Avast One review

Avast is without doubt one of the massive family names in terms of cybersecurity. The corporate has been growing antivirus software program since 1988 and within the late ’90s, Avast software program powered McAfee’s antivirus merchandise, for a short time.

Extra lately, in 2016, Avast purchased rival antivirus supplier AVG, and in 2017, it acquired widespread PC tune-up software CCleaner. Final September, Avast accomplished a merger with NortonLifeLock, which has turned the 2 antivirus giants right into a safety software program superpower. 

With an extended historical past of innovation behind it and now, a member of a giant household, Avast provides subscribers a big selection of services and products, from antivirus and malware detection instruments, to a VPN.

When you can obtain totally free and subscribe to many of those individually, Avast gathers every thing collectively beneath Avast One, the corporate’s premium safety suite.

Important, Particular person, Household subscriptions

Avast One subscriptions comprise antivirus software program, privateness safety options, and a few primary clean-up instruments. Supported working techniques embody Home windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. 

The antivirus software program guarantees 24/7 lively safety to your units, an e mail scanner, and a Wi-Fi community inspector – the identical core providing that Avast provides as a free download.

Avast One provides a bunch of different safety extras like ID safety, ransomware safety, and stay alerts if an unknown gadget joins your Wi-Fi community.

These options are additionally accessible with the Avast Premium Safety suite, however this solely works out as being barely cheaper by way of value. It’s additionally not as beneficiant by way of protection, because the entry-level Premium Safety deal solely covers one gadget (versus the 5 lined with Avast One Particular person) and the costlier model covers ten units (versus 30 with Avast One Household).  

On prime of that, Avast One comes with various further options which you received’t discover inside Avast Premium Safety.

Amazingly, Avast provides a free model known as One Important. This has an information cap for the VPN (a beneficiant 5GB per week) and protects a single gadget. Nevertheless, there’s nothing stopping you from putting in it on different units utilizing different e mail addresses…

Options

Avast One consists of SecureLine VPN, which makes use of the WireGuard protocol and, if you happen to pay for the Particular person or Household subscription, permits you to hook up with over 30 completely different nations with no restrict on how a lot you’ll be able to browse or stream. So wherever you might be on the earth, you’ll be able to binge each collection of Crimson Dwarf on BBC iPlayer. Which it’s best to, if you happen to’ve by no means seen it.

The clean-up instruments seek for junk information, blurry images, and duplicate information which are taking over cupboard space. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Desktop apps

Given all the options on supply right here, Avast One might simply be overwhelming. Luckily, the Home windows and macOS desktop apps are very simple to navigate.  

On the left-hand column are shortcuts which take you to a house dashboard, which supplies you an outline of what’s working. Beneath this can be a branching menu of all of the software program choices at your disposal. 

A message centre (frequently populated with alerts and suggestions and methods) sits beneath this. On the backside is an account web page, the place you’ll be able to handle subscription settings, and test for software program updates.

The set-up course of entails working a Good Scan for the primary time. This rapidly searches your gadget for widespread threats, and takes about 5 minutes. As soon as that preliminary scan is finished you’ll be able to (supplied no viruses or malware have been detected) go away Avast One to run within the background whilst you go about your online business. 

Some options, reminiscent of Avast Internet Protect, will spring into motion once they’re wanted. Should you attempt to entry a web site flagged as being harmful via your net browser, you’ll be stopped from doing so by a warning display screen, which you’ll be able to select to heed or ignore. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Different issues, just like the E mail Guardian, must be enabled manually. E mail Guardian works with each webmail and devoted apps together with Outlook or Mail. As soon as arrange this, too, works routinely. Within the Gmail net app, for instance, Avast will add inexperienced tags to any emails deemed to be ‘secure’ and pink tags to something it thinks is ‘suspicious’. 

There’s additionally a ransomware safety software, which by default sees key folders (Paperwork, Footage, Movies, and Music on Home windows and Paperwork and Footage on macOS) given some further safety. You possibly can select to carry extra information into the fold, if you want. 

Each the Home windows and macOS variations allow you to run a Deep Scan. This combs your total system for any viruses, and usually takes a bit longer than the Good Scan. You possibly can arrange scans to run on all your units every day, or you’ll be able to select to run scans manually. 

One thing that’s distinctive to the Home windows model of Avast One is boot-time scans. This searches components of your system not accessible throughout common scans, isolating threats earlier than Home windows boots up – Avast recommends that you just solely do that if there’s an issue. It took just below 9 minutes to finish a boot-time scan on my Asus Vivobook Professional 16X OLED.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

The Avast One firewall works in the same method to the built-in Home windows Defender firewall, in that you could assign Wi-Fi networks to be both ‘trusted’ or ‘untrusted’. Avast One’s firewall comes with some options you don’t get on the built-in Home windows firewall, particularly the choice to be notified if there are makes an attempt on a community to steal delicate data or scan your laptop computer for open ports. Mac customers don’t get a firewall in any respect, so should follow their built-in firewall.

A macOS-only Avast One function is the exterior storage scan software, which is able to lengthen safety sweeps to any exhausting drives or USB sticks you’ve linked. 

