Avast Antivirus Review
Summary
Avast offers an all-around excellent antivirus software that is compatible on all operating systems. Avast offers special features in the premium and ultimate plans set the product apart from any competitor.
Avast antivirus is one of the most popular security programs in the world with 435 million users a month. It was developed in old Czechoslovakia 1988 and has since then grown tremendously.
Avast provides a complete antivirus package. This software protects against viruses, malware, spam, phishing and more. Avast prevents 1.5 billion attacks a month which makes it extremely efficient. Some of Avast’s features require a subscription and it also has separate packages for businesses.
However, you can feel completely protected and safe with the free antivirus package. For personal use, Avast free antivirus is suitable, but for businesses you should upgrade to the Premium package or choose one of the Business plans.
Compare Avast Plans
Avast offers 4 anti-virus packages. One of them is the free Avast antivirus package that includes paid features. The other three plans are the Premium Security, Ultimate Security and Avast Business.
Let us look at the benefits of each of these packages.
Avast Free Antivirus Features
The Avast free antivirus package is a no-cost package that includes several antivirus and malware protection mechanisms. Moreover, it also has special add-on features.
Avast free antivirus protects you from malicious emails, files, websites and botnets. These are some of the tools that hackers use to infiltrate your system.
Virus Scans
Virus scans are Avast’s specialty and they do it with fast and efficient scans. The Virus Scan feature offers the ability to scan your device. This scan goes deep and can discover advanced and hidden issues.
To solve these issues, you would have to upgrade your subscription. However, you can fix simpler problems with the click of a button. The virus scanner gets frequently updated on any new viruses.
Therefore, you will always feel secure and in good hands. The virus scan can catch malicious programs, fake websites, and bots. And it’s all for free.
Compatibility
Avast antivirus software is simple to use and it is compatible with most devices. You can use it on Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android. Once you download the installer on your chosen device, the software automatically redirects to the correct version.
It also offers Avast Secure Browser when you download the software. This is a secure browser that is also fast and private. You can personalize this browser to your old browser’s settings and guarantee more safety.
If you are doubtful about your privacy settings, you can find a Personal Privacy page in the settings. This browser automatically opens on Chrome, and you can then change passwords on Chrome or with Avast Passwords.
One useful feature that this browser offers is Bank mode. You can select this mode for your transactions. This means that Avast creates your own separate desktop to ensure your safety. You can sit back and relax knowing your sensitive transactions are secure.
Email Security
You can feel at ease knowing that the free Avast antivirus version also offers email protection. Malware mostly comes through email.
Therefore this feature detects suspicious downloads and blocks them. Furthermore, it stops web tracking, spam and malicious email attachments.
Malware Scans
Malware are an irritating downside for any system or network. They disrupt or completely hijack your system. The free package offers complete protection from malware.
Avast Free Antivirus Features:
- It runs in real-time: You can leave it running in the background as you go around doing your work. It will block the threats for you.
- Custom Scans: If you suspect malware on a specific folder or file, you can select it and scan it on its own. This saves time and focuses the detection feature on what you need.
- Scheduled Scans: If you don’t feel like waiting around for the scan to end, you can schedule it when you’re away from your device.
- External Drives Scan: You can scan your removable hard drives, USBs, CDs and more.
- Extended and advanced scans: These scans go deep and can root out any malicious malware.
- Security reports: Get monthly personalized updates about your device’s security.
- Real-time Updates: Any new features update to your software automatically.
- Hack alerts against any password breaches.
- A rescue disk for your system if you go through a virus infection.
- Manual software updater just in case you don’t automatically get the newest updates.
- Anti-phishing tools so that hackers cannot use your email address to send spam.
- Smart Scan which lets you know how your system’s performance is doing and how to improve it.
- A Do-Not-Disturb mode so you can stream movies or play games without any third-party application pop-ups or alerts.
- A Behavioral Shield that monitors any website you visit and warn you against potential threats.
- My Statistics feature that tells you the amount of scanned files and blocked threats.
- A Wi-Fi inspector feature that scans your entire Wi-Fi network and any devices connected to it. This shows any vulnerability on your devices and prevents hackers from stealing your data.
Avast Premium Security
The Premium Security bundle is compatible on Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS.
While the free version provides many, many protections, there are some extra features you can buy. These features give you an extra layer of safety and security.
