Avast Internet Security Software Review

Avast Internet Security—owned by the same company behind products like AVG Internet Security and AVG Secure VPN—is an antivirus suite designed to protect your PC from malware, ransomware, adware, and other threats to your hard drive. The program works using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to recognize specific software signatures and behavior patterns of dangerous programs and files. When an unsafe item is detected, it is placed in the "Virus Chest," a quarantine area safe from the rest of your computer. From the Virus Chest, you can choose to either mark a program or file as safe or have Avast remove it from your computer.

Avast has some nice customer-friendly policies like a free thirty-day trial of the Internet Security software so you can try before you buy. If you do purchase the software and you're not happy with it, Avast offers a thirty-day money-back guarantee.

Automatic renewal isn't always a good thing, but antivirus software is like health insurance: you don't want to be caught without it. Avast's yearly auto-renewal ensures there's no lapse in protection for your PC, but you can also opt out at any time.

Avast's best features are locked behind higher price points. Avast will let you increase your Internet Security subscription to include additional devices as needed, but there is an additional charge.

At this price point, we'd hope to see a data shredder and parental controls included with the package, but you'll have to pay for an upgrade to get these features. 

Avast has several additional features that go above and beyond a standard antivirus program. While some are useful—like the Sandbox and Browser Cleanup—others, like SafePrice, have little to do with security and can be annoying.

While many other antivirus software firewalls work by either allowing nothing in or nothing out, the Avast firewall uses a more sophisticated system of rules that allow it to decide what passes through. This is a smarter approach that still provides top-notch protection.

Avast's Sandbox feature allows you to test out new software in a separate, protected space on your computer before it interacts with the rest of your hard drive, so you can make sure it's safe.

And if you've ever worried about strangers using your wireless network, Avast's Wi-Fi protection will stop them in their tracks, and it monitors for hackers on hardwire networks as well.

Most email providers offer spam filters as part of their services, but few offer customization options like the ones available through Avast. With Avast, you can adjust the strength of the filter and automatically whitelist email addresses you send mail to.

Downloading Avast is pretty straightforward. We did find a few glitches with installation, but they're easily fixed.

If you're not careful during installation, you might end up with a lot of Avast pop-ups for additional features like Software Updater and SafePrice. Fortunately, you can disable most of these by either clicking "customize" before installation begins or by going to the Preferences tab in the program. Putting Avast in Game Mode can also solve the problem.

The subscription setup can also be confusing. Several customers complain that even though they bought a one- or two-year license for the program, their installation screen shows that they only have a thirty-day license. Turns out, you need to enter your product code into the program in order for it to update the license.

Avast has one of the lightest touches on the market when it comes to quietly doing its job without interfering with your computer experience, but its scans may run longer than expected.

If Avast catches any suspicious threats that it doesn't recognize, it sends them to its virus lab in the cloud for analysis. If the lab identifies one of these threats as malware, it notifies all Avast users. Not only does this keep your antivirus software current, it also adds more layers of protection.

Avast blocked 99.6% of malware with only one false positive, and it blocked 100% of malware encountered online—this is according to tests from April 2018, run by the independent testing organization AV Comparatives. It received three out of three stars and an Advanced+ rating for both protection and performance.

Avast Internet Security is a proven choice for those who want to go beyond free antivirus programs and add the protection of a robust firewall and online security features. Its simple download, user-friendly interface, and light impact make it low-key enough for anyone to use, but its SafeZone browser and Sandbox features open up additional possibilities for the more adventurous.

To write our Avast software review, we studied Avast's independent test scores, read numerous online reviews from a variety of sources, and tried Avast's software for ourselves. To learn more about how we review products, check out our methodology.

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