Best free antivirus 2013 gizmodo

Trend Micro's software earns high marks from AV-Test -- consistently scoring well for detecting zero-day attacks and widespread viruses and malware.

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. 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.

That changed in February with the launch of Sophos Home Premium. Review and where to download: Sophos Home. Each entry in this list has been carefully chosen for its business features, such as remote installation and central management.

The best business antivirus software will have enterprise-level protection against threats, but that doesn't mean they have to cost a lot of money, either. The price per installation can sometimes be cheaper than even our recommended best antivirus packages. Avast Business Antivirus Pro An excellent business antivirus suite, giving you various tools such as virus protection, Firewall, email protection, anti-spam and the ability to sandbox applications for complete security.

Avast Business Antivirus Pro as opposed to the standard Avast Business Antivirus also includes Sharepoint and Exchange protection, as well as a number of tools for your servers.

Bitdefender products are loved by the independent testing labs, highly rated for malware detection, removal, performance and usability. Most of the features work automatically — anti-malware, firewall, web advisor, URL filtering — but you can also customise the product to control user actions. Symantec Endpoint Protection Symantec's first benefit is the company's Insight file reputation technology, an effective way to detect and block even the very latest undiscovered threats.

Other layers of protection include virus protection, behaviour monitoring, intrusion protection, a firewall, and the 'Power Eraser' to remove stubborn threats and repair your system. Avira Antivirus for Endpoint This is Avira's main small business product. It takes all the core features you'd expect — antivirus, baseline network protection, web filtering — and extends them with file server protection and optimisation, along with application whitelisting and blacklisting.

The desktop side of the package has all the usual quality Kaspersky modules — antivirus, antispam, a firewall, more — but the mobile security technologies are even more impressive. Mike began his career as a lead software developer in the engineering world, where his creations were used by big-name companies from Rolls Royce to British Nuclear Fuels and British Aerospace. He now covers VPNs, antivirus and all things security for TechRadar, although he still has a secret love of quirky open-source and freeware apps which find brand new ways to solve common problems.

North America. If you're looking for the best possible protection for your online devices in , then you've come to the right place - we've tested all of the best antivirus providers out there to come up with a definitive list of the absolute greatest. View Deal. Bitdefender Antivirus. Maximum devices covered: Stand out features: Safepay banking protection, privacy tools, multi-layered anti-ransomware, VPN.

Reasons to avoid - Room for improvement on detection. Norton AntiVirus. Stand out features: Intelligent firewall, PC maintenance features, bundled backup tool with online storage.

Reasons to avoid - Mixed results from the testing labs. Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Stand out features: Highly configurable virus scans, anti-ransomware, drive-by cryptomining infection prevention. Reasons to avoid - Not a huge amount of features. Trend Micro Antivirus. Reasons to avoid - Not as many features as key rivals.

Avast One. Reasons to avoid - Not a huge upgrade from free version. Microsoft Defender. Specifications Operating system: Windows only. Stand out features: Anti-ransomware, webcam and privacy protection, web filtering. It's not the worst interface in the world, nor is it particularly swank. To perform anything other than a Quick Scan, for example, you have to drill into the antivirus menu, select Advanced Options, highlight Scan Modes under Virus Management, and then select a new default option, which applies to both manual and scheduled scans.

The integration of ZoneAlarm's ForceField software adds an additional layer of security while cruising the web, but only if you're driving IE or Firefox. If you are, ZA will scan every download before it touches your desktop, as well as give you the option of loading your browser in a virtual filesystem.

Doing so redirects unsolicited downloads away from the OS and encrypts keystrokes, effectively jamming keyloggers. All this protection adds up to a slightly heavy package. PCMark performance took a hit, and boot times jumped all over the place, finally averaging plus-six seconds compared to a clean install , but occasionally would take much longer. We found downloading updates a sometimes laborious waiting game, though this is only a potential problem if you have reason to check for updated definitions rather than let ZA do it for you.

As malware detection goes, Check Point's decision to integrate Kaspersky predictably turned out to be a good one, though it's not as hurried as the fastest-performing scanners. ZoneAlarm caught our entire collection of malware, and Kaspersky's antivirus engine continues to earn high marks from independent testing labs.