Each the Home windows and macOS apps function a easy ID safety software, which tells you if something related together with your e mail handle(es) has/have been compromised. As with Norton 360, you don’t get way more element of how extreme any breaches is likely to be, simply which accounts you could must both shut down or change passwords for.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Cell apps

The iOS and Android apps replicate virtually each function you get from their desktop counterparts.

When you can’t do issues like run boot-time scans, or scan exterior drives, there’s a neat further – the safe picture vault. This allows you to create a personal picture gallery which you’ll be able to lock with a PIN or fingerprint, though on the detrimental aspect, you’ll be able to’t zoom in on or edit images when you’ve saved them. 

The Android app goes one higher, in that it additionally options an App Lock setting, which you need to use to position a PIN/fingerprint lock on particular apps, too.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Efficiency

Avast’s antivirus software program has constantly carried out nicely over time, and provides excessive ranges of safety towards viruses and malware with minimal impression in your techniques’ efficiency. 

In the latest spherical of testing from AV-Take a look at, Avast One for Home windows scored prime marks in all three classes – safety, efficiency, and useability – as did its macOS counterpart. 

Solely AVG and Bitdefender scored prime marks in each the Home windows and macOS classes, so Avast will be counseled for that.

The Android model additionally scored prime marks for cover and efficiency, however misplaced two factors within the usability class, for falsely flagging apps downloaded from Google Play as safety threats. 

Likewise, SE Labs gave Avast’s antivirus capabilities (in April 2023) an almost-perfect rating, with a single proportion level being taken away in only one class ‘legit accuracy’ class, once more for a number of false positives. So if something, Avast One is too protecting. 

Luckily, if it tries to cease you from downloading one thing or accessing an internet site which you realize to be secure (in different phrases, you might be 100% positive), you’ll be able to override it, as proven under. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

VPN

The built-in SecureLine VPN permits you to entry the web by way of servers based in 36 countries, together with the USA, Japan, Eire, and Australia. 

The quickest servers, and those best suited for video streaming and peer-to-peer connections are all recognized by icons, so it’s simple to rapidly discover one thing to fit your functions. There are not any knowledge limits, even for streaming. 

You possibly can have the VPN routinely flip itself on if you’re banking on-line, torrenting, or buying, and there’s a kill change, to cease any delicate knowledge leaking ought to the VPN connection fail. 

Whereas the VPN doesn’t hold a log of browser periods, DNS queries, or originating IP addresses, it does collect some information.  That features timestamps of your VPN connections, and the quantity pf knowledge transmitted throughout your session, which might – doubtlessly – be used to establish you. This data is deleted after 35 days, but when privateness is extra necessary to you than something in terms of VPN use, search for a VPN that doesn’t accumulate any connection logs in any respect. 

Whereas it was doable to look at BBC iPlayer from France, I wasn’t capable of entry US Netflix from the UK, no matter which US server I picked. It’s typically the case with VPNs {that a} streaming service will be capable of detect that you just’re utilizing a VPN, and are attempting to idiot it, and can stop you from accessing content material. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Worth & availability 

Avast One is obtainable as an Particular person or Household plan, protecting 5 and 30 units, respectively. By way of options, each tiers are in any other case the identical. 

Costs are discounted for the primary yr.

Worth-wise, Avast One competes nicely with McAfee Whole Safety Premium, which prices £39.99 for the primary yr, and £109.99/yr after that. 

They provide related options and ranges of safety, however a key distinction is within the variety of units they will shield directly – McAfee Whole Safety Premium permits you to shield as much as ten units. 

One other distinction is that McAfee’s ID safety function is extra superior: it proactively displays e mail addresses, fairly than simply telling you about previous leaks.

Whereas the primary yr low cost isn’t as beneficiant because the one you at present get with Norton 360, long-term, Avast One is kinder to your pockets, and the Household tier’s gadget protection beats Norton 360 Superior – which solely covers as much as ten units. Once more, although, Norton 360 provides extra options, together with cloud backup and a password supervisor.

One other various is ESET Web Safety, which is at present priced at £34.99 / US$49.99 / AU$69.99 per yr for one gadget, and allows you to add cowl for extra units an additional £5 / US$5 / AU$5.

For extra, see our roundup of the most effective antivirus software program.

Verdict 

Boasting prime scores from impartial testing labs and an easy-to-use interface, Avast One provides people and households good safety from malware and doable scams, and a good VPN. 

The issue, nevertheless, is that you just get just about all of this totally free if you happen to obtain Avast One Important. Plus, whereas paying removes the information restrict on the VPN and opens up entry to all of the servers, you continue to don’t get a password supervisor, parental controls or different further options.

The ID safety software is ok totally free however it’s disappointing that you just don’t get proactive monitoring if you’re a paying buyer – one thing you do get with McAfee Whole Safety Premium.

The power to safeguard information is nice, however once more, you get this with the cheaper Avast Premium Safety. The tune-up instruments are all nice-to-haves, however not important, particularly when you will get CCleaner totally free as nicely.

Avast One is mostly superb at what it does and is a genuinely nice choice if you happen to’re after a free safety app. Nevertheless it wants further options if the paid variations are to be advisable alongside McAfee Whole Safety and Norton 360.