It may seem counterintuitive, but antivirus makers typically pay for the privilege of having products included in testing by the independent labs. If the score is poor, the company can improve by examining what went wrong. When the antivirus doesn’t bring in any income, a company might be tempted to skip the expense of testing. I follow four independent testing labs that regularly release test reports, and all four of them include Avast. Kaspersky Internet Security lacks most of Avast Pro Antivirus’s features and is far more expensive ($79.99) after the first year.

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Avast offers a free thirty-day trial of the Internet Security software so you can try before you buy. In December 2019, Avast collected unnecessary user data such as browsing history and activity through Avast subsidiary Jumpshot. Its privacy policy defends storing user data since it’s anonymized, but the company offered no clear policy on length of data retention. Avast has one of the most popular antivirus apps around, due in part to offering a free version, and it’s one that performs respectably. The company acquired its rival AVG in September of 2016, and now both use Avast’s malware scanning engine, but their distinct personalities remain. It also lets you access georestricted content, so you can watch access and watch Netflix when you’re abroad.

If you’re not careful during installation, you might end up with a lot of Avast pop-ups for additional features like Software Updater and SafePrice. Fortunately, you can disable most of these by either clicking “customize” before installation begins or by going to the Preferences tab in the program. If you’ve ever worried about strangers using your wireless network, Avast’s Wi-Fi protection will stop them in their tracks, and it monitors for hackers on hardwire networks as well. Avast’s Sandbox feature allows you to test out new software in a separate, protected space on your computer before it interacts with the rest of your hard drive, so you can make sure it’s safe. At this price point, we’d hope to see a data shredder included with the package, but like the parental controls, you’ll have to pay for an upgrade to get this feature.

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Avast has many useful features across a variety of plans but has some concerning customer service reviews. We explained why Avast is no longer one of our top recommended products. A VPN encrypts your connection, allowing you to be completely anonymous whenever you connect to any device. This keeps you safe from advertisers and others who try to track your online activities, and it also gives you added protection when using public Wi-Fi. In December 2019, Avast collected user data such as browsing history and activity through its subsidiary Jumpshot. Its privacy policy defends anonymous storage of user data, but the company offered no clear policy on length of data retention.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

  • Here are step-by-step instructions for how to turn on Fast Startup mode.
  • Select "Change settings that are currently unavailable" if the Shutdown settings are greyed out.
  • Do let us know which of the three methods turned out to be most beneficial in your case.
  • One of them involves right-clicking on Taskbar and selecting the Task Manager option.
  • This setting is commonly enabled in PCs sold running Windows 10 and any that were upgraded from Windows 8, but it’s more likely to be disabled on devices that were upgraded from Windows 7.

You can also block hackers, stop would-be webcam spies, clean up your disk space to increase device operating speed, and more. Only one of Avast’s top competitors offers a similar tool (Bitdefender’s File Shredder), so if you want this feature, Avast is a leading option. Data Shredder removes deleted data permanently by overwriting it. If there’s something you’d like to erase from a device, say last year’s tax info, Data Shredder is the perfect tool. It’s especially useful if you tend to resell your devices after use.

Avast doesn’t offer mobile device protection with the Internet Security suite, but you can go online and download a version of Avast Free Antivirus to protect your Android device. If you do purchase the software and you’re not happy with it, Avast offers a thirty-day money-back guarantee.