Avast One review: Well-priced PC security with excellent protection

Price When Reviewed

$50.28 / 5 gadgets I $69.48 / 30 gadgets

Best Prices Today: Avast One

You may let Windows defend your PC — it does already protect in opposition to on-line threats. But impartial antivirus software program like Avast One is best at catching viruses and malware, and wins on person friendliness, too.

Avast really has two strains of paid merchandise, each powered by the identical antivirus engine. They have equally clear interfaces, too. But the Avast One line focuses on identification and privateness considerations, making it arguably the higher selection for most individuals. Life is essentially carried out on-line today, and staying secure is extra than simply thwarting malware and exploits. Phishing schemes and private data leaked in knowledge breaches can weaken your safety, too. 

Avast One allows you to keep on prime of those points, that are at the moment unavoidable in fashionable life, and does so with polish.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best antivirus software for Windows to study competing merchandise.

What does Avast One embody?

Avast One enhances the already huge safety in opposition to on-line threats accessible within the free Essentials plan — it each upgrades current defenses and provides new ones to the set, too.

The fundamentals embody the corporate’s top-notch antivirus and firewall, which block malware, ransomware, malicious web sites and downloads, and community intrusions. The suite additionally displays for weak networks, compromised purposes, makes an attempt at unauthorized entry to the saved passwords in your browser, and appearances of your knowledge on the darkish internet. And you get PC utilities, too: a system optimizer and software program updater.

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Upgrading to Avast One unlocks safeguards in opposition to risks like webcam takeovers; webmail messages containing malware and phishing makes an attempt; shady apps looking for delicate knowledge (like social safety numbers) in your PC; and malicious redirects for web sites you go to (aka DNS hijacking). 

You get strengthened identification and privateness protections as nicely. For starters, darkish internet monitoring turns into steady within the background. The VPN places no restrictions on bandwidth or server utilization, too, and on-line trackers get blocked. Avast One even ties these latter two options collectively in a “Private Mode” setting to your default browser’s incognito tabs. When enabled, a safe VPN connection and monitoring prevention will robotically kick in everytime you begin an incognito session. 

As for PC utilities, you get three extras: a disk cleaner, driver updater, and duplicate file finder.

Avast One doesn’t embody a password supervisor or parental controls. You’ll need to look elsewhere for these providers, as Avast doesn’t provide them in any respect.

How a lot does Avast One value?

If you purchase a license instantly from Avast, you get a reduced price for the primary yr, then the usual value afterward. Plans bought by way of Avast include a 30-day money-back assure and are robotically enrolled in auto-renewal.

Individual plan (5 gadgets)

• $51 for the primary yr
• $110 per yr thereafter

Family plan (30 gadgets)

• $70 for the primary yr
• $150 per yr thereafter

For extra financial savings on Avast One plans, you may reap the benefits of a special offer for PCWorld readers, which drops the price of the primary yr to $33 for 5 gadgets and $53 for 30 gadgets. You can even try our article on discounted antivirus software that explains find out how to get offers by way of on-line shops like Newegg.

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You can set up Avast One on PC, Android, macOS, and iOS gadgets. The Avast One Family plan additionally features a Family Sharing function — it means that you can invite different customers with separate accounts to share in that larger system restrict.

Relative to Avast’s Premium Security plan, which has the same variety of options, you’ll pay much less for Avast One within the first yr (relative to the variety of gadgets you will have). However, Avast One is dearer in subsequent years, when the associated fee rises to the total record value.

Key options of Avast One

Installation and person interface

After downloading Avast One out of your on-line account dashboard and putting in, you’ll see a display asking to start out a scan of your PC. You can select to take action (which is advisable), or skip to entry the app.

Avast One’s interface is light-themed, with a mixture of cream, tan, and orange accents for its shade theme. A easy navigation bar lives on the left aspect of the display, giving fast entry to the dashboard, options, notifications, and settings. The tabs aren’t labeled as clearly as in competing software program — Account is the place you’ll discover settings and different app-related data, for instance. But you will get oriented rapidly, due to good descriptions inside every part of the software program.

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Opening the app will present the Home display, which is a dashboard that allows you to run a scan, activate the VPN, or run considered one of a number of utilities. You have simply two choices for scanning right here, a sensible scan and a deep scan. For others, you have to head to the Scan Center throughout the Explore tab, which homes all Avast One options. There you’ll discover choices for Targeted Scan and Boot-Time Scan along with the good and deep scan defaults. You can even create a customized scan. But in contrast to Avast’s Premium Security suite, Avast One’s scan settings are extra restricted. In truth, this distinction is how the 2 merchandise diverge — Avast One focuses on a less complicated expertise geared towards life on-line, whereas Premium Security prioritizes higher management over safety in your PC.

