with their status — Protected or otherwise — and a 'Run scan' button that pushes you to Avast Cleanup Pro. You'll be confused by this abrupt switch of apps if you weren't paying attention to the fine print, and you'll soon realize that Cleanup Pro is a paid product that looks to tidy up your hard drive and costs between $2.99 or $3.99 per month.
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After you click that Run scan button once, it changes to an Upgrade button for Avast Security Pro, which features anti-ransomware protections and Wi-Fi and network scanning. To avoid further confusion, click on Scans in the left-hand menu, which opens that section as well as other sections of the app, such as Reports, Virus Chest, Shields and Preferences.
In Scan, you can select from a number of different types, such as scans of custom directories, scans of removable volumes and scans of your home network. Avast also includes scheduled scans, an increasingly rare option these days.
Clicking on New Scan presents a Start button for activating a Quick Scan and a Change Scan Type button to switch to a full-computer scan.
You'll find database updates and analyses of scans performed on your system in Avast's Reports. Avast places files it flags as malicious into the Virus Chest quarantine section, where you can delete or restore them (if you think Avast is mistaken).
Open the Shields section to see real-time analysis of scanned files. Annoyingly, if the file directory is especially long, Avast won't give you the full directory, so you can't go look up the offending file for yourself. You may not need to, but we'd prefer to have the option.
In the Preferences tab, you'll find options to change the frequency of notifications, system updates and scans. Here, you can also disable hard-drive, email and web protection, although Avast wisely makes you enter your system password first. Additionally, you can disable Avast's menu-bar icon from this window (it's under Miscellaneous).
If you create an account with Avast, you can check the status of any systems you've logged into in the Account tab as well as at my.avast.com. Avast's menu-bar button provides links to open the main interface window, see current activity and application information, and review previous notifications.
Installation and support
To install Avast Free Mac Security, you open Avast.com and click Download, which will place the installer DMG on your Mac. (Thankfully, you won't have to go through download.com anymore, an annoying part of the previous model.) After you click through the end-user-license agreements, the installer will download more files and install Avast.
No restart is required, and the whole process took about 2 minutes for me, which felt about normal. In the middle of the installation, you get the option to not install Avast's unlimited Password Manager and the company'sSecureLine VPN client. The Avast Online Security browser plug-in is free, but you get only a seven-day trial of SecureLine VPN service, which otherwise starts at $60 per year.
To get technical support, click Help in the menu bar, select Avast Technical Support and then select Contact Help to open Avast's Support site. Here, you can find a FAQ, ask for help in the forums and call a customer-support line that will provide free advice for installing, configuring, updating and removing Avast.
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If you need more help than that, Avast offers paid support starting at $79 for any call that isn't related to removing a virus or malware, or at $119 per call for virus-related calls. For more support, you can spend $199 for a year of unlimited service, or $10 per month plus a $99 setup fee.
Bottom line
Avast's email scanning gives it an edge over competing Mac antivirus products. It needs such an advantage when the rest of its package is such a mixed bag.
Not only does Avast's software continually push you to spend money on additional services (unlikely if you've already chosen to use free antivirus software), but its malware detection rates aren't great overall.
If you're going to pay, you should instead choose Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, which gives you excellent protection and a low system impact for $40 a year. If
you'd rather not pay, then Avast is the best free option, but only because Sophos Home, which has a more full-featured free tier, has undetermined malware-protection abilities on Macs.
- Pros
Excellent scores in our hands-on tests. Good scores from independent labs. Wi-Fi inspector. Password manager. Numerous useful, security-related bonus features. Pro-only Sandbox and Real Site features.
- Cons
Password manager features limited. Some bonus features require separate purchase. Pro-only features don't merit the price.
- Bottom Line
Avast Pro Antivirus 2017 offers the same wealth of features as its free edition, and not a lot more. It's an excellent product, but for most people the free version will suffice.
Every antivirus utility must perform the basic tasks of keeping malware from getting a foothold on your computer, and cleaning up any infestation that already exists. Some products go way beyond the basics; Avast Pro Antivirus 2017 is one such. Among many other impressive bonus features, it includes a basic password manager and an unusual tool that checks the security of your entire network.
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Avast Cleanup Premium Worth It
Almost half of the commercial antivirus products that I've reviewed cost about the same as Avast—$39.99 per year for one license. Four of my Editors' Choice antivirus products come in at this level: Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2017, Kaspersky, Norton, and Webroot. The fifth, McAfee, costs $59.99 per year, but it lets you install protection on an unlimited number of Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.
Were it not for 'Pro' in the title bar, you'd be hard pressed to distinguish this product's main window from that of the free edition. It has the same slate-gray background and left-rail menu, with a few buttons and panels in green and purple. Sounds strange, but it works. When you click Protection in the menu, though, you'll notice a couple of items freed from the padlock icons they displayed in the free edition. However, the vast majority of this product's advanced features also come with the free edition. And unlike many vendors, Avast doesn't prohibit use of the free edition in a commercial setting. You'd think being so generous with the free version would cut into sales, but this model seems to work for Avast.
