Free Avast For Mac Reviews
Avast Free Mac Security is a noteworthy antivirus for Mac, despite it lacks some functionalities.Avast Mac Security assures excellent malware detection scores in a simple interface, coming second only to the competitor Avira. Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with unusual bonus features. It tanks our antiphishing test, but this free utility is still worth a look. Avast has all the awards and all the good reviews. Avast is much like that kid that wins everything at school. Unlike that kid, Avast is constantly changing and updating to keep up with the constantly developing viruses which are out there on the web. Hence lab results become extremely important for my Mac antivirus reviews. Two of the labs I follow, AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives, test Mac antivirus, and Avast participates with one of them. The Avast Free Mac Security for Mac is part of the Antivirus Software test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Antivirus Software models like the Free Mac Security for Mac are rated on. Avast makes some bold claims, such as being able to block viruses and spyware from spoiling your day, but can a no-cost download really resolve all your security fears? Based on in-depth testing, our Avast Free Mac Security 2018 review gives you everything you need to know.
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Avast's Free Antivirus costs nothing, but it does an excellent imitation of a security suite, tossing in a password manager, a hardened browser, a gaming mode and a Wi-Fi scanner. It also works with all recent Windows versions and lets you customize the program to suit your computing style.
On the downside, Avast's malware defenses are a rung below the best, and you'll have to suffer through long scans and deal with its complicated interface. It also collects and sells your search and browsing history to third parties — although you can opt out to some extent — and shows you ads for other Avast products.
If you want better protection and don't need extra features, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Kaspersky Free Antivirus offer nearly perfect malware detection with little impact on system performance.
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What's Covered and Upgrade Options
Avast Free Antivirus works with all Windows releases from Windows XP (with Service Pack 3) to Windows 10.
It's almost a free security suite, what with the extra features we've already mentioned. But if you want a firewall, file encryption or a file shredder, you'll need to upgrade to a paid product.
Avast Internet Security provides a firewall and extra ransomware protection that automatically duplicates key files during an attack. It starts at $60 per year for a single system and goes up to $500 for 10 PCs for three years.
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With the Premier edition, which starts at $70 per year, Avast throws in protection against webcam spying as well as a file shredder to make confidential or embarrassing items disappear.
Ultimate is a bundle that packages Premier with an unlimited subscription to Avast's SecureLine VPN service (provided by Avast subsidiary Hide My Ass) as well as its system optimizer and a premium password manager that includes some identity-protection features.
At $120 for a single Windows PC, Ultimate is rather expensive. For the same price, Bitdefender Total Security Family Pack offers unlimited device coverage, including software for Macs and Android devices, with similar features and better malware protection.
Antivirus Protection
Avast's first defensive layer is traditional signature-based scanning that compares files to known malware. The second layer monitors activity and code snippets to look for indications of a malware attack. Finally, anything suspicious gets sent to Avast's cloud lab for analysis, and if it is confirmed as malicious, a new malware signature is sent out to the company's 400 million users.
Avast Free Antivirus includes browser add-ons for Chrome and Firefox that steer you away from dangerous pages. It also scans email attachments for dangerous software.
Antivirus Performance
Avast's malware-detection engine is shared by all Avast Windows antivirus products as well as those of its corporate sibling AVG. The engine does a decent but unspectacular job, according to three of the four testing labs whose results we use.
Our own lab in Utah measures how well antivirus products protect against and block malicious websites, and it gave Avast Free Antivirus a 98 percent rating in tests during the first half of 2018. That matched the ratings of Kaspersky Anti-Virus and beat Avira Free Security Suite, Panda Dome Essential and even AVG AntiVirus Free, though it was a point behind Bitdefender Antivirus Plus.
The AV-Test lab in Germany measures protection against 'zero-day' malware that's previously unseen and can't be detected by signature scanning alone, as well as against widespread malware whose signatures are known.
