Avast!

• Free Antivirus
• Great Features
• Crowdsourcing

Free Antivirus

Avast! offers free antivirus and anti-spyware protection for PC and for Mac. Coverage with a paid subscription includes a slew of additional security features. One feature to pay attention to is Avast!'s SafeZone protection for secured payments and banking.

Great Features

Though it's not a typical focus of antivirus protection, improved financial security is a fast-growing need online. SafeZone allows users to control settings for specific websites dealing with financial transactions — such as online banking accounts, booking hotels and flights, online shopping, or any other type of money transfer-to launch in special windows that keep your financial information private.

Crowdsourcing

Another great feature is the value Avast! places on crowdsourcing. The company encourages customers to submit information about specific malware they encounter to Avast!'s ever-expanding database of threats. This supplements the live updates maintained by antivirus professionals in Avast!'s labs.

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• No Social Media Protection
• Can Become Pricey

Though Avast! offers extensive virus, malware, spam, and phishing protection, as well as particular attention to financial accounts, the company's antivirus products don't offer any protection specific to social media accounts. They don't monitor social media activity to alert you to suspicious activity that might suggest your accounts are being compromised.

Can Become Pricey

Additionally, Avast!'s subscriptions may seem relatively inexpensive, but the prices we've listed are only for securing one device. If you are looking to secure multiple computers, be sure to compare the prices for securing multiple devices, which can get pretty steep.