What is the best online computer virus protection

Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions. Reviews Guidelines. Katarina Glamoslija Updated on: January 13, This article contains. Short on time? Download Avira Free Security for Windows here. Quick summary of the best free Windows antiviruses for 1. Kaspersky — Free extras like a VPN, dark web monitoring, and a password manager. Malwarebytes — Minimalistic antivirus with on-demand scanning.

Sophos — Good real-time scanning with remote access for 3 PCs. Comparison of the Best Free Antiviruses for Windows in Here are a few of them: Avast. While Avast — and their subsidiary antivirus company AVG — continue to offer two pieces of widely used free antivirus software Avast Free Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free their repeated privacy violations have caused too many concerns.

You can read more here. McAfee is one of my favorite antiviruses of It comes with an advanced anti-malware engine, excellent web protections, and a VPN with unlimited data. Why should I use a free antivirus instead of Windows Defender?

Is it safe to use a free antivirus? The core of the package is local scanning and real-time protection.

On top of that, Kaspersky offers internet, email and browser security to protect against some of the most common threats employees face. Kaspersky Small Office Security can get expensive depending on how many seats you need. That said, each additional seat adds protection for desktop and mobile, as well as another password manager license. Who Should Use It: Businesses with fewer than 50 people that want proactive protection against common threats. Avast offers several different antivirus packages for business.

Teams of under 10 can protect themselves with Small Office Protection, which includes ransomware, email and internet protection. In addition to real-time protection across desktop, mobile and web, Bitdefender offers a suite of threat forecasts that can help you seal up any leaking holes before they become a problem. Before an attack, admins can monitor things like the number of unencrypted web pages employees visit.

After an attack, Bitdefender gives you the tools to break down and understand why the attack happened and how to avoid it in the future. On top of that, Bitdefender leverages machine learning to predict and block threats before they can impact your business.

Who Should Use It: Businesses that need to monitor and analyze threats before they can happen. Emsisoft employs four different protection layers to keep your data safe from nearly all threats.

It starts with protection from malicious websites in the browser, protecting your business from the most significant threats. After that, Emsisoft uses machine learning to detect zero-day malware and block it in real-time.

That should cover most threats, but Emsisoft goes further. The software uses behavior analysis to detect potentially malicious apps, and it uses that analysis to detect things like ransomware before it can encrypt your data. Outside of protection, Emsisoft includes a centralized web dashboard for seeing the protection across your business. Here, you can manage your teams, set custom protection policies and much more.

Who Should Use It: Anyone looking for holistic protection that you can manage through a centralized dashboard. F-Secure takes a different approach to business antivirus. All of its services are centered around F-Secure Elements, which is a cloud-native platform that allows you to choose the protection you need. There are four services available, each protecting a different aspect of businesses.

For most, Endpoint Protection is the most critical element. Powered by AI and based in the cloud, Endpoint Protection can help your business reduce attack surfaces, identify threats from community-sourced data and defend your data in the event a breach happens.

Malwarebytes can protect as little as a single device and as many as devices. Those include real-time protection on desktop, ransomware and phishing protection and zero-day exploit detection. If you have a larger team or need extra security, Malwarebytes has you covered. The premium package includes threat isolation and recovery, ransomware rollback and the ability to add server security.

From protecting a few devices in a small office to defending dozens of devices from large attacks, Malwarebytes has something for everyone. Who Should Use It: Malwarebytes offers a scalable platform that fits in the small office as well as it does in the sprawling enterprise. Norton is a household antivirus name, and for good reason. The business service provides the same excellent protection. That said, it loses a few points due to a limited feature set and high prices. You want a program that includes features like malware protection, that monitors downloads and that observes your system's activity for malicious software and suspicious behavior.

And also offers a secure browser experience in the process. If you're looking for malware protection and antivirus software with the best security features, here's the first thing you need to know: Microsoft Defender Antivirus -- the free antivirus software and virus protection program that comes with Windows 10 -- is a decent antivirus tool for protecting your PC and offering internet security.

Amazingly, Microsoft provided no built-in protection for Windows back in the days of Windows 95, 98 and XP. Using Microsoft Defender for threat detection should be your starting point for the best antivirus security on Windows and most people will find they don't need to go any further when it comes to nailing down an antivirus solution for identity theft protection. However, keeping your personal data safe and guarding your privacy extends beyond virus protection, and that's where third-party antivirus software shines.

A full AV software protection package can monitor your Windows operating system as well as MacOS, iOS and Android devices and include a password manager, secure online backup, identity theft protection, a VPN, parental control, webcam protection, protection against phishing and malicious websites and more -- all worthwhile security suite tools that can keep your data secure and guard your privacy.