Avast Free Antivirus did well on Windows 7, catching 100 percent of both kinds of malware in January and February 2018, but racked up seven 'false positives' — exactly the same as AVG Internet Security.
Avast didn't do as well on Windows 10. In March and April 2018, it stopped only 99.0 and 98.8 percent of zero-day malware, while Avira, Bitdefender and Kaspersky stopped it all. Avast fared better with widespread malware, detecting 100 percent in March and 99.9 percent in April with three false positives.
Another round of Windows 10 tests showed a partial improvement by Avast, as its program detected all zero-day and widespread malware in May 2018, and all widespread malware in June, though it blocked only 99.2 percent of zero-day malware in that month. Avast registered one false positive during both months.
Avast had its ups and downs in tests conducted by Austrian lab AV-Comparatives. Over six monthly tests, its software averaged 99.4 percent detection of online malware, but the actual scores ranged from 100 percent in June to 98.6 percent in March. Avast got 10 false positives over six months. Bitdefender led the way here, with an average detection rate of 99.8 percent, while Windows Defender trailed with 98.4 percent.
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But Avast did poorly on tests conducted by Britain's SE Labs, which checks not only detection rates but also how antivirus products treat malware after detection and if they can handle sophisticated attacks that target politicians, journalists and dissidents.
Avast Free Antivirus got an accuracy rating of only 91 percent in SE Labs' early-2018 evaluations. That was behind the ratings of most of the other free antivirus brands. Avast failed to spot five out of 100 attacks, and couldn't stop four more, leading to nine infections overall.
Even AVG did better, tying Avira at 94 percent. Kaspersky led the free pack with 99 percent.
Security and Privacy Features
Avast's SafeZone secure browser, part of Free Antivirus, can keep your wallet secure by limiting add-ons while blocking ads and suspicious sites. Its Bank Mode isolates the browser from the rest of the system to thwart nosy malware.
But Avast's Privacy Policy notes that if you search for items in the Secure Browser, 'you consent to having your search query and history transmitted to third-party search providers and to being redirected to third-party sites.'
The password manager stores an unlimited number of credentials locally; it works with Firefox, Chrome and Avast's SafeZone browser.
The Wi-Fi Inspector scans your local network for flaws such as weak passwords, incorrect settings or outdated firmware. There's a seven-day unlimited-data trial of Avast's SecureLine VPN service, but after that, SecureLine costs $20 a year for a smartphone, $60 a year for a PC or Mac, or $80 for five varied devices. By contrast, Panda Free Antivirus gives you 150MB of free VPN data a day.
Should your PC get bogged down with malware, Avast's Rescue Disk software can help. Just load the software onto a CD or USB drive and restart the system.
Performance and System Impact
Avast's Free Antivirus tended to use too many of our system's resources during active scans, which took a long time.
To check system performance, we used our custom benchmark test, which times how long it takes the CPU to match 20,000 names and 20,000 addresses in an OpenOffice spreadsheet. Our testbed was an Asus X555LA notebook with a 2GHz Core i3 processor, 6GB of RAM and 117GB of files on a 500GB hard drive, running Windows 10 with the latest updates.
Before we installed Avast Free Antivirus, we established a baseline of an average of 6 minutes and 54 seconds to finish the OpenOffice benchmark. Completion time rose to an average of 7:21 with the Avast software loaded, but without any active scanning taking place, indicating a 6.5 percent passive decline in performance.
That's a little worse than AVG and Bitdefender's 5 percent declines, but better than Panda and especially Avira, whose 9.8 percent hit brought up the rear. Kaspersky was the champion, slowing the Asus by only 2.6 percent.
During Avast's full scan, the OpenOffice completion time stretched to 8:47, 27 percent slower than the baseline and 19 percent slower than Avast's background load. Only Avira Free Antivirus did worse, with a full-scan slowdown of a whopping 35 percent. AVG AntiVirus Free was the overall winner, slowing down the system by only 11 percent.