Some customers could not just like the record format of the Explore tab. Though it teams the completely different settings by sort (Device Protection, Online Privacy, Smooth Performance), those that prefer to see all the things on a display without delay could discover it irritating to need to scroll. But every entry is labeled clearly and described nicely.

Surprisingly, Avast One’s try and upsell its extra premium plans is a reasonably discreet button on the prime of the window, subsequent to the reduce and exit buttons. It’s way more delicate than the method taken by Avast’s sister firm, AVG.

Virus, malware, and risk safety

Real-time safety

Avast One retains steady look ahead to real-time threats, each on-line and in your PC. When you browse the net, the software program scans pages for malware and watches for makes an attempt to redirect you to faux websites. The visitors going to and out of your PC additionally get screened for suspicious exercise, as do makes an attempt to entry passwords saved to your browser. If you select to present Avast entry to your webmail account (like Gmail), it should additionally monitor your e mail for phishing scams and malware.

On your PC, Avast One scans recordsdata you add or open, checks downloaded e mail in Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird for malicious attachments, and limits entry to folders typically goal by ransomware (and any others you add to the record). It additionally permits solely authorized apps to make use of your webcam.

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Avast One additionally tracks knowledge breaches to see if any of your e mail addresses (as much as 5) have appeared in them. You’ll get notified each time a match is discovered. Changing your password on that service or website — and any others the place you may need additionally used it or an in depth variant — will probably be as much as you to carry out your self, although. (Which is when a password supervisor is useful.)

Scheduled and guide scans

Unlike different antivirus software program makers, Avast doesn’t arrange a default scheduled scan in a freshly put in app — and so Avast One lacks this function out of the field (so to talk), too. It’s an odd transfer, since scheduled scans sustain the safety of a PC with minimal person effort wanted.

To get your PC on an everyday scan schedule, you may click on the Automated Smart Scan scheduling button within the Scan Center’s Scan Now tab. A sensible scan checks for malware, vulnerabilities in your browser and apps, and different points, with a view to maintain your PC clear general.

Alternatively, you may create your personal customized scan, which helps you to choose from Deep Scan, Targeted Scan, or Quick Scan as your template. Deep scans dig completely by way of your PC, whereas focused scans study particular recordsdata or folders. Quick scans take a look at generally focused and significant areas of your system. You can then additional tweak a handful of superior settings.

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For each good scan and customized scan scheduling, your choices are to run the scan simply as soon as, each day, weekly, or month-to-month. Of the choices, I like to recommend scheduling a fast scan or customized scan — they require no person enter to finish. Smart scans ask to your enter on findings for every portion of the scan earlier than shifting to the following piece.

If you favor to manually run a scan, your choices are Smart Scan, Deep Scan, Targeted Scan, Boot-Time Scan (which searches for any threats earlier than Windows begins), and any of your customized scans. Unlike Avast’s Premium Security suite, you may solely modify your customized scan’s settings.

Firewall

Avast One’s firewall handles all visitors coming and going out of your PC, utterly changing Windows personal default safety. For most individuals, it should really feel like an improve — the interface makes monitoring and controlling app entry really feel straightforward, quite than scary. You can clearly see which Windows applications and providers are at the moment on-line and which have requested for entry, in addition to instantly block any suspicious objects on the record.

(Windows could have come a great distance with its safety suite, however dig into its firewall settings, and also you’ll see a mixture of interfaces from completely different eras—and most of them will not be pleasant to a non-technical viewers.)

The default settings are sufficient for most individuals, although Avast One doesn’t enable a lot customization. You can add new apps, block apps or gadgets, and alter three settings (two of that are associated to notifications). But that covers the fundamentals sufficiently.

Ransomware Shield

A standard safety in opposition to ransomware, which encrypts recordsdata in order that the attacker can extort cash from victims, is to restrict software program entry to folders typically focused by such malware. Untrusted apps can’t change or delete recordsdata in these places. So even in the event you by chance set up ransomware in your system, you get an additional layer of protection.

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By default, Avast One displays particular file varieties inside your Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Videos, and Music folders, together with paperwork, photos, and movies. You can manually add extra folders and file varieties (utilizing file extensions like .tiff or .pdf) to the protected record. Well-known apps (e.g. Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop) robotically get entry, however not any others.

