Norton 360 is one of the best antivirus software suites you can buy today, and it’s worth (nearly) every cent. Boasting a plethora of protection and security tools, Norton 360 protects you and your devices from AI scams, ransomware, and even deepfakes. What makes Norton 360 a sublime choice is the 24/7 customer support, user-friendly interface, and 60-day money-back guarantee. Low system impact is a boon too.

But the software isn’t perfect, as some features, like SafeCam, are restricted to Windows only. Norton 360’s AI assistant which checks links for malware is a little slow as well, especially when compared to the ones offered by its competitors.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Norton 360 review.

Norton 360 review: Specs

Norton 360 review: Costs & what’s covered

Norton 360 offers different plans offering varying levels of protection, depending on whether you’re a consumer or the owner of a small business. If you’re buying a subscription for yourself and/or your family, Norton 360’s cheapest plan, fittingly named Standard, costs $42 for the first year and renews at $94. This is a little cheaper than Bitdefender Total Security which starts at $109.

Naturally, prices jump up the more advanced the plan is. Norton 360 Deluxe for consumers starts at $52 for the first year and renews at $124, and Norton 360 with LifeLock Select Plus starts at $99 for the first year and renews at $189. Norton 360’s most expensive plan costs the same as Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus — one of the biggest differences, though, is that Norton 360 offers a lower price point for the first 12 months.

If you own a small business, there are two plans to choose from for up to 10 employees: Norton Small Business starts at $59 for the first year and renews at $119 (for three employees), and Norton Small Business Premium starts at $199 for the first year and renews at $299 (for five employees).

It’s important to note that Norton 360 offers different plans for American and non-American customers. For instance, Norton 360 with LifeLock requires a valid Social Security Number so it can’t work in the U.K. or elsewhere outside of the States. Due to this limitation, I tested the Advanced plan, which is the highest tier available outside of the U.S.

Before you commit to a plan, it’s worth reading the fine print and going through all its features. Happily, Norton 360 offers a 60-day money-back guarantee for its consumer and business customers alike. Even better, Norton 360 says that if your device catches a virus its software can’t detect, you’ll get your money back (terms and conditions apply, naturally).

Norton 360 review: Protection

As I mentioned before, Norton 360 offers varying levels of protection depending on the plan you choose. Norton 360 Standard, the cheapest plan for consumers, protects one device against malware, viruses, ransomware and hackers, and offers Deepfake Protection, 10GB of cloud backup, Dark Web Monitoring, and a VPN.

The most advanced plan for consumers, LifeLock Select Plus, protects up to 10 macOS, Windows, iOS and Android devices from all the aforementioned, while including Scam Protection Pro, 250GB cloud storage, Parental Control, Credit Monitoring Coverage, and up to $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement, amongst some other extras.

As with other antivirus software we test, I referred and compared testing results from three independent labs who test antivirus software twice a year (for the most part). The first thing I looked at was AV Test’s February 2026 report which certifies Norton 360 as a “Top Product” with a 6/6 score across Protection, Performance and Usability. Bitdefender and McAfee also received the same scores.

In AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test, Norton 360 performed better than Bitdefender. This test uses benchmarking tools to assess system impact. Norton 360 scored 90/100 in AVC, 94.7/100 in Procyon, and 5.3 in Impact. The lower the Impact score, the better, and Norton 360 outperformed Bitdefender which scored a 9.6/10 in Impact. McAfee, on the other hand, achieved a 3.3/10 in Impact, making it better than both its competitors.

As for the SE Labs (U.K.) April 2026 report, Norton 360’s macOS version was awarded an AAA rating with 100% protection accuracy, which is the highest possible rating.

Norton 360 review: Performance

Once you’ve bought your subscription, it’s time to download and install Norton 360 on your computer or smartphone. On Windows and macOS, you’ll need to log into My Norton with the registered email address and find the Download button on the dashboard. If you can’t see it, you may need to enter your 25-character unique license key and the Download button should then show up. It took under five minutes to get Norton 360 up and running on our testing rig on which I ran the majority of the tests.

On iOS and Android smartphones, you’ll need to download Norton 360 from the respective app store and sign in with your registered email address. The app should then automatically pull your subscription details. It takes mere seconds — the process couldn’t be smoother.

The first thing I did to test the antivirus software was to run a system scan — most users will be doing the same, I’m certain. There are a few types of scans available. You’ve got your classic Quick and Full scans, and in addition to those, you get access to Targeted (custom) and even a Startup scan which, as the name suggests, scans your files when you boot up the computer. Startup scan is something I haven’t seen other antivirus software suites offer, including Bitdefender and Malwarebytes.

To start with, I ran a Quick Scan which took three minutes and 33 seconds to complete, and it scanned 96,054 files without detecting any threats. The Full Scan took a bit longer, as expected, and it took just over five minutes to scan 896,544 files. Again, no anomalies were detected. Norton 360 didn’t scan as many files as Bitdefender, which scanned over two million files in 26 minutes.

The Quick and Full scans were conducted without any other heavy-duty apps running in the background. To see if Norton 360 has an impact on system performance, I ran in-game benchmark tests on two games: Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5. With Norton 360 running in the background, Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra graphics) achieved 118fps which dipped to 107fps with the Quick Scan running, and 105fps with the Full Scan running.

Similarly, with Forza Horizon 5 running on High graphics, the game achieved 125fps with Norton 360 running in the background. With the software performing a Quick and Full Scan, the frame rate dropped to 123fps in both instances. This goes to show that Norton 360 doesn’t have a detrimental effect on your system’s performance, and that you can continue gaming as usual even with the software running in the background.

After finishing the in-game benchmark tests, I ran a few tests at speedtest.net to see how Norton 360 impacts internet speeds. As you can see from the table above, upload speeds dropped a fair bit with the Quick and Full Scans running — though the latter’s were faster than the former’s (surprisingly).

Norton 360 review: Features

In addition to system scanning, Norton 360 packs other goodies too, all of which ensure your device and online identity remain protected from threats. I tested the Advanced plan which comes with extras like Deepfake Protection, Parental Controls, Dark Web Monitoring, and Social Media Monitoring which notifies you of suspicious activity, like changes to your account settings and risky links.

I put a few of those through their paces, starting with Ask Genie, which is Norton 360’s built-in AI assistant. It helps you assess links and images to determine whether they’re safe to open or believe. I’ve seen AI assistants in Malwarebytes and Avast One too, so I was looking forward to testing Norton 360’s.

Unfortunately, I found Ask Genie to be quite slow to respond. I started off by asking it to check if a YouTube link was safe to click on. I got texts back that it was working on the thumbnail, content and more and to come back in a few minutes. Ask Genie never completed the task and said to try again later — which was disappointing.

I then asked it to check whether a security alert from Microsoft was legitimate (I knew it was). It asked me a number of questions to figure out what exactly I wanted to know. I was surprised by this, as I didn’t have to do so with Malwarebytes and Avast One. Both those suites’ AI assistants were quick to answer. Similarly, I had to tell it thrice what to do with a TikTok link I shared to check its legitimacy. I felt frustrated by Norton 360’s AI assistant, truth be told.

On to the good things now. Norton 360 comes with a Secure VPN, depending on the plan you purchase but it’s included in the Advanced tier I tried. You don’t need to download a separate app for the VPN, which is great, and it lets you connect to 2,000 servers across 65 counties — a little less than Bitdefender where you can connect to one of 4,000 servers globally, but still good.

Norton 360’s Advanced plan features a handy File Cleanup tool too, which detects unneeded files on your machine, and determines whether they’re safe to delete. This is good for those who have many, many files on their computer, as it gives you an at-a-glance view of files eating into your storage and hampering system performance. You can then go through the files and choose which ones you want to get rid of.

Though Norton 360 offers robust protection thanks to features like Credit Alerts and Dark Web Monitoring, I’m surprised one of its features is paywalled. When I opened Norton 360, it told me my computer was at risk and that “6,553 issues” were slowing down my PC. When I clicked on it to fix the issues, I was told to purchase Norton Utilities Ultimate. It isn’t expensive, with the add-on costing £29 for the first year, but still disappointing that you have to buy it separately.

Also worth noting: some features are available to Windows users only. SafeCam, which protects your webcam and microphone, and Cloud Backup aren’t compatible with non-Windows machines, including MacBooks. This isn’t a massive drawback, per se, as macOS features reliable built-in privacy tools to protect your webcam, and Time Machine is a powerful backup tool, too.

And to top it all off, Norton 360’s Advanced plan includes advanced security measures like AI agent protection. If you use, say, Claude Code, Cursor or OpenClaw, you can integrate Norton 360 into it to keep your AI tools secure while they work.

Norton 360 review: Interface

I’m yet to test an antivirus software that doesn’t sport a clean, accessible interface, and Norton 360 is no different. My Norton, the online dashboard, serves as the central hub for managing your subscription and activating it on different devices. There are no intrusive pop-ups or ads, so it’s a joy to navigate the dashboard.

The software itself is extremely user-friendly, and everything is well-signposted for new (and returning) users to understand. It’s important to note that you can’t make the window full-size — but this is a common occurrence with antivirus software suites. I’ve seen it with Avast One and Bitdefender, and the only software suite that doesn’t follow this convention is Malwarebytes.

Norton 360’s mobile app is just as intuitive to use. It’s available on both iOS and Android. I tested it on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, and found the activation process super quick — all I needed to do was login with my registered email address. I found the mobile dashboard easy to understand, and I also liked that I didn’t need to download a separate app for the Secure VPN.

Norton 360 review: Support

Regardless of how smoothly an app runs, you may run into some issues that can’t be solved by a simple Google search. Norton 360 offers extensive support for consumers and businesses alike. The support center features detailed help pages and troubleshooting guides, and there’s an active community of other users who discuss issues and solutions on Norton 360’s official forums.

If the guides fail to enlighten you, Norton 360 happily offers 24/7 email, chat and text support — just like Bitdefender, Avast One and McAfee. To get started, you must type in your registered email address, after which you’ll be asked to select the topic you need help with. Norton 360 will then suggest contact methods, but if you don’t want to speak to a human being over the phone, you can ask to be connected to the live chat.

The AI-powered chatbot is useful and quick to answer your questions. I asked it for help with two separate things and it quickly presented the solution to me. I then asked to speak with a human being and it took just under five minutes for the chatbot to connect me with another person.

