Antivirus compare 2011

Panda is based in Spain, and I found some of the translations to be a little wonky. Panda Antivirus Pro also tends to be a little overparanoid—it identified tracking cookies as spyware.

It detected McAfee Total Protection Single Device is the entry-level antivirus product, and as the name suggests, it covers one device. There are also a ton of features on offer, particularly for a baseline product, and even if not all of them are of the highest quality, you get a lot for your money.

That includes an intelligent firewall, an integrated TunnelBear -powered VPN with unlimited data, a quality spam filter, secure file vault, and some PC speed-up options. The main stumbling block here is that the antivirus engine itself is not the best out there — although some results from independent test labs come out better than others — but this has to be something of a concern.

Further up the Webroot range, SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus expands coverage from Windows and Mac PCs to mobile devices, also providing a password manager courtesy of LastPass and covering up to five devices rather than three. And at the top of the tree is Internet Security Complete which introduces an automatic backup tool with 25GB of secure cloud storage and additional online privacy features.

SecureAnywhere AntiVirus gives you everything you need, really, although Internet Security Plus is our top pick for the most rounded package. Sophos Home Premium covers up to an impressive 10 devices Windows and Mac computers. Sophos provides capable virus protection, and worked well in passing our own anti-ransomware tests. For the antivirus software on offer — and given the 10 device ceiling — Sophos Home Premium could work out as a great value proposition for those who want to protect multiple computers.

Just note that Sophos no longer offers a long-term free version to new users. You'll see on the website you can download it for free, but that's just a trial version rather than an all-singing all-dancing free antivirus package.

We've tested all of the biggest names in internet security, we've found that the very best antivirus software in is Bitdefender. It's a superb bit of software - from its entry-level Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and its cast-iron malware defenses, excellent threat detection and genuinely value-adding extra features, right up to its all-singing, all-dancing Total Security that adds an array of maintenance tools and can be used to protect your family's computers, tablets and phones.

An antivirus app sits on your device like a guard dog, watching over the entire system and sniffing out any intruders malware , or indeed anything suspicious. In short, it offers real-time defenses against viruses or other threats, which if detected are immediately dealt with, preventing them from carrying out their destructive payload. As well as this automated protection, you can run manual virus scans whenever you wish.

Think of these as the fingerprints of malware, and if something is spotted coming onto your system that has a matching fingerprint, the antivirus leaps into action, quarantining the offender. For more details on this topic, see our full breakdown of exactly how antivirus software works. The obvious answer is staring you in the face Consult our rankings in this article, which is based on our expert knowledge and thorough, continually updated reviews of the top antivirus players.

That said, obviously you also have to bear in mind your own particular needs. Or at the other end of the scale, maybe you have a large family with a ton of devices to protect, and you need a package to cater for that. Or maybe you want a VPN service as well as antivirus, so a bundled package will save you a lot of money on subscription fees.

In short, our recommendations are here as firm guidance, but modify these appropriately based on your individual requirements. For more thoughts on this, check out our article exploring how to choose the best antivirus. The good news is that the best antivirus products are getting cheaper and cheaper to purchase, and free products are getting more and more effective A good free antivirus — like the ones we recommend on this page below — is a perfectly reasonable option for protecting your PC, with Microsoft Defender now the best we've ever seen it.

That said, premium antivirus programs offer extra features above and beyond the fundamentals. A robust system of parental controls could be a huge win for those with kids, for example. Or a dedicated anti-ransomware layer of protection that only comes with the paid-for product could help catch one of the most dreaded infections and halt it in its tracks.

For more on this, read our full piece on whether free antivirus is enough to protect you. Or just keep scrolling as we reveal today's best free antivirus software providers Paying for a premium service means you get more features like spam filters, parental controls, system scans and advanced firewalls. This makes them more suitable for power users, those who want a bit of extra security and anyone who needs their system to run as smoothly as possible.

It also means you avoid annoying pop-ups that try and tempt you to upgrade to the full version. In fact, these days you can get top quality protection absolutely free, with just about every single major vendor out there offering a free antivirus. Avira Free Antivirus is today's best free security download If you're determined to get free antivirus, we strongly suggest that you go for our pick of best security downloads - Avira Free Antivirus.

We've highlighted its long list of features below, together with information on how well it performs at independent testing labs. A very impressive freebie. That's pretty good for a freebie, and why we have no qualms at all in naming it as our 1 best free antivirus download.

As well as the essential security smarts, we also love the clean, friendly interface and the fact it has a track record of throwing up minimal false positives. In fact, the list of features reads more like a fully paid premium package. It throws in identity protection, a password manager, anti-scam protection to prevent phishing attempts, and even a PC cleaner to keep your system spick and span. If there's one thing we'd change then it's the tad overeager badgering - although popups and advertisements are very common to free products, and that doesn;t prevent us from wholeheartedly recommending Avira Free Antivirus.

