Or, you want to put your money in the right place.

Are you concerned about the reputation of Avast Antivirus?

Avast is a popular name in computer security solutions. Still, people have mixed opinions regarding the performance of the program. Therefore, it is wise to know better about the program before putting your money into it.

However, it is challenging to make a judgment based on user reviews.

Therefore, we test the program ourselves and check some genuine sources for you.

Page 1 of 3 - Is it safe to use Avast Driver updater? - posted in All Other Applications: The operating system on my computer is Windows 10, and Im using Avast as my antivirus software. Still, to be safe, I'm backing up my files and I'm going to do a clean install of Windows. However, while I was doing a scan, and browsing Reddit, Avast blocked my connection to Reddit specifically, which raises some concerns that anarchy grabber may be able to infect Firefox as well? It seemed, effective, safe and free. Lately, for the past few months, my Avast keeps popping up in the lower right with all these messages like. “your PC is being slowed down by all this crap, we can fix it” “your drivers are outdated, which can cause serious issues, click here to update” “your computer has x security issues. Most people know Avast Antivirus, as it is one of the most reliable antivirus programs on the market. Besides the antivirus program, the software provider Avast also develops other tools such as Avast Secureline, Avast CloudCare, Avast Cleanup Premium and Avast AntiTrack Premium. Among them, the most popular tool is Avast Cleanup Premium. There’s no browser better than chrome. Let me explain why: The top browser of the world includes the following: 1. Google Chrome: Google is one of the richest company in the world, if not the richest.

Use this guide to decide if you want to purchase the program or not.

What is Avast Antivirus?

Avast is an antivirus company that operates from Prague, Czech Republic. It started its business in 2001 and is operational till now. Avast has a wide range of users contributing to the 400 million consumers mark.

Avast offers a free and premium version of the product for its users. It provides all essential features to protect your computer from cyber threats. Moreover, it can detect and eliminate widespread viruses and worms. Avast provides users with a system cleanup tool as well. You can use it to optimize your computer for better performance.

Avast Antivirus provides support for multiple platforms. You can use this application on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices. Moreover, it has some practical features to protect your system from harmful threats. Let us have a look at its features and tools.

Overview of Avast Features

Features Available in Avast Free Version

Avast offers a variety of advanced scanning options. Apart from the Smart Scan option in the main menu, you can access the detail scan options in the Protection tab. Here, you can find functions like Full-virus Scan and Boot-time Scan.

The Full-virus scan digs deep into the system to look for viruses. It might take a couple of hours on a slow machine. However, it checks for an infection in every file available on your system. Thus, the process allows Avast to track even the minute viruses present in the system. It makes the program more effective in exchange for a noticeable performance lag in the system.

You can have a malicious file that also operates out of the operating system. In such scenarios, the Boot-time scan can solve the problem for you. It restarts your computer and looks for any suspicious behavior from any applications. Some malware regularly installs them by keeping a backup file outside of the operating system. Fortunately, Avast can identify and eliminate such programs with a single click.

Lastly, the most critical feature to offer is Avast’s wifi protection. It can protect your data from cyberattacks that use a wifi connection to breach your computer’s security. Moreover, it flags any open ports in your wifi connection that can lead hackers into your device. When you run the function, it detects all the devices connected to the wifi system. Also, it suggests a solution to rectify the security in a few minutes.

Additional Features in Avast’s Paid Versions

You get Real-time protection in the paid version of Avast antivirus program. Besides that, it adds some other useful tools like File Shredder, System Cleanup, and more. However, these tools don’t add significant value to the utility of the program.

The File Shredder deletes your file securely by writing over it multiple times. It makes it impossible to recover the data using advanced tools. However, you won’t need this function unless you exchange highly confidential data from your computer. The system Cleanup is an excellent tool to rectify minor setbacks slowing down your computer speed. Still, I can say that the free version of CCleaner works better than Avast’s module.

