- avast! Free Antivirus 2,035,356
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus 100,113
- Quick Heal AntiVirus 2010 32Bit 130,534
- McAfee FreeScan 1,827,004
- Avira AntiVir Premium 25,256
avast! Free Antivirus
- Version: 6.0.1367
- Downloads Count: 2,035,356
- License Type: Free
- Price: Free
- Date Added: Nov 29, 2011
- Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP
- Requirements: 32-bit or 64-bit OS, Pentium 3 processor, 128MB RAM, 300MB free hard drive space
- File Size: 64.21 MB
- Author: AVAST Software
Most recent User Reviews for avast! Free Antivirus
-
Reviewed by: ByteRider
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: Self-defense
Weaknesses: Slow
Overall Evaluation: Better than Windows Defender x1000!
-
Reviewed by: brainpup
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: Updates Virus signatures automatically ( gives you an audio notice ) light on resources, user friendly interface, the Boot Scanner is the ticket too.
Weaknesses: None really...it might let some low rated junk slip thru , but then nothing catches everything.
Overall Evaluation: Ok look, 1st off, I'm BACK...I'm sorry I left you...no really I am, when I just did a recent reformat/reinstall on my Main Rig I installed Microsoft's Security Essentials just to test out my new modded/hacked version of Windows 7 Ultimate to see if it would pass all of MS's Updates and Software compatibility,(psst..it did) So I have been using MS's protection now for 2 days and this mornng I got whacked, so I am at PCWorld.com right now because I am Reinstalling AVAST back on this Rig, you see ol' Bill G's stuff let me get hit with a Trojan/redirect.generic/sys32 infection and his shiott didn't catch it. I uninstalled MS's SE and installed AVAST and ran a Boot Scan and POOF it found the culprit...(dam thing was hijacking my home page and redirecting me to some stupid looking web advertising pages ) NOTE: when my newly reborn system started acting funny last night I ran the Online Virus scanners from Panda, McAfee, Norton, F-Secure, AVG and Bit-Defender and none of them found the Trojan. But Avast's Boot Scan found it, most of those other programs don't even have a Boot Scanner...AVAST IS THE BEST FREE ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM OUT THERE AND AS GOOD AS OR BETTER THAN ALL THE PAID PRODUCTS. I'm looking to buy the Full Blown Product..its that good.
-
Reviewed by: kelsci
Duration of ownership: 7 Days
Strengths: Seems to do things right. If you want a file to go through without the sandbox set-up, what ever you choose goes through correctly. Autotatic quick update and a voice comes up to tell you so.
Weaknesses: none
Overall Evaluation: I like this product very much. Defintely much thought went into it; more so than other programs
-
Reviewed by: dennis0623
Duration of ownership: 5 Years
Strengths: I have never had any problems, none what so ever, since I started using Avast, while others fell short. Super Job
Weaknesses: None that I can see
Overall Evaluation: The best on the free market, maybe the paid ones also.
-
Reviewed by: djgriffin1
Duration of ownership: 6 Years
Strengths: This product is outstanding. I have used it for 6 years and never been disappointed. Wide rage on monitors that are controllable for what the user needs.
Weaknesses: none
Overall Evaluation: I have never had a virus with this program. That's the best rating you can get!
-
Reviewed by: stevo420
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: It keeps them out just as good as any of the paid versions or other brands. It took care of a virus issue I had on a network when a paid version of CA Internet Security could not.
Weaknesses: The new pop up ads, which really are not that bad but I had to think of something. They only appear once in a while.
Overall Evaluation: AWESOME, best free antivirus ever. I put it on all my clients computers.