Norton 360 review: Verdict

Norton 360 delivers a comprehensive security suite that strikes a balance between strong protection and ease of use. Its top-tier plans pack in nearly every feature you could want: malware and ransomware defense, Dark Web Monitoring, Parental Controls, Secure VPN, and more. Its low system impact is a standout advantage, as the software can run without seriously disrupting gaming or day-to-day performance.

However, there are a few niggles standing in the way of Norton 360 achieving the perfect score. Some features remain limited to Windows machines, including SafeCam, and Norton’s Ask Genie AI assistant feels slow and inconsistent compared to offerings from Avast One and Malwarebytes.

But even with these shortcomings, Norton 360 remains one of the most feature-rich and dependable antivirus software suites today — and it offers bang for your buck.

Having one of the best antivirus software installed on your devices can protect you from AI-generated scams and viruses. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, Avast One is a great choice. It offers robust protection against deepfakes, sophisticated malware, and more. It comes with a built-in AI assistant which can analyze texts, links and images for anything suspicious. With low impact on system resources and an accessible interface, Avast One nearly does it all.

I say “nearly” because, unfortunately, the software has a couple of flaws. A maximum of just 10 devices are protected, and there’s no cloud backup.

Should you still buy this antivirus software suite? Read my full Avast One review to find out.

Avast One review: Specs

Avast One review: Costs & what’s covered

Avast One was relaunched in 2026 and since then, the software can be downloaded for free and paid add-ons can be added from within the software, depending on your needs. Instead of paying for a bundle of features you may never use, you have the option to build the protection with the features you actually need.

The free version of Avast One, without any add-ons, blocks viruses and malware, protection against ransomware, and you even get access to Avast’s AI-powered assistant for catching scams. You also get a 60-day trial of SecureLine VPN. Extra features, like Scam Guardian Pro, AntiTrack, and firewall, can be activated from within the app. These are paid products, but the good news is that you can pick and choose which ones you need, instead of paying for an all-in-one package, such as the tiers offered by Bitdefender and Norton 360.

Avast One is a consumer-focused antivirus software suite, so it doesn’t offer any business-oriented plans. For those, you may want to consider Bitdefender, Norton 360 or even Malwarebytes.

Before committing to any purchases, make sure you read the fine print. Luckily, if you aren’t happy with your purchase, Avast One offers a 30-day money-back guarantee — just like Bitdefender, although Norton 360 offers a longer 60-day guarantee.

Avast One review: Protection

Like I said, you can add extra protection features from within the free Avast One software. I was provided with a review code for Premium Security which already had things like Wi-Fi protection, WebGuard which uses AI to block scam websites, and Mail Shield which monitors your email address for threats. I’ll discuss these in detail shortly.

When we review antivirus software, we refer and compare testing results from three independent labs who test antivirus software twice a year on average. I looked at AV Test’s February 2026 report which rates the old version of Avast as a “Top Product” with a 6/6 score across Protection, Performance and Usability, just like Bitdefender and Norton 360.

After that, I read AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report which uses benchmarking tools to assess system impact. Avast ranked 6th on the list, just under Norton 360, with a 90/100 AVC score, 94.5/100 Procyon score, and a 5.5 Impact score. The lower the impact score, the better, and Avast was just 0.2 off Norton 360.

Last but not least, the SE Labs (U.K.) April 2026 report gave Avast a AAA rating (highest possible) with a 100% total accuracy percentage. All of this proves that Avast is a comprehensive, well-rounded antivirus software boasting excellent performance — on paper, at least, and we’ll get into how it performs in real-world use next.

Avast One review: Performance

Once you’ve bought your Avast One plan, or are opting for the free version first, you’ll need to download and install it on your Windows or macOS machine, or your Android or iOS smartphone. Doing so is straightforward. You need to download the software from the Avast One homepage, or if you already have the free version, you can input your license key via the menu within the already-downloaded app. I installed the software on our testing rig, on which I ran the majority of the testing.

Activating your subscription on your smartphone is just as easy. Download the app from either the iOS or Android store and enter your registered email address when prompted. I did so on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and I was up and running in under a minute. The smartphone app offers many of the same features as the PC software.

The first thing I did after installing the software was run a computer scan. Avast One offers a few different types of scans: Smart (quick), Full, Targeted (custom), and Boot-Time. I ran a Full Scan which took 6 minutes and 12 seconds, which is a lot quicker than the time Bitdefender took (26 minutes 23 seconds). Avast One doesn’t tell you how many files it has scanned either, unlike Bitdefender. The Full Scan flagged a few system errors which it then helped me resolve.

Avast One upstages Bitdefender as the latter doesn’t offer any other scan options. The former’s Smart Scan is a handy option when you want a quick check after having downloaded a new file, for instance. I’m sure users will find Targeted and Boot-Time Scans useful too.

To put the software through its paces, I ran Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5 to see how the games’ performance was impacted, and you can see the results in the table below.

With Avast One running in the background (and no other apps open except for the game), Cyberpunk 2077 achieved 99fps while Forza Horizon 5 achieved 125fps. With the Smart Scan running, Cyberpunk 2077 achieved 96fps and Forza Horizon 5 topped at 124fps. Full Scan results were nearly identical too. The loss of a couple of frames is barely noticeable in real-world use, and it goes to show that the antivirus software won’t impact your work or gaming experience.

I also ran a few internet speed tests at speedtest.net to analyze how Avast One impacted upload and download speeds, and you can see the results in the table below.

With the Smart and Full Scans running, the internet download and upload speeds were impacted negatively. Antivirus software suites can sometimes act as a detriment in this area as they monitor incoming and outgoing data in real-time, and that could be one of the reasons why. Surprisingly, this wasn’t the case with Bitdefender, and I even got the fastest upload speeds with the software running in the background.

Avast One review: Features

Avast One offers plenty of extras in addition to system scanning and basic protection, like Web and Email Shield, a VPN, dedicated browser, AI Agent Protection, Deepfake Protection, and more. There's also AntiTrack which stops advertisers and other websites from tacking you; BreachGuard Premium which monitors the dark web for your personal data and even sends opt-out requests to data brokers; CleanUp Premium for removing junk files; and Driver Updates to keep device driver up-to-date.

I tested a few of the extras, starting with Avast Assistant, an AI-powered cybersecurity tool which analyzes suspicious messages, images and links. In an age where AI scams are becoming more commonplace (and more sophisticated), having a feature such as this is very useful.

To test Avast Assistant, I copied and pasted an email from Microsoft pertaining to login information. Avast Assistant then asked me a couple of questions, which I answered, and it told me the text looked safe — and I already knew it was safe because the email was a direct result of me logging into a new device.

I then tried Network Inspector which scans home/work and public networks for vulnerabilities. As someone who tends to work on trains and in cafés over public Wi-Fi, I find this tool very useful, as it can protect me from threats I may not have been aware of otherwise. I scanned my workplace’s network and in just five minutes, Avast One told me the network was secure.

You also get access to an Uninstall Simulator which shows you how the system will be impacted without actually uninstalling the app. It temporarily hides the app so you can see if your system runs smoothly without it. This is a great tool for testing disruptions, system errors and breaks in dependencies.

Last but certainly not least, I tested the Avast One SecureLine VPN. The VPN enables you to choose from roughly 700 servers spread across 35 or so countries — that’s a lot less than Bitdefender’s VPN which offers access to 4,000 servers in more than 50 countries. Regardless, it’s easy to connect to an encrypted server in another country. SecureLine VPN features built-in DNS leak protection, and there are plenty of custom settings available to suit your needs.

The only noteworthy drawback in terms of features is that Avast One doesn’t offer Cloud Backup, and it doesn’t feature parental controls either. You’ll need to speak with an expert when you visit the official website if you want parental controls.

Avast One review: Interface

Similar to Bitdefender, Avast One doesn’t feature any intrusive or unnecessary pop-ups, and using it is a delight. The interface is clean and user-friendly, and everything is well-signposted. When you go through the different protection options for the first time, you’re given quick explanations of what each does.

But also like Bitdefender, you can’t make the Avast One window full-size, so it occupies only a small portion of your entire screen. This isn’t a major flaw, but it would have been nice to be able to see all the features and settings. As the window is quite small, you need to scroll quite a bit to go through all of them.

As I mentioned earlier, Avast One is available on Android and iOS, and the Android app that I tested sports a user-friendly design too. The dashboard gives you quick access to all the settings, and just like the desktop app, everything is easily understandable. The app doesn’t take up much space either as it requires approximately 150MB to install.

Avast One review: Support

Similar to Norton 360 and Bitdefender, Avast One offers 24/7 customer support over online chat, text or phone, so if you run into any issues, you can speak to a human to get to the bottom of it. Avast’s support page has comprehensive troubleshooting guides which should be your first port of call. If you can’t find a solution, you can get in touch with the support team via the Contact Us button.

Once you’ve clicked on it, you’ll be asked to answer a few questions pertaining to your issue. When the system has evaluated your problem, it suggests either calling the support team or chatting with an engineer. What I find odd, though, is that you can’t simply choose to initiate web chat — you can only do so when the system determines it. Bitdefender and Norton let you use the online chat function as and when you please.

After answering the questions, I was able to chat with the virtual assistant. It was able to answer my query quickly and correctly when I asked it how to access the VPN. You can also speak to a human by asking the virtual assistant to connect you with one.

Avast One review: Verdict

Avast One delivers strong security and robust protection against the most sophisticated of scams, including being able to identify deepfakes and AI-generated images. Backed by excellent lab scores, it provides top-tier malware defense with negligible impact on system resources. Its standout feature is the AI-powered Avast Assistant which flags text and link scams. Navigating the software is seamless on desktop and mobile, too.

However, Avast One doesn’t feature built-in parental controls, something its competitor, Bitdefender, bundles into its most expensive subscription. Also, the software can protect up to 10 devices only

If you prioritize swift and diverse system scanning, a clean interface and modern AI threat analysis, Avast One is a highly capable software suite.

Looking for the best antivirus software to protect your online identity and offline machines? Malwarebytes is an excellent choice, and it blends robust, smart features with a user-friendly design to deliver a comprehensive package. With its recent software refresh, Malwarebytes offers an expansive suite of features, including an AI-powered Scam Guard, Digital Footprint Scanner, and more.