For a stronger protection, you may change the settings to let solely authorized apps by way of, in addition to wholesale defend all recordsdata inside protected folders. But remember these tighter restrictions can require intervention in your half to make sure apps like video games nonetheless perform usually.

Of course, for the very best safety, you need to nonetheless independently maintain not less than one present, offline copy of your recordsdata — like on an exterior drive you solely connect with your PC when performing the backup. Your PC may fall to ransomware, however your knowledge gained’t be misplaced to you.

Additional options

Browser extensions

Avast One robotically screens and blocks malicious web sites, however the elective Avast Online Security & Privacy extension might help you keep away from clicking on dangerous hyperlinks to start with. Search leads to Google and Bing get visible badges that point out if a website is secure or not. They may be straightforward to overlook at first, although, for the reason that icons are smaller and extra delicate.

The extension may also block trackers, a number of advert networks, and cookie permissions. In truth, it robotically requests solely crucial cookies from websites. If you’re uninterested in pop-ups asking you to your cookie preferences, you’ll just like the final function. Having to manually set up the extension turns into well worth the effort.

Network Inspector

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Hopping onto a brand new community can expose you to vulnerabilities — a difficulty that Avast tries to resolve with its Network Inspector function. You run the scanner to search for potential threats lurking on the community you’re linked to, like DNS hijacking or a weak password on a router, or a weak system.

This software has restricted utility, particularly for public networks. To defend your self on such connections, the reply is straightforward: Use the included VPN to keep up your safety and privateness. For a personal community that you just belief (just like the one you will have at dwelling), it could allow you to confirm your router is configured with not less than basic safeguards in place.

You can modify the settings for automated scanning and if gadgets are checked for weak passwords. You can even examine to your connection historical past to see what networks you’ve lately used.

PC utilities (Disk Cleaner, Driver Updater, and Duplicate File Finder)

Avast One unlocks three further utilities to assist maintain your PC working effectively: Disk Cleaner, Driver Updater, and Duplicate File Finder.

Disk Cleaner and Driver Updater simplify duties you may carry out your self in Windows. Disk Cleaner allows you to dump short-term recordsdata, downloads, objects within the Recycle Bin, damaged shortcuts, and damaged registry keys to free house in your PC. Driver Updater scans your PC for outdated drivers and handles updating any which are old-fashioned.

Both have clear interfaces which are defined with clear, easy language, which is an enchancment over poking round in Windows to do the identical work. Disk Cleaner additionally allows you to see precisely which short-term recordsdata are on the chopping block, and unselect particular classes to maintain them round.

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There’s only one draw back to those two instruments — how straightforward it’s to make use of them. Disk Cleaner makes deleting components from registry too fast and easy. Fiddling together with your Windows registry may cause issues, so you need to at all times perceive what you’re altering; but with Disk Cleaner, you may wipe elements of your registry with out having to know the place to dig and why. Similarly, updating a driver with out understanding its supply can even result in later points, although often not as dangerous as a botched registry.

Happily, Duplicate File Finder offers no purpose for concern. It carried out surprisingly nicely in my gentle testing — the utility may inform the distinction between recordsdata that have been created individually however functionally the identical, and precise copies with completely different names. Video recordsdata created as a part of my Handbrake benchmarks are the identical for real-world functions, however the software didn’t flag them. It did catch recordsdata I copied however renamed.

Sensitive Data Shield

Many individuals retailer recordsdata containing delicate data on their laptop, comparable to banking particulars, social safety numbers, paycheck data, and even passwords — and that follow can turn into a legal responsibility in case your laptop is compromised. 

(Side be aware: Storing passwords in a doc in your PC may be very insecure. Use a password manager with a database saved in your laptop as a substitute — it should encrypt the information and drastically strengthen your safety.)

Avast tries to protect your PC from this risk with its Sensitive Data Shield function. It scans your PC for paperwork for widespread kinds of personal data, then restricts entry to the record of the recordsdata discovered. Malicious apps gained’t have the ability to uncover and extract that knowledge. You can manually flag further recordsdata for cover, in addition to enable or block particular apps.

The function has restricted effectiveness, although. The scanner doesn’t at all times catch each file with delicate data — and it solely seems for .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, and .xlsx recordsdata. You can’t manually add recordsdata of different varieties, both.