Review and where to download: Avira Free Antivirus. Avast and AVG haven't yet fully merged, despite the former formally acquiring the latter in mid The newly combined company says the two free antivirus products will remain separate, although there's apparently a joint AV package on the way soon.

Obviously, though, Avast now has a lot more data to work with, having expanded its effective userbase and, therefore, its threat detection network to a whopping million users. The latest edition of Avast's free antivirus - now branded Avast One Essential - adds an automatic gaming mode to mute popups and reduce system load when you're firing up a processor-hungry game, which is very handy indeed, and the interface has been given a clean new overhaul. There's a password manager, too, which is an undeniably good addition to your security portfolio.

It has a secure browser, anti-theft protection for laptops, webcam protection and a limited-use VPN client that kicks in when you connect to an open Wi-Fi network. We think it's the best antivirus software you can buy today. Read our full Kaspersky Total Security review.

The best antivirus software you can buy Kaspersky offers excellent malware protection, lots of useful extra features and a light system impact with an easy-to-use interface. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is our top choice among entry-level antivirus products. It has very good, if not perfect, malware-detection scores. Its active scans don't add much to the background system impact, but that background load is a bit heavy.

It also offers the most value, with an unlimited password manager, a secure browser with a virtual keyboard, a Wi-Fi network scanner, a file shredder, protection against encrypting ransomware and Bitdefender's new web-privacy software -- features often found only with pricier antivirus packages.

The midrange Bitdefender Internet Security adds parental controls, webcam protection and a two-way firewall, while Bitdefender Total Security tops off the lineup with an anti-theft feature for laptops, a system optimizer and licenses for Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android.

Read our full Bitdefender Antivirus Plus review. All of Norton's antivirus products offer excellent malware protection, and the once-heavy system-performance load is much lighter. The number of extra features each program has varies, but the sweet spot in the lineup is Norton Deluxe.

It includes a password manager that works on all major platforms, unlimited VPN service, dark-web personal-data monitoring, parental controls and up to 50GB of online storage space.

Two other offerings, Norton Premium and Norton Platinum, give you more online storage and expand the antivirus and VPN coverage to 10 and 20 devices, respectively. If you want full-on identity protection, Norton offers three bundles with varying degrees of LifeLock service and even more online storage.

Their subscription prices run well into the triple digits, but still cost less than if you were to buy the identity protection, password manager, cloud-backup storage and antivirus software separately.

Unlike some of the other best antivirus software makers, Norton doesn't offer a file shredder, file encryption or secure web browser with any of its products. Yet every other digital-protection service you could possibly ask for is included with at least some of its bundles. Read our full Norton Deluxe review.

McAfee's malware detection has improved greatly in the past couple of years, but it's still not quite top-of-the-line. To get parental controls or one of the best password managers in the business, you'll have to spring for McAfee Total Protection or its sibling McAfee LiveSafe, which comes pre-installed on many new PCs. The multi-device licenses of those two security suites also come with an identity-protection service.

But none of the McAfee products have a secure browser or webcam protection, which you often get with other premium antivirus programs. Read our full McAfee Internet Security review.

Trend Micro offers very good protection, but its malware-detection engine creates a heavy system load during scans and returns a fair number of false-positive results. Parental controls, a system optimizer and a file shredder are bundled into the mid-range Trend Micro Internet Security. Trend Micro Maximum Security adds a password manager, a secure browser and file encryption, while the new Trend Micro Premium Security adds a VPN and dark-web monitoring of personal data.

However, none of Trend Micro's programs include a two-way firewall or webcam protection, standard with other brands' midrange offerings. Nor does the premium product have the cloud storage or backup software that some of the best antivirus brands add as enticements to their flagship packages.

Read our full Trend Micro Maximum Security review. ESET is one of the biggest antivirus names in Europe, with a very small system-performance load and fast scans. Its malware-detection rate used to be kind of meh, but has improved markedly in recent lab tests. However, there's no VPN client, backup software or file shredder.

ESET's pricing is per device, which is optimal for users who might have more than a few devices to protect. But if your device count gets into double digits, ESET's costs can add up. Sophos Home Premium does its job economically, offering reasonable protection from malware at an affordable price. Because it's spun off from Sophos' enterprise software for business clients, Sophos Home Premium lacks many of the bells and whistles other security suites offer, such as a password manager, identity theft protection service or VPN service.