The premium protection comes at a premium price, though, especially for businesses. Malwarebytes may have a detrimental impact on your system resources too, as I experienced in my testing. But if those are compromises you’re willing to make, I doubt you’d be dissatisfied with the software.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Malwarebytes review.

Malwarebytes review: Specs

Malwarebytes review: Costs & what’s covered

Just like every other antivirus software provider out there, Malwarebytes offers different plans for consumers and businesses, depending on the user’s needs and requirements. We’ll start with Malwarebytes’ consumer plans, and there are three available. The Standard plan is available for $44 / £29 and offers basic protection against malware, viruses and more on one device only.

The Plus plan is a step-up from Standard and costs $79 / £49 annually. It includes everything offered by Standard, plus a high speed VPN and anonymous browsing. Malwarebytes’ most expensive plan for consumers goes by different names in the U.S. and the U.K. In the States, it’s called Ultimate ($279) and across the pond, it’s called Total (£129). Ultimate and Total feature Advanced Social Media Monitoring as well as $1 million in identity insurance. It’s important to note that Malwarebytes’ top-tier consumer plan is pricier than Bitdefender and Norton 360. There are also various Family plans starting from $149 / £109 per year.

Now, on to the business plans. There are three tiers available. For Sole Proprietors, the plan covering three devices starts at $119 / £99. The Boutique Business plan for 10 devices costs $399 / £306, while the top-tier Small Office plan for 20 devices costs $799 / £612. That’s a lot of dough, especially when Bitdefender’s GravityZone Business Security Plan costs just $444.

As always, I’d recommend reading the fine print and seeing what each plan entails before buying it. But in case you aren’t happy with your purchase, Malwarebytes offers a 60-day money-back guarantee — just like Norton 360.

Malwarebytes review: Protection

The level of protection you get against online and offline threats will depend on the Malwarebytes plan you buy. The Standard consumer plan, for instance, offers protection from viruses, Trojans and spyware, as well as personalized security assessments and advice. The Total (or Ultimate) plan that I tested offers a lot more, including an unlimited VPN, Identity Theft Protection and insurance, Scam Guard (also included in all plans), Digital Footprint Scanner, and Personal Data Remover. I’ll discuss these in detail shortly.

What’s surprising is that none of Malwarebytes plans offer cloud backup and storage or parental controls. The likes of Bitdefender, Avast One and Norton 360 offer these to a degree, making any of these a better choice if these are features you value.

Before diving into Malwarebytes’ performance, let’s take a look at how three independent labs who test antivirus software twice a year (for the most part) rate it, starting with AV Test. Unfortunately, the last time AV Test tested Malwarebytes was back in October 2023, before the software was refreshed and updated, so take this with a grain of salt. The lab rated Malwarebytes as a “Certified” product, with 5.5/6 score across Protection and Performance, and 6/6 in Usability. Bitdefender and Norton 360 received 100% scores across all criteria, though.

AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report rated Malwarebytes 12th out of the 19 antivirus software suites they tested. AV Comparatives assess system impact, and Malwarebytes scored 75/100 in AVC, 97.4/100 in Procyon, and 17.6 in Impact. That Impact rating is a lot, and it basically alludes to the software having a negative impact on your system’s resources — on paper, at least. Bitdefender (9.6), Avast (5.5) and Norton 360 (5.3) all outrank Malwarebytes here — and it was proven in my testing too, which I’ll discuss soon.

In SE Labs (U.K.) April 2026 report, Malwarebytes Premium was awarded an AAA rating with 97% protection accuracy. While this isn’t poor, Bitdefender, Norton 360 and Avast One are all rated 100% for their protection accuracy.

Malwarebytes review: Performance

After buying your subscription, it’s time to install the Malwarebytes software on your Windows, macOS, Android or iOS device. There are two ways of installing it if you’re on a desktop. You can either register your unique license key in the already-installed free version, or you can redeem the key via the dedicated webpage. Downloading and installing the software on our testing rig took me about five minutes.

On Android and iOS smartphones, you’ll need to download the app from the respective app store — as I did on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL — and enter your license key or registered email address when prompted. Of course, this will work only if you’ve bought a multi-device plan.

Naturally, the first thing I did after installing Malwarebytes on our testing rig was run a system scan, and there are three available: Threat Scan (quick), Deep Scan (full), and Custom Scan (targeted). The Custom Scan is especially handy if you want something between the speedy and detailed scans. I ran a Threat Scan first, as that’s the default option, and the scan was completed within 22 seconds, having scanned over 176,000 files without detecting any anomalies or threats. It’s nice to see Malwarebytes offer a quick scan option, unlike Bitdefender.

Via the Advanced Settings menu under Scanner, you can access the other scan modes, so I ran a Deep Scan which took 14 minutes and two seconds to finish. It scanned a total of 427,157 files — a little less than Bitdefender which scanned over two million files in 26 minutes. Again, no threats were detected, as I expected as our testing rig is a very clean system.

The first Threat Scan was done with no other heavy-duty apps running in the background, so to assess Malwarebytes’ impact on system performance, I booted up Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5, and ran in-game benchmark tests. As you can see from the table above, Cyberpunk 2077’s frame rate dipped a fair bit, from 87 to 75, and Forza Horizon 5’s from 110 to 99. This isn’t bad per se, and I didn’t notice any stuttering or lag while playing the games, but it’s important to note that with Bitdefender, I achieved 97fps in Cyberpunk 2077 and 123fps in Forza Horizon 5 with the software performing a Full Scan.

After finishing the in-game benchmarks, I ran a few tests at speedtest.net to see how Malwarebytes impacted upload and download speeds. You can see the results in the table above. Upload speeds took quite a hit with the Deep Scan running, something I didn’t experience with Bitdefender and Avast One.

My testing goes to show that Malwarebytes has a negative impact on system resources and performance, and aligns with the aforementioned AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report.

Malwarebytes review: Features

Alongside in-depth and quick scanning, Malwarebytes includes a bunch of extras to protect you against online and offline threats. I tested a few of the goodies included in the Malwarebytes Total plan, starting with Digital Footprint. Digital Footprint basically lets you know of any security breaches, including leaked or stolen passwords. All you need to do is enter your email address and Malwarebytes will search the internet for any anomalies.

I first entered my team’s joint mailing address and Malwarebytes noted that the data from this email address was not exposed — which makes sense, as you can’t individually log into it. So to put the feature through its paces, I used my personal email address, and Malwarebytes found a few concerning breaches. Websites that I haven’t used in years still had my data, and were even involved in breaches.

Happily, Malwarebytes gives you a quick rundown of when the breach occurred to give you an idea of how long your data has been exposed. You can then fix the issues as needed.

Many antivirus software companies are pushing scam protection these days, which makes sense as AI-generated scams are more common than ever, and they can be quite hard to detect by humans. Malwarebytes’ Scam Guard is an integrated AI assistant, and within this tab, you can drop a link and image and ask the software to check if it’s legitimate.

I attached a screenshot of an email I received from Microsoft pertaining to a login on a new device. Scam Guard analyzed it and told me it was safe, and even advised me of next steps. I followed that up with asking Scam Guard to check if a TikTok URL was safe to click on, and it informed me that it was legitimate too, citing the legitimacy of the URL and TikTok’s position in the market.

I also tried the File Shredder tool which enables you to permanently delete files to varying degrees, including overwriting data several times using complex patterns so there’s no trace left of it. I did this with a throwaway screenshot that Malwarebytes promptly got rid of. It’s like using a physical paper shredder… but digital.

Finally, I tested the Malwarebytes VPN which is included in the Total plan. The unlimited VPN allows you to choose from over 150 servers in 60 different locations — a little less than Bitdefender where you can connect to one of 4,000 servers in 50 countries, but still good. The VPN takes around a minute or so to connect and once it’s done, Malwarebytes works to stop sophisticated cyberthreats while still providing fast internet speeds.

Malwarebytes also offers Identity Theft Protection and once you’ve signed up for it by entering your details, it monitors the dark web and alerts you if your data is being illegally traded or sold. It can track and report changes in your credit activity and score too. All in all, Malwarebytes offers a complete protection package — the top-tier Total plan does, at least.

Malwarebytes review: Interface

I really like Malwarebytes’ interface and design. The online dashboard, known as Secure Hub, where you can change account settings is accessible, clean and doesn’t feature intrusive pop-ups — and the same goes for the downloaded software too. Everything is easy to understand, thanks to plenty of signposting. I also like that the software gives you a protection score, depending on the measures you’ve taken and settings you’ve activated to protect yourself.

Another thing I appreciate about Malwarebytes’ software is that the desktop window can be maximized and made full-size to take up the entire screen, unlike Bitdefender and Avast One. This helps you see all the features at a glance and saves some time as you don’t have to keep scrolling to find what you’re looking for.

Malwarebytes’ app on iOS and Android is just as user-friendly if not more, and it also gives you a protection score — mine was 20 before I enabled the various features, like Firewall. The app doesn’t eat into your storage either as the download requires just 60MB of free space.

Malwarebytes review: Support

Since Malwarebytes was redesigned, the software now offers 24/7 customer support via email and online chat, so if you’re ever in a pickle, help is available. This is a similar level of support to what’s offered by Bitdefender, Avast One and Norton 360. Getting help is super easy too. There are plenty of troubleshooting guides available, and they should be your first port of call. Malwarebytes Labs is an extremely active blog too, where the team posts news and updates.

If all else fails and you need to speak with a human, you can first speak with the AI chatbot which can answer simple questions. I asked it how to register my license key and it promptly gave me a solution.

I then asked to speak to a human and it asked me to either sign in or continue as guest, so I chose the latter and I was asked to enter some information and a short description of the issue. It then created a ticket and told me a human agent would get back to me via email, and it took a human two hours to reply to my email.

Easy to do, but it’s worth noting that Malwarebytes doesn’t offer telephone support, unlike Bitdefender and Avast One. As someone who doesn’t like speaking on the phone, I don’t mind it, but it may be an issue for those who need urgent help.

Malwarebytes review: Verdict

Malwarebytes is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly antivirus software suites you can buy today. Packed with robust modern features, like AI-powered Scam Guard and Digital Footprint Scanner, it effectively protects you from online and offline threats. 24/7 web and email support, the unlimited VPN, and an accessible mobile app make this a compelling package.

However, Malwarebytes falls slightly short of perfection when compared to heavyweights like Bitdefender. It has a noticeable impact on system resources, including frame-rate drops in demanding games. Its top-tier business plan carries a premium price tag too, which means its competitors offer better value for money.