It's too bad ZA discriminates against Chrome, which is quickly picking up market share. And we wish it were a little more nimble. Otherwise, the pairing of a powerful firewall along with one of the best AV scan engines is a winning combination. Tough like McGruff, but puts leash on system performance. When you first install BullGuard, you're prompted to select a notification level. One of the two choices clamps a muzzle on BullGuard, stifling alerts the program can figure out on its own.

The other promises more notifications so you'll always know what the mutt is up to. We say mutt because BullGuard is another security suite that builds on top of someone else's scan engine. Don't pay any attention to BullGuard's password strength meter, which gives all eight-character passwords a maximum strength rating. Initially, however, we feared BullGuard's bark would be worse than its bite.

During the final stage of installation, you're asked to create a username and password. The password shows up in plain view unless you uncheck the "Show password" box, but more disconcerting is the so-called "strength meter. We typed "Password" and registered a full five bars on the strength meter, even though that's arguably the weakest eight-character password you could possibly choose. It's a minor gripe, but the feature could give greenhorn users a false sense of security.

Surfing the web was another story. BullGuard went into attack mode and sank its teeth into malicious downloads, a credit to its behavioral-based scanning. And when we chucked our own collection of malware onto the desktop, we might as well have thrown BullGuard a meaty bone, because the outcome was the same.

We paid a heavy price for all this protection, and we're not talking about skrilla. Startup time never seemed to settle down after several reboots, taking an additional 32 seconds over a clean install. These issues drag down an otherwise well-trained security companion. Webroot used to focus its attention solely on system utilities and antispyware programs, such as Spy Sweeper, arguably it's most popular product.

Starting in , Webroot widened its security net and now offers a fleshed-out lineup of antivirus products, the one reviewed here being its flagship suite. Green and purple is a garish combination, but the color scheme is about the only thing Webroot gets wrong with the UI. In making the transition from antispyware specialist to an all-encompassing security vendor, Webroot didn't build its own scan engine and instead uses one provided by Sophos, a well-known security lab.

This comes wrapped in a clever UI that's one of the best we've seen. A green checkmark or yellow exclamation point in the upper left corner of each square gives you a quick status report.

Hovering over a square expands it to show additional information, like the next scheduled scan, as well as a link to edit settings. Clicking a box brings up a tabbed menu that consolidates all the advanced features into a single, manageable window.

It's a brilliant design with an intuitive flow. Curiously missing from Webroot's top-of-the-line security software are parental controls. In the plus column, Webroot includes 10GB of online storage, about five times as much as most other suites offer, and something we might actually use. We also appreciate Webroot's quiet nature, as it doesn't bombard you with pop-ups or silly questions it can figure out on its own.

Webroot did a good job thwarting spyware and zero-day threats, but toward the end of testing, it fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book by letting a fake AV program take control of our test bed. Even a safe-mode scan proved futile. The high RAM use didn't earn any brownie points, either. Easy-to-drive antivirus that's faster than a Formula 1 race car. F-Secure caught lightning in a bottle, poured it into its scan engine, and then built a security suite around it. When we say this scanner's fast, we mean buckle up, hold on to the seat of your pants, and hope you don't get whiplash.

F-Secure's scanner sped through our test bed in just three minutes and 18 seconds the first time around, which is nearly twice as fast as the next-quickest AV suite and more nimble than the second, optimized scans of 60 percent of the other apps in this roundup. During a second scan, F-Secure zipped through our files in a mere 45 seconds.

F-Secure is one of the easier AV programs to use, mostly because it doesn't afford a whole lot of fine grain control. At that pace, we have to wonder if F-Secure is racing simply to come in first or if it can actually detect viruses, too.

As it turns it out, it can. We threw a variety of foul files at F-Secure and hit up a handful of websites serving zero-day malware. The reason we do this is to test both the scan engine and the software's behavioral analysis. Search engines, email services, messaging platforms, or other apps and services you fancy cost money , and companies have to recoup that somehow and profit. As a collaborative report from Motherboard and PCMag recently found, an Avast subsidiary, Jumpshot, scoops up data from Avast antivirus users and sells it to advertisers, who can then combine it with other data they have on your activities to track you in great detail.

It is possible to determine from the collected data what date and time the anonymized user visited YouPorn and PornHub, and in some cases what search term they entered into the porn site and which specific video they watched. As Avast recently told PCMag :.