Smart Scan, Avast's term for a quick scan, put less stress on the system, letting the OpenOffice task finish in 8:24, 22 percent slower than the baseline and 14 percent slower than without an active scan. But that system mpact was still heavier than all except Avira. AVG and Panda tied for best with quick-scan impacts of 7.4 percent.
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Avast Free Antivirus took an average of 1 hour and 42 minutes to look at 795,601 files on our Asus. That wasn't as long as Bitdefender's initial 2-hour-and-15-minute scan, but Avast's scan times didn't decline with subsequent runs.
Interface
Avast's main interface window has the standard green check mark next to the words 'You're Protected.' If something's amiss, the check mark changes to a red X.
There's a button to start a Smart Scan, which checks for malware, weak passwords and vulnerable software as well as network and performance problems. Three clicks away are the Protection settings, which let you start a full scan, scan specific folders or run a boot-up or custom scan. You can scan any single item by right-clicking it in Windows Explorer. You can schedule scans to run daily, weekly or monthly.
Avast's interface is both complex and customizable. You can turn off or adjust just about every tool, from web shields to Browser Cleanup. The more you dig, the more opportunities there are for personalization.
If the program becomes too intrusive, you can adjust the aggressiveness of the scanning or try Avast's Game Mode. Avast's Task Tray icon lets you update the software, temporarily disable protection, peek into the quarantine area or switch to the secure browser.
Installation and Support
Installing Avast Free Antivirus took a little over 7 minutes. We got to choose from 48 languages, including Pirate Talk; whether to make SafeZone our default browser; and whether to install the Avast app on an Android device.
By default, Avast Free Antivirus collects data about your browsing behavior and sells it to third parties. The Privacy Policy states that Avast shares 'statistical data that has been anonymized and aggregated geographically and so, cannot be used to identify individuals, with third parties for trend analytics.'
You can't opt out of this during installation, but you can at the bottom of the Settings Privacy section. While there, you might want to turn off Avast's pop-up ads as well; you'll still get ads for upgrades on the program's main page, though. You'll find more information and more ways to opt out at Avast's Privacy Portal.
There's no need to set up an online Avast account, but if you do, you can remotely control some aspects of the company's mobile apps and also use the Privacy Portal.
Avast Free Antivirus' users get neither phone nor email support. You'll need to check the company's forums, FAQs, installation tips and knowledge base to fix any problem.
Bottom Line
Avast Free Antivirus offers more features than other free AV products and comes close to a full security suite. Its protection is OK, but it's a step behind the best. In addition, Avast's program can slow the system a bit more than necessary, and its privacy policies leave something to be desired.
If you can do without the bells and whistles that Avast offers, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Kaspersky Free Antivirus each provide better malware protection and system performance.
Credit: Tom's Guide
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Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac
Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac's top-shelf malware detection and barely there system impact make it the best antivirus solution.
Best Free Mac AntivirusAvast Free Mac Security
Avast Free Mac Security's malware-squashing proficiency, negligible performance impact and included password manager make it the best free option.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac offers top-shelf malware detection and protects files from ransomware.
After evaluating eight free and paid antivirus products, we've chosen Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac ($40 per year) as the best antivirus for Mac. It had a nearly invisible impact on system performance, and it caught all malware.
Avast Free Mac Security is our favorite free option, as it provided nearly perfect malware protection and an easy-to-use interface with an imperceptible performance hit.
You do need an antivirus program on your Mac. Recent years have seen more Mac malware and adware than ever before, from Trojans to targeted attacks, supply-chain attacks like the XcodeGhost attack and even encrypting ransomware.
MORE: Best Antivirus Software and Apps
Latest Security Alerts and Threats
— Google pushed out an emergency patch for its Chrome browser for Windows, macOS and Linux after a vulnerability was found that could let a malicious website take over a computer. ADVICE: Copy and paste 'chrome://settings/help' into your Chrome address bar to make sure your browser is updated to version 76.0.3809.132.