But at the end of the day, this is a highly capable and accessible shield against sophisticated, modern threats. Backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied, Malwarebytes is still an excellent choice for those who value identity protection — as long as you have the hardware to cushion its performance footprint.

With the rise of AI scams and sophisticated malware threats that we may not always see, it’s more crucial than ever to have one of the best antivirus software installed on your devices — and luckily, there are plenty of options to choose from. However, if you use multiple devices or run a business, there’s one antivirus software that’s better than the rest, and that’s Bitdefender.

Bitdefender offers many different tiers for consumers, families and businesses, and having tested the Ultimate Security plan, I wonder how I’ve gone so long without it. Bitdefender offers extensive protection thanks to anti-theft and anti-scam features. It sports a clean interface that makes the numerous settings easy to understand, whether you’re on mobile or desktop. The VPN and comprehensive Identity Protection are cherries on top of the cake.

For the complete breakdown, read my full Bitdefender review.

Bitdefender review: Specs

Bitdefender review: Costs & what’s covered

Bitdefender is one of the most prominent names in the world of antivirus software. The brand offers multiple tiers of protection — depending on whether you’re buying it for personal use, for your small business, or at an enterprise level. For the regular Joe and their family, the cheapest Consumer plan, Bitdefender Total Security, starts at $109; Bitdefender Premium Security costs $129; Bitdefender Ultimate Security retails for $159; and Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus costs $189.

If you own a small business, you can get the Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security Plan starting at $189 for three members. For 25 members, this jumps up to $799. For medium-sized businesses, the GravityZone Small Business Security plan for five devices costs $169 for a year, with the most expensive GravityZone Business Security Plan costing $444. The price will naturally vary depending on the number of devices and the years you buy the subscription for.

Depending on the plan you buy, each tier carries different levels of protection and additional services. It’s worth looking into what each individual plan covers before committing to one — but each tier also offers trial periods as well as 30-day money-back guarantees. I won’t bore you with all the details but I’ll share an example with you. I tested the Bitdefender Ultimate Security Family plan which, alongside basic protection, offers email protection, Scam Protection Pro that fights sophisticated scams, Digital Identity Protection, as well as a VPN.

Bitdefender’s cheapest Consumer plan is a little pricier than Norton 360’s, which starts at $94 for a year. Both brands’ most expensive Consumer tier, though, costs the same. Bitdefender offers better value for money when compared to McAfee, though, as the latter’s cheapest plan starts at $119 and goes all the way up to $119. As you’ll soon see throughout this review, Bitdefender doesn’t give you much to complain about, and you’re getting bang for your buck.

Bitdefender review: Protection

Bitdefender offers varying levels of protection depending on the plan you buy. The most basic tier for consumers, Total Security, offers protection against malware, ransomware and network threats, Advanced Threat Defense which monitors active apps, Cryptomining Protection that fights against apps that you have no knowledge of, Anti-Phishing, Anti-Fraud, Antispam, and lots more. These features are also included in the Ultimate Security plan with some other extras.

For antivirus reviews, we refer and compare testing results from three independent labs who test antivirus software twice a year (for the most part). I looked at AV Test’s February 2026 report for this review. Their results certify Bitdefender Total Security as a “Top Product” with a 6/6 scores across Protection, Performance and Usability. McAfee and Norton also received the same scores.

Bitdefender didn’t perform as well in AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test which uses benchmarking tools to assess system impact. It scored 85/100 in AVC, 95.4/100 in Procyon, and 9.6/10 in Impact. McAfee performed better with a 90 and 96.7 score respectively. Bitdefender did better than Norton’s 94.7 Procyon score, but lagged behind Norton’s 90 AV-C score. Don’t let this put you off, though, as Bitdefender is still an excellent antivirus. And if numbers matter a lot to you, SE Labs (U.K.) gave Bitdefender an AAA (highest possible rating with a 100% protection accuracy.

Bitdefender review: Performance

The first thing you’ll naturally be doing after you’ve signed up for a subscription is downloading and installing Bitdefender — and doing so is extremely easy. You’ll need to login to the Bitdefender Dashboard, where you originally bought the plan, and activate it. You’ll then be able to download the software onto your machine. It took me mere seconds to download the app and get it up and running on our testing rig — on which I ran the majority of the testing.

Also depending on the plan you purchase, you’ll be able to install the app following the same procedure on different devices. For instance, I was provided a code for the Ultimate plan, as I mentioned earlier, so I could download it onto my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Once I’d activated the subscription on our testing PC, all I needed to do was login using my registered email on my phone, and I was in. It took mere seconds to get up and running.

Now for the big question: how does the antivirus software perform in regard to scanning? Bitdefender offers a full system scan which, as the name suggests, scans every single file on your machine — even the ones you might not be aware of. Surprisingly, there’s no option for a Quick Scan, as offered by the likes of Norton and McAfee.

It’s easy to start the Full Scan as the button to do so is within the app’s dashboard. I ran a Full Scan of our testing rig and it took 26 minutes and 23 seconds to complete, and it scanned a total of 2,319,256 files (I didn’t even realize there were that many to scan!). As I expected, the scan didn’t flag any viruses or issues.

This was done with no other heavy-duty apps running (I used the first scan’s results as the baseline), but to put the software through its paces, I ran Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5 to see how the games’ performance was impacted.

After running the numerous in-game benchmark tests, I’ve noted the results in the table above. With Bitdefender simply running in the background, Forza Horizon 5 achieved 125fps while Cyberpunk 2077 achieved 100fps. I then started a Full Scan which resulted in Forza Horizon 5 achieving 123fps and Cyberpunk 2077 achieving 97fps. This goes to show that the antivirus software doesn’t hamper your gaming PC’s performance. The loss of two or three frames per second is hardly noticeable.

I also ran a few internet speed tests at speedtest.net to see how Bitdefender impacted upload and download speeds. The first test I ran was without Bitdefender installed; the second with it installed; and third while running a Full Scan.

As you can see in the table above, even with the Full Scan running, the internet download and upload speeds remained pretty much the same — and I even got the fastest upload speeds with Bitdefender running in the background, surprisingly.

Bitdefender review: Features

Aside from scanning and other basic protection features, Bitdefender offers plenty of goodies, especially if you get one of the higher tiers. Like I mentioned earlier, the Bitdefender Ultimate Security plan comes with the likes of Web Scam Protection, Anti-Phishing and Anti-Fraud countermeasures, and more, so I put a few of these through their paces, starting with the Vulnerability Scan.

The Vulnerability Scan gives you an overview of any critical updates and settings you can change to better protect your device. Much quicker than the Full Scan, this is a good way to see all updates available at a glance.

There’s also Scam Protection Pro, which many antivirus companies seem to be pushing right now, and for good reason too. With the rise of AI, it’s easier than ever to fall for a scam, no matter how alert we think we are. Scam Protection Pro reads your emails and text messages (if you’re logged into Bitdefender on your smartphone), and verifies any links it finds. It’s very useful, and one feature I’m sure consumers and businesspeople would appreciate.

As you do with many other antivirus software suites, you get access to Bitdefencer VPN too. The VPN allows you to choose from over 4,000 servers in more than 50 different countries. The Ultimate plan includes unlimited VPN traffic, so Bitdefender encrypts all internet traffic, your bank information, passwords, downloads, and everything in between. Having used ExpressVPN in the past, I personally prefer Bitdefender VPN’s interface and clean look. This, combined with the SafePay browser, means you can browse the internet with confidence.

Bitdefender also offers identity theft protection through continuous dark web and surface monitoring, digital footprint visualization, identity protection score, real-time breach notifications, and even security advice from Bitdefender experts. Consumers on the Ultimate plan get this feature bundled in, but if you’re on a lower tier, you’ll need to buy it separately, starting at $129 / £79 annually.

Bitdefender review: Interface

What I really like about Bitdefender is that there are no intrusive or unnecessary pop-ups and ads. The interface is extremely clean, intuitive and user-friendly. Performance-wise, I didn’t notice the software have any detrimental impact on our testing PC either, as all other programs ran smoothly without any lag, even when the software was running in the background.

But the one thing I don’t like is that you can’t make the Bitdefender window full-size, so it occupies only a small portion of your entire screen. This isn’t a massive drawback, but it would have been nice to be able see all the features and settings at a glance rather than having to scroll through them.

The Bitdefender software is also compatible with iOS and Android, and as I alluded to earlier, I tested it on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Similar to the desktop version, Bitdefender Mobile Security on Android is just as user-friendly, with the dashboard giving you quick access to all the settings, such as Scam Protection Pro and System Scan. Unfortunately, you need to download a dedicated app to access the VPN on mobile devices. Luckily, neither app eats up your storage as they’re both under 100MB.

Bitdefender review: Support

While Bitdefender is a sheer delight to use, you may run into some issues — that’s bound to happen with any hardware or software you’re using. If you’re in a pickle, Bitdefender offers extensive customer support — for both consumers and businesses alike.

On the consumer side of things, you get access to a number of troubleshooting guides, but if those fail, you can contact Bitdefender support either via email, 24/7 chat, or over the phone. You must answer three questions pertaining to your issue, after which the website will suggest a few troubleshooting guides, or give you the option to contact support.

When I did this, I had to speak with the Bitdefender Helper AI about my problem, and it was quick to answer a simple question: “How do I activate my subscription?” I found the advice straightforward and helpful. I then asked to speak to a human and after explaining my issue briefly, it connected me to a human being, who was prompt and very helpful. All tiers get a similar level of support, which is fantastic.

For businesses, there’s a dedicated B2B help center offering specialized help. What I love about the support center is that it offers 24/7 support, and a specialized team is available around the clock. This is similar to what Norton and McAfee offer. It’s important to note, though, that local language support is available during working hours only, for all three brands.

Bitdefender review: Verdict

Bitdefender stands out as a premier choice for individuals, families and businesses seeking robust digital security. Having tested the Ultimate Security plan, I can confidently say that it’s a comprehensive security suite. Its protection capabilities are stellar as they protect you against malware, identity theft and scams, which is more important than ever in the age of AI.

What truly impressed me in my testing was Bitdefender’s low system impact as even with full system scans running, it didn’t deter internet speeds or tank the frame rate in intensive games. The interface, on both desktop and mobile, is clean and simply a joy to use. Features like Scam Protection Pro and unlimited VPN on higher tiers add to its value, and make the top-tier subscription worth the investment.

