Avast is a popular antivirus product with a mighty malware detection engine and a lot of extra features including ransomware cover and a web fire wall and VPN assistance. Its malware detection score of 6 out of 6 is great and it did an outstanding job at blocking access to phishing websites which slipped past Chrome’s and Firefox’s default protections.
In our real-world tests, Avast was able to filter through almost two million discrete files in a single scan, which is impressive considering that the software is extremely light and efficient. In our tests of speed, Avast didn’t impact system performance in any way and it performed better than the majority of competitors, which can take an hour or more to go through the same number of files.
The interface of Avast is simple, easy to navigate and clean. The majority of its tools are centralized on one screen that has clear tiles that show each feature. This makes it easy to locate the features you require without having to go through a long menu or multiple apps. This is an improvement over McAfee’s suite, which offers all of its features spread across multiple apps.
Avast offers a high degree of customer support, offering 24 hour support via email and telephone. Avast also offers a Knowledgebase and forums that can help you with simple issues. You can also utilize a ticketing service to seek assistance for more complex issues. However, its data-sharing practices cause concern and it does not have a password management feature or parental control to match the Bitdefender Total Security.