When it comes to free antivirus for Windows computer, your friends will mostly recommend you either Avast Free Antivirus 2019, AVG AntiVirus FREE 2019, or Avira Free Antivirus 2019. But which one of them is the best? All are completely for free and offers plenty of advanced features. We’ll take a look at details on Avast and AVG.
Two biggest competitors, Avast and AVG, are today a single company. In October 2016 Avast acquired AVG company for $1.3B. From the end-user point of view, there is no change, both brands continue to coexist together. However, they use the same engine and technology in the background – the one from Avast. Feature-wise there are small differences, let’s take a closer look.
The Avast Cleanup Premium is a system optimization software that scans your PC or Mac, resolves performance issues, boosts your PC speed, and concedes disk storage by deleting junk files, and bloatware. The software is paid and some users find the price of Avast Cleanup Premium on the higher side. However, if you want to use Avast VPN on your system, whether it’s Mac or Windows, you can get the subscription in $59.99/annually. Moreover, for mobile devices (whether its iOS or Android device), You can get the subscription in $19.99/annually for one device. And one company, Avast, says that its free product is intended for average users, and that its paid antivirus is for more advanced users. On the other hand, free products do give you some flexibility. I?I avast vpn worth it iPad VPN download| avast vpn worth it Android VPN download ★★★(Best VPN?)★★★ how to avast vpn worth it for No pressure, nothing worse than having someone breathing down your neck. Mrs Curtis, enquiry at Sutton; Great quick service from Lewis and Gary, everything was made simple and easy. Avast is pretty bad, though, honestly. Too many false positives and too heavy on system resources. Sophos Home / Bitdefender Free / AVG Free (it's good again) / Avira Free. Windows Defender isn't really good enough. It has a lot of bugs that cause it to degrade system performance.
Feature Comparison Table – Does AVG Offer More Than Avast?
Both Avast and AVG are offering solid protection against viruses, spyware, malware, rootkits and even ransomware which is a big topic now. Plus you will be secured while browsing online, chatting on Facebook, or watching videos on YouTube. Also, they will protect and scan your incoming and outgoing e-mails if you are using an e-mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird. If you’re a gamer, you can relax – both antivirus solutions offer smart gaming mode and keep themselves silent.
With Avast you will get some cool features like Wi-Fi Inspector (formerly called Home Network Security), which scans your home network, Wi-Fi connection, and routers. An easy-to-use tool called Browser Cleanup for removing unwanted toolbars from your browser. Software Updater for monitoring the up-to-date status of the other software like browser, Java, Adobe Reader, etc. And you can ask your IT friend to fix your computer via the secured remote connection.
However, there are some differences. AVG offers spying and data theft protection controlling what kind of data you are sharing with the other applications, and File Shredder which can permanently delete your sensitive information, so they can’t be restored. A similar feature called Data Shredder is available also in Avast, but only in the top-tier product Avast Premier, not in the free one.
A big plus for AVG is that you don’t need to register or give out any personal information. You can just download, install, and keep using it. With Avast you have to activate the product within the first 30 days, and then once a year.
Impact on the System Resources – Which Product is Lighter?
We have measured the impact on the system resources using two ways:
In the boot time test where less is better, it took only 28 seconds (on average) to load Windows desktop when Avast Free Antivirus was installed. The same operation took 33 seconds (on average) when AVG AntiVirus FREE was installed. Default boot-time without any antivirus solution in place took 20 seconds. So according to our testing, Windows loads faster with Avast.
In the second area, we have tested computer performance in various areas and impact of the AVG or Avast on the results. Test results (higher is better) were practically the same for both products, 2,116 points for Avast and 2,115 points for AVG. The default performance without any antivirus installed was 2,150 points. So the overall impact on the system performance is really low for both products.
Final performance test results are highlighted in the chart below. You can clearly see the difference between no antivirus and Avast or AVG present. Please note the vertical axis ‘Performance Score‘ is not starting from 0, but from 2,110 to clearly show the small differences.
Avast vs. AVG – Performance Test Results
You can find more details about how we tested in the ‘Additional Notes‘ section at the end of the article.
Avast For Mac Free DownloadUser Interface – Is Avast Easier to use Than AVG?
Avast user interface is really nice and clear. There is only one main action leading to the Smart Scan, which runs all seven Avast scans: compatibility, viruses, outdated software, browser add-ons, router issues, performance, and weak passwords. The green button ‘UPGRADE‘ (or ‘ACTIVATE‘) leads to a comparison table of Avast Free Antivirus and Avast premium product (Avast Internet Security).