Of course, few things in life are perfect and Bitdefender isn’t one of them, as there’s no Quick Scan option, and the non-resizable app window on Windows can be a little annoying. But these are soft cons, and something you should be able to overlook given the trade-off. If you prioritize peace of mind against evolving AI and malware threats, Bitdefender is, in a word, exceptional.

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google). The US boasts some of the biggest and most popular tech companies in the world, and their apps and devices are an intrinsic part of everyday life.

But a survey by Proton found that 73% of Europeans think they are too reliant on US tech, with many preferring the option of an alternative.

This was only a snapshot, but plenty of Europeans – as well as Americans, Canadians, Aussies, and more – will be looking to break free from the grips of US tech. So, I've put together a list of some of my favorite privacy-focused alternatives.

From the best VPNs to the best password managers, antivirus to browsers, and even full-blown privacy suites, I'll detail some great non-US privacy apps you can download today. But I'll also explain why where you're based doesn't always correlate with your privacy practices.

VPNs

When it comes to privacy-orientated tech, VPNs are the place to start. It's quite rare to find a VPN based in the US, with many setting up in countries like Panama, the British Virgin Islands, or Switzerland – where data laws have a greater focus on personal privacy.

Four of the five VPNs that feature in our best VPN list are based outside of the US, along with others I'd recommend:

• NordVPN – Panama
• Surfshark – the Netherlands
• ExpressVPN – the British Virgin Islands
• Proton VPN – Switzerland
• Windscribe – Canada
• Mullvad – Sweden

VPNs protect your privacy by encrypting your internet traffic. It can't be seen by your internet service provider or any spying third-party. You can change the location of your IP address to appear as if you're browsing from practically anywhere in the world.

All the VPNs Tom's Guide recommends have strict no-logs policies. This means data such as your browsing information and IP address aren't collected, stored, or shared.

Top VPNs undergo independent third-party audits to prove this and often publish transparency reports, detailing the data requests they receive and what data they hand over – zero.

There are a handful of VPNs we recommend that are based in the US – Norton VPN, IPVanish, and Private Internet Access (PIA). Despite their location, all three operate strict no-logs policies. So, even if the US government demanded data, the VPNs would have nothing to hand over.

Privacy purists would argue a US base still poses a potential risk to your privacy. I asked Norton VPN about this in December 2025.

Norton VPN is owned by GenDigital, a company co-headquartered in the US and Czech Republic. The VPN team said a US-base is only a risk "if you have data to give," and they don't see it "as a cause for concern."

Norton VPN believes you should look at the data being collected by a VPN company, with Norton VPN only collecting data "that is absolutely critical and essential." It has significantly reduced its data collection and publishes quarterly transparency reports.

How important location is in deciding between VPNs is up to you. But if it's a non-US VPN you're after, there's plenty to choose from.

Antivirus

Finding an antivirus (AV) company not based in the US is tricky. All five products featured in our best antivirus software guide are headquartered, or co-headquartered, in the US. These are Norton, Bitdefender, McAfee, Avast, and Malwarebytes. All are exceptional AVs products but all have ties to the US.

Tom's Guide recommends ESET as "the best of the rest." It's a slightly more basic package but is headquartered in Slovakia. G Data (Germany) and F-Secure (Finland) are also two solid, non-US antivirus options.

A handful of VPNs bundle antivirus into their plans. While they might not be the best antivirus products out there, the fact they're part of a VPN plan can be reassuring for your privacy.

However, these AVs are often powered by third-party companies. For example, Surfshark's AV is backed by Avira. Avira is German but now owned by US-based GenDigital. PrivadoVPN has AV as a paid add-on, but it's not clear who powers it.

Secure Browser

We're back on slightly firmer ground with secure browsers. If you want privacy-focused, non-US alternatives to Google, Edge, or Safari, there are a couple to choose from.

Vivaldi is my browser of choice. It's run by the employee-owned Norwegian company Vivaldi Technologies. There's ad and tracker blocking, tons of customization, end-to-end encryption, and even Proton VPN Free built-in. Plus, it's completely free to download and features no AI functionality.

Surfshark offers a secure search function, free from ads and tracking. It's included in Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans.

Mullvad VPN has the Mullvad Browser. It was developed in conjunction with the Tor Project and protects against ads, trackers, and fingerprinting. It's also open-source and completely free.

Speaking of Tor, the Tor Browser is an option which leans more into anonymity than privacy. It's run by a decentralized network of node operators, stationed all over the world. Your traffic is routed through a number of "hops," and no one node can see the full history of your traffic's journey. Tor is free and open-source.

Password managers & privacy suites

One of the most common extra features bundled into VPN plans is a password manager. Password managers allow you to generate, and securely store, complex passwords.

NordVPN's NordPass, ExpressVPN's Keys, and Proton's Proton Pass, are all VPN password managers with no ties to the US.

In fact, we're seeing VPNs becoming full-blown privacy suites. ExpressVPN plans now include up to five apps in one subscription and Proton VPN is included in the excellent Proton Unlimited.

I use Proton Unlimited every day and it's the perfect anti-Google ecosystem. There's VPN, Drive, Mail, Calendar, Pass, and Wallet. All are end-to-end encrypted and sync effortlessly across all my devices.

A growing anti-US tech sentiment

Proton's research sought the views of people in the UK, France, and Germany. 80% of French respondents believed Europe is dependent on US tech, alongside 65% of Germans and 74% of the UK.

In the UK, 74% also expressed concern over this dependence, as did 85% of French respondents and 90% of Germans.

A majority of respondents from all three countries would choose European alternatives if they were available. As well as this, a majority of respondents from all three countries said protecting their privacy and security was "extremely important."

It's clear there is a growing opposition to US tech and the role it plays in our lives. We can't be rid of it entirely, but there are secure, privacy-focused alternatives out there to start fighting back.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Surfshark's limited time February deal means you can grab antivirus for $0.30 per month, alongside one of the best VPNs.

Two-year Surfshark One plans, with three extra months free, work out at $2.29 per month ($61.83 upfront pre-tax). This is Surfshark's second tier of plan and sees the inclusion of antivirus, data alerts, and scam protection. The offer is running from February 2-23, 2026, so you'd better act fast.

For a full rundown of why we rate Surfshark so highly, you can read our Surfshark VPN review.

VPN plus dedicated antivirus

A 27 month Surfshark One plan costs $2.29 per month ($61.83 upfront pre-tax) and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can protect your data with the best cheap VPN out there. You'll benefit from unlimited device connections, a simple and easy to use VPN, and blistering speeds of up to 1,615 Mbps. There's 4,500+ servers worldwide, covering 142 locations in 100 countries.

Surfshark is one of the only leading VPNs to offer dedicated antivirus. It's backed by Avira and allows you to run a full device scan or opt for a quick one. Surfshark updates its threat list regularly and any suspicious code is sent to its lab for analysis. You can enable real-time protection, with vulnerable areas of your device being checked.

Surfshark Antivirus isn't quite as good as big names like McAfee or Norton 360. However, the best antivirus software will cost you more per month than most VPN plans. So being able to pick up Surfshark Antivirus for an extra $0.30 per month is a great deal.

Alongside antivirus, Surfshark One brings an email scam checker and data alerts. Alerts cover personal data, ID, and credit card leaks, plus personal data security reports. You'll also get access to Surfshark's Web Content Blocker and secure search – providing organic search results, free from ads and trackers.

Surfshark's other plans

Surfshark One is the VPN's best value plan but it has two others. Surfshark Starter is its entry plan and it costs $1.99 per month ($53.73 upfront pre-tax) for 27 months of protection.

There's no antivirus, but you'll see fast speeds and powerful streaming unblocking, along with unlimited device connections and class-leading security and privacy. Surfshark has an audited no-logs policy and it is now post-quantum secure. There's also unique features like Alternative ID, which allows you to create a fake alias online.

Surfshark One+ is its most expensive plan. You get everything included in previous plans and unlock ID theft protection and the data removal service Incogni.

ID theft protection is only available to users in the US (except New York state) and provides up to $1 million of ID theft coverage. Incogni data removal service will send data deletion requests to numerous data brokers, reducing the amount of spam and scam emails you'll receive.

Surfshark One+ costs $4.19 per month ($113.13 upfront pre-tax) for 27 months of protection. All Surfshark plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

If you haven't yet renewed your antivirus program, you're actually in luck. It turns out that many antivirus manufacturers still have some stellar deals on some of our favorite software programs that make it easy to cover the devices in your household for roughly what it costs to subscribe to Netflix's top tier for a year.

Skipping antivirus coverage on (all) your devices is a risk you shouldn't be taking, mostly because getting malware is going to cost you much more than any one of these subscriptions — some of which are only $14 on sale. Each of these programs can keep you safe from all manner of malware, viruses, spyware or phishing attacks. Each also offers a useful array of features like a VPN, password manager or identity protection.

There are great deals on some of the best antivirus software that support as many as 10 devices, like Norton 360 Premium, McAfee Total Protection and Bitdefender Total Security, which all offer excellent real-time protection. They can cover a variety of operating systems, protect your devices when you're online and include thoughtful features like webcam protection, hardened browsers, ransomware rollback and more.

Quick Links

• Norton Antivirus Plus 2026 (1 Device): was $49 now $14 @ Amazon
• Norton 360 Premium 2026 (10 Devices): was $00 now $29 @ Amazon
• Bitdefender Total Security (5 Devices): was $89 now $29 @ Amazon
• McAfee Total Protection 2026 (3 Device): was $99 now $26 @ Amazon
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus (1 Device): was $39 now $24 @ Amazon

Antivirus package deals

More from Tom's Guide

• Check your inbox: These companies were the most impersonated in phishing attacks in 2025
• People are the password problem: How you're creating your biggest security risks
• New California regulations help delete your personal information off the internet – here’s what to know

For the last few hours left in Cyber Monday, make sure you don't miss out on the great sales in antivirus coverage. One of our top choices among the best antivirus software, Malwarebytes, has a 50% off sale today on all its plans. That means you can cover three devices against malware, spyware, infostealers and ransomware for a whole year for just $30 and still get a wide array of extra features.

