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That's smart scanning before Windows has fully booted up means no interference from malware.

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However, Comodo, PC Matic, and Webroot all earned a perfect 10 points in this test.Įach time it detected a malware sample trying to launch, Avast recommended a boot-time scan for thorough cleanup. Its overall score of 9.7 points is quite good, and slightly better than AVG's 9.5 points. Like Norton, AVG AntiVirus Free, and several others, Avast detected 97 percent of my samples, almost all of them at the moment of execution. I enabled PUP scanning before starting my tests, and I encourage all Avast users to do the same. My samples include a range of malware, from vicious ransomware to merely annoying Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs). I should point out one change I made to Avast's default configuration. Like AVG, McAfee AntiVirus Plus, and a few others, Avast doesn't run its real-time scan until just before a process is about to launch. Some products start wiping out samples the moment I open the folder that contains them. To get a feel for each product's handling of actual malware, I use a collection of malware samples that I gather myself. Third place, at 9.5 points, belongs to Avira. Kaspersky leads the pack, with an aggregate score of 9.8 points, with Norton just a tenth of a point behind. Avast's aggregate score of 8.7 points (from a possible 10) is quite good, even better than AVG's 8.4 points.

Of the antivirus products I track, only Avast, AVG, ESET NOD32 Antivirus 10, and Kaspersky Anti-Virus A$54.99 for 1 Year 1 Device at Kaspersky Lab North America appear in the results from all five labs. Due to the pass/fail nature of these tests, I give them less weight when calculating an aggregate lab score. Avast passed one of this lab's tests and failed the other. Products that don't manage perfect or near-perfect protection simply fail. MRG-Effitas works a bit differently from the other labs. Like AVG, Avast received AA certification. The very best products receive AAA certification others may be certified at the AA, A, B, or C level. Trying to come as close as possible to real-world conditions, the experts at SE Labs capture drive-by downloads and other web-based attacks and use a replay system to hit each tested product with the exact same attack. Kaspersky earned a perfect 18 points, while Bitdefender and Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security took 17.5. Its total score of 15.5 isn't terrible, but many have done better. Avast earned that six points in protection and usability, but it fell down in the performance category, earning just 3.5 points. That's quite good, but Bitdefender, Avira Antivirus, and Kaspersky took Advanced+ in all four tests.ĪV-Test Institute rates antivirus products on three criteria: protection, performance, and usability (where usability means few false positives). Out of the four tests, Avast received two Advanced+ and two Advanced ratings. Products that achieve the necessary minimum scores receive a Standard rating, while those that show advanced features and capabilities can rate Advanced or Advanced+. The analysts at AV-Comparatives perform a variety of security tests, of which I follow four. Avast also earned an above-average score in the RAP (Reactive and Proactive) test by Virus Bulletin. Even so, having a certification is a plus. I don't give as much weight to certifications, because part of the service an antivirus vendor pays for is help with any problems that prevented certification. In addition, Avast received checkmark certification from West Coast Labs. Good Lab ResultsĪll of the independent testing labs that I follow include Avast in their testing and reporting. There's precedent for this behavior- Microsoft Windows Defender does something similar. To avoid conflicts, it disables all real-time scanning and other active protection.

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If you install another antivirus with Avast already on the system, it automatically goes into Passive Mode. One of this edition's new features needs special mention, because it's virtually invisible.

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The installer also presents a full page devoted to explaining how Avast uses your nonpersonal data, and how you can opt out if you wish. Unless you opt out, the toolbar makes Google your default search engine, but it doesn't take over your home page.

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These pages include icons for all the features found in Avast's product line, with a padlock icon for those not available in the free antivirus.ĭuring installation, Avast offers to install Google Chrome and to install the Google Toolbar in your other browsers.

In addition to the main Status page, you can use the menu to select Protection, Privacy, or Performance. The current product's main window is dark grey, with a menu down the left side. That edition featured a mostly white main window with some orange shapes lurking in the corners and a menu of icons across the top. The current product's main window could hardly look more different from the 2016 edition.

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