The virus can do a wide range of things, ranging from stealing hard disk space to getting access to your private information or draining your CPU. Thankfully, there are many anti-virus tools on the market which can help protect your devices from these kinds of issues. The key is to choose one that is not likely to have an impact on your system’s performance. All of our antivirus software is tested against this. The results are based on the time it takes each application to complete an operation. For instance, Kaspersky Security Cloud Free had a background impact of 6percent when performing a full scan, and ESET had a slightly higher impact of 12%.

Avira is a German-based company. Avira is well-established in our tests and consistently scores over 90% in all three categories: Security, Performance and Usability (False Positives). Its UI offers a lot of features that includes a smart “firewall” and a range of privacy tools. Avira’s subscriptions are priced on a monthly basis, rather than a predetermined 1-3 year period, making it easier to cancel or change the subscription at any time without worrying about 2nd year renewal price shocks.

Essentware was formerly known as PCKeeper was a relatively new name for our tests. It is a part of the Avira Engine under read this the hood. Overall, it performed well. Its performance and UI are both user-friendly but there are a few issues with stability – mainly scan jobs freezing up that have led to a lower rating. However, detection was good and a flawless run through the certification sets earned it the VB100 award.