All three tiers of Malwarebytes plans offer safe web browsing with scam and ad blocker, security assessments and advice, and a data breach notification feature. The malware protection is solid, and scored well in independent testing when it came to identifying and blocking threats and viruses. When we tested it, we found that the quick scan options worked well, ran fast and had little impact on system performance.

When we tested Malwarebytes we liked how it ran light and fast while providing great malware coverage without a lot of extra fuss. It's clean, straightforward interface made it easy to find the features and functions we needed fast, and the scans rans quickly without bogging down our system.

Though it doesn't include all the features you could wish for, the ones that it does provide will help keep you safe online from the unlimited VPN to the firewall and the identity threat protection that's included in the upper tier level. The majority of the features are related to virus protection like the anti-heap spraying protection which is an exploit related to code injections.

Malwarebytes has three available tiers, Standard, Plus and Ultimate, and each will protect up to three devices. Each tier is currently half off for Cyber Monday and will cover your devices for a full year.

For more great discounts be sure to check out our Cyber Monday deals live blog right now.

For Black Friday, Norton has deals on all its antivirus software, including Norton Premium which provides both excellent real-time malware protection and extensive list of features. Norton Premium will cover up to 10 devices and has online protections like a VPN, parental controls, a password manager, dark web monitoring, and scam protection.

It's also currently available on discount for Black Friday for 68% off, making it just $44 a year or less than $4 a month. That means you have coverage for your computers, tablets and smartphones, all year, from scams, phishing attacks and malware – especially important during holiday shopping seasons when scammers and hackers are just as busy as you are.

The best antivirus programs will protect you whenever you're online by scanning for malware in real-time, alerting you to phishing scams and provide you with additional protection like a VPN. Norton does all this, and includes dark web monitoring, deepfake protection and cloud backup.

Norton has scored well in independent antivirus tests. In AV Test's Jan/Feb 2025 Report it scored a 6 out of 6, and in AV Comparatives March 2025 Protection Test, the company scored a 99.96% which means Norton excels at detecting and blocking malware.

With several tiers of protection available, Norton has an antivirus software that can help keep your devices safe online. Each one will include excellent anti-malware protection and all of them are currently discounted for Black Friday. When we tested Norton's software, we liked the privacy and identity theft features that were included – especially the features like the dark web monitoring that searches for your personal information, a check that can see if your computer's software needs to be updated, and the Safe Search feature that warns you if you're visiting potentially iffy websites.

In all, this is one of the best antivirus programs you can get — and at 75% off, it's a real steal.

For more great discounts be sure to check out our Black Friday deals live blog right now.

Shop today's best Black Friday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

While you may be prepping for the holidays, the bad news is so are the scammers, hackers and bad actors. The good news is that our best overall antivirus program is on sale, and can keep you protected while you shop all the best deals.

Norton is offering deals on all its antivirus software, including Norton 360 Deluxe, which is our best overall antivirus choice for its excellent real-time malware protection and extensive list of features. Right now Norton 360 Deluxe is discounted 75% and will cover five devices all year for just $29. That gets you features like a VPN, parental controls and a password manager — all of which usually costs $120 annually.

Lots of people are looking forward to all the Black Friday deals, but no one wants to get taken advantage of. A quality antivirus program can help keep you stay protected when shopping online by scanning in real-time for malware, alert you to phishing scams and provide you with additional protection like a VPN, browser protections that will alert you if you visit a suspicious website and even cloud backups that secure your data.

Norton offers several tiers of protection, and each one will include the excellent anti-malware protection that 360 Deluxe has. All of them are currently discounted for Black Friday, but not all of them include the wide array of features that 360 Deluxe has.

Norton scored well in independent antivirus testing, with a 6 out of 6 in AV Test's Jan/Feb 2025 Report and a 99.96% in AV Comparatives March 2025 Protection Test. That puts them among the top in being able to detect and block malware.

When we tested it, we also liked the privacy and identity theft features that were included – 360 Deluxe will scan the dark web for your personal information, check to see if your computer's software needs to be updated, and has a Safe Search feature that warns you if you're visiting potentially iffy websites.

For more discounts, check out our Black Friday deals live blog right now.

Shop today's best Black Friday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

I've seen a lot of Black Friday VPN deals, and it's exceedingly rare that they drop below $1.50 per month – and most VPN prefer to stay above the $2-per-month mark.

Not PrivadoVPN, though. This Black Friday, it's going for just $1.11 per month. That's not the best part though. It's also throwing in full, unlimited antivirus for free.

Admittedly, PrivadoVPN isn't the most polished VPN. More established, premium brands like NordVPN do provide a more well-rounded experience. But in our PrivadoVPN review, our expert testers found it toally safe to use, and remarkably good at unblocking streaming sites to boot.

This 27-month deal costs $30 up front, and when it comes to Black Friday VPN deals, there's nothing cheaper than PrivadoVPN.

Cheap and cheerful, with hard to ignore extras

PrivadoVPN's antivirus typically costs an extra $1.99 per month but it can be yours – to keep – for free. I'll be honest, PrivadoVPN's antivirus isn't foolproof and one of the best antivirus softwares is going to perform better. However, as a free extra with an already exceptional value VPN, it's hard to ignore.

In October I asked if we should be taking PrivadoVPN more seriously and we should. It boasts speeds more than fast enough for the average user – 800+ Mbps in our latest tests – and it's designed for streaming.

There's a kill switch, unique features such as GPS location spoofing and parental controls, plus protection for up to 10 devices.

Its apps aren't the most intuitive, but for $30 up front I can forgive this. PrivadoVPN says it has a strict no-logs policy but, while I have no reason to think this is a lie, the provider hasn't undergone an independent audit. An audit would seriously improve the provider's credibility and bring it inline with its competitors.

PrivadoVPN is a secure, streaming orientated VPN. It's the cheapest premium plan you'll get this Black Friday and free antivirus is a massive bonus.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Antivirus software is imperative if you want to avoid the latest threats, from info-stealing malware or ransomware that locks up your computer unless you pay a fine. It works in the background, combating these risks and allowing you to go about your day as you normally would.

Some computers have built-in antivirus software, for example, Window's Microsoft Defender. While this is great for baseline protection, if you want something more comprehensive with more customization, that's where the best antivirus software comes in.

To help you find the best antivirus software for your devices, we spent weeks installing, testing, and uninstalling all of the programs below while taking a close look at their features, extras, and design. We even reached out to customer support to see how easily each company was able to solve common and not so common problems.

Based on our extensive testing, research and the results from third-party labs, Norton 360 Deluxe is our pick for the best antivirus software overall. It’s easy to use and provides effective malware protection without significantly impacting your computer’s performance. You also get plenty of extra features you’ll actually use.

However, there are plenty of other great antivirus providers too, and in this guide we'll take your through all the options. Whether you’re looking to secure a single device or ensure your entire household is protected from the latest threats, this is the best antivirus software you can get right now.

The quick list

The best antivirus software you can buy today

The best antivirus software overall

Norton 360 is an antivirus that perfectly strikes the balance between usability and strong protection, with feature-packed plans that cover just about every cyber threat you could want to protect yourself from.

Norton 360 offers varying levels of protection, depending on which plan you go for. Its standard plan is its cheapest. It costs $42 for the first year and renews at $94, coming in a little cheaper than Bitdefender Total Security, which starts at $109. For this price, you can protect one device against malware, viruses, ransomware, and hackers. You also get Deepfake Protection, 10GB of cloud backup, Dark Web Monitoring, and a VPN.

Its most expensive tier, Norton 360 with LifeLock Select Plus, starts at $99 for the first year and renews at $189. For this price, you can protect up to 10 macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android devices, as well as getting access to features including Scam Protection Pro, 250GB cloud storage, Parental Control, Credit Monitoring Coverage, and up to $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement, amongst some other extras. This includes SafeCam, which protects your webcam and microphone, and its backup tool Time Machine.

In independent testing, Norton 360 performed incredibly well. AV Test’s February 2026 report certified Norton 360 as a “Top Product” with a 6/6 score across Protection, Performance and Usability — the same score as both Bitdefender and McAfee.

Additionally, AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test, Norton 360 scored 90/100 in AVC, 94.7/100 in Procyon, and 5.3 in Impact. The lower the Impact score, the better, and Norton 360 outperformed Bitdefender, which scored a 9.6/10 in Impact. It was outperformed, however, by McAfee, which achieved a 3.3/10 in Impact.

Finally, in its UK April 2026 report, SE Labs awarded Norton 360’s macOS version an AAA rating with 100% protection accuracy, which is the highest possible rating.

On top of this, its low system impact means that you can run its scans in the background without disrupting your computer's performance, even if you're doing something that requires a lot of system load, like gaming. During testing, where we played Cyberpunk 2077 (Ultra graphics) with Norton 360 running in the background, system impact was minimal. Frames per second (fps) only dipped from 118 to 105 while doing a Full Scan of almost 900,000 files.

When it comes to its downsides, Norton 360 does have a couple. Some of its protection features (like SafeCam) are Windows-exclusive, while others are paywalled.

Additionally, in testing, we found Norton 360's Ask Genie AI assistant was a lot slower and more inconsistent than the AI assistants offered by competitors such as Avast One and Malwarebytes.

Still, regardless of these (relatively minor) shortcomings, Norton 360 is still one of the most dependable and feature-rich antivirus software suites on the market.

• Read our full Norton 360 review

The best antivirus software for features

Bitdefender is a great option if you want feature-heavy antimalware software, thanks to its range of plans for you to choose from.

Unlike Norton 360, however, it does not offer discounts for the first year of use. Its cheapest Consumer plan, Bitdefender Total Security, starts at $109; Bitdefender Premium Security costs $129; Bitdefender Ultimate Security retails for $159; and Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus costs $189.

These plans all offer different levels of protection, with Total Security having the least security features, and Ultimate Security Plus having the most. Still, Total Security offers protection against malware, ransomware, and network threats, Advanced Threat Defense, which monitors active apps, Cryptomining Protection that fights against apps that you have no knowledge of, Anti-Phishing, Anti-Fraud, Antispam, and more.

We tested the Bitdefender Ultimate Security plan, which includes all this as well as email protection, Scam Protection Pro that fights sophisticated scams, Digital Identity Protection, as well as a VPN.

Bitdefender's independent testing scores were decent. It achieved 6/6 scores across Protection, Performance, and Usability in AV Test’s February 2026 report, the same as McAfee and Norton.