-
Reviewed by: sasseymae
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: i had it on my desktop for two years but installed microsoft security on mom's wanted something easy for her she got malware from a youtube video it shut down microsoft and avg couldn't handle it either.it found the malware that shut down two other antivirus software and got rid of it thank you avast
Weaknesses: so far none
Overall Evaluation: why pay for antivirus when there's avast a far superior product and i've had trouble with mcafee and norton
-
Reviewed by: Pearlpro
Duration of ownership: 36 Months
Strengths: Fast and Daily Updates automatically
Weaknesses: NONE
Overall Evaluation: Its an excellent program and catches the worst and smallest offenders, automatically containing and placing trojans, viruses, and issues in a Virus Chest or deleting them, instant activation stops the downloading or scripting from occuring, an excellent free antiVir
-
Reviewed by: oneilljoy
Duration of ownership: 4 Months
Strengths: Does the job nicely
Weaknesses: none
Overall Evaluation: This was reccomended by the webmaster at my husband's office and he was right. Its a great overall antivirus. I've had several free ones over the years and this one rates up there. No problems so far for sure.
-
Reviewed by: deepkunj
Duration of ownership: 5 Weeks
Strengths: very good
Weaknesses: nothing
Overall Evaluation: it`s a good software
-
Reviewed by: HannanAlrahi
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: Its light but worked
Weaknesses: Nothing
Overall Evaluation: Its much better
-
Reviewed by: MahmoudAhmed
Duration of ownership: 5 Weeks
Strengths:
Weaknesses: in all the computer
Overall Evaluation:
-
Reviewed by: Peoleo
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: Lightweight, fast, userfriendly and FREE! Biggest thanx to the developers.
Weaknesses: Misses some malware. As they all do :)
Overall Evaluation: Works just fine together with Adaware free version (Lavasoft Corp.) No any conflicts.
-
Reviewed by: gene1011
Duration of ownership: 28 Months
Strengths: Version 5.0 is much more user friendly that previous versions. Blocks almost all incoming malware/trojans just as you click the link to connect.
Weaknesses: Still misses some malware. No one gets them all.
Overall Evaluation: I love this anti-virus. Doesn't seem to slow down the computer, but does what it needs to. I have been recommending it to all of my family and friends for years now.
-
Reviewed by: ejmfoley
Duration of ownership: 12 Months
Strengths: Ease of use
Weaknesses: None
Overall Evaluation: The one to get if you want free antivirus software.
-
Reviewed by: ivootkn
Duration of ownership: 5 Years
Strengths: Defaults settings are good. Best feature - boot time scan - option not present in many expensive products.
Weaknesses: I'm yet to find one.
Overall Evaluation: Use it on all home computers. Many times I've used it to clean bugs on other computers not using Avast by utilizing their boot time scan - great feature. I'm very satisfied with that product and keep recommending it to all my friends.
-
Reviewed by: gourken
Duration of ownership: 5 Years
Strengths: It is very light weight, reliable, extremely well maintained, and easy to use and understand. It integrates seemlessly with other software like Spybot S&D. It never nags you to buy the pay product and they never e-mail you.
Weaknesses: It expires occasionally and you have to re-registger, but this is a small price to pay.
Overall Evaluation: I recommend this product to all my friends that want an easy to use, free alternative to the pricier resource hogs that are out there. It may not stop all threats, but it is sure a lot easier on the cpu than most.
-
Reviewed by: Elijah
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: Everything! It has a great UI! Ver 5 is the best version yet, and it has done a great job for me. It takes very little memory, and is free!
Weaknesses: None that I can find.
Overall Evaluation: Everybody should have this. It has saved me quite a few times. I recommend this program to everybody, and every computer that I work on.
-
Reviewed by: leoncita
Duration of ownership: 1 Years
Strengths: Everything! I stupidly followed a questionable link and wound up with a trojan. Avast shut down my whole computer, opened it in Boot, and cleaned the whole thing out. AMAZING and a big thank you to the developers, I lost NO data
Weaknesses: It does take awhile, took several hours and I had to run it several times. And it would be nice to know what to do with the trojan in the "chest"? And yes, pie6nin, the virus database voice creeps me out too!
