Avast Full Review: A Vast Arsenal of Protective Tools

How good is Avast when compared against its competition, and is it worth it? This article contains all the information you need to know to help you decide.
 

Security and Protection

How secure is Avast? Can Avast protect our devices from viruses, malware, and other causes of harm?

To answer that, we check the following regarding security and protection:
 

1. Third-party lab test results

Rather than taking the AV creators' words for their own devices, checking with third-party labs and compiling an analysis report of different resources provides the best assessment.
 

• AV-Test scores

  • Avast Free Antivirus scores high on protection according to AV-Test. It gets a 6/6 score on its ability to detect malicious ware.
     
  • Avast Free Antivirus scores 6/6 in the impact on device performance department, which means it won't take up your device's resources.
     
  • Avast Free Antivirus has a low false-positive rate with a 6/6 usability score. This means it's unlikely to mistake regular files for harmful ones.
     

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• AV-Comparatives

  • Avast scores 3/3 stars (Advanced +) in the impact on device performance department, which means it won't take up your device's resources.
     
  • Avast Free Antivirus has a Real-World Protection Test with a 3/3 stars (Advanced +) real-world protection score. According to a test conducted with 758 domains/files, this score is to check the rate of detection of malicious files and domains.
     
    • Avast Free Antivirus had 10 false positives (false alarms), with the industry average in the test being 17. While successfully blocking 99.7% of threats.
       
  • Malware Protection Test: Avast Free Antivirus had a 3/3 (Advanced +) score regarding malware detection. This was done by testing 10102 Test cases with a 100% detection and block, with ten false positives (false alarms).
     

• SE Labs

Regarding SE Labs, the Avast Free Antivirus product was reviewed, which is relatively inferior to the Premium Security and Avast One products. Nonetheless, the free product scored amazingly.

According to SE Labs:

• Avast Free Antivirus scored (AAA) overall with a total accuracy rating of 100%.
   
• Avast Free Antivirus had a score of 750/750 with 100% legitimate accuracy meaning it was able to differentiate accurately the products classify legitimate applications and URLs.
   
• In terms of protection, Avast Free Antivirus detected 100 out of 100, blocked 96, and neutralized 4. Earning a protection score of 100/100.
   
• Avast Free Antivirus had a protection accuracy rating of 395/399 (99%).

 
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2. Firewall and IDS protection

Avast Premium Security has firewall protection. A firewall's function is to monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic providing users with an intruder detection system (IDS) to protect users from possible threats that might harm their devices. 

This, coupled with the Wi-Fi scanning, makes sure you won't expose your device to unnecessary threats from your network.
 

3. USB Rescue ToolKit

A USB rescue toolkit feature is where you would download a rescue kit as a failsafe on your USB and use it later on. In the event malicious ware infects your device and prevents it from even booting and reaching the antivirus screen, you can use the USB rescue kit to initiate a cloud-based cleaner.

A USB Rescue toolkit can be useful against malware that requires you to boot your PC to function.

Avast provides the rescue disk feature for downloading with the Premium Security product by opening the interface, selecting the protection tab, clicking virus scan, and selecting the rescue disk option from the right side of the interface.
 

Plans and Features

Avast provides users with three main products: Avast Free Antivirus, Avast Premium Security, and Avast One. here is a quick summary of the features:

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1. Avast Essential One

Avast antivirus has a free version that provides robust protection according to third-party test lab results contains the following features:

• Real-time protection against viruses and malware
   
• Dedicated ransomware protection
   

2. Avast Premium Security antivirus

The Internet Security Plan is the premium version that provides users with more features in addition to the ones provided to the free version, such as:

• Wi-Fi inspector - Scans your Wi-Fi and makes sure your network is safe and secure.
   
• Remote access shield - Prevents and blocks unwanted remote connections to your device.
   
• Sandbox environment – A separate virtual environment in which you can test run your programs to test if they are risky or not without the risk of infection.
   
• Real site - Provides you with protection against fake websites that hackers might attempt to spoof by blocking them and redirecting you to the real websites.
   
• Real-Time Updates - Ensures you’re always protected by automatically getting security updates, bug fixes, and new features.
   
• Do Not Disturb Mode - Temporarily stops all pop-ups and app notifications so you can focus on your work, movie, or gaming experience.
   
• Silent Mode - Postpones Avast scans, updates, and popups so you can avoid interruptions while you work.
   
• Password protection - Ensures your saved passwords in your browsers become secure.
   
• Data shredder - Deletes files to the point they can't be retrieved.
   