VPN

Accessing Avast One’s VPN is most simply finished by way of the primary dashboard, the place you may immediately flip on a connection to the preselected server. You can even faucet the tile to leap to the VPN Secure Connection display, which helps you to modify a handful of settings.

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If you select the latter possibility, you may flip the VPN on and off, choose a particular server, and alter the connection settings. The VPN may be configured to robotically activate in sure eventualities, like when on an untrusted community (e.g., public Wi-Fi), a banking web site, streaming, or purchasing. It additionally helps peer-to-peer connections.

Additionally, you may toggle whether or not Avast sends autoconnection notifications, kills all web visitors if the VPN by chance disconnects whereas lively, and permits your PC to see native gadgets (like printers) when the VPN is on. The first two options are enabled by default, whereas the latter is disabled.

Avast gives servers in 37 international locations, which span Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, and the USA. You can select a particular metropolis for 5 international locations (Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, UK, and the USA).

Customer assist

If you will have questions on Avast One, you should utilize Avast’s support website or help forums to search out solutions. Customer service can be accessible by phone, email, or chat. The assist web site is the very best place to start out with for primary questions — there’s even a helpful user guide if you wish to get correctly acquainted with the software program.

Updates and upkeep

Avast One robotically updates its virus definitions and the app itself within the background by default — you don’t need to examine on it. However, you may change these settings so that you just solely get notified when updates can be found, or go for full guide management (not advisable). You can even manually examine for updates within the app settings (Account > Settings > General).

Performance

Avast’s antivirus engine usually performs nicely in checks carried out by main safety analysis establishments. It detected 100 % of the threats in AV-Test’s zero-day assault and malware analysis for November and December 2023 (essentially the most present as of this text’s publishing). All 11,859 samples for lately found and widespread malware and 210 samples for zero-day assaults have been blocked.

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In AV-Comparatives’ real-world safety check for July through October 2023, Avast additionally blocked 100 % of the 512 check circumstances, with simply two false positives. It carried out virtually as nicely in AV-Comparatives’ September 2023 malware protection test, with a robust 99.97 % on-line safety and 99.5 % on-line detection price. Its offline detection price was a bit decrease than the highest performers, coming in at 95.3 % — although that’s nonetheless markedly increased than the precise low performers of the group. (Trend Micro sits on the backside with a 57.1 % offline detection price.)

For extra subtle, focused threats, Avast nonetheless has room to enhance — it caught 11 of the 15 check circumstances in AV-Comparatives’ November 2023 Advanced Threat Protection Test, which includes threats like fileless assaults and malicious scripts. However, Avast caught check circumstances that increased performing rivals missed, suggesting that antivirus distributors are all nonetheless strengthening their safety on this space.

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In each day use, anticipate Avast to have minimal influence on system assets throughout commonest duties, particularly when left idle within the background. When I ran PCMark 10’s Extended benchmark, which simulates internet shopping, video chatting, gaming, and picture and doc modifying in free, open-source apps, the scores remained the identical as earlier than putting in Avast One. The software program additionally had little impact on our Handbrake encoding check, which transforms a big, uncompressed video file right into a smaller, compressed model. When working a deep scan constantly within the background, efficiency dipped by about 10 % for each benchmarks — a modest quantity in comparison with opponents.

The one exception to this conduct is when engaged on Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint paperwork. Avast was aggressive throughout in its scans once I ran UL Procyon’s Office Productivity benchmark, which focuses on Microsoft Office use. When Avast One was idle within the background, scores dropped by about 11 % when idle. They fell by 25 % when a deep scan was run constantly.

In the true world, these outcomes counsel heavy Microsoft Office customers on slower PCs must be strategic in regards to the timing of scans. A full system scan scheduled for off-hours (like once you’re asleep) gained’t intrude with getting work finished. During lively hours, you would see some efficiency results when in Office apps, however not as notably.

Should you purchase Avast One?

Avast One gives sturdy, broad protection in opposition to on-line threats, with options that make an improve from the free model (or Microsoft Defender) worthwhile. In addition to wonderful malware safety, it gives instruments that simplify safeguarding your privateness and protecting your PC in tip-top form — and the interface for managing all the things is clear and easy, in addition. This safety suite does lack a password supervisor and parental controls, however in the event you’re set on these fronts, this app’s polish is tough to beat.

Editor’s be aware: Because on-line providers are sometimes iterative, gaining new options and efficiency enhancements over time, this overview is topic to alter with a view to precisely replicate the present state of the service. Any adjustments to textual content or our last overview verdict will probably be famous on the prime of this text.