Overall Evaluation: Dynamite, everybody should have it.
-
Reviewed by: pie6nin
Duration of ownership: 4 Months
Strengths: It doesn't slow down my PC, unlike McAfee. It is free, unlike McAfee. It catches viruses, unlike McAfee. On access scanning instead of slowing down your computer by scanning 24/7.
Weaknesses: The interface is kinda weird, but it doesn't matter anyway. Also, when it says "virus database has been updated" it sounds kinda creepy. Then again that's probably just me.
Overall Evaluation: Extremely useful. Installed on both my computers.
-
Reviewed by: Skyline1866
Duration of ownership: 1 Days
Strengths: It removed a virus or spyware for me that no other software was able to do (freewater or freedwater?)!
Weaknesses: None
Overall Evaluation: Excellent/superior!!! I am not pc savvy and this was very easy to operate! Thanks so much to PC World for reviewing it and thanks to the other user reviews. They helped me make the decision to download and try it! Thank you so much!!!
-
Reviewed by: expat53
Duration of ownership: 5 Months
Strengths: It gives me a little extra peace of mind. To remain free, I need to delete and reinstall every three months or so.
Weaknesses: Missed a Trojan infection.
Overall Evaluation: I use Avast as a compliment to AVG Free, Ad-Aware, CAYahoo, Secunia, and Comodo
-
Reviewed by: ahlbruce
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: Boots up fast. Does not slow down my computer on the internet.
Weaknesses: None.
Overall Evaluation: I paid for Norton and then McAfee for a year each. They can not beat Avast. Norton slowed down my computer and McAfee found viruses but could not remove them. I would pay for Avast but it's free!
-
Reviewed by: RealNeil
Duration of ownership: 6 Years
Strengths: Free, Great protection that's better than the paid services, timely automatic updates, did I say Free? I DID say BETTER and that's true!
Weaknesses: It doesn't wax my car, or do laundry.
Overall Evaluation: it's good to have a free option with 6 computers in the house. AV software USED to cost me dearly every year, but not any more,...AVAST Rocks!
-
Reviewed by: sephira01
Duration of ownership: 3 Months
Strengths: Light, just like AVG free, but stronger then it. Fast in scanning, speedy update either in program or virus definition.'
Weaknesses: none except its media-player-like display'
Overall Evaluation: very well, suggested to everyone, especially to a slow PC or Notebook'
-
Reviewed by: PennsyNut
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: simplicity, keeps running and updates daily.
Weaknesses: none
Overall Evaluation: Other than "why so large a file", it's terrific.
-
Reviewed by: gregmb
Duration of ownership: 9 Months
Strengths: Protection this powerful for free. Uses very little resources. Hardly know it's there.
Weaknesses: None, really.
Overall Evaluation: Again, for a free program, you won't go wrong downloading this. It has caught things that Norton and others have missed. And it's no hassle having to register it. I would HIGHLY
-
Reviewed by: ps3fungamer
Duration of ownership: 1 Days
Strengths: its easy to use, has a a sleek design
Weaknesses: that you have to register, if its free why register
Overall Evaluation: i had picked up a pcworld mag. from best buy. ok i thought i would read the free apps thats what i wanted. but then i got to the confilcker section and i then found out that i wasn't able to get to the security sites. (i'll admit i was scared) so i looked at the virus section and found this downloaded it and now its taken care of and I'm care free
-
Reviewed by: cdouglas40
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: I never caught a virus
Weaknesses: None that I can think of
Overall Evaluation: Great program
-
Reviewed by: thecompmaster
Duration of ownership: 9 Months
Strengths: Good anti-virus protection for free, easy to use
Weaknesses: Perhaps a better interface and a little faster scans
Overall Evaluation: One of the best anti-virus programs you can easily get for free.
