These might include a firewall, anti-spam controls, ad blockers, webcam protection, keylogger protection, parental controls and credit card safeguards. There might also be additional protection against web-specific types of malware such as spyware and adware. However running so many different types of program might mean that internet security suites use more of your system resources than conventional AV.
There are many advantages to purchasing a premium internet security suite from a trusted vendor, but it is perfectly possible to create your own modular suite by picking the most suitable free products. While this might mean you save money, it does mean you have to do much of the work yourself. You will have to identify the best components, whether its virus protection, firewall or backup software, and fix any problems yourself.
The more components you introduce will increase complexity and system resource use. You will also suffer from the pitfalls of using free services such as frequent adverts urging you to upgrade.
Using a premium internet security suite means the vendor integrates several services into a single package that can be managed from a single interface. If you do want to build out your own suite, then you can pick the best of individual components in the following advice guides:. All of the products on this list offer effective capabilities, so the difference is in additional capabilities.
If there is a particular type of threat that concerns you, such as ransomware or phishing, check to see if there are specific protections included.
Banking safeguards, firewalls and parental controls are also areas you should consider — especially if there are multiple users on your computer. And of course, you should consider whether you need protection across multiple devices, such as smartphones. Finally, think about usability and the impact on system performance. Do you want a high level of customization or do you want an easy-to-use interface and do you want a program that is capable of fast scans or one that requires minimal system resources?
He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in North America.
If you're looking for an antivirus that goes above and beyond simply protecting your computer from malware, Trojans and scammers, then a full-on internet security suite may be a better choice. Bitdefender Total Security. Beefy protection across all fronts with great protection and features. Maximum devices covered: Stand out features: Safepay online banking protection, high-quality ransomware defenses, web protection module.
Reasons to avoid - PC maintenance tools are basic. Norton Deluxe. Don't forget to check out our list of the best free antivirus software halfway down this page. Kaspersky provides the best antivirus protection overall Kaspersky Total Security combines one of the world's top-rated malware-detection engines with a ton of useful features. It's the best antivirus software you can buy today. Click here if you're in the U.
Bitdefender offers the best value in antivirus software Bitdefender Antivirus Plus combines great malware protection with an assortment of useful features and an easy-to-use interface, all at a very affordable price. Norton packs in everything but the kitchen sink Norton's antivirus products offer a password manager, unlimited VPN data, identity theft protection, parental controls and even online storage.
If you're willing to pay full freight, you'll get almost every kind of digital security you could ever need. Kaspersky Total Security 2. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 3. Norton Deluxe 4. McAfee Internet Security 5. Trend Micro Maximum Security 6. Sophos Home Premium. Our top choice is Kaspersky Total Security, which delivers excellent malware protection, a full complement of extra features and an easy-to-use interface.
Right behind that are the entry-level Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, the best bargain in antivirus software, and Norton Deluxe, which offers a ton of extra features, including unlimited VPN service and LifeLock identity protection. Any of these three would serve you well, but the ideal choice depends on your circumstances.
See our section on how to choose the best antivirus software below, or our stand-alone antivirus buying guide. Both offered excellent protection without system slowdowns, but Kaspersky's free program lets you schedule scans, adds a ton of useful extras and had the smallest system impact we've ever seen.
Kaspersky's Windows products have excellent malware-detection scores and a light-to-moderate system-performance impact, the two most important criteria in our rankings. But it's beaten by Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, which has even more features. It has a secure browser, anti-theft protection for laptops, webcam protection and a limited-use VPN client that kicks in when you connect to an open Wi-Fi network. We think it's the best antivirus software you can buy today.
Read our full Kaspersky Total Security review. The best antivirus software you can buy Kaspersky offers excellent malware protection, lots of useful extra features and a light system impact with an easy-to-use interface. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is our top choice among entry-level antivirus products. It has very good, if not perfect, malware-detection scores.
Its active scans don't add much to the background system impact, but that background load is a bit heavy. It also offers the most value, with an unlimited password manager, a secure browser with a virtual keyboard, a Wi-Fi network scanner, a file shredder, protection against encrypting ransomware and Bitdefender's new web-privacy software -- features often found only with pricier antivirus packages. The midrange Bitdefender Internet Security adds parental controls, webcam protection and a two-way firewall, while Bitdefender Total Security tops off the lineup with an anti-theft feature for laptops, a system optimizer and licenses for Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android.
Read our full Bitdefender Antivirus Plus review. All of Norton's antivirus products offer excellent malware protection, and the once-heavy system-performance load is much lighter.
The number of extra features each program has varies, but the sweet spot in the lineup is Norton Deluxe. It includes a password manager that works on all major platforms, unlimited VPN service, dark-web personal-data monitoring, parental controls and up to 50GB of online storage space. Two other offerings, Norton Premium and Norton Platinum, give you more online storage and expand the antivirus and VPN coverage to 10 and 20 devices, respectively.
If you want full-on identity protection, Norton offers three bundles with varying degrees of LifeLock service and even more online storage. Their subscription prices run well into the triple digits, but still cost less than if you were to buy the identity protection, password manager, cloud-backup storage and antivirus software separately.
Unlike some of the other best antivirus software makers, Norton doesn't offer a file shredder, file encryption or secure web browser with any of its products. Yet every other digital-protection service you could possibly ask for is included with at least some of its bundles. Read our full Norton Deluxe review. McAfee's malware detection has improved greatly in the past couple of years, but it's still not quite top-of-the-line. To get parental controls or one of the best password managers in the business, you'll have to spring for McAfee Total Protection or its sibling McAfee LiveSafe, which comes pre-installed on many new PCs.
