Avast Pro Antivirus 2. Review & Rating. These days just about every new computer comes with a short- term antivirus product installed, which is great. When the subscription ends, you have to either extend it or choose another product. The folks at Avast Software naturally hope you'll choose Avast Pro Antivirus 2. It offers the same antivirus protection as Avast's free edition along with some high- tech additional features.
Avast Free Antivirus' malware detection isn't as good as those of other options, but it has a good interface and range of features. I think Avast is the best Antivirus software. I have tried others years back and didn't like them. Review details. Super Job done by Avast! Free Antivirus 2016.It block 158/158 in Ondemand scan and zero-day test it missed 3 samples out of 12 samples.This is quite nice to see HIPS. With Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 you get the same effective protection found in Avast's free edition along with a hardened browser, DNS protection, and. Avast free antivirus review free download - Avast Free Antivirus 2016, Avast Pro Antivirus 2016, Avast Free Mac Security 2015, and many more programs.
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One way or another, Avast detected every single one of my samples. A few managed to install some executable components before being whacked, and a couple. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Avast Free Antivirus 2015 [Download] at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users./>. Avast Free Antivirus 2016, free and safe download. Avast Free Antivirus 2016 2016.11.1.2253: One of the best antiviruses for Windows. Avast Free Antivirus is an.
Unlike many vendors, Avast doesn't limit use of its free product to personal use. You can use it at home, at work, wherever you like.
In fact, the company even offers a free product aimed specifically at business use, with the centralized management that IT departments love. So, your choice whether to use the free or paid edition comes down to how much you value the additional features that you get by paying. Those familiar with previous editions of this product will notice that the current edition has a very different appearance. The old model featured four big buttons in the middle, a left- side stack with seven more buttons, and a large status panel. In the current edition, most of the main window is empty space, with some abstract art in the corners.
Four simple icons across the top are labeled Scan, Tools, Passwords, and Store. The icons animate when you mouse over them, much as the icons in Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security 2.
As with the free product, the installer installs Google Chrome and the Google Toolbar, unless you opt out. Once you click Install, it goes to work without further ado. The installer displays a page summarizing Avast's privacy policy, with a link to the full policy. Another screen offers a link to install Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus on your Android device. Shared Features. The core antivirus protection in this product is precisely the same as that of Avast Free Antivirus 2. I won't rehash all of my findings here.
Please read my review of the free product for the juicy details. Avast Pro Antivirus 2. Lab Tests Chart. Avast Pro Antivirus 2. Malware Blocking Chart. Avast Pro Antivirus 2. Antiphishing Chart. All of the labs I follow include Avast in testing.
It earned 5. 5 of 6 possible points in AV- Test Institute's protection test; its total score came to 1. In three of four tests by AV- Comparatives it rated Advanced+, the best rating. And Dennis Technology Labs certified Avast at the AA level, the second- best rating.
These scores are good, but Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2. Kaspersky Anti- Virus (2. For example, both earned Advanced+ in five tests by AV- Comparatives, and Bitdefender took a perfect 1. AV- Test. Avast performed very well in my hands- on malware- blocking test, detecting 1. Those that it didn't block at launch all managed to sneak some executable traces onto the test system, though, and some of those were actually running. Even so, Avast's overall 9.
Bitdefender for best score among product tested using the same sample set. Webroot Secure. Anywhere Antivirus (2. When I tried downloading malware from just- discovered malware- hosting URLs, Avast didn't do quite as well. Its 6. 9 percent protection rate is well above the current average of 4. Mc. Afee Anti. Virus Plus (2. Symantec Norton Security Premium managed 9.
Like the malicious URL blocking test, my antiphishing test always uses the very freshest fraudulent URLs. I use Norton as a touchstone for this test, reporting each product's detection rate as a delta from Norton's. Avast and Kaspersky came extremely close, just 1 percentage point behind Norton. Bitdefender is the only recent product that's done better than Norton in this test. See How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests. See How We Test Malware Blocking. See How We Test Antiphishing.
Other Shared Features. A full antivirus scan on my standard test system took over twice as long as the current average, though of course you can continue to use your computer while a scan runs.
Avast's boot- time scan runs before Windows (or any Windows- based malware) can launch, and it now runs to completion without user interaction. You can also create a Rescue Disk (CD or USB) to clean up your system when malware has rendered it unbootable. The browser cleanup scan reports on any of your browser add- ins that have a bad reputation. Introduced last year, the network security scan checks for insecure settings in your router, including poor or no encryption, a CPU that's open to command from the Internet, and use of default login credentials.
