When choosing an antivirus program security experts and consumers alike look at a myriad of factors in addition to the protection capabilities of the software. Cost, system impact compatibility, usability, and personal judgment about the company’s practices could all be significant factors that affect a person’s decision to choose an antivirus program.
Avira, based in Germany, is a great choice for anyone looking for an antivirus program that offers good test results. They also offer the option of billing monthly. The AV program boasts impressive lab scores across all categories and also provides a number of useful extras such as a password manager. Avira scans are lightweight and don’t use a lot of resources. However, the full-scan speed drop is fairly substantial at 53% which is among the most hefty in our tests.
A few of our top great site choices aren’t perfect. For instance, Kaspersky’s powerful background effect can cause slowdowns that can reach 53%, while Avast’s full-scan slowdown is only slightly lower at 44 percent. On the other hand, Bitdefender has an excellent free version and a robust subscription-based antivirus solution that has excellent independent lab scores. Its feature set is very extensive and includes a VPN, which helps it distinguish itself from other competitors.
The best-rated paid AV programs include F-Secure, McAfee Total Protection, and Trend Micro Internet Security. While Microsoft Defender, which is integrated into Windows 10 and 11, has a fairly light post-installation background effects at 9%, it’s also vulnerable to slowdowns that are severe during full system scans.