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Avast Mac Security is a decent antivirus program that detects both Mac and Windows threats and extends this protection to other devices, such as cellphones and tablets, with its free mobile protection programs.

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Avast for Mac User & Experts Reviews – What others are saying? Avast Free Mac Security is also really popular among the users and technical experts. It is by far the most downloaded Mac antivirus/security on Download.com with more than 4.5 million downloads!
Avast Cleanup Pro seems to be the Mac version of the Cleanup Premium app that is available for Windows users and is part of this new offering specifically developed for the growing market of Mac users that the company sees as an opportunity on which it can capitalize.
Exceptional user reviews: Avast has more than 5 million user reviews in the Google Play Store, giving it an average score of 9.1. The Bad Will slow down your MacBook: Avast did not do well on the tests for Mac, influencing the operating speed significantly.

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The big friendly “You Are Protected” green checkmark on Avast Security Pro’s home screen is certainly a plausible statement. The software is a rare breath of fresh air in a sea of anti-virus products that haven’t worked hard enough to keep up to date with current threats, or haven’t updated the interface to meet modern expectations of presentation and usability.

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Avast is danged good at catching malware. AV Comparables says Avast detected 99.9 percent of macOS malware and 100 percent of Windows malware. In spot testing, the app did splendidly. Immediately on decompression of macOS malware from an encrypted archive, Avast detected it, deleted it, and notified me. It did as well with malicious files on the web, though it didn’t detect some items at the WICAR test site that require active local components to be dangerous. Siccing it on drives loaded with other anti-virus products, Avast found test malware I’d downloaded that had wound up in cached files that the anti-virus software on those volumes missed.

Note: This review is part of our best antivirus roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.

Avast’s browser component, Web Shield, doesn’t seem to rely on plug-ins (there are none to configure), but uses the program’s kernel extension to check at a low level. It can be managed from the Avast app, and settings apply to all browsers.

If you’re interested in ransomware monitoring, you need to buy the Pro version ($59.99 for one year/one Mac; $69.99 for one year/three Macs; $99.99 for one year/10 Macs), which relies on folder-based ransomware monitoring. It marks the user Documents and Pictures folders as protected by default, and you can add more folders. By default, Avast allows any Apple and App Store apps to manipulate items in those folders, although you can disable those options. Any other app that tries to modify or delete anything in the shielded folders is blocked, giving you an option to whitelist it.

This is an effective way to protect most users’ critical files, but we prefer Sophos’s active monitoring approach, which looks for patterns of behavior and keeps files from being deleted than one that requires anointing folders. Still, it worked well in testing, and most users keep their most precious documents in a few locations. (Avast could expand the list to include a few more locations by default, too.)

Outside of core anti-virus features, the Pro version also offers a Wi-Fi Inspector. This is unique among anti-virus software we tested, and it looks for devices on a network engaged in malicious behavior. Other anti-virus software packaged with network monitors either whitelist local network activity, or treat it the same as any malicious Internet attacks. This seems aimed at helping users understand if they’ve joined a network, such as at a coffeeshop, that has compromised or attacking devices on it.

One negative is the soft but distinct upsell of Avast, which is sensible in its Free version, but not necessarily in a Pro. A Tools item on the lefthand navigation bar mostly displays other available products, like VPN service. A one-time message at installation might be acceptable, but mingling features and items for sale is too heavy-handed in a security product.

While you can create an account at Avast Software, it’s optional. Once created, you can use it to add machines to log in from the software for a computer to join the account. Unfortunately, the account provides no remote mangement or configuration, just reporting.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for a free anti-virus program, Avast is the best choice, edging out Sophos by providing more parity between free and paid version.

While we gave Sophos Home Premium and Avast Security Pro the same 4.5 mice rating, Sophos has a slight edge. The combination of active ransomware scanning makes it somewhat more superior to the folder-based method in Avast, while central configuration and remote control in Sophos can help for a disparate set of family or small-business users. We like Avast’s unique Wi-Fi threat detection, and its native app interface, where Sophos leans heavily on the cloud.

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Avast Security for Mac Premium is a step up from its Essential version, though both offer excellent internet security for your Mac desktops and laptops. The Premium solution, however, comes with a few extra tools like a VPN, system scanner and password manager. And while Avast Security Essential recognizes and blocks ransomware attacks, Avast Premium includes a special file guard that shields sensitive folders and data in case a ransomware threat does sneak in.

This Mac security program did an excellent job of protecting our computer from over 160 malware threats. When we instructed our computer to start unzipping our sample folder to let the infected files loose, Avast Security stopped and quarantined the entire zip folder before it had a chance to open. This is impressive since most of the Mac security programs we tested let each file open before inspecting and stopping any threats. Avast recognizes threats even when they are designed to look like legitimate files and programs.

Most of the Windows malware was also blocked by Avast Security for Mac. This means you don’t have to worry about passing along a threat to family or friends who use Windows computers. And the Mail Shield looks for threats in email messages, both incoming and outgoing, to ensure nothing dangerous is attached. It also scans mobile devices connected to your computer through a USB port for any threats. And it removes viruses from your tablet or phone when it finds them. This is a little different from true mobile protection that is typically a program downloaded to your device. But it is a good way to clear viruses off your cellphone.

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When Avast finds a threat, it moves it to the Virus Chest, its fancy name for the quarantine folder. From here you can choose to restore the file or permanently delete it. If you leave the files alone long enough, Avast will eventually delete them for you. The files and tools in Avast aren’t difficult to find because Avast lays them out in a way that’s easy to see and navigate. The only reason we docked points for ease of use is because there are several functions that must be turned on or set up manually. These aren’t hard to do, just a little inconvenient, especially if you’re not real tech savvy.

Avast has safe browsing that helps recognize and stop threats coming in through the internet. When we first opened Avast, we were relieved to see that the Safari browser extension for this feature was already enabled. We did need to manually turn on the Chrome extension after installing it within the browser. As we tried to reach certain websites, Avast displayed a large warning message in the browser if it knew there were virus downloads or malic

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