The product can scan for outdated software and, in most cases, perform the updates for you. There's also a system cleanup scan, but actually performing the recommended optimizations requires a separate purchase. And you can click Smart Scan to run a quick antivirus scan along with all of the other available scans. New this year, all of Avast's products include a fully integrated basic password manager. It performs the expected password capture and replay, syncs across multiple devices, and includes a password generator. It also stores personal information, though the form- filling component isn't yet fully functional.
You won't find high- end features like two- factor authentication or secure sharing of credentials, but it's a nice bonus. Safe. Zone Browser. Past versions of this product have included the Safe. Zone desktop, a completely separate desktop with its own hardened browser and the option to run other apps in the Safe. Zone. Its purpose was to keep your financial transactions and other sensitive activities separate from the main desktop, to avoid the possibility of interference by malware.
In practice, the full hardened desktop proved unnecessary, so Avast has repackaged and revised the technology into a hardened browser with useful security features built in. As with most modern browsers, the default new tab contains tiles representing your frequently- visited sites. Safe. Zone is based on Chrome's browser technology, but with a stripped- down and hardened feature set. When you visit a financial site, it switches into the extra- secure Pay Mode.
You can also click a toolbar icon to manually turn Pay Mode on. This mode isolates the browser to prevent interference by malware, especially keyloggers. To check this feature, I downloaded and installed a popular free keylogger. I typed some text in the Safe. Zone browser, switched to Pay Mode and typed some more, and typed a final note after switching out of Pay Mode. In a similar test on Check Point Zone.
Alarm Extreme Security 2. I found that the keylogger captured gibberish keystrokes.
This time, nothing at all was captured in between the two unprotected typing events. Interestingly, the keylogger utility logged a Lock event when I entered Pay Mode, and an Unlock event when I left.
Like Zone. Alarm Extreme, Avast didn't manage to keep the keylogger from capturing clipboard contents in Pay Mode, but it did foil the keylogger's attempt to capture screen images, something Zone. Alarm didn't manage. It looks like Avast achieved the stated aim of preventing interference by other programs, though I'd like to see that clipboard data- leak patched.
Safe. Zone Bonuses. In addition to the protective Pay Mode, the Safe. Zone browser includes a number of useful bonuses. For starters, it incorporates ad blocking powered by Ad. Block Plus{/ZIFFARTICLE}}. By default, it uses Ad.
Blocks' Easy. List and allows "some non- intrusive advertising" to come through. You can choose a number of additional lists, some in other languages. And if an ad you don't like gets through, you can right- click it and choose Block Element. I could tell by looking at the settings that Safe. Zone includes a video download tool, but I couldn't figure out how to use it.
Turns out I was over- thinking. When I went to my daughter's You.
Tube channel and launched a video, a handy download arrow appeared above. With one click, I downloaded an MP4 version of the video. Simple! When you're buying online, you always want to get the best price, right? Safe. Zone's Safe.
Price feature kicks in when you select an item on a shopping site. It submits the item to partner Ciuvo and gets back a list of prices at other sites.
Avast doesn't send any personal information to Ciuvo, not even the site you're looking at. A toolbar slides in at the top of the webpage with information about prices at other venues, and a notification if Safe. Price found a lower price.
This could be a useful service if you don't have any attachment to a particular online merchant. However, in testing I found that it frequently reported a better price on a different product. For example, it reported that it found a $7,0. TV for $2,3. 00. But the original product had a 7. Interestingly, when I first loaded up Safe. Zone there was a fifth element identified in the settings, Web Reputation. That makes sense to me, since Avast's plug- in for Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer offers this feature.
However, shortly after I spotted the icon for Web Reputation, it disappeared. My Avast contact confirmed that this is a known problem, one that should be resolved very soon. Play in the Sandbox. If you run across a program that you suspect might be malicious, the best course is to delete it and move along. However, if you really need the program, or if curiosity gets the better of you, Avast's Sandbox tool can help. The purpose of the Sandbox is to allow programs to run while preventing them from doing any damage to the system.
Changes to sensitive areas are virtualized. From within the program, the file and Registry changes seem to have succeeded, but no permanent change has actually occurred. There's also an option to deny Internet access to sandboxed programs. To run a program in the Sandbox, you simply right- click it and choose Run in sandbox. I experimented by running Notepad that way and saving a file, but I found that the file remained visible even outside the Sandbox.