What Sophos Home Premium does have is the essentials: ransomware rollbacks, webcam defenses and protection against keyloggers, malicious websites and boot-sector and fileless malware. It also has a web-filter system for parents and an online management console from which you can tweak most of the settings. Some people might demand more from an antivirus suite, but anyone who would rather buy only what they need will appreciate Sophos Home Premium's just-the-basics approach. Read our full Sophos Home Premium review.

A good paid antivirus suite is a digital-protection jackknife, often bundling in parental controls, identity theft protection, a password manager, backup software, cloud storage, a firewall, a system optimizer and software for Mac, Android and iOS as well as Windows. But what if you just want Windows antivirus software without all of those pricey extras? And what if you can't afford to pay for antivirus software? One of the best free antivirus programs might be exactly what you need.

Free antivirus software used to be a step down from the paid software and involved trade-offs. The protection wasn't as good and you'd either have to put up with ads filling your screen or with constant nags to upgrade to a paid program.

That's all changed. One of the best antivirus makers, Kaspersky, offers a free version with the same excellent malware protections as its paid offerings. Its top rival, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition, has been officially discontinued, although Tom's Guide readers can still download it with this link. A merger between the biggest names in free antivirus, Avast and AVG, created a combined malware-detection engine that's much better than the sum of its parts.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's built-in antivirus software, Windows Defender, aka Microsoft Defender Antivirus, has gone from being a joke to being one of the best antivirus programs out there, free or paid.

You can now get free antivirus protection that's as good as anything you pay for. So here are the best free antivirus programs based on their protection, system impact, ease of use and extra features. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free 2. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 3.

Windows Defender Antivirus 4. Avast Free Antivirus 5. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free Antivirus may be the best free antivirus program we've ever seen.

It has excellent malware protection, a decent set of extra functions and features, and a system-performance impact so small that our computer actually sped up after we installed the program. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been officially discontinued, and we're not sure how long Tom's Guide readers can still download it. It's the best "set it and forget it" free antivirus option.

It's now one of the best antivirus programs altogether. You don't have to install or download it — it's already on your PC. If you want an unlimited password manager or a hardened web browser, Avast Free Antivirus might be for you. Its malware protection is much better than it once was, although its performance impact is fairly heavy.

Avast's stepsister AVG has the same malware-detection engine, but lacks Avast's full slate of useful extra features. But it does have a file shredder and system optimizer. Those include real-time protection on desktop, ransomware and phishing protection and zero-day exploit detection. If you have a larger team or need extra security, Malwarebytes has you covered.

The premium package includes threat isolation and recovery, ransomware rollback and the ability to add server security. From protecting a few devices in a small office to defending dozens of devices from large attacks, Malwarebytes has something for everyone.

Who Should Use It: Malwarebytes offers a scalable platform that fits in the small office as well as it does in the sprawling enterprise. Norton is a household antivirus name, and for good reason. The business service provides the same excellent protection.

That said, it loses a few points due to a limited feature set and high prices. Norton provides the convenience of a personal antivirus with the reach of a business one.

As a cloud-based service, you can easily manage your devices and protection without dedicated hardware. AVG sets itself apart with features such as Linkscanner, which checks links before you open them, and CyberCapture, which sends unrecognized files to AVG for analysis.

Featured Partners 1. Holistic antivirus protection is important for business and personal use, but there are few areas that are more important for businesses. Browser and email protection are two of the main precautions. According to the cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, phishing schemes are a rampant issue in the business community, and email is a top attack vector.

An antivirus service can help identify malicious emails and links, which already deals with a significant issue businesses face. Ransomware protection is very important for businesses, too. An attack can lock you out of your key business resources and cost you a significant amount of money. Personal threats are widespread—the goal of cyberwarfare is to infect as many people as possible.

Business threats are often targeted, using tactics like phishing to gain access to business networks and resources in a directed way. Forbes Advisor closely analyzed the top antivirus services to bring you this ranking. First, we gathered hundreds of data points on the top products from the top antivirus companies. The dataset was divided into the key features for an antivirus service: price, customer support, user experience, app ratings, and core features.

With the key features set apart, we weighted the results and assigned each of the features a score. The combination of these scores is what you see in the five-star rating above. Although we looked at everything from support to ransomware protection, there were a few key areas that took precedence in our ranking.

The first was the price. Outside of that, we paid attention to features and extra protection measures. Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender, which is a free antivirus service.

If you have highly sensitive data, an antivirus program can serve as an insurance policy if nothing else. Between browser security and Windows Defender a built-in antivirus in Windows 10 , you can keep yourself protected by following good security practices like avoiding suspicious links and using unique passwords across websites.

That said, a dedicated antivirus program has upsides. Antivirus providers have business plans that can help keep company resources protected from ransomware attacks and employees from phishing schemes. Jacob Roach is a writer and technology enthusiast.