Is your computer at risk and you don't know how to protect it? Suffer no more. In this article, we tell you which are the best free antivirus on the market in 2021. They may not be as complete solutions as the premium versions, but they offer you enough protection at the user level… and they are also free!
Top 10 best free antivirus
Having a good antivirus is essential for your PC to be protected. Thanks to them, malware such as viruses, Trojans, worms, ransomware, and other cyber threats can be detected and eliminated. Some of them even have tools to prevent spoofing and other social engineering attacks.
The main drawback of the most complete antivirus is that they are usually paid, but not everyone has the ability to pay for this type of service. However, all is not lost. There are free antivirus programs that, although they are not as effective as paid ones, also offer very high levels of protection.
Here we tell you which are, in our opinion, the 10 best free antiviruses on the market at the moment. With them, you will have your computer protected without paying a single euro.
Panda [Official Site]
Panda is considered by most cybersecurity experts as one of the best antiviruses for Windows 10. Among its strengths is its ability to provide high network security, along with high reliability in virus detection and removal.
Another of its great advantages is that it offers access to a VPN network, although in its free version such access is limited (150 MB per day). It is one of the best solutions for those who connect to the internet from public places. With the full version (paid) you will get other features such as parental control, password manager or a more advanced threat detection system.
Avira Free Antivirus [Official Site]
The free antivirus Avira is one of the best in the market for several reasons. First, its detection engine operates in the cloud, which translates into two key benefits. On the one hand, Avira does not carry out the work on your PC, so its processes are kept secret and safe from hackers. On the other hand, working in the cloud consumes much fewer resources on the user's PC.
On the other hand, Avira Free Antivirus also includes a free extension for Chrome and Firefox called Avira Browser Safety, which offers extra protection for the browser, protecting the user from malicious sites and other frauds such as identity theft.
Sophos Home Free [Official Site]
It may not be as well known as the previous ones, but Sophos is, without a doubt, one of the best free antiviruses today.
This antivirus stands out for placing special emphasis on parental control and protecting minors on the internet. Thanks to it, you can monitor your children's network activity or limit the websites to which they have access.
In addition, it offers protection against malware in real-time and, like Avira, includes a browser extension to protect you from malicious sites. Each user can download Sophos for free on up to three devices.
Malwarebytes [Official Site]
Another of the best free antivirus for PC is Malwarebytes. More than a protective shield, Malwarebytes functions as a malware removal tool. For maximum protection, you need to have the premium version.
However, the free version of this program is also very helpful to eliminate those viruses that have already penetrated the computer. It has four basic tools designed to eradicate different types of threats: anti-malware, anti-ransomware, anti-exploit, and web protection.
Kaspersky Security Cloud [Official Site]
The cloud version of Kaspersky Free is another of the best free antivirus programs on the market. In addition to scanning your computer for malware, Kaspersky is also able to clean your system and perform scans to prevent new threats.
Like Panda, it allows you to access the internet through a VPN. The only but is that browsing is limited to 200MB per day (even so, more than Panda). On the other hand, it also has a password manager, which is limited to 15 websites. Still, it is appreciated.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free [Official Site]
Bitdefender is one of the best free antiviruses for those who want to install a simple program, that does not cause headaches and that does tasks in an automated way.
The antivirus Bitdefender Free Edition runs in the background and only shows notifications if any suspicious activity is detected. In addition, all analysis and removal of malicious programs will be performed automatically.
It may not have as many options as the rest of the antivirus on the list, but it is one of the easiest to use and they have one of the best detection rates.
Avast Free Antivirus [Official Site]
We were very close to not listing Avast due to controversy that arose from the discovery that the company had been selling login data to third parties since 2013 through its subsidiary Jumpshot. However, in January 2020 Avast quickly took action on the matter and closed Jumpshot, as a way of acknowledging that they had been wrong and showing that from now on they want to do things right. So for our part, we give them a vote of confidence.
When it comes to its free antivirus, there is no doubt that it has always been one of the best and best known in the world. It offers even more security than other paid antivirus. Among its advantages are its simplicity of use, its high threat detection rate, and the low impact on computer performance.
AVG Free Antivirus [Official Site]
Another of the best free antivirus on the market from AVG Free Antivirus. In fact, it is almost as good as the paid version. Among other features, it offers an advanced malware detection tool, real-time virus database updates, protection against suspicious attachments, links or downloads, and much more.
In addition, it also offers other strengths that make it one of the most recommended free antivirus programs, such as simple and intuitive configuration, and little impact on computer performance.
ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus [Official Site]
The reason for including ZoneAlarm in our list of the best free antivirus is that it incorporates functions that the rest of the tools we have named do not have. Specifically, we refer to its tools to prevent data loss and identity theft. For example, it has credit monitoring programs and the support of credit information specialists to help users solve any problem.
Another option of ZoneAlarm that has nothing to envy to paid antivirus, is that it allows you to make backup copies in the cloud and encrypt them. Its only mole is that if you're not vigilant, it will set Yahoo as your main search engine, but you can disable this option in the settings options.
Windows Defender [Official Site]
We end up with the most basic option. So much so that you won't even need to download it because it is already installed on computers with Windows 10 operating systems. Does this mean that it is an antivirus worse than the others? Not at all. In fact, it is one of the antivirus programs that obtain the best results in AV-Test analyzes, obtaining a score of 5.5 out of 6.
It is true that it is quite basic and that it lacks protection options against threats such as phishing or ransomware. In return, it offers high levels of protection and includes a fairly effective firewall.
What are the characteristics of a good free antivirus?
What features should the best free antivirus have?
- High virus detection rate: that is, it must have a large database that includes different types of malware such as exploits, spyware, worms, keyloggers, etc.
- Ability to eliminate threats: in addition to detecting malware such as viruses or Trojans, a good antivirus must include the necessary tools to eliminate them from the computer.
- Updating the database: the database must be updated to address new threats to launch cybercriminals.
- Protect against zero-day attacks: in relation to the previous point, they have to detect threats so recent that they are still unknown to antivirus programs. A good antivirus should recognize these threats in less than an hour after infection.
- Include email protection. Remember that email is one of the channels most used by cybercriminals to carry out their actions.
- Create backup copies - to prevent data loss in the event of a serious threat to your computer
- Include customer service: having good technical support is essential to solve user problems.
- Have a simple and intuitive interface: the antivirus must be easy to use. It is useless to have an antivirus with many options if they are hidden or the user will not know how to use them.
- Work without interfering with the operating system: it is recommended that you do not consume too many operating system resources, to avoid affecting the performance of the PC.
Is there a trick in free antivirus?
Not that there is a catch, but the companies that develop antivirus will always try to get you to pay for the full version. Free versions usually offer basic protection that doesn't prevent all security breaches. It may be enough for an ordinary Internet user, who is dedicated to surfing the web or working with Office documents, but it will not be enough for companies that work with confidential information or that require high levels of cybersecurity.
In any case, the free antivirus programs that we have indicated in this list are reliable if you want basic protection at the user level. And if you think that your computer is not sufficiently protected or you detect that you are not browsing secure enough, you can always upgrade to the paid version. Also, most allow you to try the paid version for a month for free.
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