Free Antivirus Download for Known & Unknown Virus Protection
For the internet users, antivirus is not a topic that is unfamiliar. In fact, all computers come pre-installed with certain antivirus software. However, do you know how antivirus protects you? When is the last time you get updated about antivirus and their current features? Can you even afford a day of having your PC infected with virus? Are there any free antivirus to download?
The world wide web is huge, and yet you had stumbled on my site looking for something. I hope you find it as we had taken huge efforts to create them. Best of all, its FREE! Hence, some of our content may include affiliate links (i.e. whenever you click on the links and purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra costs to you!). No worries! Some of these links may look like phishing, but I assure you they are not! Lastly, the affiliation does not affect my reviews towards them. Enjoy!
Hence, in this article, we are going to review some of the top free antivirus download that offers powerful protection, while being free-of-cost. To be exact, freemium actually, as users can opt for paid plans for complete and advanced protection. Afterall, being protected online is the first step to online freedom. Thus, we present these top free antivirus download that you can take advantage of, and we hope that you do, as the world takes on cybercrimes with one free antivirus download at a time. Here goes.
Free Antivirus to Download
1. Avast
Year Founded: 1988
Country: Czech Republic
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: Yes
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- User-Friendly & Build for Non-IT – Users can easily access any function from the left-hand taskbar of Avast’s Uncomplicated and simple interface. Additionally, every button comes with a description to help non-IT users make sense of its function.
- Extremely Lightweight – Once installed, Avast performs its role seamlessly and effortlessly backend without slowing down your work on your devices. The software itself is very lightweight, requiring only 1 GB ram and 2 GB disk space. Its free use already comes with powerful antivirus, malware and ransomware protection.
- AI-Powered in Real-Time – Avast collects data backend from their huge user base to enable their Artificial Intelligence system to quickly learn about emerging, and unknown cyber threats. That is, users stay updated and protected up-to-the-second!
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 4.19/mo for Avast One (5 Devices)
- Free Trial: 30 Days
2. Avira
Year Founded: 1986
Country: Germany
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: No
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Advanced Privacy Settings – A huge plus with strong privacy protection. Nowadays, surfing in the worldwide web whether on the PC or mobile exposes your private data to sites and software vendors without you knowing. Avira is able to adjust 200+ privacy settings with just one click! Returns control to you over what data you are comfortable to provide.
- Free VPN – Having a free VPN included further boost online protection. Allow users to surf the web anonymously with encrypted traffic. Additionally, can bypass certain censorship and firewalls by geolocation.
- Built-In PC Optimiser – Other Antivirus in our list may only scan your PC for performance issues, but Avira’s PC optimiser tool fixes those for you for free! Its useful because it frees up memory, storage, reduces lags and crashes, and could even save your battery for longer use!
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 2.99/mo for Antivirus Pro (1 PC)
- Free Trial: Moneyback of 14 Days (Monthly Subscription), or 60 Days (Annual Subscription)
3. Bitdefender
Year Founded: 2001
Country: Romania
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: No
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Cloud-Based & Lightweight – Bitdefender’s virus engine is cloud-based such that scanning, even full system ones, wouldn’t slow your device much. Moreover, it only requires 2 GB ram and only 2.5 GB space to install. Totally light for even netbooks!
- Machine-Learning Powered – Not many free antivirus options are AI- or machine-learning powered. In short, this is exceptionally powerful to ensure the latest protection based on malicious behavior. Hence, why Bitdefender often ranks high consistently for its protection capabilities in reviews.
- Powerful Paid Features – If you’re going to install any free antivirus, make sure you know what you’re getting and what you could potentially if paying. This is because your protection requirements may change. So, you need to know that your current one is capable of providing what you need if you decide to upgrade. With a paid subscription, you get network protection, anti-tracking, payment, online profile monitoring and even a VPN to top it off for complete personal device protection.
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 69.99/yr for Premium Security (10 Devices)
- Free Trial: 30 Days
4. IObit Malware Fighter
Year Founded: 2004
Country: USA
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows Only
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: No
- Network Inspection: No
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Improved & Updated – IObit is reaching its two decades in the business now. The Malware Fighter is the ninth in the series and is currently updated to the latest online security features such as protection based on behaviour, virus variants, ad blocks and email-borne threats. With this, we can see how far the free antivirus have come and can only get better.
- Data Safe Box – Like a secure safe for your files and data, the data safe provided by IObit Malware Fighter is secured by a password. So, change it frequently and you will have no issues with keeping your private files and data for forever safekeeping. Additionally, the extra layer of anti-ransomware protection keeps you notified against revealing your safe password!
- Small Yet Powerful – At only 50+ mb, the IObit Malware Fighter is small to download yet offers over 9 million database of malware to protect your device against. Try it and if you need more, just upgrade to Pro to gain protection to over 200 million malware.