-
Reviewed by: cadoc
Duration of ownership: 1 Days
Strengths: First thing noticed is Avast! uses fewer resources_as evidenced in Task Manager_than windows live onecare. 36 processes are running in this old desktop when prior level was 38-39. Install was a breeze. Pages are loading faster.
Weaknesses: None yet detected
Overall Evaluation: For ease of install alone I am thrilled as it took less than 10 minutes to uninstall Windows live onecare using Spotmau Wincare and install Avast! with reboot. Love the sweet & simple.
-
Reviewed by: oldschoolh4ck3r
Duration of ownership: 5 Years
Strengths: FREE, detects everything I encounter (but doesn't detect useful utilities as trojans, as other antivirus apps often do), nice interface, very configurable, doesn't bog your system down like a lot of other antivirus suites
Weaknesses: I had a problem where accessing my floppy drive would cause the system to reboot when Avast was in use. For years now I've been floppy-free so it hasn't been an issue.
Overall Evaluation: After having tried numerous other antivirus packages, Avast is the best. It is free (only requires a yearly registration code), detects what others miss, performs fast, and has a wealth of options. Like any good tool, you don't notice it until you need it - productivity is not lost using it.
-
Reviewed by: clxerri
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: auto updates
Weaknesses: not a good antivirus
Overall Evaluation: not as good as AVG
-
Reviewed by: rkaski
Duration of ownership: 4 Years
Strengths: Extremely effective antivirus software. I have been using it since I started using XP Pro 64-bit, because they were the only one I could find who worked with this operating system. Am still using to this day on Windows 7 and have never been infected with a virus yet! it installs easily and runs and updates on its own.
Weaknesses: Have never had a problem with this program.
Overall Evaluation: Have built many systems and always install Avast as the antivirus software. Also have had customers bring infected systems to me and when they have beened cleaned, have removed existing antivirus software and installed Avast. To this day none of those systems have been reinfected. They have an outstanding record with me and will continue to recommend them to everyone!
-
Reviewed by: b003
Duration of ownership: 4 Years
Strengths: Easy install easy uninstall, excellent updates, p2p shield, resident scanning, on demand scanning
Weaknesses: Slow scanning and trouble setting up pop mail scanning
Overall Evaluation: It's good sturdy reliable not perfect or fast
-
Reviewed by: s1301
Duration of ownership: 0 Months
Strengths: This software is great about auto updates and monitoring your computer constantly.
Weaknesses: The software sometimes slows down my computer but it's a trade-off for security.
Overall Evaluation: It's a terrific free program which I would tell everyone to use for peace of mind.
-
Reviewed by: malkay8
Duration of ownership: 8 Months
Strengths: antivirus for dummies extremely easy to use does it all by itself. Constantly monitors everything that the computer and you do with the computer. Updates itself and also lets you know when it updates with both a visual alert and audible alert. I work on computers and I highly recomend this antivirus to all my customers.
Weaknesses: sometimes I've noticed that this program doesnt find a potentially dangerous thing until you try to open the file that has the potential threat in it then it catches it. but you definately know when it finds something because it will alert you quite well with a box on the screen and again an audible alert.
Overall Evaluation: this antivirus kicks Nortons and McAffee all to ****. Makes them look like junk as far as I am concerned
-
Reviewed by: mcrass
Duration of ownership: 18 Months
Strengths: Superior virus detection and removal. Low memory overhead. Easy to install and use. Fast and efficient virus scans and removal. Has not interfered with all other applications tested (list is extensive).
Weaknesses: None so far.
Overall Evaluation: Outstanding anti-virus program. Unmatched value for both home and business user, especially in todays market. I have used and recommended this anti-virus program more than any other in the last 12 months. This program has proven to be far superior to both McAfee and Norton.
-
Reviewed by: Dannie19720
Duration of ownership: 1 Months
Strengths: Ease of installation and use. It detected and removed a trojan that AVG and other utilities could not find.
Weaknesses: None, that I know of.