Another feature you get in the premium package is Avast’s VPN. It allows you to connect to random nodes from multiple servers based out of several countries. Thus, you can access sites that do not have permission in your region. Also, it helps to establish a secure connection to the internet. However, there are some better antivirus programs with VPN that offer better service.

Avast Antivirus: User Reviews

Like we already mentioned, people equally like and hate Avast for daily usage. Some point out that it works great on their system. Some users are using the program for over a decade now. They find it impressive and suggest others to use it as well.

Whereas, some users find that the paid version does not add enough significance to the price. Also, there are better alternatives to Avast when it comes to premium antivirus solution. A better option against Avast Premium is Bitdefender Antivirus.

Many users report that Avast uses unethical techniques to promote unnecessary programs. However, Avast offers an in-depth customization option before you start the installation package. You can opt-out from any function you don’t want to use. For instance, you can resist installing the Safe browser if you don’t want to use it.

Avast Performance on the AV-Test

AV-Test is an independent organization that inspects the widely known antivirus solutions. They started including Avast in their test from the year 2010. It’s almost a decade now, and Avast has shown significant growth in the performance.

AV-Test examines a program based on three categories, i.e., Performance, Protection, and Usability. A product can score a maximum of 6 marks under each category. Thus, each program can score 18 marks at max.

Avast has shown consistent performance over the last two years. It had a reasonably good performance even before that. Avast has consistently scored at least 17 marks in the past few years. That makes the product reliable and trustworthy for the use.

However, the real-world scenario and the simulated tests differ by a considerable margin. Developers can program software to perform better in such experiments. Also, Avast has consistently shown multiple numbers of false alarms in the test. That means it flags even those software programs that do not cause any harm to the system.

Controversies Associated with Avast Antivirus

A few years back, some major antivirus companies like Malwarebytes and Bitdefender started categorizing Avast products in the PUA category. It means these antivirus products have flagged Avast as a potentially unwanted application. It happened because of permissions associated with the system clean up tool. Since it requires to make changes in the system files, other antivirus products consider it as unnecessary permission.

Besides that, Avast’s free version can install other unwanted programs in your system without proper permission. It might include some browsers or extensions. However, you can deny the consent at the very beginning of starting the installation package.

Moreover, Avast was a part of controversy where a whistleblower detected that it sells user data to third-party clients. Avast had a marketing analytics subsidiary called Jumpshot that was accused of selling the data. However, Avast soon shut down the program to save itself from negative marketing. You can read more about the situation here.

Avast Pricing

When compared to other antivirus products with similar functions, Avast has a reasonable average price. There are three main tiers to the program, namely Free version, Premium, and Ultimate.

If you want to pay for Avast, then the best package to buy is the Premium version. It includes the best features that Avast has to offer. Some of the noteworthy features in Avast Premium version are:

• Web Shield: It prevents you from accidentally downloading the malicious application on your system

• Sandbox: This feature lets you open a file in a contained environment. Thus, if it has a virus in it, then it can not damage your computer. Meanwhile, it also deletes the program to save you from a potential hazard.

• Ransomware Protection: Ransomware can encrypt your data and make it inaccessible forever. This feature stops the program causing the cipher in real-time. Moreover, Avast stores previous versions of your files that are useful to recover your data if it gets infected.

• Webcam Protection: The Premium version offers Webcam Protection to secure the user from unwanted breach through their camera.

Meanwhile, Avast Ultimate includes some more features like system cleanup, VPN, Password Manager, and some more utility tools. However, it is not worth it to buy the program for these features. You can quickly get better results using other apps that provide similar functionalities at a lower price.

Final Verdict: Is Avast Worth Paying?

The free version of Avast presents enough tools to protect your computer from the majority of cyber threats. However, you can use the premium version for some better results. Still, you can find other antivirus programs providing excellent protection with a similar price range. Therefore, it is better to invest in some other antivirus program like Bitdefender if you want a paid version. As far as you are using the free version, Avast is considerably good.

Apart from some controversies and unethical marketing practices, Avast Antivirus is capable of protecting you from severe threats. If you are planning to buy the product, prefer Avast Premium.