With this being said, its AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test results were not as good. This test uses benchmarking tools to assess system impact. It scored 85/100 in AVC, 95.4/100 in Procyon, and 9.6/10 in Impact. McAfee performed better with a 90 and 96.7 score respectively.

This was the only test Bitdefender slightly underperformed in, however. SE Labs (U.K.) gave Bitdefender an AAA (highest possible rating with a 100% protection accuracy.

Its protection doesn't hamper your computer's performance, either. We performed a full scan (of over 2.3 million files) while also running Cyberpunk 2077, and it only dipped from 100 fps to 97 fps.

If we could change a couple of things about it, it would be this: adding a Quick Scan option, and allowing its app window to be resizable on Windows. In the grand scheme of things, though, these are relatively minor complaints.

Overall, Bitdefender is a great bit of kit to have in your arsenal for giving you peace of mind against ever-evolving AI and malware threats.

• Read our full Bitdefender Total Security review

The best antivirus software for families

McAfee+ Ultimate is a welcome security package if you have many devices to protect, a big household, and a lot of family members. It does everything you’d want to protect your PC, Mac, or smartphone, and the package doesn’t limit how many devices you can use with your account.

In addition to an extremely powerful antivirus solution, you get features that help protect you (and your family) during your online activities as well. Among the many included features that come with McAfee+ Ultimate is a VPN (with no restrictions to a set file transfer limit), full access to a password manager, identity monitoring, a social media monitoring tool, a text scam detector, and more.

During testing, there were no performance problems during scanning. A full scan of 926K files took 35 minutes, which is the same time as Norton 360 Deluxe, although slightly slower than Bitdefender Total Security. McAfee+ Ultimate also offers options for a quick scan and a five-minute scan if you want to speed things up a little.

Some of the features offered, however, are available in Windows as free tools, like a file shredder and a clean up tool that removes temporary files.

McAfee+ Ultimate's pricing starts out pretty reasonable, usually around $49.99. However, you should keep in mind that after the first year, this price jumps up quite significantly to $149.99. So, if you don’t need many devices covered, it may not be worth the fee.

McAfee+ Ultimate offers an unlimited VPN, which is handy for those who want a VPN along with their antivirus. During testing, we found the unlimited VPN easy to configure and use. Additionally, its features, like the password manager, were easy to install and worked as expected.

McAfee+ Ultimate's antivirus protection scores in independent tests are outstanding overall, achieving a protection rate of 99.5% in AV-Comparatives' tests published in December 2025. Its false positives score was excellent too, on par with Bitdefender Total Security, and better than Norton 360 Deluxe, Malwarebytes Plus, and Avast Premium Security.

The main drawback here is the higher price point, although if you’re covering multiple devices, then you may find it worth it. Still, if you're after a budget antivirus, consider Malwarebytes Plus.

• Read our full McAfee+ Premium review

The best antivirus software for banking

Avast One offers not only excellent antimalware and antivirus protection, but also protection against AI-generated scams, deepfakes, suspicious texts and links, and more.

The biggest plus about Avast One is that it offers a completely free tier, which is great if you want to protect yourself without breaking the bank. This blocks viruses and malware and offers protection against ransomware, as well as allowing you access to Avast’s AI-powered assistant for catching scams.

On top of this, you also get a 60-day trial of SecureLine VPN. Extra features, like Scam Guardian Pro, AntiTrack, and firewall, can be activated from within the app. These are all paid add-ons, but the good news is that you can pick and choose which ones you need, instead of paying for an all-in-one package, such as the tiers offered by Bitdefender and Norton 360.

During testing, we used Avast Premium Security, which includes Wi-Fi protection, WebGuard, which uses AI to block scam websites, and Mail Shield, which monitors your email address for threats.

Avast was rated as a top product by AV Test’s February 2026 report, achieving a 6/6 score across Protection, Performance and Usability. In AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report, Avast ranked 6th on the list, just under Norton 360, with a 90/100 AVC score, 94.5/100 Procyon score, and a 5.5 Impact score. Finally, it achieved the highest rating possible of AAAwith a 100% total accuracy percentage in SE Labs (U.K.) April 2026 report.

Unlike some competitors (like Bitdefender), Avast One offers a few different types of scans: Smart (quick), Full, Targeted (custom), and Boot-Time. In testing, we ran a Full Scan, which took 6 minutes and 12 seconds, which is a lot quicker thanBitdefender's full scan, which took 26 minutes and 23 seconds. However, Avast One doesn’t tell you how many files it has scanned, unlike Bitdefender.

We tested the impact of these scans by running Cyberpunk 2077 while running them and measuring the slowdown. During a Full Scan, Cyberpunk 2077 dropped from 99 fps to 96 fps, meaning the impact was barely noticeable at all.

However, if you're looking for antivirus protection for your family, you may be a bit disappointed to learn that Avast One does not feature built-in parental controls, unlike Bitdefender. Additionally, it can only protect up to 10 devices, meaning if you have more devices than this, it may not be suitable.

Still, if you want antivirus software that offers swift and diverse system scanning as well as modern AI threat analysis, Avast One is a great choice.

• Read our full Avast One review

The best budget antivirus software

Malwarebytes is user-friendly, excellent value for money and includes some great tools like an AI-driven Scam Guard and Digital Footprint Scanner to keep you safe from cyber threats.

As with the other antivirus software providers on this list, Malwarebytes has a range of different plans that cover various needs and requirements. It has three consumer plans, with its Standard plan available for $44 / £29 per year. This plan offers basic protection against malware, viruses, and more on one device only.

The next step up is the Plus plan, which costs $79 / £49 annually. It includes everything offered by Standard, plus a high-speed VPN and anonymous browsing.

Malwarebytes’ most expensive plan is called Ultimate in the U.S. ($279 per year) and Total in the U.K. (£129 per year). Regardless of what they are called, Ultimate and Total feature Advanced Social Media Monitoring as well as $1 million in identity insurance. While these are great features, this plan is pricier than both Bitdefender and Norton 360, although there are also various Family plans starting from $149 / £109 per year.

You don't have to fully commit off the bat, though. Malwarebytes offers a 60-day money-back guarantee — just like Norton 360.

One thing I did find slightly disappointing about these plans was that none of them offer cloud backup and storage or parental controls. If these are features you desperately want, you'd be better off checking out Bitdefender, Avast One, or Norton 360.

In independent testing, Malwarebytes performed decently. In AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report Malwarebytes scored 75/100 in AVC, 97.4/100 in Procyon, and 17.6 in Impact. The Impact score is a little worrying, however, as it means that (on paper at least) Malwarebytes has a negative impact on your system resources. Bitdefender (9.6), Avast (5.5) and Norton 360 (5.3) all performed better than Malwarebytes in this area.

In SE Labs (U.K.) April 2026 report, Malwarebytes Premium was awarded an AAA rating with 97% protection accuracy. While this bad at all, it should be noted that Bitdefender, Norton 360 and Avast One are all rated 100% for their protection accuracy.

Malwarebytes offers three scan levels —Threat Scan (quick), Deep Scan (full), and Custom Scan (targeted). The quick scan option is nice to see, and gives it an edge over the likes of Bitdefender, which don't offer these options. In testing, its Threat Scan was completed within 22 seconds, having scanned over 176,000 files without detecting any anomalies or threats. Its Deep Scan took 14 minutes and two seconds to finish, and scanned a total of 427,157 files — a little less than Bitdefender, which scanned over two million files in 26 minutes.

To test its impact on system performance, we ran Cyberpunk 2077 while these scans ran in the background. Cyberpunk 2077’s frame rate dipped a fair bit, from 87 to 75. While this isn't the worst impact on performance, especially as we didn’t notice any stuttering or lag while playing the games, Bitdefender achieved 97fps in Cyberpunk 2077 with the software performing a Full Scan.

Overall, Malwarebytes is user-friendly and offers a great range of features to keep you and your devices safe and malware-free. However, it is lacking in a couple of key areas, and its system impact does leave a little to be desired.

• Read our full Malwarebytes Plus review

Also tested

We test a lot of apps when searching for the best antivirus software, but only a handful can reach the top spots. If you're after more options, here are some other great antivirus packages that didn't quite make the mark.

How we test the best antivirus software

We test each antivirus program and evaluate its interface, performance, protection, extra features and — above all — overall value.

After timing and rating the installation process’s ease, we looked at whether the interface was simple and straightforward, convoluted and difficult to grasp — or something in between.

Next, we went through all the major and many minor features that each suite provides, including VPN access, file shredding and backup software, if included.

As far as performance goes, we measured how much the system slowed down while the program was scanning for malware.

To gauge each program’s impact on system performance, we fired up Cyberpunk 2077 with ultra graphics and Forza Horizon 5 with high graphics and tested how much the frames per second slowed down when also running a scan.

For malware detection performance, we referred to results from tests conducted by three independent labs: AV-TEST in Germany, AV-Comparatives in Austria and SE Labs in England.

Each lab periodically subjects major antivirus programs to stress tests that include thousands of pieces of malware as well as hundreds of “zero-day” samples that the software has to learn to recognize.

We paid particular attention to false positive readings of safe software deemed dangerous by the program under review as an indication of the precision of the program’s scanning technology.

How to choose the best antivirus software for you

When choosing an antivirus software, the top priority among all other decisions should be how well it performs to keep your system safe from malware and viruses.

To help you determine which of the many options out there will be the best at protecting your devices, we use results from tests conducted by three different independent labs to help us determine which antivirus program excels at finding and eliminating malware threats.

We also perform our own tests to see how much each program slows down your system, and how many resources it will consume to run both while scanning and while running in the background.

You’ll also want to read reviews online to see what other users have to say about their experiences with using the software, how it performed, what the interface was like, and how responsive the customer service was.

Next, consider the needs of your household and what devices you want to protect. How many family members do you have in the home? How many devices does each person need coverage for? What platforms do each of those devices use, and are the features they'll need available on these platforms?

Make a list of what devices and operating systems you need coverage for, as not all antivirus programs will cover all of them, and some will offer bundles for multiple family members or devices.

Narrow down the features you would like to see included in your antivirus program – because most antivirus programs offer so many features, it’s easiest to start out by making a list of what features are most important to your needs.

Do you also need parental controls? Is a VPN important to you? Would you like a password manager or file shredder? What about a hardened browser, a firewall, or webcam protection? Think about what you’d like most as additional security features and list them out, and see what the top antivirus programs offer.

