avast! Free Antivirus

avast! Free Antivirus
License:
Free
Language:
English
Developer:
OS:
WinXP/Vista/7
Updated:
See detailed info

Softonic review

Elena Santos

“Final version of the all-new free antivirus”

by Elena Santos about avast! Free Antivirus

avast! Free Antivirus is a popular free antivirus for Windows that has just been updated to version 6.

Besides efficient protection against viruses and spyware, avast! Free Antivirus features eight real-time shields that keep your system safe from online threats in various areas: web browsing, email, instant messaging, P2P and more – plus the two new Script and Behavior Shields. The eight shields in avast! Free Antivirus! can be enabled or disabled individually, and have their own settings.

Two new interesting tools in avast! Free Antivirus 6 are the Web reputation plug-in, which informs you about the reliability of the website you’re currently visiting, and the AutoSandbox, which enables you to test suspicious programs without any risk to your computer. Finally, avast! Free Antivirus 6 now includes a desktop gadget from which you can open the program’s main window, perform a system scan or force a database update.

The interface in avast! Free Antivirus 6 hasn’t changed much from previous versions. The design is basically the same, only bigger – something that may not be comfortable for some users. Then again, the most important feature in a security tool is not looks, but being able to protect your system in an effective, non-intrusive way – jus like avast! Free Antivirus does.

avast! Free Antivirus 6 is an excellent new version of an already outstanding antivirus tool. It includes powerful security features that protect your computer without compromising performance or stability.

Pros
  • Eight real-time shields
  • Web reputation plug-in
  • Sandbox to test potentially dangerous apps
  • Includes desktop gadget
Cons
  • Slow scans
  • Large window
  • Lacks "nicer" fucntions, such as anti-spam/set-up help
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Developer's description

The latest version of avast! antivirus kernel features outstanding detection abilities, together with high performance. You can expect 100% detection of In-the-Wild viruses (viruses already spreading between users) and excellent detection of Trojan horses.

The avast! engine also features outstanding unpacking support. It can scan inside the following archives: ARJ, ZIP, MIME (+ all associated formats), MAPI (Outlook pst files), DBX (Outlook Express archives), RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, BZIP2, ZOO, ACE, ARC, LHA/LHX, TNEF (winmail.dat), CPIO, CHM, RPM, ISO, 7ZIP and SIS. It also supports a number of executable packers (such as PKLite, Diet, UPX, ASPack, PeShield, FSG, MEW etc.).

Resident protection (the real-time protection of the operating system), is one of the most important parts of an antivirus program today. avast! features a powerful resident module that is able to detect a virus before it has any chance to infect your computer. avast! Home Edition contains resident protection of the computer file system and a resident module for e-mails and news.

Avast features a module for the protection of IM (Instant Messaging, "chat") programs, and a module for the protection of P2P (peer-to-peer) programs. The list of supported IM and P2P programs is extensive with more than 30 programs currently supported.

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