To help you decide on the best antivirus software for your needs, I've put together a list of the best antivirus products for Windows 10, encompassing both free antivirus programs and subscription options. These picks of the best antivirus programs are a combination of recommendations from independent third-party labs AV-Test , AV-Comparatives and SE Labs , as well as our own hands-on testing. We regularly research and test our options to determine which software leads the pack, and we update this list periodically based on those tests.

We would also like to note that antivirus software isn't the only security feature you should invest in. A secure virtual private network to protect your internet traffic, a password manager to keep track of login credentials and an end-to-end encrypted messaging app to stop others from spying on your communications are all essential in protecting your personal information.

Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and high-profile attacks like the Columbia Pipeline hack are becoming more commonplace, which is concerning. Looking for free antivirus protection, malware protection or virus detection, willing to pay for an antivirus program that offers broad internet security coverage across all your devices, including from ransomware and phishing, or need to remove a computer virus or malware from your PC right now?

Here's where to start when looking for the best antivirus software for your needs. Honestly, if you practice safe computing -- you keep your software up to date, you use strong passwords with the help of a password manager , you steer clear of unexpected emails and you don't click suspicious links that may be phishing attempts -- you probably can avoid zero-day attacks and ransomware attacks.

And with the free Microsoft Defender Antivirus software running on Windows 10, you have a malware protection safety net if you do let your guard down. In fact, it is one of the best antivirus software. Note that Microsoft changed the name of Windows Defender to Microsoft Defender and has expanded the service to other platforms. This free antivirus program is built into Windows and it's turned on by default, the antivirus engine does its thing, and this antivirus solution will cover the basics of internet security.

Microsoft pushes new updates frequently. Defender also lets you tune the level of protection you want, giving you control over blocking potentially unwanted apps and protecting folders and files from a ransomware attack.

Note that Windows 10 will automatically disable its own Windows Defender antivirus when you install third-party antivirus. If you uninstall the third-party protection, Windows 10 will turn back on its own antivirus. Norton antivirus provides industry-leading security software for PC, Mac, and mobile devices.

Note, we don't think antivirus protection is terribly useful outside the Windows realm. In addition to malware and virus protection for your computer and mobile device, this antivirus suite provides GB of backup to the cloud, safe-browsing tools, a secure VPN, password manager, parental controls and LifeLock identity theft protection and fraud alert.

While not all of those services are necessarily best in their respective class, getting them all in one package is a compelling option. If you'd like to take a step up in securing your PC without taxing your wallet, it's hard to beat Bitdefender's free antivirus software for Windows The Windows security software offers real-time monitoring for viruses, malware, spyware and ransomware protection.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is easy to set up and stays out of your way until you need it. And the protection this antivirus product offers is solid.

You can test it out using the day money-back guarantee. Download TotalAV Now. McAfee Total Protection has an excellent malware scanner — detecting over Plus, the firewall provides active protection against network-based hacking threats. McAfee is also the only antivirus on this list to offer coverage for unlimited devices, but this is only available for US users. McAfee offers excellent malware protection along with a huge variety of additional security features.

McAfee also comes with useful extras like system tune-up tools, a file shredder, and identity theft protection US users only , has one of the most affordable 2-year plans of any antivirus on my list, and provides a no-risk day money-back guarantee. Download McAfee Now. Outdated programs can expose systems to threats, so I was happy to discover that Software Updater identifies outdated programs and automatically updates them.

Avira is definitely one of the most reliable antivirus programs around — its perfect detection rates are hard to beat. It is powerful, yet extremely lightweight at the same time. My favorite extra feature is the Software Updater, as it makes life so much easier by automating the boring yet important task of keeping software up-to-date! Download Avira Now. BullGuard offers a really good anti-malware engine with some decent extras and a unique game booster which optimizes PC performance during gaming.

Performance boosting aside, BullGuard also offers some other internet security protections, such as:. The firewall is really good, but the parental controls failed to block most of the inappropriate content in my testing. BullGuard has a good malware scanner, a decent range of extras, and an advanced game booster that increases frame rate and decreases load times during gameplay. Download BullGuard Now. Panda Dome has a good antivirus scanner and a few unique security features that are really useful.

Panda Dome made it super easy for me to encrypt really important work documents behind a secure password to safeguard them from malware and ransomware. The Rescue Kit disinfects PCs that are already blocked by malware — this is useful for those emergency situations where a device is completely inaccessible.

Simply load the Rescue Kit onto a USB drive, plug in the USB drive into the infected device, boot it, and Panda will automatically erase malware and make the device usable again. Download Panda Dome Now.