— Apple patched a security hole that let you -- or a malicious website -- jailbreak an iPhone and install any kind of app, including potential malware. (This is not among the flaws that let several websites infect any iPhone.) ADVICE: Make sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is updated to iOS 12.4.1.
— Spammers have been sending emails to inject scam or malicious messages in regular people's Google Calendar pages. ADVICE: Follow our instructions to stop phony Google Calendar notifications from happening to you.
How We Tested
To find the best antivirus for Mac desktops and laptops, we evaluate ease of use, interface and performance impact, we installed each AV program on the same Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display running macOS 10.12 Sierra. It was powered by a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7 processor and had 8GB of RAM and 70GB of data stored on a 512GB SSD.
We conducted our own tests in July and August 2017 based on how much each antivirus product affected our laptop's performance. To do this, we used our custom OpenOffice benchmark, which matches 20,000 names and addresses in a spreadsheet. We measured how long it took to run a quick scan and a full scan while the laptop crunched numbers in the background.
We assessed how easy each program was to use and the number of useful extra features it offered (including free add-on software). To gauge how effective each package was at stopping malware, we used the results of evaluations conducted in May 2017 by AV-TEST, a well-regarded independent product-testing lab in Germany, and results from other tests conducted in July 2017 by AV-Comparatives, a similarly well-respected firm in Austria.
Best Mac Antivirus
Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Kaspersky Internet Security is the best antivirus for Macs because it offers both the lowest system impact and some of the best malware-detection rates recorded. It even provides extra security features, including parental controls and options to lock down your webcam and stop websites from tracking your browsing activity. If you're willing to pay to protect your Mac from malware, Kaspersky Internet Security is the best option available.
The former steers you clear of dangerous websites and also stops phishing attacks, while the latter is price comparison and coupon finder tool that could help you find the best deals while shopping online. Avast pro antivirus for mac.
Best Free Mac Antivirus
Avast Free Mac Security
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Avast Free Mac Security caught 99.9 percent of all malware, packs in a password manager, barely leaves a smudge on system impact and doesn't charge a dime. If only it caught 100 percent of malware, as Kaspersky did.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac is one of only a few solutions we tested that offers perfect malware detection. Further, its modern, streamlined interface places on-demand scans front and center. Bitdefender has dropped from first place, though, because its system-impact scores don't match the flawless marks posted by Kaspersky.
Norton 360 Deluxe
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Norton 360 Deluxe may offer excellent protection, but it charges more (after the first year) than its competitors do, without offering as many perks. Norton AntiVirus Plus offers similar protection for a single Mac, but with fewer perks. Still, both have always-on-call customer support.
AVG Antivirus for Mac
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
If you're looking for the best antivirus for Mac without having to pay, AVG AntiVirus for Mac is not too shabby, with its 99.9 percent detection rate and easy-to-use design. Unfortunately, other free competitors provide extras (Sophos with parental controls, Avast's password manager) that AVG does not.
Best for Families
Sophos Home
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
With Sophos Home for Mac's simple interface and low system-performance impact, you'll barely realize the program is shielding you until you need it. Anyone with young children at home will find Sophos' parental controls useful, as they allow for remote scans and checks, and let you block sites by category. Sophos even keeps a log of when users try to reach banned pages. This program's major drawback, though, is its lackluster malware-detection rate.
Avira Free Antivirus for Mac
Reasons to Buy
Avast For Mac Free Download
Reasons to Avoid
Once our favorite, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is no longer the best antivirus for Mac. That's because it is a hair shy of perfection in its malware detection, and fell behind in system-performance testing, earning some of the higher performance impacts recorded.
McAfee Antivirus Plus
Free Avast For Mac Download
Reasons to Buy
Reasons to Avoid
Avast For Mac
Avast Free Mac Security
While McAfee's unlimited licenses mean you can support a whole family of Macs (and PCs and Android devices, too), this program's lack of special features (for a paid version) make it hard to recommend. Further, we don't have malware-detection testing scores for McAfee, so its protection powers are unproven.