Summary :

Avast is a piece of antivirus software that is useful for fighting against virus on the computer. However, some people raise doubt about Avast after using a period of time. Is Avast safe? Is Avast a virus? Today, MiniTool will explore these questions and provide you with available alternatives to it.

Is Avast Safe

Is Avast safe? A great many of people are curious about it. As Avast is associated with PC safety, it is indeed vital to get an accurate answer. When you look through some technological forums, you can find some related posts.

Here is a true example from Reddit.

I’ve being using Avast for over 8 years on every computer I owned during that time. It seemed effective, safe and free. But lately, for the past few months, my Avast keeps popping up in the lower right with all these messages like “your PC is being slowed down by all this crap, we can fix it”, “your drivers are outdated, which can cause serious issues, click here to update, “your computer has x security issue, click here to fix them, etc. --Reddit

As learned from the above information, Avast has some issues indeed. It is not as safe as you expect. To explore more information about Avast, you should have an overall understanding of it.

Further reading

Is Avast Safe Reddit

In fact, other programs like PC protection software and computer scan programs are not as reliable as you image besides PC built-in antivirus software. For instance, there are also some doubts about the computer cleanup tool – CCleaner as well. You can read this post for more details: Is CCleaner Safe? Here Are Answers and Alternatives

What Is Avast

Avast is a famous antivirus tool, which owns millions of users in the whole world. It is available for multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. This program comes with free and paid versions that can fulfill the different demands of users. What does Avast do?

According to Avast antivirus review, AvastAntivirus software can protect your computer from security threat (computer worm), viruses (like polymorphic virus), malware (like ransomware) and other possible Internet threats. Besides, it adds features such as network security scanner, password manager, browser protection, and so forth.

What makes Avast stand out is the company’s versatility and flexibility. Additionally, Avast has well-designed user-interface, protection and extra utilities like safe browser.

Advantages and Disadvantages

As a coin has two sides, Avast also has its own advantages and disadvantages. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Avast? They are summarized as follow.

Advantages

• It has network security inspector and password manager.
• It contains browser-independent protection to avoid dangerous URLs.
• It includes plenty of useful, security-related bonus features.
• It can run on various systems like Windows, Mac, Android, as well as iOS.
• It protects the security and privacy of your computer.

Disadvantages

• The full protection against dangerous URLs is only available in Chrome and Firefox.
• The password manager has limited features.
• You need to pay for some features of Avast.
• Avast can slow down your device.
• The defense is not strong enough.
• Avast has been sharing personal information collected from devices with a subsidiary that sells trend analytics to some websites. This put users’ privacy into threats.

Problems and Fixes for Avast

Learning from the information above, you can find that Avast is not a perfect program. Based on the features that Avast includes, users raise some specific questions. For example, is Avast Antivirus safe for threat-protection, web browsing, PC optimization, privacy and security, or for protection against online attacks.

They will decide whether to utilize Avast after checking the answers for these questions. Now, we will discuss and solve these questions one by one.

Is Avast Safe for PC Optimization

Avast is capable of cleaning junk and removing unwanted software. Actually, you can do that by yourself. It is because that the Avast Antivirus free edition will slow down your computer to a large extent. Besides, it will force you to upgrade to the paid edition to get some optimization features.

In a word, Avast is not secure for optimizing computer because it can cause some performance issues. Here, you are recommended to utilize another PC optimizer – MiniTool Partition Wizard.

This is a safe and reliable program that can optimize your computer and improve the performance. MiniTool Partition Wizard boosts various features related to partition such as merge partition, convert FAT to NTFS, format partition, copy disk, etc.

On the aspect of computer optimization, features like Space Analyzer, Surface Test, Extend Partition, Wipe Disk, Check File System and Recover Data are also available for you. Through these operations, you can get more disk space, fix hard drive errors and delete personal data. Then, your PC will run faster and smoother.

Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard by clicking the buttons below and then start optimizing your computer now!

Here is the tutorial for increasing disk space via MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Launch the program to get its main interface, and then right click on the partition to enlarge and choose the Extend feature from the elevated menu.

