THE BEST ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM EVER 2K16
What's the best
antivirus program? The best security software for your Windows 10 PC, laptop or
tablet comes from either Norton, Bitdefender or Kaspersky. Learn more about your
free- and paid security options in our best antivirus software chart.
In this article,
we bring you the 17 best free and paid antivirus programs for your PC orlaptop in the UK in 2016. Best Antivirus
reviews, tests and ratings. Where
to buy antivirus, and best Windows antivirus for PC and laptop.
If you'd like to
skip straight ahead to our antivirus software chart, click here. We've also got lots of expert
internet security buying advice to share with you below, though, so continue
reading if you're unsure of what security software you need.
If you've just
downloaded Windows
10 or bought a new
Windows 10 PC, don't forget that it will need some help to keep it working as
well as it does right now. And that means installing security software. We
round up the best free antivirus and best paid antivirus for Windows 10, plus
older Windows operating systems running on your PC or laptop. (See also: best business antivirus 2016 UK.)
Best antivirus and internet security software: Why you need
antivirus - What is antivirus?
Antivirus software detects, and
then prevents, disarms or removes malicious programs or malware, often referred
to as 'viruses'. Antivirus doesn't offer a perfect solution to the problem of
malware, but it is a critical first step to securing your PC or laptop. To help
prevent viruses infecting your PC you must install antivirus, and then
regularly update your antivirus software. All of the antivirus software
reviewed here will update automatically.
But Internet security software is no
longer just about countering viruses. Although they still exist, viruses are
arguably a minor part of the malware now prevalent on the web. More important
now is security of personal data. Security exploits aren't about show-off
hackers massaging their egos, any more, but about monetising their malware.
The modern day
criminal doesn't have to be a hard-line hacker, either. They can buy all the
software they need, and millions of addresses, on the dark
web or even on eBay,
if you know where to look. You can buy everything from denial of service attack
- with botwebs for hire - to individual exploits. Custom attacks are available,
where the code changes after only a dozen uses or so, making it very hard for
Internet Security (IS) providers to block every new varient.
Best antivirus and internet security software: Zero day
attacks
Although the primary concern is
to block malware so it doesn’t install on your PC in the first place, there
isn’t an internet security suite made which is 100 percent effective.
Worthwhile IS and antivirus software should also detect so called ‘zero day’
attacks, where the malware is so new it hasn’t yet been analysed or had
‘signatures’ built into IS protection routines.
The speed with which these analyses
are made is an important factor in the level of protection an IS suite can
provide. Some companies now claim a turnaround of well under an hour, using
information gained from their own customers about similar attacks. The cloud
element in security applications is growing more and more important in speeding
this process.
Newly installed software can be
monitored, looking for suspicious activity and can then be prevented from
potentially damaging actions, such as changing registry entries, or installing
as a browser add-in.
Best antivirus and internet security software: How to
choose antivirus
Malware is evolving faster than
ever, but fortunately the latest generation of antivirus - or AV - is better
equipped than ever to handle new threats.
In recent years, the technology that
powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you purchased a few
years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known malware, but
brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer products do a better
job of stopping them.
For our
antivirus tests we team up with AV-Test.org,
a respected independent security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test
rigorously tests AV products from a number of leading security companies. The
multifaceted testing procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can
detect malware using traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is,
employing a database of known malware types), but also at how well it can block
brand-new, unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product
can clean up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get
through.
Every program in this list is worth
your investment. The differences between the top few are relatively minor. The
critical thing is to install one of these programs.
Best antivirus and internet security software: what's the
difference between free antivirus and paid antivirus?
Our tests focus on paid-for and
free AV products. Paid-for AV products usually offer better technical support
and more comprehensive protection features than free programs, but free is
free. Internet security suites go further still, offering firewalls, parental
controls, identity theft protection and more.
Best antivirus reviews | Best internet security software
reviews
Here we review
the best antivirus programs
you can buy or download in the UK right now.
Securing your PC is, of course, about a lot more than antivirus. At the very
least you need to run up to date antivirus, antispyware and a firewall. You'll
find that almost all of the best antivirus software we test these days forms
part of an internet security suite: so all of the above and
more is included.
The trouble is, some antivirus is
better than others. They all offer a blacklist of known threats, and a
whitelist of software that is known to be legitimate. But these days new
threats emerge every day, and knowing what is friend and what is foe in
real-time can be critical. And that's where we come in. AV-Test challenges
Windows security software to withstand threats both old and new, known and
unknown.
We then combine that with our own
experienced and expert tests of interface and system overhead. We test
antivirus programs for how much (if at all) they slow down your PC or laptop,
as well as how easy to use and how intrusive they are. Thus you can see from
our regularly updated list of the best antivirus for PC or laptop, which is the
best for you. Best antivirus for protection, best antivirus for performance,
and best antivirus for value. Click through to read the individual antivirus
reviews.