The multi-device licenses of those two security suites also come with an identity-protection service. But none of the McAfee products have a secure browser or webcam protection, which you often get with other premium antivirus programs. Read our full McAfee Internet Security review. Trend Micro offers very good protection, but its malware-detection engine creates a heavy system load during scans and returns a fair number of false-positive results.
Parental controls, a system optimizer and a file shredder are bundled into the mid-range Trend Micro Internet Security. Trend Micro Maximum Security adds a password manager, a secure browser and file encryption, while the new Trend Micro Premium Security adds a VPN and dark-web monitoring of personal data. However, none of Trend Micro's programs include a two-way firewall or webcam protection, standard with other brands' midrange offerings.
Nor does the premium product have the cloud storage or backup software that some of the best antivirus brands add as enticements to their flagship packages. Read our full Trend Micro Maximum Security review. ESET is one of the biggest antivirus names in Europe, with a very small system-performance load and fast scans. Its malware-detection rate used to be kind of meh, but has improved markedly in recent lab tests.
However, there's no VPN client, backup software or file shredder. ESET's pricing is per device, which is optimal for users who might have more than a few devices to protect. But if your device count gets into double digits, ESET's costs can add up. Sophos Home Premium does its job economically, offering reasonable protection from malware at an affordable price.
Because it's spun off from Sophos' enterprise software for business clients, Sophos Home Premium lacks many of the bells and whistles other security suites offer, such as a password manager, identity theft protection service or VPN service. What Sophos Home Premium does have is the essentials: ransomware rollbacks, webcam defenses and protection against keyloggers, malicious websites and boot-sector and fileless malware. It also has a web-filter system for parents and an online management console from which you can tweak most of the settings.
Some people might demand more from an antivirus suite, but anyone who would rather buy only what they need will appreciate Sophos Home Premium's just-the-basics approach. Read our full Sophos Home Premium review. A good paid antivirus suite is a digital-protection jackknife, often bundling in parental controls, identity theft protection, a password manager, backup software, cloud storage, a firewall, a system optimizer and software for Mac, Android and iOS as well as Windows. But what if you just want Windows antivirus software without all of those pricey extras?
And what if you can't afford to pay for antivirus software? One of the best free antivirus programs might be exactly what you need. Free antivirus software used to be a step down from the paid software and involved trade-offs. The protection wasn't as good and you'd either have to put up with ads filling your screen or with constant nags to upgrade to a paid program. That's all changed. Learn More — Bitdefender Premium Security.
During my tests, I was able to securely stream content and download torrents using servers from around the world with almost zero slowdown. TotalAV Total Security offers easy-to-use antivirus protection and comes with some pretty good internet security tools. The antivirus engine is fast, lightweight, and highly secure, and the included VPN is comparable in speed to some of the top names in the VPN industry. McAfee Total Protection is a well-rounded internet security package — it has everything you need to build and maintain a strong online defense in And there are also some great extra features.
My favorite feature is Home Network Security which gives you full control over all the devices connecting to your Wi-Fi network and it also reinforces your firewall against malware attacks. McAfee Total Protection is an excellent antivirus package that is particularly great at securing Wi-Fi networks.
The Family plan is one of the best value family antiviruses on the market, covering lots of devices for a low price. And all McAfee plans are protected by a day money-back guarantee. BullGuard includes extras like parental controls, a firewall, anti-phishing protection, identity theft protections, and cloud backup. In addition to optimizing and improving gameplay, BullGuard has helpful cybersecurity protections, like a firewall, anti-phishing protection, and identity theft protection.
Avira also has an excellent Safe Shopping browser extension which identified and blocked more phishing sites in my tests than most competitors.
The extension is also very useful because it also blocks browser tracking, preventing companies from tracking your online activity and delivering ads based on your browsing habits. One other cool thing about this extension is that it helps you find the best shopping deals online. Using the VPN, I was able to browse the web, stream video, and download files with minimal or no speed loss — which is pretty great for a bundled VPN.
Avira has a lightweight cloud-based antivirus engine with perfect detection rates as well as excellent web protection. Avira Prime also has a VPN, a password manager, a game booster, system tune-up, and more.
Learn More — Avira Prime. Panda Dome Complete has a good malware scanner, an easy-to-use interface, and more additional features than most competitors. The packages from Malwarebytes and PC Matic wrongly flag many harmless programs and thus create frequent false positives: only 4.
Cylance causes false alarms too often, thus earning only 3. To be sure, even this test performed over a period of two months is only a snapshot in time. But it does demonstrate the high performance of many security solutions under Windows 10 for consumer users. The highest point score of 18 was achieved by a total of 8 products, whereas 8 additional packages earned the excellent score of Interesting to note: Even Windows Defender Antivirus completed this test with 18 points.
Looking back at the test history of the past 12 months, however, this tended to be the exception rather than the rule History of Windows Defender Antivirus.
Many of the security packages and Internet security suites recognized offer lots of useful extra features, in addition to a high degree of security and reliability. Thus, when comparing packages with equal point scores, it is useful to look at their full range of features. AhnLab V3 Internet Security 9.
Avast Free AntiVirus AVG Internet Security Avira Antivirus Pro Bitdefender Internet Security BullGuard Internet Security Cylance Smart Antivirus 2. G Data Internet Security
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