The status is also indicated by color when green obviously means ‘You are protected’ (note AVG is using the exact same term). Also, you are assured that ‘Everything is up-to-date‘. The top menu is easy to navigate and structured in fours groups – Scan, Tools, Passwords, and Store. What is pretty annoying is the top menu disappears every time you go from the home screen and you need to click on ‘Menu‘ to get it back.
Same as AVG, also Avast is using the bottom space for the up-sell offers. Why is avast only free for mac.
AVG user interface is quite busy compared to Avast. When everything is fine, you will see green tick marks with the message ‘You are protected‘. The interface will go red if there will be some issue. What is nice is when some of the shields are disabled, you will see immediately which ones as they will also turn in red.
AVG AntiVirus FREE 2019 – User Interface
The main tiles show you the status of the specific shield protection. If you are looking for a scan, it’s the less visible button ‘Scan now‘. The ‘Fix performance’ button sounds pretty interesting, but you need to download other product (AVG PC TuneUp) to actually fix the performance. The last button is for checking if the program is up-to-date, of course, the virus definitions are updated automatically. ‘Join us on Facebook‘ link at the top bar is very visible and somehow distracting.
Bottom of the interface is used as an offer space to buy or try for free the paid-for version.
Localizations/Translations – Is The Product Available in my Language?
Both Avast and AVG are available in plenty of languages, of course for free. But Avast offers many more.
Avast languages (46): Arabic, Belorussian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (United States/United Kingdom), Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Pirate talk, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil/Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese
AVG languages (22): Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Turkish.
Popularity – Which is the Most Popular Free Antivirus? Avast or AVG?
Avast free antivirus for mac 2018. The better product is, the most users it has. It’s simple as that. However, it’s not easy to say which is the most popular antivirus, if Avast or AVG. For expressing popularity we are using several, publicly accessible methods.
1. Official Sources
According to the official website, Avast is protecting more than 400 million users worldwide, but that probably includes also AVG users. The last publicly available number was 230 million users. AVG doesn’t state anymore how many users are using their products, however using simple math it’s around 170 million (400 – 230 = 170). Therefore we believe it’s safe to claim Avast has more users than AVG.
2. Antivirus Vendor Market Share by OPSWAT
OPSWAT is regularly releasing reports about the antivirus market share. Data are based on the OPSWAT GEARS software installed on the client machines. According to the latest report from November 2017, Avast is dominating the worldwide market with 18.48%. Followed by ESET with 13.97%. AVG is still reported as a separate company and didn’t make it into top 10 for June 2017, however, AVG’s share was around 4% in the last few months. It is also important to mention Microsoft for some reason is not included at all.
Avast vs. AVG – Market Share Report November 2017 by OPSWAT
3. CNET Download.com Ranking
Download.com by CNET is the World’s most popular download portal. According to its popularity rankings, AVG has more total downloads – almost 564 million, while Avast has ‘only’ 406 million. However, the recent trend shows Avast is slightly more popular, as it leads the last week downloads number.
Avast vs. AVG – Number of Downloads & Rating on CNET Download.com June 2017
Avast has higher editor’s rating– 4 stars (meaning excellent), while AVG has 3.5 stars (meaning very good). The user/community rating is also better for Avast – 4.5 stars, while AVG has 4 stars.
4. Number of Fans on Social Media Networks![]()
Another way how to measure product/company popularity is the number of fans/followers on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. Avast is leading on Facebook with 4.1 million fans vs. AVG’s 3.1 million. On Twitter, the leader is AVG with 216k followers vs. Avast’s 181k.
Avast vs. AVG – Number of Fans/Followers on Facebook and Twitter
Independent Labs Test Results – Will AVG Protect You Better Than Avast?
If you are looking for a more advanced comparison of antivirus protection, the best resources are the independent test labs. These labs are regularly performing various tests like how many viruses will get through the antivirus software, or which vendor offers better performance.
Selection of the most important and relevant test results is below:
As we mentioned the antivirus engine is the same for both products and that’s also visible in tests. In the latest AV-Comparatives Real-World Protection Test from May 2017, both Avast and AVG got 100% detection rate with 0 false-positives. Both products also scored the same score on the latest Performance Test.
Respected computer magazine PCMag gives both products the same rating of 4,5 stars in their comprehensive comparison of free antivirus solutions written by security expert Neil J. Rubenking. Actually, both Avast and AVG are their #1 recommendation for the free antivirus software.