Overall Evaluation: I recommend it highly over the others that I have used over the years. That includes Norton, McAfee, AVG and others. I am a dedicated user now of Avast.
-
Reviewed by: flobes
Duration of ownership: 7 Months
Strengths: Easy to install, easy to use, and easy to understand. Has great warnings and prompt removal. Pre-boot scan worked well to remove a trojan that Norton 360 missed. (Down with Norton)
Weaknesses: haven't found any.
Overall Evaluation: I used to use Norton 360. I got a trojan and Nrton couldn't remove it. I tried Avast! with the pre-boot scan and the virus was destroyeed. Avast! rocks. Download Now for great protection.
-
Reviewed by: Knifeblade
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: Quick and easy install and use to scan. It's all I use. You have to love the daily update feature, it's automatic, you don't need to keep searching for updates or definitions.
Weaknesses: The only irritant for me is the comp. gets a bit balky when the update occurs, but goes back to normal after the update finishes. A bit irritating at times, but I'm willing to put up with the few {about 20-30} seconds it takes.
Overall Evaluation: Can't beat the price!!!!!!!! A very good, small footprint, daily updating, an attention-grabbing warning sound and alert banner if you come on something bad on a site or file.
-
Reviewed by: fred436
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths: Its free, I replaced Norton ith it.
Weaknesses: I haven't found any.
Overall Evaluation: love it
-
Reviewed by: rythemboy
Duration of ownership: 1 Years
Strengths: good for xp. not for vista.
Weaknesses: Will cause vista to crash continually at start up. I think the update feature was responsible, since it stopped crashing when i turned auto update off. getting rid of it anyway.
Overall Evaluation:
-
Reviewed by: UniteX
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: Very easy to use and automatically updates.
Weaknesses: Doesn't find much Tracker Cookies, if any.
Overall Evaluation: Found a whole slew of viruses that Norton did not. Avast rocks. Nothing to it.
-
Reviewed by: Don1
Duration of ownership: 1 Months
Strengths: simple use,set it up and it does the rest. email spam is gone. I had norton 360 before. never again.
Weaknesses: None
Overall Evaluation: when i installed this it found a virus norton had let on to my computer. Avast is all I will use now.
-
Reviewed by: SteveGinIL
Duration of ownership: 12 Months
Strengths: Simplicity, painless installation ( Norton, you SOBs! ), effective interdiction of viruses, automatic updates are excellent, low memory footprint
Weaknesses: One of the alerts is ambiguous/unclear
Overall Evaluation: I recommend this software to everyone. Norton users I know are complete morons, saying that Avast couldn't be any good because Norton is the standard. This was recommended by someone online who said that Avast installs quickly and painlessly, and that it takes up like 90% less hard drive space and 90% less CPU usage. I have found that my PC runs much faster, and I don't have NOrton in my face every few weeks telling me that I have to do this or that or the sky is going to fall down around my sorry ass. Ratings: AVAST: 4.85; Norton: 2.0
-
Reviewed by: crtrie
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Overall Evaluation: I read the review by choluk. He criticized the constant asking for a registry key. I think he may have made a mistake when a pop-up window came up. He should have picked the demo option, which would have given him 60 days of trial. Toward the end of that period you are given the opportunity to get a key, which is free, and once you are sent that key and enter it you are not bothered for another 18 months. It is a great anti-virus program, especially at that price.
-
Reviewed by: choluk
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: This appears to be an OK anti-virus, but READ below.
Weaknesses: EVERY DAY I get messages from them to 'register' to get my 'key'. After about 2 weeks of getting the SAME 'key' number, I just started deleting the pop-up at start up. What a royal pain! It's not wort the aggrivation to have it. Go on to something else!
Overall Evaluation: This is the most persistent sales pitch I've seen. It keeps coming back again and again and again and again and again forever. Total lowball trash. Email them and you get ZERO response.