• Webcam Shield - Protects you from webcam hijacking.
   
• Sensitive data shield - Encrypts your files so your sensitive data can be stored securely.
   

3. Avast One

The Avast One plan includes the Avast Premium Security with the addition of a tune-up tool, a driver updater, a premium VPN, and an anti-tracker. 

The tune-up tool helps solve performance issues, including what programs slow down your device and if there are any just files or broken registry items that could reduce your device's performance. The Driver updater updates any outdated driver you might have on your device.

The VPN has multiple functionalities of which data encryption is most relevant here, with further details discussed below. The anti-tracker prevents online tracking of your data from hackers or from online websites, keeping your privacy secured.
 

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Avast mobile app

Along with the Internet Security plan, the Avast mobile app is available for Android phones.

In addition to the malware protection, which is the only feature available in the free mobile app, the Premium Security Android antivirus provides users with an anti-theft tracking feature to make sure you can track your device if it's lost or stolen. It also provides users with the ability to capture photos and audio of whoever tries to open your device and sends it to your email.

In addition, the Android mobile app allows you to lock your photos and files with a PIN/fingerprint. A RAM-boost feature to make sure your resources are well managed, a battery lifesaver, and web protection, and junk clear are available.

The Android antivirus app provides a device cleaning function to help optimize your device and make it function faster.

The iOS mobile app provides only the Wi-Fi scanning feature for the free version. As for the Premium Security plan, it adds email monitoring for password leaks, an encrypted photo vault, and a built-in VPN.

Extra features

Among the major extra features provided by antiviruses, Avast stands as follows:
 

• Password manager

Avast provides a password manager as part of its Premium Security plan.

Rather than using the same password in multiple websites and running the risk of getting hacked across all your accounts when hacked on one, and using different passwords runs the risk of forgetting them. Password managers are the perfect solution. With avast, the passwords already saved on your web browsers become secure with the password protection feature.
 

• Online banking

Avast provides safe online banking.

With safe online banking, a user would be able to do online transactions in safe environments without the risk of losing his information to a man in the middle attack or other attempts at stealing your data. Avast redirects users to real sites if they go to a fake one automatically, adding to the online security.
 

• Parental control

Avast antivirus doesn’t have the parental control feature.

Parental control allows worried parents to take care of their children and make sure they are surfing safe parts of the internet and when they are allowed to do so.
 

• VPN

Avast has a premium VPN service under the Avast One plan or as a standalone product.

Avast Secure Line VPN is meant for the purpose of protection and security mainly. However, it also allows users to bypass geo-restricted content and to stream. It provides bank-grade AES-256-bit encryption so your data remains safe, in addition to 55-server locations spread over 34 countries you can connect from.

Secure Line VPN plans provide you with either a single device plan or a 10-device plan. It is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

When provided as a standalone product, it has a 7-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

For further information, read our Avast SecureLine VPN full review and analysis.

• Backup

Unfortunately, Avast doesn’t provide online backup.

The presence of encrypted online backup can give peace of mind, especially when one has sensitive documents relating to work, personal, and sensitive files. With the online backup, a user can find his files saved in the event the main files are lost, which can prove helpful.
 

User Experience

Avast provides a great user experience for users, be it in the form of the smart scan, which shortens scanning time by skipping files it already knows are safe, the simple user interface, or the smooth customer support.
 

1. Ease of use

The user interface is friendly with a green smart scan button to start scanning it in the middle. On the side of the interface, you can view other options of the interface to view the other available features. All in all, its use is fairly simple and easy.
 

2. Customer support

In terms of customer support, the following methods of contact are available for users when they are in need of help:

• Knowledge base
• Blog
• FAQs
• Phonecall (premium support)
• Remote control of your device
   

Pricing and Payments

Avast prices per plan summarized in a table:

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Payment methods

Payment methods include:

• Major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover).
• PayPal.
• Wire transfer.
   

Free trial

Avast provides users with a 30-day trial period to try their premium product to make sure they are satisfied with the product.
 

Money-back guarantee

In addition to the 30-days trial, a 30-day money-back guarantee is also available, adding up to 60 days of risk-free use of Avast until you make up your mind.

Final Verdict

Is Avast worth it? In terms of protection, it does the job well, based on the number summarized by three different third-party testing labs. The Internet Security plan covers the final possible potential threats that can arise by providing a firewall and extending the protection to the online experience. The major issue is the lack of customizability of their plans, with either 1 device or 10 being the choices.

That being said, it is still an ok choice. However, for the same price, you might get a better deal with Norton 360 by getting the same level of protection with the addition of many more features.