Best Antivirus Software for Complete Protection in 2024

TotalAV is one of the best anti-malware products around. It has superb malware detection rates and an interface that’s ideal for both beginners and advanced users. It also offers a free smart scan that’s perfect for getting started. Over 25 million people trust TotalAV, and you can see why.

While the free version lets you scan and remove malware, it doesn’t offer real-time protection. For that, you can upgrade to any of TotalAV’s reasonably priced paid plans.

The real-time scanning feature is switched on by default, so your device enjoys protection against viruses, trojans, ransomware, and more the moment the antivirus is installed. Of course, you’ll be free to go to the control panel and turn it off, but we don’t recommend doing that.

What makes TotalAV so good at identifying malware is its cloud-scanning feature. Anytime it finds a file suspicious during a scan, it’ll compare it with the known malware in its cloud database.

With lightning-quick identification, TotalAV can develop a fix for the attack much faster than competitors. The best part is that this cloud database is constantly expanding.

As soon as a new digital threat is recorded in any of the 25+ million devices that TotalAV is currently protecting – it’s added to the database to protect the rest of the users.

Enjoy 360-degree protection while browsing the internet, thanks to the WebShield extension – an add-on compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. We like how it constantly searches for harmful websites and redirects you from any site that could hide malware or viruses.

For additional security, we recommend using TotalAV’s Safe Search feature. It’ll redirect all your searches through the TotalAV search engine. The safe sites will be marked with a green tick, and the unsafe ones will be flagged with a red cross. This reduces the chances of accidental visits to malicious websites to zero.

That said, if there is one drawback, it’s the lack of specific identity theft monitoring – but the platform has plenty of other tools.

Surfshark is one of the safest antivirus solution on the market right now. As an added bonus, it offers a first-class VPN with a whole range of additional features and functionality.

This means you can browse securely and privately, with additional privacy protection against cybercriminals, advertisers, authorities, and ISPs.

Surfshark sets out to offer a simple and effective security service with advanced protection against viruses and zero-day threats. You can run manual and scheduled scans, and the product also analyzes unknown files to prevent infections.

It’s easy to set up and configure and is also a lightweight service, so it should never take over your CPU or slow down your system. Another great feature is breach notification: if your email, password, personal ID, or bank details turn up in a breach, then Surfshark will let you know about it.

We love that Surfshark provides AES-256-GCM encryption for your connection. This is the toughest encryption option available, meaning the service can protect your device from all types of possible tracking and interference.

Surfshark takes data security seriously and even goes a step ahead of the competition with its SHA-512 encryption. This will scramble your authentication details into 512 binary digits, making your data incomprehensible to outsiders.

Surfshark’s VPN service also comes with a no-log policy. Independent third parties have audited this and given it a resounding vote of confidence” After all, security shouldn’t come at the cost of your data.

Subscribing to this package means you get the protection of one of the best antivirus apps, plus the anonymity of a VPN in a single subscription, saving you the cost and trouble of managing a separate VPN account.

In AV-Test lab tests, Norton routinely gets full marks for protection, performance, and usability and is able to catch 100% of prevalent and zero-day malware attacks.

In short, Norton Antivirus will consistently detect novel attacks, with minimal false positives and impact on your device’s performance.

What we particularly like about Norton is how it can run quietly in the background without jeopardizing your system’s processing speed or taking up too much battery power.

In another test, Norton was able to detect custom-made ransomware in seconds. No matter what kind of attack you’re dealing with, Norton is the best antivirus to save the day.

Norton’s biggest USP is its SafeCam protection. It’s perhaps the only antivirus software that protects your device’s webcam from being hacked. A hacked webcam gives intruders access to some of your most personal details, making it all the easier for them to blackmail you.

Thanks to Norton, you don’t have to worry about it. Beyond this, another unique feature that Norton provides is Norton Insight. This tool will dig out files and apps that look suspicious so that you can run a custom scan on them – so a sneaky virus won’t escape Norton’s radar.

The antivirus generally has a low impact on system performance, but you may see a slight slowdown with older machines.

NordVPN Threat Protection is included with the excellent NordVPN VPN platform. It’s an excellent solution for securing downloads and your browser, and it also gives you access to a high-speed VPN network with huge numbers of servers around the world.

The regular version works even without a VPN connection, whereas the Lite version requires your system to be connected to the VPN. Both versions come with their own USPs.

For example, the regular edition of the software automatically runs real-time scans of your executable files so possible threats can be detected fast and countermeasures can be taken.

The Lite version, on the other hand, works on the DNS level, filtering out and blocking the IP of websites known for malicious activities and shady ads. That said, NordVPN Threat Protection is likely best known for its wide coverage.

For instance, it automatically blocks all intrusive pop-up ads so that you can have an uninterrupted browsing experience without the risk of accidentally clicking on a malicious link.

To prevent targeted ads and data theft, Nord Threat Protection takes special steps against third-party data trackers. It does a great job of preventing data leaks by blocking trackers on every site you visit and leaving no trail behind for them to follow.

Of course, you also get a leading VPN service included alongside malware protection – giving you access to a secure, private, and generally high-speed connection.