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 19.95/yr for 1 PC
- Free Trial: 60 Days moneyback
5. Kaspersky
Year Founded: 1997
Country: Russia
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: Yes
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Cloud-Based App – A Cloud Antivirus scans PC periodically which means lesser processing power required from the PC. Thus, any updates are pushed to the desktop client for backend update resulting in up-to-date protection. No more manual or scheduled updates, that could hinder work and the latest protection.
- Comes with VPN – Having a VPN included is always a nice feature top-off the antivirus protection.
- Password Manager – A secure digital vault for the storage of your most sensitive data, password and documents. It can be accessed by a single password, or via fingerprint when using their mobile app. The vault itself hard to crack with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) security. Besides, Kaspersky holds themselves to a zero-knowledge policy. That means, Kaspersky themselves would not know what is inside the vault, nor the password and fingerprint you hold to it. The Password Manager also helps autofill password in browser, and bank card details, to quickly login accounts and pay for online transactions respectively.
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 29.99/yr for Kaspersky Anti-Virus (3 Windows PCs)
- Free Trial: 30 Days
6. Malwarebytes
Year Founded: 2006
Country: USA
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: Yes
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Next-Level Capability – Advanced cybersecurity technology from Malwarebytes is able to detect malware on 39 percent of devices which already has antivirus installed.
- Hardware & User-Centric – Malwarebytes is extremely lightweight, requiring only 1 GB Ram for 32-bit OS, and 250 MB of disk space to run. Furthermore, they also promise to be tact about sending notifications via its interface that can be so distracting.
- Supplementary Free Suites – Although not limited to only users of its antivirus, Malwarebytes boast two other free tools in its Adware Cleaner and Browser Extension that works seamlessly with its other range of security suites. The Adware Cleaner removes unwanted programs that causes advertisements to be shown on your devices. The adware are annoying while it could potentially pave an opening for other spyware to infect. On the other hand, the Browser Extension is an add-on for the Chrome, Edge and Firefox browser. It blocks ads and other unwanted content to protect users in their daily internet surfing. Both tools, as add-ons to the installation of Malwarebytes free, reinforce the security features of Malwarebytes.
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 3.75/mo for Premium (1 Device)
- Free Trial: 60 Days Moneyback
7. McAfee
Year Founded: 1987
Country: USA
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS + ChromeOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: Yes
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- 100% Virus Removal Pledge – Infected with a virus? McAfee is sure to remove it for you, backed by their 100% virus removal pledge. If not, you get your moneyback. Hence, an absolute guarantee and assurance of quality. So, go ahead and download with ease!
- Award-Winning Industry Leader – McAfee, one of industry’s oldest name, and comes pre-installed in many brand’s PCs. The list of awards and accolades that McAfee had won over the past two decades are too many to name, but you got a real leader and quality when you use McAfee. In short, whatever’s in the market, if McAfee isn’t providing it, none others will.
- Password Manager & VPN – Free plan comes with a password manager for secure storage of all your passwords and VPN for safe online browsing. Well, its all these little additions that make a difference, right? Feels like a ‘must’ free antivirus to download for us!
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 29.99/yr for Antivirus Basic (1 Device)
- Free Trial: 30 Day Moneyback
8. Panda Security
Year Founded: 1990
Country: Spain
Essentials
- Cross-OS Availability: Windows, Mac, Android & iOS
- PC Monitoring (incl Emails & Files): Yes
- Malware Quarantine: Yes
- Scan Scheduling: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Network Inspection: Yes
- Malicious Sites Warning: Yes
Download Factor
- Leading Tech-Empowerment – Panda Security boasts an intelligent machine learning system that leverages on big data to deduce malicious behaviour, leading to its detection. Coupled with detection against known malicious files, Panda Security is a next-gen antivirus that is powerful and almost impenetrable.
- USB-Sensitive – Many PCs and devices still use USBs. So, being able to prevent a malware attack upon USB insertion is a handy and much-appreciated feature.
- Panda Rescue Kit – Still remember that panic attack from being unable to boot your PC? Luckily, there is Panda Security’s PC recovery. All you need is a USB drive. Plug it into your device and start up Panda Security Rescue Kit. The next time when your device cannot boot, just plug this USB drive and boot from it. Then, you can begin the next step of solving your boot failure issue. Not only that! The Rescue Kit is able to perform advanced virus scanning to detect unknown viruses via its Cloud system.
Pricing
- Paid Plans: fr US$ 17.49/yr for Dome Essential (1 Windows Device)
- Free Trial: 30 Days
Final Comments
Any PC, or devices with internet access capabilities should have antivirus protection. As you will know by now, an antivirus software does not only scan, detect and remove computer viruses. Many of them also comes with VPN features, PC optimiser or even PC recovery. Many of the top antivirus software are also now AI-powered, and fully capable of detecting unknown viruses.
Choosing a free antivirus to download is not easy, but is definitely worth it. Although this article was never meant to provide a comprehensive and technical review of the antivirus software in the market, we hope it certainly shed light into the modern technologies and features of today’s top antivirus. Once again, our list of antivirus software here are all free to download. Have a try and let us know your experience!
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