My Avast contact explained that the system doesn't virtualize files created using the standard Save As dialog, since that's a user action, not something malware could do. When I tried creating files without using the standard dialogs, the Sandbox worked as promised. There are eight pages of settings for this feature. A very few are simple.
For example, you can choose to have sandboxed programs identified by a tab attached to the window or by a colored border. You can choose whether files downloaded by a virtualized browser should be saved outside the Sandbox, too. Most, though, are for experts only. Not an expert? Hands off!
Secure DNSAnother component not found in Avast's free antivirus is Secure DNS. Secure DNS protects your system against malware that re- routes Domain Name System (DNS) traffic.
DNS is what translates a human- friendly URL like www. IP address like 2.
If the bad guys compromise your system's DNS settings, they can totally redirect your Web surfing to their own nefarious servers, and you won't be able to tell the difference. For me, the problem with Secure DNS is that there's no way to see it working. It functions as a kernel- mode network driver, so you don't even see any difference in your network's DNS settings. Fortunately, Avast's tech experts have set up a (harmless) fake server to show off this feature. I configured my virtual machines to use the supplied fake DNS server and visited Google in two machines, one with Secure DNS, one without. On the machine without Secure DNS, everything looked OK at first, but after any search, all images changed to cartoon burglars, and the text of all links gradually and visibly changed to "How secure do you think you are?" The machine with Secure DNS sailed along with no problems. Nice demo, Avast!
For the Experts. Avast Pro Antivirus 2. However, that's also true of Avast Free Antivirus 2. The Pro edition adds a hardened browser, sandboxing for suspect programs, and protection against DNS hijacking. These features may justify the price for those with the training to understand and use them, but for the average consumer, the free edition is a better choice. In fact, it's an Editors' Choice for free antivirus protection.
If you're a dedicated Avast fan and you want a little more protection than the free edition offers, by all means try the excellent Avast Pro Antivirus 2. Otherwise, if you're going to spend hard- earned cash on antivirus protection, consider one of our Editors' Choice products. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2. Kaspersky Anti- Virus (2. Mc. Afee Anti. Virus Plus (2.
Windows, Android, Mac OS, and i. OS devices. And the behavior- based detection used by Webroot Secure. Anywhere Antivirus (2.
Avast Free Antivirus 2. Download]Updated: 7/1. I have edited this review to let everyone know that I received a great e- mail back from AVAST customer service.
I have attached the e- mail to the end of this review, because it contains some VERY helpful information on how to fix some of the concerns I had. Also, I ended up with Web. Root Secure Anywhere, which has been excellent. There are no pop up boxes with messages, and computer runs as well as it ever has.- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Original Review Below: At first I thought they changed my search engine to Bing, but it turns they only changed the home page to Bing. At first I only gave this 3 stars, but since it is free, itdoesn't seem like there is much to complain about right now. If something happens, I will update - otherwise so far no problems. I've had it about 6 hours now.
Review has now been edited. Just received a pop up that says Avast has certified my outgoing e- mail by inserting a small message into my outgoing e- mail. Then it said to review options for this clicking inside the pop up box. I will need to Google this and report back what this is all about. Shouldn't I have had a chance to explore options before they sent something on my behalf? This e- mail is used for business purposes, so extremely frustrating that my clients could be reading something that I have not had a chance to read yet. Review has been edited to tell you that certain websites had information removed.
Example: I went to log into a credit reporting website, and could only see half my page. At my cell phone provider's website, couldn't access certain things. When I clicked on web under the options of Avast, it had been blocking scripts. I had to uncheck the box.
I've noticed that several web pages now loading very slowly, from IE to Google Chrome to Fire. Fox to Opera. I'm uninstalling it and see if things are back to normal. For now, this product is receiving a 1 star rating. I uninstalled Avast and my computer seems to be back to normal. RECEIVED REPLY FROM AVAST: Hi Dolce,I wish you would have given us a chance to help you. We have FAQs, phone support, the avast!
It's too late, but just want you to know that you can turn off the email tagging. From the avast. UI > Settings > Active Protection > Mail Shield > Settings behavior (wrench icon) > General section > "Uncheck" Insert note into clean message (outgoing). For a business computer, you should use avast! The script blocking could have been legitimate. There is a possibility that these had been injected into the page and attempted to connect to a malicious site.
The other possibility is that it was a false positive. We can determine that for sure, and help you. I'm glad you have a normal functioning computer again, and regret that avast! Best regards,Deborah Salmi. U. S. Marketing manager.