Another great feature, available with Complete and Plus plans, is a cross-platform password manager, so you can securely access and store all your login information. It’s this comprehensive feature set that puts it ahead of the competition and more basic packages.

Trend Micro uses cutting-edge AI technology to detect and remove digital threats from your system. Importantly, its advanced security features won’t compromise your device’s performance.

Trend Micro runs on minimal CPU power, takes up significantly less space, and hardly impacts the device’s processing speed. So, unlike low-quality antivirus software, it won’t make your system crash or freeze.

As a preventative measure, Trend Micro has a unique Folder Shield feature that protects your files from viruses and malware. Its protective shield extends to files stored locally and those on the drives such as Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, and more.

This feature will also prevent unauthorized apps from changing these protected files, which further drives down the chances of an external virus attack. For web protection, it constantly checks the URL and blocks your access to the website the moment it detects suspicious activity.

You’ll receive a warning pop-up with the type of malware detected if you want to know more about it. One downside is that the platform doesn’t provide a firewall, though it does provide plenty of other security features.

Intego is a popular antivirus solution designed especially for Mac devices. If a virus manages to enter your Mac device, you need the best malware removal for Mac, after all.

Intego’s antivirus solution, VirusBarrier, is available under the name. It is designed to protect your device from virus attacks in real-time. Intego’s virus detection rates are also highly accurate and have been tested by independent testing agencies.

For instance, in a test run by AV-Comparatives, Intego passed with flying colors and could detect all the malware planted by the antivirus testing organization.

Along with antivirus protection, Intego will also help you keep your device clean and optimized with its Washing Machine feature. Under this, it’ll run a scan and dig up all the junk files taking up unnecessary space in your device, such as cache files, logs, downloads, and duplicates.

Plus, you can then choose which files to keep and which to delete permanently. The more free space you have on your device, the better your device will run.

If there’s one addition we’d love, it would be having a secure browsing option.

Avast is one of the few top-tier antivirus providers that offers a fully-featured free version. It includes Smart Scan functionality, which can find hidden vulnerabilities and viruses that would be overlooked in Quick Scans.

Avast also offers a File Shield that alerts you about suspicious files before you open them. If a file is infected, this feature will prevent it from spreading to the rest of the device.

Similarly, Avast’s intuitive Behavior Shield alerts you if any of your apps start misbehaving – you can either quarantine or delete them before the virus spreads. Avast’s expertise with malware detection and removal isn’t just self-proclamation.

It’s been backed by tests for independent antivirus testing labs. For instance, AV-Test ran a test on Avast’s paid and free versions, and Avast detected 100% of zero-day and prevalent malware and earned a “Top Product” certificate.

This isn’t unusual, either, and Avast routinely gets full marks for protection, performance, and usability.

In another test on Avast’s free version, run by AV-Comparatives, it blocked and offered a 99.5% online protection rate. On the whole, Avast has one of the best test scores in the industry, only behind Norton and Trend Micro.

Kaspersky has 20+ years of experience in the cybersecurity industry. What adds to its popularity is the quick installation process and user-friendly interface, which makes it a good pick for families.

It’s worth mentioning though that there are a number of questions about its suitability for U.S. users.

Kaspersky offers a range of scans, including Full Scan, Quick Scan, and Custom Scan. It also lets you scan removable drives such as USBs and hard drives.

In addition to that, you can also run a vulnerability scan to identify the possible areas in your device that a hacker might exploit. This way, you can stop virus attacks before they happen.

For mobile devices, Kaspersky provides an App Lock feature, which restricts access to selected mobile apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and so on, ensuring maximum privacy of your data.

Note that this feature is only available in the premium version of Kaspersky’s Internet Security Plan. Kaspersky also provides a VPN, though there are some limits on usage.

McAfee is a great antivirus software product that gets lots of praise for its usability, affordable plans, and decades of experience. It also offers a wide range of features and is among the best solutions for Windows 10 machines.

Along with the usual scanning options, McAfee offers a unique Vulnerability Scan option that looks up security patches for areas of attack on your device and lets you know when an app needs to be updated to reduce the risk of an attack.

To prevent cyber attacks, McAfee has a firewall that filters out all malicious files and downloads that could be hiding viruses. This tool identifies and removes viruses even before they reach your system.

The best thing about this firewall is its beginner-friendly nature – you can easily navigate its interface, and every feature is easy to find and use. Beyond this, McAfee also provides exceptional security against ransomware through its intuitive layer of real-time protection.

Even better, the real-time scans don’t affect your browsing experience. You won’t even notice it’s there unless you purposely look for it or run into a security issue.

The moment McAfee detects an attempt to encrypt your files, known as File Content Transformation in McAfee’s language, it’ll drive up your security. Plus, it’ll also create protected backups of those files.

This means that even if the intruder corrupts them, you don’t lose the documents and valuable information. Need we say more? We do. McAfee will also keep your device in the best shape with its system optimizer called QuickClean.

It’ll clean all cookies, temporary files, junk files, and every unimportant item hogging up space in your device.

You also get support for cloud backups – though there are some limits to the service.