Shared Antivirus Features
As mention, this product includes all of the features found in Avast Free Antivirus 2017, and that's saying a lot. Rather than repeat myself, I'll direct you to read that review, so I can focus here on what's special about pro. First, though, I'll review the shared features.
Lab Test Results Chart
Malware Blocking Results Chart
Antiphishing Results Chart
All five of the independent antivirus labs that I follow include Avast in their testing. I would characterize its results as good, but not quite great. My aggregate lab score calculation assigns Avast 8.7 of 10 possible points. Kaspersky Anti-Virus owns this test, with a near-perfect 9.8 points.
In my hands-on malware protection test, Avast detected 97 percent of the samples and earned 9.7 of 10 possible points, a very good score. However, Comodo, PC Matic, and Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus all earned a perfect 10 points.
After I got past an initial kerfuffle involving an incompatibility between Avast and my antiphishing test tool, the antiphishing component did excellent work. Its detection rate was just 2 percent below that of antiphishing champ Symantec Norton AntiVirus Basic, and it scored significantly better than the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
Shared Bonus Features
It's quite amazing how much security goodness Avast packs into its free antivirus. The Wi-Fi Inspector component performs the unusual task of scanning your network (wired or wireless) for security problems. Its Software Updater looks for browsers and other software targets that are missing important security patches. You can create a bootable rescue disk in case aggressive malware makes the system unbootable. There's even a password manager, albeit a simple one.
Other bonus features show up when you install the Online Security browser extension. It warns you away from unsafe links in search results, actively blocks ad trackers, and even corrects your URL typos. The SafePrice extension perks up when it sees you shopping and searches for better deals on your selections. The hardened SafeZone browser kicks into Bank Mode when you visit a financial site. This is a separate desktop that's isolated from malware, keyloggers, and other unwanted hangers-on.
Security Upsell
On the Privacy page, you'll find a button to invoke the SecureLine VPN. Clicking it gets you a warning that your connection isn't private, along with a Go Private button. Clicking that button gets you…pricing information. SecureLine is a separate purchase, even in the Pro antivirus.
Selecting Cleanup from the Performance page gets you a similar experience. When you click the Check My PC button, it reports that it found things like junk files, obsolete Registry data, and inefficient system settings. But when you ask it to resolve those problems, once again you get a price list, just as in the free antivirus.
Cleanup is also a premium feature in AVG AntiVirus Free, but with a difference. With AVG, when you invoke PC TuneUp, you get a one-day free trial of the full product.
So What's New?
All of the features I've described to this point also come with the free antivirus. So, just what do you get when you spring for the paid edition? Avast has done some tuning of the message, but the for-pay features remain on the techie side.
Previously called Secure DNS, Avast's Real Site component secures your system's connection to a reliable, non-sketchy DNS server. DNS (Domain Name System) servers exist to translate human-readable domain names like www.pcmag.com into IP addresses like 23.204.109.42. If cyber crooks manage to subvert your system's DNS settings, they can redirect your browser to a fake website, leaving the Address Bar showing the URL you expected. This kind of DNS poisoning is like phishing, but more pernicious. Real Site isn't a very sexy feature, though. You can't see the threat it protects against, and you can't see that it protected you.
When you have a program that might be dangerous, but still want to run it, run it in Avast's Sandbox. Avast virtualized all file and Registry changes made by the program. When it terminates, all of those changes vanish. But really, how often do you need to run sketchy programs? In addition, the sandbox's privacy settings can occasionally interfere with the operation of a sandboxed program. For example, one of my test programs that resides on the desktop couldn't load its data file.
By default, Avast identifies sandboxed programs by attaching a flag above the title bar, but you can set it to use a colored border instead. That's about the extent of the Sandbox settings accessible to ordinary users. Just about everything else requires serious tech chops.
Why Pay?
Avast Cleanup Pro For Mac Is Worth It
Avast Pro Antivirus 2017 got good scores from the independent labs, better scores in my hands-on tests, and an excellent score in my antiphishing test. To the cornucopia of bonus features found in its free counterpart, it adds protection against DNS poisoning and a sandbox for running iffy programs safely. The problem is, those added features just don't merit the price. Most people will be fine with the free edition.
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2017 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus get great scores from the testing labs. McAfee AntiVirus Plus protects all of your devices, not just one. Symantec Norton AntiVirus Basic piles on spam filtering, password management, and a powerful intrusion prevention system. Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus is the lightest and tiniest antivirus around. Each of these has its merits, and each is an Editors' Choice for commercial antivirus.
Avast Pro Antivirus 2017
Bottom Line: Avast Pro Antivirus 2017 offers the same wealth of features as its free edition, and not a lot more. It's an excellent product, but for most people the free version will suffice.
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