Avast is among the most popular antivirus products in the marketplace. It has a powerful malware detection engine, and a number of additional options like ransomware prevention, a web firewall and VPN assistance. The malware detection rate of 6 out of 6 during our tests was excellent and it did a superb job of preventing access to phishing sites that have slipped through the Chrome and Firefox default protection.
In our real-world tests Avast managed to sift through more than two million discrete files in a single scan which is impressive considering the software is extremely light and efficient. In our tests of speed, Avast didn’t impact system performance in any way, and performed better than many competitors that can take an hour or more to trawl through the exact file count.
Avast’s interface is clean and easy to navigate. The majority of the tools are located on one display with clear tiles that show each feature. This makes it easy to find the information you require without having to navigate through a lengthy menu or a variety of apps. This is a big improvement over McAfee’s suite which offers all of webpage its features scattered across different apps.
Avast offers a good level of customer service with 24 hour customer support via either email or phone. Avast also offers a Knowledgebase and forums to assist you with simple issues. You can also avail a ticketing service to get assistance for more complex issues. However, its practices for sharing data cause concern and it does not have a password management feature or parental controls to be compatible with other products like Bitdefender’s Total Security.