2013 Antivirus Software Reviews

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avast Pro Antivirus 2012 (7.0) Overall Score: 85%

by Kevin R. Smith, Co-Editor

Avast has grown from a simple, free antivirus software into robust professional software. There are some interesting features this year along with good virus and spyware protection.

What concerns us are avast's virus removal and anti-phishing which could both use some improvement.

In test results confirmed by other independent labs, avast Pro Antivirus 2012 scored well when in real-time antivirus protection, spyware detection, and trojan blocking.

Resource usage was good, and lighter in some tasks in fact than some competitors. And, phone technical support is available and easy to find but is only for basic issues.

Avast Pro Antivirus 7 also has a few interesting extra features this year, making for a well-rounded product.

Avast Pro Antivirus 2012 scored well with major antivirus testing labs and with us:

• VB Bulletin
• AV Comparatives
• Anti-Malware Test Lab
• PC Security Labs
• AV-Test

Avast's real-time protection scored high against trojans, viruses, and spyware. Even when compared against other antivirus software, avast was still towards the top of the list.

Our only real concern with avast this year was its virus removal abilities. Out tests showed that avast had trouble removing both some stubborn viruses and ones other software handled easily.

Another concern is avast's antiphishing feature. It's great that avast offers this upscale feature in their basic product, but in our tests avast was inconsistent in blocking known phishing sites.

If there was a Trojan at the phishing site, avast blocked it; however, if there wasn't sometimes we'd get an anti-phishing warning, but the page wouldn't be blocked.

This is problematic because it's too easy with avast to ignore warnings and continue to a malicious site. Most anti-phishing filters block the site completely, which is far more effective.

The bottom line is, avast Pro Antivirus 7 offers good protection against new infections but has mixed results at removing viruses and against phishing sites.
Resource consumption in avast Pro Antivirus is a little hard to report on. While only 1% of CPU was used when avast is running and systems are idle and memory use was low at 51% (average) across our tests PCs, what was strange was how much the consumption at seemingly random times jumped around during normal computer use, like web browsing.

While it never interfered with usability, it was interesting to watch in our test gear.

27% of CPU was used during a manual, full-system scan, while only 51% of memory was used, which put it among the lowest resource consumers of the year.

If you're someone who often scans your PC while you're using it, avast may be a good choice for you because of its low footprint. Be prepared to wait a bit for the results though, since as you might expect, with the low resource use came longer scan times, around 18% longer than average for a full system scan.
The avast antivirus user interface is clean and modern looking. There are enough features to keep advanced users happy, but it's simple enough for anyone.

Most of the settings you need be concerned with are already pre-selected, so there's not much you need to do to get started.

If you need more control over any particular section, there are advanced options you can drill down into for more options.

Avast offers interesting, real-time graphical charts of what's going on with your system. While this isn't necessary for most people, it does give a sense of security that your antivirus software is working properly.

Overall, the user interface for avast Pro Antivirus 7 is simple, easy to use, and clean-looking.
In the avast user interface, you'll find a help button that opens a standard help-topics window. Within this window, you can directly access avast's support system or go right to their support page.

The avast knowledgebase is extensive with good help topics and troubleshooting articles. (We wish Norton's was this good.) Or, you can visit their user-supported help forums to post more detailed problems.

If none of these solutions work for you, you can submit a support ticket or call them.

Avast Pro Antivirus employs a third-party company called iYogi to handle their phone support; however, iYogi can only help you with basic issues like registration, purchasing, installation, and basic software setup.

If you've got a more serious problem, iYogi isn't going to be much help. You'll have to rely on the forums, email, or knowledgebase to resolve your issue.
Updates download and install automatically by default. Manual updates are a button click away anytime you'd like, too.

Advanced settings let you choose when to check for virus definitions/updates. Avast sets it to 4 hours by default, but you can increase this frequency to any interval you want. (We like hourly.)

We also like that avast Pro Antivirus 7 tells you both when virus definitions were last updated and the version number. This gives confidence that updates are being downloaded and installed regularly and is also helpful in diagnosing a problem with the help of the forums or tech support.
Avast Pro Antivirus has a two extras worth noting: Sandbox and SafeZone. Some antivirus software have extra features that don't really add that much to your overall safety, but this case is different.

Sandbox and SafeZone help you run programs more safely and shop and bank online with confidence.

Think you've downloaded something suspicious? No problem with avast. Just run the suspicious item in your "Sandbox".

Sandbox is a virtual, isolated environment separated programmatically from the rest of your system. Considering this is the same type of system the antivirus companies themselves employ in testing viruses, it's a pretty big deal to see this type of technology trickling down into an antivirus program.

Frankly, it's a feature we'd like to see in all antivirus software.

SafeZone is similar to the Sandbox but isolates your web browser instead from the rest of your system instead of isolating a suspect file from the rest of your system.

Open "SafeZone" and avast creates a brand new desktop and browser that's isolated from your main computer. The browser and desktop are stripped down to bare-basics: no browser plug-ins, no previous cookies, nothing. You get a clean environment to do your online banking or shopping.

When you're done, close SafeZone, and you'll have a brand-new, stripped-down browser area next time you need to shop or bank. Very handy.

Avast Pro Antivirus 7 is a worthy competitor with some robust real-time antivirus and anti-spyware protection. The two concerning areas were its virus removal and phishing site blocking.

Repeated testing showed that while avast was good with new, current attacks, it missed removing viruses present before it was installed onto our test PCs.

The anti-phishing filter wouldn't block the entire page on well-known phishing sites. Avast would give a proper warning, but it's easy to ignore. We'd like to see a full page block so there are no questions and no mistakes.

On the plus side, avast's extra features like their Sandbox and SafeZone are outstanding.

When combined with their realtime protection, avast is a great program for someone who's sure their PC is clean and is concerned about information theft when they use the web or shop online.

Just be sure to pay attention to the phishing site warnings.