Best Antivirus Protection of 2017

Do you have Black Friday, Monday, Web, and GM online shopping this year? We want you to get everything you want, and you do not have to take any unnecessary, such as download or ransomware attacks. It’s hard to keep track of your packages when all your files are encrypted! Most likely you protect your antivirus tool, but have you recently checked to make sure it is active and up to date? If you consider a switch, or just Want to see your choice, we can help. We evaluated dozens of antivirus utilities and we identified ten preferred ones. A brand new antivirus software is a lovely gift!

I mean antivirus, but in fact it is impossible you will get an actual computer virus. Malware is about making money, there is no easy way to exploit the virus to spread. Ransomware and data-stealing Trojans are more common, just like robots that let bot-herder rent your computer for evil purposes. Modern antivirus tools deal with Trojans, rootkits, spyware, adware, ransomware and more. Posted 46 different commercial anti-virus tools, this does not include many free antivirus tools. A wide range of fields we call four editing options products.

Ten commercial antivirus tools proved to be effective enough to get an excellent four-star rating. I canceled the three dedicated products, unlike other: Daily Security Check Home Edition, Pseudo Anti-Exploit Premium, and VoodooSoft VoodooShield. I also cull Panda Pro 2016 because it costs slightly more than the rest, and its free version gets a lot of attention as an editorial choice for free antivirus. And check the ZoneAlarm PRO for use with Kaspersky Anti-Virus software, with almost no lab test results ZoneAlarm itself. Let you see in the top ten outstanding products.

All of these products are traditional, comprehensive antivirus tools that can scan for malware for file access, on demand, or on schedules. As for the only anti-virus software built-in Windows 8. X or windows 10, which may not be the best idea. In the past, Windows Defender had poor performance in our tests and scored several points in independent lab tests last year, as it did in several recent tests to get good results. Even so, our latest assessment shows that you are still better with third-party solutions.

Listen to the Labs

I report the results by an independent antivirus testing laboratory very seriously. A simple fact: a particular vendor’s product appears in the trust vote, the result. This means that the product is considered important by the laboratory and the cost of the test is considered to be worthwhile. Of course, in the test to achieve good results is also very important.

I followed up with five laboratories regularly to issue detailed reports: Virus Bulletin, Heir to Simon Edwards Labs (Dennis Technical Lab), AV-Test Research Institute MRG-Effitas, AV-Comparatives. I also pay attention to suppliers whether there are simple ICSA lab and West Coast laboratory accreditation. I designed a system that would produce a rank from 0 to 10 for their results.

PCMag’s Own Antivirus Testing

I was also blocked by the malware I personally tested for each product, and to some extent, how the product worked. Depending on the product that completely blocks the malware installation, it can get 10 points of malware blocking.

My malware-blocking test must use the same sample set for several months. To check the product for new malware processing, I tested each product using 100 new malware-hosting MRG-Effitas provided by the url, and pointed out how much percentage of the blocking. The product gets the same praise for preventing malicious URLs from accessing all and removing malicious software from the download.

Some products get a brilliant rating from independent labs, but do not show up in my actual tests. In this case, I postponed to the lab, bringing them significantly greater resources to test. Want to know more? You can dig a detailed description of how we test security software.

Multi-Layered Antivirus Protection

Antivirus products distinguish themselves by going beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time protection. Some rate URLs that you visit or that show up in search results, using a red-yellow-green color coding system. Some actively block processes on your system from connecting with known malware-hosting URLs or with fraudulent (phishing) pages.

Software has flaws, and sometimes those flaws affect your security. Prudent users keep Windows and all programs patched, fixing those flaws as soon as possible. The vulnerability scan offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are present, and even apply any that are missing.

You expect an antivirus to identify and eliminate bad programs, and to leave good programs alone. What about unknowns, programs it can’t identify as good or bad? Behavior-based detection can, in theory, protect you against malware that’s so new researchers have never encountered it. However, this isn’t always an unmixed blessing. It’s not uncommon for behavioral detection systems to flag many innocuous behaviors performed by legitimate programs.

Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A whitelist-based security system only allows known good programs to run. Unknowns are banned. This mode doesn’t suit all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing lets unknown programs run, but it isolates them from full access to your system, so they can’t do permanent harm. These various added layers serve to enhance your protection against malware.

Bonus Antivirus Features

Firewall protection and spam filtering aren’t common antivirus features, but some of our top products include them as bonus features. In fact, some of these antivirus products are more feature-packed than certain products sold as security suites.

Among the other bonus features you’ll find are secure browsers for financial transactions, secure deletion of sensitive files, wiping traces of computer and browsing history, credit monitoring, virtual keyboard to foil keyloggers, cross-platform protection, and more. You’ll even find products that enhance their automatic malware protection with the expertise of human security technicians. And of course I’ve already mentioned sandboxing, vulnerability scanning, and application whitelisting.

What’s Best?

Which antivirus should you choose? You have a wealth of options. Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus invariably rate at the top in independent lab tests. Back from limbo, Norton AntiVirus Basic aced both lab tests and my own hands-on tests. A single subscription for McAfee AntiVirus Plus lets you install protection on all of your Windows, Android, Mac OS, and iOS devices. And its unusual behavior-based detection technology means Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus is the tiniest antivirus around. We’ve named these five Editors’ Choice for commercial antivirus, but they’re not the only products worth consideration. Read the reviews of our top-rated products, and then make your own decision.

Note that I reviewed many more antivirus utilities than I could include in this story. If your favorite software isn’t listed here, chances are I did review it, but it just didn’t make the cut.