Avast Security Review Mac

• Avast Security Review Macbook Pro
• Avast Internet Security For Mac Review
• Avast Free Mac Security Review
• Avast Security Pro For Mac Review

avast! Free Antivirus for Mac version 9

Editor Rating: Good (3.0)

• Pros

  • Certified by one independent testing lab.
  • Free.
  • Speedy full scan.
  • Network security scanner.
  • Password manager.
  • Website rating.
  • Active Do Not Track.

• Cons

  • Poor scores in phishing protection test.
  • Password manager includes only basic features.
  • SiteCorrect feature did not work in testing.

• Bottom Line

  Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with unusual bonus features. It tanks our antiphishing test, but this free utility is still worth a look.

For many years, Mac users imagined that they lived in the land of virus-free computing. Apple promoted this dream, with ads claiming that PCs get malware, not Macs. It wasn't true, alas, and we're seeing more and more Mac-specific malware attacks. The situation may not be nearly as bad as for Window or Android, but prudence still dictates that you install antivirus protection on your Macs as well. Avast Security offers Macs protection against malware along with a network security scanner, all for a cost of exactly nothing.

After the speedy installation, I went looking for the password manager and Online Security browser extension. As of my last review, these were on the Tools page, along with Avast SecureLine VPN. There's no Tools page in the current product, though, and I couldn't find any reference to the browser extensions. The only way I could install the important Online Security extension was to download it directly from the Chrome store. I didn't bother with the password manager, since it seems that's not considered part of the product anymore.

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I did find a link to install the VPN on the Subscriptions page in Settings. Note, though, that the VPN is not free. You can install and run the VPN, but when you try to connect to a server you get a choice of signing up for $3.89 per month or starting a seven-day trial.

Dec 12, 2019. Jan 16, 2020.

Since my last review, this product's appearance has changed so it's much closer to that of Avast Free Antivirus on Windows. The product's spacious main window features a status indicator at the top of a purple background, with a big scan button just below. Four large buttons across the bottom give access to Core Shields, Virus Chest, Wi-Fi Inspector, and Ransomware Shield. A lock icon on that last item lets you know that the ransomware feature requires an upgrade to Premium.

Pricing and OS Support

Like Panda and AVG, Avast supports macOS versions back to 10.10 Yosemite. If you have an antique Mac that for some reason can't even run Yosemite, consider ProtectWorks or ClamXAV (for Mac), both of which support versions 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and later. At the other end of the spectrum, Trend Micro and Norton require macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or better.

Like Sophos and Avira, Avast offers full antivirus protection for free. Avast Security Premium (for Mac) costs $59.99 per year for one Mac-specific license or $89.99 for ten cross-platform licenses. On macOS, the Premium edition adds ransomware protection and real-time notification when new devices connect to your network. The free edition is strictly for noncommercial use; in a business setting, you have to pay up.

Good Malware Protection Scores

When reviewing a Windows antivirus utility, I report how it scored with four independent antivirus testing labs. The very best products earn top scores from all four labs. But even if no test results exist, I can run my own hands-on tests using real-world malware and malware-hosting URLs.

It took years to develop my hands-on tools and tests for Windows. Most of them don't carry over to the macOS platform. Hence lab results become extremely important for my Mac antivirus reviews. Two of the labs I follow, AV-Test Institute and AV-Comparatives, test Mac antivirus, and Avast participates with both.

Experts at AV-Comparatives test Mac antivirus products using the latest macOS malware. They also evaluate each product's ability to detect Windows malware. Why? While a Trojan written for Windows wouldn't run on a Mac, the Mac could conceivably serve as a carrier.

Avast managed 100 percent protection against the Mac malware used by AV-Comparatives. That's very good, but then, almost all tested products reached 100 percent. In the Windows malware test, Avast also detected 100 percent of the samples, as did most competing products. However, Webroot only caught 33 percent, and Intego Mac Internet Security X9 didn't catch any of the Windows samples. Like most tested products, Avast received certification from AV-Comparatives for Mac antivirus protection.

AV-Test Institute rates both Windows and macOS antivirus products on three criteria: Protection, Performance, and Usability. Protection against malware attack is essential, of course. Avoiding an impact on performance is important, as users may turn off an antivirus that causes performance problems. And usability refers to refraining from flagging valid files or URLs as dangerous.

A product can earn six points in each area, for a maximum possible score of 18. Avast took the full six points in Protection and Usability, and 5.5 points in Performance. A score of 17.5 is enough to get it the designation 'Top Product.' Bitdefender, Norton, Trend Micro, and Vipre Advanced Security (for Mac) earned the full 18 points.

Scan Choices

Avast offers several scans to improve your Mac's security. A deep scan on the Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch that I use for testing took just 20 minutes. The average for recent products is almost 40 minutes, so Avast proved quite speedy. Webroot is the current speed champ, completing a full scan in 2.5 minutes.

Avast doesn't automatically scan removable volumes as they appear. Rather, there's a separate scan for these. I scanned a thumb drive containing my Windows malware collection and found that it quarantined 85 percent of them, the same score as when last tested with a different malware collection. For comparison, ESET Cyber Security (for Mac) detected 93 percent of my samples, while Webroot wiped out every single one.