Our current Editors’ Choice products for free antivirus utility are Avast Free Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free. Both get very good scores from the independent labs, and in our own tests as well. Both include some useful bonus features.
Neil J. Rubenking for PCMag
System Requirements & Compatibility – Will the Product Run on my Computer?
Both products will run on a majority of today’s computers as there are no special requirements. In fact, the system requirements are identical since the antivirus engine is the same. You just need to run a newer Windows than 2000, so at least Windows XP with Service Pack 3. Both Avast and AVG are also fully compatible with the latest Windows 10.
System Requirements for Avast Free Antivirus 2019
System Requirements for AVG AntiVirus FREE 2019
Test Conclusion – Both Avast and AVG are Worth of Trying!
Both products have their pros and cons. We don’t want to recommend only one of them, instead, we would like to encourage you to try both, and see if Avast or AVG will suit you better. Even they are offered completely for free, the level of protection you will get is comparable with the paid-for antivirus solutions. The download links are below.
From official AVG website
If you are looking for premium protection, check out our Internet Security suites comparison including Avast, AVG, Avira, ESET, and Norton (Symantec).
Additional Notes
Information about the product features has been obtained from the official websites of each vendor. If you believe we have stated something not correct, please let us know, and we’ll fix it immediately. Our intention is to offer a fair and fact-based comparison of each product.
For measuring the boot time we have used a free tool called BootRacer. We have tested AVG AntiVirus FREE 2016 (2016.0.7163) and Avast Free Antivirus 2016 (2016.10.2.2215) released on March 23, 2015. Both tests were performed on a Windows 7 Professional x64 computer with CPU Intel Core i7 @ 2.70GHz and 8 GB RAM.
For measuring the overall PC performance we have used a free tool called PassMark PerformanceTest which tests various areas including CPU, graphics, disk, and memory.
Avira and Avast are both highly acclaimed antivirus companies that do quite well in all of the tests that are conducted on any and all of their suites. If they are both so great, why are we comparing? It is so that you make a better and more informed decision when it comes to your security needs.
Both of the software companies offer different ranges of antivirus suites that either don’t cost anything at all like Avast Free Antivirus or Avira Free Antivirus and they move upwards in terms of pricing and features. Since they are two of the most talked about antivirus companies, we ought to draw a comparison.
Pros
Cons
Get Avast
Pros
Cons
Get Avira Cost and What’s Covered
What a suite does and does not offer not only depends on the company, but it also depends on the user’s requirements. The companies design each suite with a different set of needs in place. For example, and Internet Security suite would be focused on providing a safer internet experience for its users. Here are the different suites that Avira and Avast offer.
Internet Security
Cost: $59.99 for a year
The prices are changed further depending on how many devices do you want the suite for – minimum 1 and maximum 10.
What’s covered:
Avast Premier
Cost: $79.99 for a year
What’s covered:
Aside from offering all the features that Internet Security offers, here are some additional features that Premier offers to the users:
Avast Ultimate:
Cost: $119.99 for a year
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What’s covered:
Just like every antivirus suite step up, the Ultimate version from Avast features everything that Internet Security and Premier offer, plus more.
Get Avast Antivirus Pro
Cost: $44.99 for a year
What’s covered:
Internet Security Suite
Cost: $57.99 for a yea
What’s covered:
Avira Prime
Cost: $99.99 for a year
Everything that the earlier suites include, plus:
Get Avira
Also Read: Free And Paid Antivirus Comparison Is avg or avast better for mac.
Antivirus Protection
Avast begins the scan with a standard process that checks the system against a list of known and popular malware/threats. The software uses its Behavior Shield heuristic monitoring in order to study how each and every aspect of the said software behaves. It then sends any suspicious files to Avast’s cloud servers where the culprit is analyzed and made a new addition to their database of malware.
Avira also uses the same procedure to conduct the initial scan with the traditional checking of threats against the database of existing malware. Following by heuristic monitoring that uploads suspicious activity to the Avira cloud servers.
Avast features extensions to monitor suspicious activity on browsers – available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer. However, you can avail the luxury of a personal firewall with Internet Security and Premier; it’s not available with the Free Antivirus.
What Avira does differently in this regard is that after analyzing the website’s behavior and data, it anonymizes the collected data. Avast also features a game Mode that allows the system to mute all the notifications, whereas Avira does not.