Step 2: In the next window, select a drive to take free space from it. Then, move the handle to decide how much space you would like to take from the selected drive. After configuring the partition extend settings, click OK to save the changes. Finally, click Apply to carry out the pending operation.

If you encounter computer running slow issue after updating, try fixing it with this guide: Top 6 Solutions to the Windows Creator Edition Slow Error

Is Avast Safe for Privacy and Security

In addition to PC performance, privacy and security are also concerned about. Avast has been regarded as safe on the aspect of privacy and security until the occurrence of personal information sharing report.

Moreover, Avast free edition has a collecting your browsing history feature. Up to now, Avast Premium doesn’t have such report. What’s more, the Premium edition has marvelous password protection, blocks webcam spying, as well as blocks phishing emails.

Given to that fact, you are able to brose the web anonymously via Avast VPN. Now, we can summarize that Avast Premium is somewhat safe for laptop privacy and security.

If you don’t want to upgrade to Premium edition, try other free programs like Windows Defender Firewall to protect your privacy and security. Here are steps for enabling Windows Defender.

Step 1: Open Control Panel and then click on Windows Defender Firewall in the prompted window.

Step 2: In the Windows Defender Firewall window, click the Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off option in the left pane.

Step 3: Now, select the Turn on Windows Defender Firewall option under Private network settings and Public network settings section. Finally, click OK to save and exit the operation.

You may also be interested in this: Is Windows Defender Enough? More Solutions to Protect PC

Is Avast Safe for Threat-Protection

Avast offers great real-time threat protection, which protects computer from viruses, malware, spyware, and other malicious software. And the virus definitions also keep updating to recognize new threats.

Nevertheless, the Avast free edition only provides a mediocre level of protection. Hence, you are very likely to be attacked by threats if utilizing the free edition. You can also conclude that Avast is not safe enough unless you get a paid edition.

If you want to seek some free programs to protect your PC from threats, there are some great options for you. You can take them as the alternative for the Avast. For example, Windows built-in tool Windows Defender, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Norton Security, AVG Antivirus and other programs are also capable of protecting your PC.

Is Avast Safe for Avoiding Online Attacks

As Avast Antivirus free edition doesn’t have a firewall, it won’t protect you from attacks. Therefore, if you don’t want to be attacked, you have to upgrade to Premium edition. With the Premium edition, you are able to avoid fake shopping websites as well.

Hence, Avast is not as safe as you expect unless you obtain a Premium edition.

Recommended reading: Lenovo Diagnostic Tool – Here’s Your Full Guide to Use It

Is Avast Safe for Web Browsing

When you use Avast Secure Browser, Avast Antivirus offers real-time monitoring. It provides you excellent Internet security and privacy. Based on that fact, the Premium edition offers secure web browsing via browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

However, you are required to grant permissions for that. You should also note that the Avast free edition doesn’t provide safe and secure browsing.

Is Avast a Virus

Is Avast a virus? Are you doubt this question? You can get the answer now. Avast Antivirus itself is definitely not a virus. It is an antivirus program that can keep virus, threat, as well as malicious software away. But it sometimes can be turned into a virus.

If a virus or malware infects the core files of Avast and makes it malfunction, the Avast may turn into a virus. Though this case is rare, it indeed exists. Once Avast turns into a virus, it will install its own browser – Avast Secure Browser automatically without asking for your permission.

What’s worse, Avast will update itself randomly and lose control. It will also reboot your PC without permission. In this case, you are only able to remove it with the help of specialized tools.

Conclusion

Is Avast Antivirus safe? After reading this post, you may find the answer. With the Avast free edition, your PC is likely to be attacked by threats and viruses. If you get a Premium edition, it is safe to protect your computer in most cases.

Fortunately, you can utilize the alternatives provided in the post to protect your computer if you don’t want to upgrade to Premium. You can share your ideas on this topic – is Avast Antivirus safe in the comment area below. For any questions about MiniTool software, you are able to send us an email via [email protected].

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