·
Rating: 
·
Reviewed on: 21 April 15
·
Buy for £49.99
·
Avast produces an excellent free AV
offering, giving nobody an excuse to lack protection on a PC. This commercial
product is not quite such good value, lacking some of the features we've come
to expect of premium suites. Backup and PC tune-up are missing or require an
extra purchase.
Read our Avast Premier 2015 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 19 February 15
·
ESET Smart Security 8 is an efficient
IS suite, though it doesn't have many of the extras which are now often
standard issue. It's good at what it does and from our tests has a fairly light
touch.
Read our ESET Smart Security 8
review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 19 February 15
·
Buy for £38.99
·
Avira Internet Security Suite 2015 is
a good, solid IS suite with useful extras in the System Speedup app.
Technically excellent, it loses a little for lack of any form of backup, but is
still a good choice.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 28 May 15
·
ESET NOD32 Antivirus is a sound
antivirus product with some useful extras, though it’s a bit surprising
anti-spam isn't included in the product. The software is easy to use and
doesn't disrupt the normal function of a PC it’s running on. Technically, it's
a strong contender, without being in the front rank.
Read our ESET NOD32 Antivirus 8
review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 25 February 15
·
Buy for £37.49
·
It’s not possible to
compare Webroot’s offering with the others in terms of AV efficacy, as we have
no test results, but the company’s claim to scan fast and leave a light impression
looks fair.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 20 February 15
·
Buy for £34.95
·
G-Data Internet Security 2015 is
relatively inexpensive for a full-featured security suite. It's not the most
successful at beating out web threats, but it is sufficiently good to be worth
installing. A decent purchase, if not the best.
Read our G Data Internet
Security 2015 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 31 October 14
·
If you run a couple of home Windows
PCs, a Mac, a tablet and a smartphone, or a similar combination, McAfee
LiveSafe 2015 is an economical way of protecting them all and providing
anti-theft facilities on the mobile devices. While the feature set of the IS
component of the package may lack back-up and PC tune-up, the power of its AV
protection can't be denied.
Read our McAfee LiveSafe 2015
review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 5 October 15
·
Buy for Free
·
AVG Free continues to be one of the
best free antivirus programs you can download. It offers a good selection of
key protections, though you do have to be careful to install the right product.
Read our AVG Free Antivirus 2016
review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 5 October 15
·
Buy for Free
·
Avast Free Antivirus 2015 is one of
the best free security products you can install. It offers a surprising range
of free goodies, including application and browser app analysis and,
separately, an excellent Android suite, covering AV and anti-theft. A better
than average AV-Test rating completes a very impressive picture.
Read our Avast Free Antivirus 2015 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 13 October 15
·
Buy for Free
·
Panda is one of the leading antivirus
providers and this free offering includes a couple of interesting extras. We
were surprised at the time it took for both the initial and follow-up test
scans, but its protection levels are sound and it’s very easy software to set
up and forget.
Read our Panda Free Antivirus
2016 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 26 November 15
·
Buy for Free
·
If you want the extra features that
Total Security 2016 offers over and above a plain free antivirus product, then
Qihoo isn't a bad choice. And if you do install it, you should head straight
into the settings and enable the Bitdefender scanner.
Read our Qihoo 360 Total Security 2016 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 24 February 15
·
Buy for £42
·
With such a good
performance and the lower asking price, Trend Internet Security 2015 represents
very good value, even though it misses out on certain extras offered by some of
its competition.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 7 October 15
·
Buy for Free
·
BitDefender Free Edition will suit a
certain kind of user, one who just wants to install the software and let it do
its job, without recourse to setup changes or manually scans. Since it has such
a high protection score, it’s safe to do this, but if you prefer to have more
hands-on control, you may find this approach frustrating.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 6 October 15
·
Buy for Free
·
Overall, this is one of the best free
AV applications you’re going to find. With perfect scores from AV-Test, a good
range of facilities for a zero-cost suite and a well-designed interface which
is easy to use and direct, Avira Free Antivirus 2015 is a great choice to
protect your PCs.
Read our Avira Free Antivirus 2015 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 16 December 14
·
A three-device, full protection IS
suite for under £50 is good value and when that includes cover on all the major
platforms, it should be flexible enough for most. Kaspersky Total Security
2015’s technical strength can’t be faulted, with only Avira Anti Virus Pro
matching it in the AV-Test group.
Read our Kaspersky Total Security 2015 review.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 7 April 15
·
This is one of the very best AV
suites available, in terms of outright protection against malware. It's also
very good at not throwing up false warnings, but there are other products
offering more auxiliary modules for the money.
·
Rating:
·
Reviewed on: 23 February 15
·
Buy for £60
·
Offering excellent value with 10
licences to cover all your devices, Norton Security with Backup also offers a
strong feature set and very good protection from viruses and other malware.
Recommended.
If you're looking for best antivirus program that has allrounder perfomarnce. Then I must recommend www.webroot.com/safe. Webroot antivirus solutions are like an armour which constantly works to protect your device from viruses, malware, and other security threats.
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