While both offer a freemium version that scans for active attacks, Avast comes ahead with real-time scanning versus Malwarebytes’ manual scan.īoth platforms also offer advanced security through paid plans, including a one-click VPN and Wi-Fi security validation, as well as protection for smart devices and computers. Conflicts with other antivirus softwareīoth Malwarebytes and Avast offer the defenses you need to protect yourself from today’s sophisticated cyberattacks.Avast Ultimate costs $49.99 per year for one device or $59.99 per year for up to 10 devices. You also get a suite of tools that clean your computer of junk files and optimize its performance with custom maintenance schedules.įinally, Avast Ultimate offers robust ad and data tracking protection by hiding your online identity and activity. Avast Premium costs $34.99 per year for one device or $44.99 per year for up to 10 devices.Īvast’s Ultimate plan offers a VPN, or virtual private network, that uses bank-grade encryption from servers around the world and a smart mode that automatically activates the VPN when you connect to a public Wi-Fi network.
However, whereas Malwarebytes requires you to manually run a scan, Avast’s free version runs discreetly in the background protecting you from these threats as they come up.Īvast’s paid Premium plan adds Wi-Fi network security verification, advanced protection from fake and unsafe websites and stops hackers from remotely taking over your computer or device. Malwarebytes Essential costs $59.99 per year for one device, $79.99 per year for up to three devices and $99.99 per year for up to five devices.Īvast offers many of the same features as Malwarebytes, including a freemium version that protects against viruses, malware and ransomware.
Malwarebytes also offers an Essential plan that includes everything in the Premium plan plus a VPN from over 400 servers in more than 30 countries to improve your online privacy and encrypted Wi-Fi security. The Premium Plan costs $39.99 per year for one device or $79.99 per year for up to five devices.
Malwarebytes’ free download also comes with a 14-day free trial of its Premium plan, which features automatic virus and malware protection, scheduled scans, monthly reports and a browser extension with ad and tracking blockers and malicious websites protection. In addition to its paid plans, the company also offers a freemium version that will detect and remove malware and other threats with a manually-run scan. Real-time virus, malware, and ransomware protectionĭespite its name, Malwarebytes offers consumers and businesses protection from viruses, ransomware and phishing attacks as well as malware. Central European Time.Manual virus, malware, and ransomware scan There are also robust technical support forums, free e-mail support, and international telephone support, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. There is a comprehensive in-program help menu. The other source,, did not evaluate Avast Antivirus 4.7 2006.Īlwil is located in the Czech Republic. In the latest test results from, Avast Antivirus 4.7 earned an Advanced rating (the second highest), catching 93 percent of all malware tested.
To determine how well a product will protect your PC, we refer to test results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. However, we did find that when generating the VRDB, Avast soared into the 40 percent system resources territory. And, of course, a firewall would also be nice.Īlthough we have not scheduled Avast Antivirus for formal benchmark testing through CNET Labs, we did find in informal testing that Avast Antivirus used no more than 10 percent of our system resources during a number of different scans-a fairly light performance hit. Next, though it would be optional, it would be good to have antiphishing tools included as McAfee and others are doing with their antivirus products. Also, most antivirus products include some antispyware protection, but not Avast.
What's missing in both editions is explicit protection from rootkits, a major security concern these days. In general, we found when VRDB was running that it zapped our system resources from time to time, so we turned it off.
That way, if your system gets infected with a virus, Avast can roll back the infected file to a previous, uninfected version. Included in both is the Virus Recovery Database (VRDB), which captures information about the current state of a given file and saves that information for as many as three versions back.
Included in both the Home and Professional editions are the basic antivirus kernel, automatic updates, and P2P and IM shields for blocking viruses transmitted other than via infected Web sites and e-mail.