Also Read:Intrusta Antivirus Review
Antivirus Performance
Avast is quite strong at detecting and removing malicious malware. According to an AV-TEST conducted by a German lab, Avast proved to have caught and removed 100% of all zero-day malware that it came into contact with; whereas, it protected the system against 99.9% of known threats.
On the other hand, even though Avira’s antivirus suites did well in the same German AV-TEST, the results were 99.0% initially – however, in a test that was conducted again in the following months, it came up to an even 100% as well. These tests only included known malware and viruses. With zero-day malware, Avira only protected against 98.9% of the threats.
It is clear that Avast Antivirus performed better with zero-day malware, whereas Avira provides slightly better protection against known malware and other threats.
Security and Privacy Features
Protects your system from threats that can enter through loopholes in your router and Wi-Fi connections.
Extension for browsers stores passwords and also generates new passwords for you – as wella s remembering information that you filled in forms earlier on.
It’s a browser that provides an extra secure browsing experience and prevents data breeches from malicious sites and third-party extensions for browsers.
Encrypt your Internet connection for safer, anonymous browsing.
Get Avast
Use 500 GB worth of traffic every month –very handy for travelers who require constant e-mail checking.
Enables you to avoid harmful e-commerce sites that may steal your financial information.
Scans and updates the out-of-date software in your system, protecting it against viruses that may enter through them.
It enhances the performance of your system by implementing power-saving mode and stopping unnecessary processes.
You can save all the passwords you like, without risking a data breech.
Remote monitoring of all your devices and you can also locate them in case you have lost them or they have been stolen.
Get Avira Performance and System Impact
Before we ran installed the Avast Antivirus, the OpenOffice test completed in 6 minutes and 56 seconds, whereas after the installation, it only increased as 6 minutes and 59 seconds. On the system we testes Avira Antivirus, the system took 6 minutes and 56 seconds to finish the test before installation. Once the antivirus was installed, it increased to 7 minutes 21 seconds – Avast wins here.
Avast did not slow the system down at all during the Full Scan, as it was completed in 7 minutes and 52 seconds. Avira on the other hand, took 9 minutes and 35 seconds to complete the full-system scans – slowing the system down by 32%, as compared to Avast’s slowdown of 13%. Avira won the quick scan test, as it took 1 minute 28 seconds to complete versus Avast’s 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
As a whole, Avast is quicker with the scans, but it cannot be denied that Avira’s scans are extremely thorough despite being time-consuming. But, given the results, we determined that Avast Antivirus has a lighter impact on the system as compared to Avira Antivirus.
Interface
Avast offers an interface that comes with a dark theme but also includes bright colors. The user interface is not full screen, but you can move it around on your desktop according to your liking. Few of the major categories that you will find on your navigation column are:
*With a link to Settings at the bottom.
Once the scan has run and everything is safe, the Status icon turns green in color along with a green checkmark as well – this icon turns red in case of a threat, indicating that things are unsafe or under attack. You can also create a Rescue Disk here in case of an attack. Its interface supports 47 languages, and it also features a Pirate Talk option.
Avira features an Avira Connect interface instead of just a regular one. It also features a green checkmark to indicate that all is safe and well. The list of navigation has these categories:
Avast For Mac Review
This window can be resized to your desired size – full screen as well.
Every category comes with may customizable options in terms of requirements, which is specific but can also confuse the users a little.
Installation and Support
Once you download the Avast Antivirus, it also comes with an automatic installation of Google Chrome. You can avoid installing this software by being vigilant and un-checking the box that appears at the time of installation. The process of the installation takes around 6 minutes. Even though it’s easy to set up an Avast account, it’s not necessary in order to access your antivirus software.
Avast offers technical support for its users, but it’s not 24/7 – support is only available during 8 AM and 5 PM CET, on weekdays.
Avira Antivirus takes around 7 minutes and 55 seconds to complete installation. You do not require an Avira account in order to access your antivirus, but if you do sign up for the account you can enjoy the online version of Avira Connect that also comes with data worth of 1GB (Phantom VPN).
Avira offers technical support for its users but it I sonly accessible through social media.
Final ThoughtsWhat Is Avast For Mac
Both the products come with their own sets of good and bad. Avast is quite straightforward with simple features which make it easier for most people to use, whereas Avira features a slightly more complicated interface which might be difficult to use but it’s incredibly detailed and customizable. The level of protection both the companies provide is more or less the same, but you can decide which one suits your requirements better than the other.
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