-
Reviewed by: applesauce
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: Compared to other antivirus agents, Avast is far superior. Clean interface, easy on RAM and you don't need a court order to remove it (like Norton or McAfee).
Weaknesses: crickets
Overall Evaluation: If you are looking for a clean, easy solution this product is it! I have used it for many years and it offers fine real-time protection with an easy interface and solid integration w/ mail clients like Outlook. You can not find a better product for FREE!!! Highly recommend it..
-
Reviewed by: howyoudoin
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: wonderful, updates handsfree
Weaknesses: non
Overall Evaluation: Oh, one last thing. DO NOT install AVG on Vista. It will not install. I have had so many issues with AVG before I knew Avast was free. I also had a terminal server that would not work with symantec. AVG is SO messy messy messy. Yes, AVG is free, but every time I booted up my wife's laptop, it would come up with a bar, and tell me every file it was updating. This did nothing but confuse all the people who used that laptop. Avast runs so queitly, only once in a while it talks "Virus database has been updated" and that virus updating scheduler is "hands free" unlike AVG. Vista and AVG is like mixing water with oil, I went crazy trying to get it off the PC. I am talking about editing the registry, the uninstaller would not work which I did try first.
-
Reviewed by: mancine
Duration of ownership: 1 Months
Strengths: Looked like it could do the job
Weaknesses: Slowed my Intel Core2 Quad to a stand-still. I'm not talking about slow. I'm talking about delays of 5 minutes or more in loading software, performing operations.
Overall Evaluation: Tried various settings, support forums, resinstalls. Had to uninstall after 3 weeks of frustration.
-
Reviewed by: CrimsonFox
Duration of ownership: 1 Weeks
Strengths: An excellent scanning engine (I really feel protected). Very easy on RAM. Provides real-time protection.
Weaknesses: Scan can be long. Can't schedule any scans.
Overall Evaluation: A very good piece of software that does a great job for free. If you can handle the long scan times as well as having to start your scan manually (two VERY minor issues for me), then you can't go wrong with this fantastic piece of software!
-
Reviewed by: hirsch
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: Stays working in the background and does not cause any problems...
Weaknesses: Very few, but one time, a year or so ago they sent out an update with a virus...
Overall Evaluation: Does the job & you can't beat the price!
-
Reviewed by: pheberer
Duration of ownership: 14 Months
Strengths: Very good anti-virus that can run on multi-platforms, both 32-bit and 64-bit!. Easily changed with custom skins to suit the user.
Weaknesses: Default skin is too much like a media player.
Overall Evaluation: As a computer consultant, I recommend Avast to my clients, and use it personally on over half a dozen systems. NO anti-virus program is 100% foolproof, but Avast is as good as any, and the price is certainly right! It's one of only a few that will run correctly in a 64-bit OS environment, and auto updates, which is a boon to newbies. It can easily be uninstalled from the Add/Remove icon in Control Panel in XP, and functions equally well in Vista.
-
Reviewed by: davidveatch
Duration of ownership: 1 Weeks
Strengths: It's free.
Weaknesses: There is not uninstaller provided - and you cannot uninstall it using the windows Add/Remove facility, in Control Panel. The user interface resembles a media player, rather than an antivirus.
Overall Evaluation: There are other (better!) free antivirus programs. I would rather pay for an antivirus software, than to use Avast.
-
Reviewed by: andyinteractive
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: A great piece of software that does exactly what it says on the tin! This is an exceptionally superb piece of software with lots of features you would get from a paid product.
Weaknesses: Avast seemed to have cut corners with the interface as it looks more like a media player. Also the scan areas have to be manually selected each time you do a scan which is rather disappointing. The scanning is also very slow.
Overall Evaluation: A good anti-virus apart from the interface. If you are not concerned about looks and you are prepared to manually selected the areas to be scanned i cannot fault it. Where Alwil have skimped on these areas...they have made up for it in others. I would not recommend this for novice users due to some features of which may seem rather complex.
Ad Choices