Thursday, March 16, 2017
17 best antivirus best free antivirus for laptops and PC
17 best antivirus best free antivirus for laptops and PC
The 17 best free and paid antivirus programs for your PC, laptop or Windows 10 tablet in the UK in 2016. Best Antivirus reviews, tests and ratings. Best Windows antivirus for PC, laptop or tablet.
Whats the best antivirus program? The best security software for your Windows 10 PC, laptop or tablet comes from either Norton, Bitdefender or Kaspersky. Learn more about your free- and paid security options in our best antivirus software chart.
In this article, we bring you the 17 best free and paid antivirus programs for your PC orlaptop in the UK in 2016. Best Antivirus reviews, tests and ratings. Where to buy antivirus, and best Windows antivirus for PC and laptop.
If youd like to skip straight ahead to our antivirus software chart, click here. Weve also got lots of expert internet security buying advice to share with you below, though, so continue reading if youre unsure of what security software you need.
If youve just downloaded Windows 10 or bought a new Windows 10 PC, dont forget that it will need some help to keep it working as well as it does right now. And that means installing security software. We round up the best free antivirus and best paid antivirus for Windows 10, plus older Windows operating systems running on your PC or laptop. (See also: best business antivirus 2016 UK.)
Best antivirus and internet security software: Why you need antivirus - What is antivirus?
Antivirus software detects, and then prevents, disarms or removes malicious programs or malware, often referred to as viruses. Antivirus doesnt offer a perfect solution to the problem of malware, but it is a critical first step to securing your PC or laptop. To help prevent viruses infecting your PC you must install antivirus, and then regularly update your antivirus software. All of the antivirus software reviewed here will update automatically.
But Internet security software is no longer just about countering viruses. Although they still exist, viruses are arguably a minor part of the malware now prevalent on the web. More important now is security of personal data. Security exploits arent about show-off hackers massaging their egos, any more, but about monetising their malware.
The modern day criminal doesnt have to be a hard-line hacker, either. They can buy all the software they need, and millions of addresses, on the dark web or even on eBay, if you know where to look. You can buy everything from denial of service attack - with botwebs for hire - to individual exploits. Custom attacks are available, where the code changes after only a dozen uses or so, making it very hard for Internet Security (IS) providers to block every new varient.
Best antivirus and internet security software: Zero day attacks
Although the primary concern is to block malware so it doesn’t install on your PC in the first place, there isn’t an internet security suite made which is 100 percent effective. Worthwhile IS and antivirus software should also detect so called ‘zero day’ attacks, where the malware is so new it hasn’t yet been analysed or had ‘signatures’ built into IS protection routines.
The speed with which these analyses are made is an important factor in the level of protection an IS suite can provide. Some companies now claim a turnaround of well under an hour, using information gained from their own customers about similar attacks. The cloud element in security applications is growing more and more important in speeding this process.
Newly installed software can be monitored, looking for suspicious activity and can then be prevented from potentially damaging actions, such as changing registry entries, or installing as a browser add-in.
Best antivirus and internet security software: How to choose antivirus
Malware is evolving faster than ever, but fortunately the latest generation of antivirus - or AV - is better equipped than ever to handle new threats.
In recent years, the technology that powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you purchased a few years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known malware, but brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer products do a better job of stopping them.
For our antivirus tests we team up with AV-Test.org, a respected independent security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test rigorously tests AV products from a number of leading security companies. The multifaceted testing procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can detect malware using traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is, employing a database of known malware types), but also at how well it can block brand-new, unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product can clean up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get through.
Every program in this list is worth your investment. The differences between the top few are relatively minor. The critical thing is to install one of these programs.
Best antivirus and internet security software: whats the difference between free antivirus and paid antivirus?
Our tests focus on paid-for and free AV products. Paid-for AV products usually offer better technical support and more comprehensive protection features than free programs, but free is free. Internet security suites go further still, offering firewalls, parental controls, identity theft protection and more.
Best antivirus reviews | Best internet security software reviews
Here we review the best antivirus programs you can buy or download in the UK right now. Securing your PC is, of course, about a lot more than antivirus. At the very least you need to run up to date antivirus, antispyware and a firewall. Youll find that almost all of the best antivirus software we test these days forms part of an internet security suite: so all of the above and more is included.
The trouble is, some antivirus is better than others. They all offer a blacklist of known threats, and a whitelist of software that is known to be legitimate. But these days new threats emerge every day, and knowing what is friend and what is foe in real-time can be critical. And thats where we come in. AV-Test challenges Windows security software to withstand threats both old and new, known and unknown.
We then combine that with our own experienced and expert tests of interface and system overhead. We test antivirus programs for how much (if at all) they slow down your PC or laptop, as well as how easy to use and how intrusive they are. Thus you can see from our regularly updated list of the best antivirus for PC or laptop, which is the best for you. Best antivirus for protection, best antivirus for performance, and best antivirus for value. Click through to read the individual antivirus reviews.
17. Avast Premier 2016
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 21 April 16
- Buy for £49.99
Avast produces an excellent free AV offering, giving nobody an excuse to lack protection on a PC. This commercial product is not quite such good value, lacking some of the features weve come to expect of premium suites. Backup and PC tune-up are missing or require an extra purchase.
Read our Avast Premier 2015 review.
16. ESET Smart Security 8
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 19 February 16
- Buy for £50 inc VAT (3 PCs, 1 year licence)
ESET Smart Security 8 is an efficient IS suite, though it doesnt have many of the extras which are now often standard issue. Its good at what it does and from our tests has a fairly light touch.
Read our ESET Smart Security 8 review.
15. Avira Internet Security Suite 2016
- Rating:
- Reviewed on: 19 February 16
- Buy for £38.99
Avira Internet Security Suite 2015 is a good, solid IS suite with useful extras in the System Speedup app. Technically excellent, it loses a little for lack of any form of backup, but is still a good choice.
Read our Avira Internet Security Suite 2015 review.
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