There's no predefined quick scan, which makes sense given the speed of the deep scan. You can optionally launch a targeted scan of specific folders. The custom scan lets you schedule scans and configure details like whether to scan Time Machine backups, run scans even when on battery power, or wake up the Mac for a scheduled scan.

Avira Free Antivirus for Mac not only offers scheduled scanning, it defaults to a weekly scan with no effort on your part. Bitdefender and Sophos, among others, skip scheduled scanning, relying instead on real-time protection.

Network Security Scan

From the main window, you can launch the Wi-Fi Inspector. This scan doesn't look for malware. Rather, it collects information about all the devices on your network and flags any security problems. On Windows, Avast displayed my devices in a series of concentric circles, with the router in the middle and the most active devices nearest the center. It did offer the option of switching to a list view. On macOS, the list view seems to be the only choice.

The report also serves as a list of everything that's connected to your network, identifying each by name and type. It's similar to the output of Bitdefender Home Scanner. With both products, I found devices with names like unknown6542990b6483—not much help! Avast's Windows edition lets you view the IP address, MAC address, and vendor name for those unknowns. If doing so lets you identify the device, you can change the name and select from over five-dozen device types. The macOS edition didn't let me do that. Clicking on any device simply brought up the upgrade page.

Excellent Phishing Protection for Chrome

Avast Free Antivirus on Windows automatically installs the Avast Online Security extension in Chrome and Firefox, with your permission. That's a good thing for Firefox users, as Mozilla recently removed this extension from its collection. At present you can't just go download the Firefox extension from the store. I go into the reasons for that takedown in my review of the Windows product. It's not a huge concern.

Previous editions of the macOS product used to have a link you could click to install this important extension. That link no longer exists. The product doesn't even tell users that they can improve their protection by adding Online Security. I find this very odd. For testing purposes, I installed the extension from Chrome's online store.

My phishing protection test uses URLs reported as fraudulent on various phish-tracking sites. I make sure to include some that haven't been analyzed and blacklisted yet. That's important, because phishing sites are ephemeral. Once they've been blacklisted, the fraudsters just create new ones. Any effective phishing protection must be able to detect frauds, not just match URLs against a blacklist.

I launch each URL in four browsers, one protected by the product under testing on the Mac, and three using the built-in antiphishing of Chrome, Edge, and Firefox on Windows. For Windows, I've written a small program that launches each URL and lets me record the result with a click. On the Mac, it's all hand work; I've become very good at the necessary button-mashing.

With all results recorded, I discard any URLs that didn't load correctly in all four browsers. I also discard any that don't truly fit the profile for a phish, meaning they don't attempt to fool you into giving away login credentials for a secure site.

Avast Security Review Macbook Pro

When Avast's browser-independent phishing protection blocked access to a problem page, it reported its action in a popup window. In some cases, it also displayed a note in the browser stating that it fended off an infected website. When Online Security did the job, it displayed the message 'This website is unsafe' in the browser.

Sometimes both components reported a fraud, but often enough the only protection came from Online Security. Just to see the difference, I reran the test using Safari, which doesn't have a browser extension for protection.

When I used Safari, Avast scored the same as when I accidentally tested it on Windows using Internet Explorer, which also lacks a protective extension. Both detected 81 percent of the frauds. Using the full power of Online Security, Avast managed 97 percent detection on both platforms—much better!

Avast Internet Security For Mac Review

Avast beat out Norton 360 Deluxe (for Mac) by three percentage points. Only a few macOS products have scored higher. Among those are Kaspersky and Trend Micro, which both scored a perfect 100 percent.

Site Rating and Do Not Track

Avast Free Mac Security Review

Like McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac), Avira, Trend Micro, and several others, Avast marks up results in popular search engines with green for safe, red for dangerous, and gray for unknown. You can click to vote a page up or down. Simple! Note, though, that Online Security provides this markup, so at present, you only get it in Chrome.

Clicking the Online Safety toolbar button displays the status for the current page. It also lists all the elements on the site that can track your online activity, including analytics, social media, ad trackers, and more. By default, it just reports on trackers, but you're free to block any or all of them. Websites can and do ignore the official Do Not Track header sent by your browser, but Avast's active Do Not Track feature has teeth. Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac offers a similar active Do Not Track feature.

Worth a Look

AV-Comparatives and AV-Test both certify Avast Security as an effective Mac antivirus, and it includes a handy network scanner. We did find that the network scanner lacks some features found in its Windows equivalent, though. Avast earned an excellent score in our antiphishing test. However, the Online Security component that pushed up that score is not installed by default, and at present it's only available for Chrome. Even so, the pros outweigh the cons. If you're looking for free Mac antivirus protection, give it a try, along with Sophos Home (for Mac) and Avira, and see which you like best.

Avast Security Pro For Mac Review

For truly top-notch Mac security, you'll need to open your wallet. Our Editors' Choice products in this realm are Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, and Norton 360 Deluxe (for Mac). Bitdefender and Kaspersky received excellent scores from two labs, Norton from one. All three scored well in our hands-on antiphishing test. Bitdefender's AutoPilot mode means you can set it and forget it. Kaspersky and Norton go way beyond basic antivirus, each adding enough features to qualify as a suite.

Avast Security (for Mac)

Bottom Line: Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with a network security scanner. Phishing protection only works well in Chrome at present, but this free utility is still worth a look.