Ransomware Shield
The ransomware shield offers protection against ransomware attacks. These attacks target your folders, files and documents. Then, hackers encrypt your files and ask for a ransom to decrypt them for you.
This shield works by selecting your important and personal files and placing them in protected folders. These folders offer the shield and you can add any files and documents to them. The shield protects your Documents, Pictures and Desktop folders by default.
This feature works in Smart mode, which means it doesn’t shield trusted programs. However, you can modify these settings and select the Strict mode. Be sure to block access to any new website if you get a warning by this feature. You can then check the threat and undo the block if it’s safe.
Real-time Wi-Fi security alerts
The premium plan offers a high level security plan. It alerts you in real-time if anyone logs into your internet network. This gives you the time to assess the threat and block it if necessary. The real-time alert works in your favor and protects you from potential threats and hackers.
Premium Security Plan Additional Features:
- Real Site. This feature can differentiate between fake and real sites. This protects you from malicious websites.
- A sensitive data shield.
- A data shredder feature that shreds all the infected files to make sure they are completely gone.
- A webcam shield to prevent hackers from monitoring you through your device’s camera.
- A remote-access shield that prevents hackers from remotely connecting to your device.
- An advanced firewall.
- A sandbox which opens any suspicious folders or files in a protected system environment. This isolates any suspected infections.
The Premium Security package is available from $39.99 per device for a year and $69.99 after that. The premium security package offers a 30-days trial without a credit card, and a 60-days trial with a credit card.
Avast Ultimate Security
The Ultimate Security package offers all the features of the free and premium packages. It also adds on three of the company’s products including:
Ultimate Security Plan Additional Features:
- SecureLine VPN for ultimate privacy and security.
- Clean-up Premium to improve your PC’s performance.
- Anti-track to stop websites from tracking you.
The Avast Ultimate Security package is $59.99 per device for one year and $99.99 after that. Ten devices are $69.99 for a year and then $119.99 thereafter.
Avast Small Office Plan
Sometimes the free package is not enough when you’re running a business. Therefore, your next option is selecting one of the business packages.
If you’re a small business owner, consider the Small office plan.
Small Office Plan Features:
- Supports up to 10 devices
- Ransomware Shield to protect you against ransomware attacks. This is especially important for business owners.
- Multi-OS support, so that you can use any device you want, and Avast can still support it.
- Web Shield to check URLs and ensure they are safe before you make a connection.
- Email Shield to check incoming emails for malware or spam.
- File Shield to prevent ransomware.
- Wi-Fi Inspector to monitor your network and ensure that there are no vulnerabilities.
- The Sandbox feature to access suspicious files in a monitored environment.
- The Data Shredder to delete any infected files.
- Phishing Net to protect your business against phishing websites.
- The Webcam Shield to stop anyone from spying at you through your device’s camera.
- Real Site to protect you and the employers from any malicious websites.
- Excellent customer support from trained engineers all around the clock.
Avast Business Pro
If the Small Office Plan doesn’t suit your needs, you can subscribe to Avast Business plan. This package provides all of the small office plan features in addition to:
Business Pro Features
- Next-gen endpoint protection in CloudCare: This blocks every possible threat to your business. This includes malware, viruses, spyware and ransomware.
- Cloud Backup: This ensures that your files are always safe and accessible. You can then access your files from anywhere.
- Patch management: This sends out security patches and monitors activity from the central Avast dashboard.
- Secure web gateway: This prevents any malicious malware or URLs from invading your network.
Is Avast Antivirus Safe?
This Avast Antivirus review reassures users that it is completely private and secure. According to this report by av-comparatives, Avast was able to block 99.7% of the various malware thrown at it.
When it comes to online protection, Avast is able to protect against 100% of threats. The offline threats number went down to 92%. All in all, Avast is an excellent antivirus software that eliminates almost all threats.
Conclusion – Avast Antivirus Review
Avast antivirus is a popular and efficient software that protects you online and offline. It offers a free antivirus package with several features. You can also choose the premium, ultimate or Business packages. The business option is perfect for large companies and 859 Companies currently use it.
It’s compatible with most devices like Windows, Android, Mac and more. It also has more than 45 languages. This makes this software widely accessible from all around the globe. You can rest assured that Avast can block viruses and secure your devices. It checks websites for fraud, and malware. Your email and folders are also kept safe with its encryption features.
