Avast Antivirus - Review

Avast is a well-known brand in the antivirus world, thanks to the popular free suite, appreciated over time by many PC users around the world. The company recently rebranded, creating Avast One, a full-featured, paid suite, including a VPN and an online identity protection tool. In Italy, however, the naming has remained unchanged, so we have Avast Ultimate, which essentially offers the same features and functionality as Avast One, unlike Premium Security, a package more focused on basic antivirus features, without the various extras offered by the other paid suite.

Avast Free Antivirus is one of the most loved free antivirus by users, will Avast be able to convince them to upgrade to Ultimate with all the additional features included? Let's find out now!

Avast Antivirus - Plans & Pricing

The price for the first year is the same for both Premium Security and Avast Ultimate, probably because the company wants to entice users to try the most complete package. Both include the great antivirus engine of the Free version, but while the latter is limited to basic protection against viruses, malware and ransomware, the other two include phishing protection, blocking malicious websites and verifying the security of Wi-Fi networks and a few other extras. The Ultimate package, on the other hand, includes SecureLine VPN, Cleanup Premium for PC cleaning and optimization, and AntiTrack, for online identity protection.


Click here to subscribe to Avast Antivirus, starting at € 49.99 per year

Avast Antivirus Free

Unlike Avast One Essentials, the free version of the Avast One package is not yet available in Italy , Antivirus Free offers only basic protection from viruses, malware and ransomware, relegating anti-phishing tools, malicious URL blocking and other security features to paid packages. In any case, the protection system does its duty very well, although the excess of pop-ups that invite you to switch to the subscription versions and not always optimal performance could ruin the user experience a bit.

This package is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.

Avast Premium Security

Avast Premium Security is Avast's “intermediate” package, available for 1 Windows or Mac PC only, or for 10 devices (Windows, Mac, Android and iOS). In addition to the basic features guaranteed by Avast Antivirus Free, Premium Security includes the protection of online banking, the blocking of malicious websites and protection from phishing and remote attacks aimed at taking control of the device. The difference in price between the 10-device package and the purchase for a single Mac or Windows PC is very minimal, with the advantage of being able to install Premium Security on different devices, for example on your Windows laptop and on an iPhone.

There are no other extras, and given that the price for the first year is identical to the more comprehensive plan, perhaps it makes sense to upgrade directly to Ultimate.

Avast Ultimate

SecureLine VPN Avast Ultimate is the most complete package offered by Avast. It includes everything offered by Avast Antivirus Free and Premium Security, adding three extra tools: a virtual private network known as SecureLine VPN, Cleanup Premium that allows you to maintain your PC in terms of cleaning and performance optimization, and AntiTrack, a tool for online identity protection that blocks advertisers, targeted advertisements and makes browsing more anonymous thanks to anti-fingerprinting technology.

The cost, as we said, is identical to the previous package, at least for the first year, or € 59.99 for 10 devices, so you can install it on Windows PC, Mac and Android and iOS devices. Where the antivirus engine and protection systems are the same as in the previous packages, the included extras are interesting additions.

SecureLine VPN

SecureLine VPN, included in the Ultimate package, is based on HideMyAss ! , a provider with a good reputation. Unfortunately, SecureLine turns out to be quite lacking in terms of speed, so much so as to make this VPN more suitable for occasional use, for example during business trips or when connecting to public networks at the airport, at shopping centers or in other locations that they offer a free access point, so forget about using it for streaming platforms like Netflix, although technically it can unblock them, unless you can endure slow loading and constant interruptions due to buffering.

On the other hand, on Windows the kill switch is effective, since it always blocks Internet access in the event of a loss of connection to the VPN. In addition, the tool connects automatically in the event of unsecured connections and alerts the user to use the VPN when accessing sites such as home banking, to increase security. In addition, you can choose from 54 locations, with no data traffic limits.

With all its speed limits, this is an interesting addition, which could help you to ensure security and anonymity when connected from non-networked networks. safe. While VPNs from other security suites do better, like Bitdefender, SecureLine VPN has potential. Too bad the speeds are far below average.

Cleanup Premium

Cleanup Premium is a cleaning tool that allows you to free up disk space, delete junk files, optimize the speed of the system going to fix any registry problems and so on. A defragmentation tool is included, as well as one for analyzing unnecessary programs installed on the system, which are also classified according to their reputation. It is a very basic tool, which does not go much further than other well-known software, such as Ccleaner. This is also an interesting addition after all, but that alone does not justify the switch to Avast Ultimate at all.

AntiTrack

This tool is perhaps the most interesting of the three. By combining various anti-tracking technologies, it promises to guarantee maximum anonymity in browsing, going beyond what is offered by VPN and anonymous modes. In fact, it acts by masking the "fingerprint", that is the unique details that advertisers use to identify the user. It is also able to detect and remove tracking cookies, to prevent access to the user's online searches. It is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Internet Explorer and Opera.

Conclusion

Avast's antivirus engine is effective, the Free package is highly appreciated and popular, although it may be heavy and intrusive on the target system. Avast hasn't brought Avast One to Italy yet, and it's a shame because the package is more complete and interesting, especially if we consider that the app interface has been lightened and optimized.

But basically, the antivirus protection and the extras are the same, albeit with some shortcomings compared to One.

Sure, the extras offered by Avast Ultimate can hardly justify the paid upgrade, especially considering that other suites like Bitdefender offer many more extras. And although € 59.99 for 10 devices can be considered all in all reasonable, if you can do without a VPN that is not excellent in terms of speed and a cleaning tool that finds fierce competition even among free software, you we recommend staying on Avast Free Antivirus, perhaps waiting to be able to install a trial version of Avast One. If you want to try the packages for yourself, both Premium Security and Ultimate are covered by a 30-day money back guarantee.

Click here to subscribe to Avast Antivirus, starting at € 39.99 per year