Mod Cheats: 2015 best 15 antivirus programs for your PC

Thursday, December 22, 2016

2015 best 15 antivirus programs for your PC

The 15 best antivirus programs for your PC or laptop in the UK in 2015. Antivirus reviews, tests and ratings. Where to buy antivirus. Best Windows antivirus. (See also:best security software programs of 2015.)

Antivirus software detects, and then prevents, disarms or removes malicious programs or malware, often referred to as viruses. Antivirus doesnt offer a perfect solution to the problem of malware, but it is a critical first step to securing your PC or laptop. To help prevent viruses infecting your PC you must install antivirus, and then regularly update your antivirus software. All of the antivirus software reviewed here will update automatically.

Best antivirus: How to choose antivirus

Malware is evolving faster than ever, but fortunately the latest generation of antivirus - or AV - is better equipped than ever to handle new threats.

In recent years, the technology that powers AV software has changed dramatically. An AV package you purchased a few years ago was able to stop known viruses and other known malware, but brand-new, unknown viruses proved more difficult. Newer products do a better job of stopping them.

For our antivirus tests we team up with AV-Test.org, a respected independent security-software testing lab based in Germany. AV-Test rigorously tests AV products from a number of leading security companies. The multifaceted testing procedure looks not only at how well an AV product can detect malware using traditional, largely signature-based methods (that is, employing a database of known malware types), but also at how well it can block brand-new, unknown malware. AV-Test also examines how well a security product can clean up after an infection in the event that a piece of malware does get through.

Every program in this list is worth your investment. The differences between the top few are relatively minor. The critical thing is to install one of these programs.

Beest antivirus: free or paid for?

Our tests focus on paid-for and free AV products. Paid-for AV products usually offer better technical support and more comprehensive protection features than free programs, but free is free. Internet security suites go further still, offering firewalls, parental controls, identity theft protection and more.

Best antivirus reviews

Here we review the best antivirus programs you can buy or download in the UK right now. Securing your PC is, of course, about a lot more than antivirus. At the very least you need to run up to date antivirus, antispyware and a firewall. Youll find that almost all of the best antivirus software we test these days forms part of an internet security suite: so all of the above and more is included.

The trouble is, some antivirus is better than others. They all offer a blacklist of known threats, and a whitelist of software that is known to be legitimate. But these days new threats emerge every day, and knowing what is friend and what is foe in real-time can be critical. And thats where we come in. AV-Test challenges Windows security software to withstand threats both old and new, known and unknown.

We then combine that with our own experienced and expert tests of interface and system overhead. We test antivirus programs for how much (if at all) they slow down your PC or laptop, as well as how easy to use and how intrusive they are. Thus you can see from our regularly updated list of the best antivirus for PC or laptop, which is the best for you. Best antivirus for protection, best antivirus for performance, and best antivirus for value. Click through to read the individual antivirus reviews.

Best Antivirus: Why you need antivirus? What is antivirus?

15. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 8

Rating:
Reviewed on: 28 May 15
RRP: £45 inc VAT (3PCs, 1 year licence)

ESET NOD32 Antivirus is a sound antivirus product with some useful extras, though it’s a bit surprising anti-spam isnt included in the product. The software is easy to use and doesnt disrupt the normal function of a PC it’s running on. Technically, its a strong contender, without being in the front rank.

Read our ESET NOD32 Antivirus 8 review.

14. Webroot Internet Security Plus 2015

Rating:
Reviewed on: 25 February 15
RRP: £50 inc. VAT

It’s not possible to compare Webroot’s offering with the others in terms of AV efficacy, as we have no test results, but the company’s claim to scan fast and leave a light impression looks fair.

Read our Webroot Internet Security Plus 2015 review.

13. Avira Free Antivirus 2014

Rating:
Reviewed on: 3 September 14
RRP: Free

Avira Free Antivirus 2014 is easy to set up and use and its good to see free mobile support and backup, as well as the core AV functions. Its not the best free protection available though, with both AVG and Avast! scoring higher in test lab results.

Read our Avira Free Antivirus 2014 review.

12. Panda Global Protection 2015

Rating:
Reviewed on: 3 November 14
RRP: £60 inc VAT (5 devices, 1 year licence)

Panda Global Protection 2015 is a good option, if you need to protect a range of different devices from Windows PCs to Macs and Android machines. Not quite as generous as McAfees ‘as-many-as-you-like offering and a point off the perfect score in AV-Tests testing, the Panda product costs £20 less, too and is particularly easy to use.

Read our Panda Global Protection 2015 review.

11. F-Secure Safe 2014

Rating:
Reviewed on: 25 October 14
RRP: £60 (3 device licence)

The Usability score of 5.5 reflects a low total of five false positives, during system scans and the use of legitimate applications. The 4.5 figure for a Performance score shows a noticeable resource hit while running regular computing tasks, like downloading and installing software.

Read our F-Secure Safe 2014 review.

10. G-Data Internet Security 2015

Rating:
Reviewed on: 20 February 15
RRP: £45 inc VAT (3 PC licence)

G-Data Internet Security 2015 is relatively inexpensive for a full-featured security suite. Its not the most successful at beating out web threats, but it is sufficiently good to be worth installing. A decent purchase, if not the best.

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