Lastly, consider how much you want to spend — some antivirus programs will offer bundles for their suites, or tiers, that will package deals that include numbers of licenses or devices protected for a single purchase. You should also check a company’s website for any trial offers, as many will give you 30 days to try out their program for free before purchasing. Just make sure to cancel before the trialis over, or risk paying for software you don't want.

Free vs paid antivirus software

With so many antivirus programs to choose from, there’s absolutely no reason for your PC or smartphone to go unprotected — especially when there are free programs available to choose from as well. So, why would you bother paying for something that you didn’t have to?

Well, there are lot of reasons to choose one antivirus program over another but if you’re looking specifically at just free versus paid antivirus programs there are a few reasons to choose one over the other.

Free antivirus software will always provide users with basic protections against the most common malware threats, and will block dangerous files and applications. It should also warn you about suspicious websites, offer a cleanup option for infected files or apps and recognize when unknown devices are using your network.

However, a paid option is going to go a step beyond and offer more comprehensive security features — more advanced protections against unknown or upcoming threats, a more thorough feature set including VPNs, password managers, a file shredder that will fully remove deleted files and may cover more devices including tablets and smartphones.

Paid antivirus software also generally includes customer support via phone, chat or instant messaging and email whereas free versions will not. Plus, they add functions like an ability to customize your antivirus service, a feature to block suspicious sites, and a backup service to save data or back up devices.

It might also include features like webcam protection, remote control prevention to keep others from controlling your system, and the ability to run apps or software in a “sandbox” setting.

Paid antivirus software also generally includes customer support via phone, chat or instant messaging and email whereas free versions will not. If just the basics will do, a free version will be enough but if you’re looking for something more then it’s worth looking at some paid options.

Antivirus FAQ

A new banking Trojan has been pretending to be legitimate apps, like digital ID apps or news readers, in order to trick victims into downloading it so that it can take over their devices and steal the logins for their financial accounts. According to researchers at Cyfirma, these Trojan-filled malicious apps are specifically targeting Android users who have banking and cryptocurrency apps installed.

The malware is not only capable of stealing sensitive financial data off infected devices, but it also works quietly in the background like an infostealer, so it can avoid detection and continue to steal data from victims after the initial heist. Once it’s enabled on one of the best Android phones, it can also take over a device and read whatever is on the screen, tap buttons and even fill in forms. Likewise, it uses fake login screens to perform overlay attacks on top of real banking and cryptocurrency apps in order to steal any usernames and passwords that are entered by the victim.

After an initial check to ensure that it’s running on a real phone, it will ask users for special permissions. Like other Android malware it abuses the operating system's which Accessibility Services to do so which it says will help improve the app. However, this actually gives the hackers behind this banking trojan complete control over an infected device while also adding the malware as the device administrator app. This is a common malware tactic which is exactly why we caution against giving apps permissions that they don’t seem to need and why we say that checking the accessibility services section of your Android phone is a good way to detect potential malware.

According to the researchers, this Trojan can also connect to a remote center where it will send information about the phone itself including which banking apps are installed, and the handsets location.

Attackers can even send instructions to the malware and make it perform actions like downloading updates or deleting traces of the malicious activity. The Trojan can also silence notifications and sounds which means that users won't notice any of the malicious activity it's carrying out on their device.

Researchers say the majority of the activity they have seen from this malware is in Southeast Asia, but there’s not reason that these techniques couldn’t be used in any other country or area.

How to stay safe from Android malware

In order to protect your data and your devices from malware, the first thing you want to do is to stick to trusted sources and make sure that you're only downloading apps, especially VPNs and streaming services, from first-party app stores like the Google Play Store or from known developer sites. Never install something from a link in a forum or message sent via social media.

From there, you want to check the permissions requested by an app anytime a new one you've installed asks for control over your device, settings, accessibility services, or if it wants to install other apps. Stop and ask if its necessary. Does it need those permissions and what do you expect it to do with them?

You also want to use layered and up-to-date protection which is why I recommend installing one of the best Android antivirus apps on your phone alongside Google Play Protect. These security apps can scan for malware, dodgy downloads and any suspicious activity taking place on your device. You always want to keep your security software and your operating system up to date because that ensures that all the vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit are patched promptly.

Given that we now handle so much of our finances from our mobile devices, hackers likely won't stop developing new banking trojans and using them in their attacks anytime soon. That's why it's up to you to lock down your devices while also being extra careful online.

More from Tom's Guide

• These 12 malicious Android apps are recording your conversations — delete them right now
• Fake WhatsApp and TikTok apps are trying to fool Android users into downloading spyware — don't fall for this
• Hackers are using Google search results to spread fake apps filled with malware — don't fall for this

A survey conducted by the best VPN on the market, NordVPN, has revealed that a startling number of Americans are unaware of what antivirus software does.

The misconceptions about antivirus capabilities are made more alarming by the fact that 52% of people report that they use the software every day.

Here we take a look at the main misconceptions surrounding antivirus software, other survey findings, and what you really need to protect yourself online.

Common antivirus misconceptions

NordVPN’s survey, which polled over 1,000 US residents aged 18-74, found that many Americans often confuse different online security software.

The survey shows that most people overestimate how much protection they actually have, increasing their risk of identity theft and other cyberthreats. Over a quarter of survey participants incorrectly believed their antivirus software completely protected them from online threats.

Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, explained the danger this misconception can cause: "People tend to confuse different technologies and overestimate their capabilities to protect them.

"For example, those Americans who don’t think that antivirus software can detect and remove malicious software (although that is its main function) more often believe that antivirus software can protect against identity theft.

"This shows a lack of cybersecurity training and general IT knowledge. It could be rectified by educational information campaigns."

Commonly misunderstood security software also included: ID theft protection, ad and tracker blockers, password managers, firewalls, and VPNs.

By misunderstanding what these products can do and what they are used for, people are actively putting their online security in jeopardy.

The truth about data privacy

Despite a growing fear of data theft, over a third of survey participants reported not using any form of cybersecurity software.

These concerns are warranted, especially considering that the survey also found that approximately 50 percent of Americans have their personal data exposed in a data leak, making the lack of cybersecurity software even more concerning.

Instead of security software, however, most opted to use best practices for online safety, believing that would be enough to protect them.

While using common best practices like avoiding phishing scams by not downloading or clicking on suspicious files or links, or using strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, are definitely beneficial, they may not be enough.

This is especially so in the age of malware that doesn't even need you to click on it to infect your device and increasingly sophisticated data-stealing scams.

Briedis noted that behavior like this “undoubtedly contributes to the concerning cybersecurity situation in the USA."

Those surveyed noted primarily worrying about social security or credit card leaks, but the most leaked pieces of information are email, phone number, and physical address.

While the latter information is often seen as non-identifiable, these secondary forms of information are often the gateway a cybercriminal needs to gather more personally identifiable data. For example, emails are used in data phishing attacks, and phone numbers are used for smishing (text-based phishing) scams.

With personal information, scammers can tailor-make phishing scams that are more convincing to victims. This can result in the loss of even more crucial information, like their Social Security Number, passport details, or banking information, which can lead to their identity or money being stolen.

How to stay safe online

Antivirus is a strong start, but it isn’t a silver bullet for online safety.

Using antivirus software in combination with one of the most secure VPNs, like NordVPN, multi-factor authentication, and strong passwords is better.

Here’s a quick rundown of how these tools can help you keep safe online:

• Using a VPN. A VPN is a cybersecurity tool that encrypts your traffic, making it unreadable and keeping you and your browsing habits completely anonymous online. It also masks your ISP-given IP address, making it difficult to track your digital footprints. VPNs can additionally help protect your connection on public Wi-Fi by encrypting your data and stopping anyone who may want to from snooping on it.
• Enabling multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication (or 2FA) can help prevent unauthorized access to your account by alerting you whenever someone attempts to access your account. Once you log in using your account credentials, you’ll be prompted to perform a secondary form of identification. Multi-factor authentication can be performed via text, biometrics, or email.
• Following password dos and don’ts. All your passwords should use a mix of 8-12 letters, numbers, and characters (e.g., @#$). Never use repeating letters or numbers, sequential letters or numbers, or information that is readily available online (e.g., your name, a pet's name, social media handles, etc.). This makes them harder to crack in the case of credential stuffing attacks, which see hackers input thousands of passwords, hoping one of them will be correct and allow them access to an online account. Avoid using the same password for every account; this makes it easier to hack subsequent accounts if someone discovers your password.

Even if you use the software solutions and best practices mentioned above, you need to remain diligent about the information you share online.

You should also avoid responding to unsolicited or unexpected emails, calls, and texts, especially if they are prompting you to take unexpected action, like sending money or sharing private information.

Why antivirus misconceptions are dangerous

Believing your antivirus can protect against phishing, provide protection on public wifi connections, or prevent identity theft leaves you vulnerable.

In reality, no single security software solution can protect you against online threats; it takes a combination of software, best privacy practices, and educating yourself on current threats and the software you intend to use.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

As someone who covers antivirus and internet security for Tom's Guide, I can tell you two things: one, antivirus coverage – on all your devices – isn't optional, and two, it doesn't have to be expensive. If you know what kind of coverage you need, and pay attention to sale cycles, you can get all the antivirus protection you require while online for as much as 50 or even 80% off.

Already this year, businesses, websites and companies are preparing for Black Friday sales on antivirus software and solutions with big sales and discounts. Even though we still have some time left until the holiday shopping season officially kicks off, thanks to Cybersecurity Awareness Month many of our highest rated antivirus programs are currently on sale for up to 80% off which gets you malware protection, as well as useful features like a VPN, password manager and identity protection.

There are already great deals on antivirus packages that support as many as 20 devices like Norton 360 Premium, McAfee Total Protection and Bitdefender Total Security which all offer excellent protection from malware. These packages are designed to cover a variety of operating systems, protect your devices wherever and whenever you're online and have thoughtful features like webcam protection, hardened browsers, ransomware rollback and more.

So why leave your devices unprotected for even a second longer when you can save loads on the best antivirus software right now?

Quick Links

• Norton 360 Deluxe 3 Devices: was $75 now $20 @ Amazon
• Norton 360 Platinum 20 Devices: was $130 now $35 @ Amazon
• Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 3 Devices: was $60 now $30 @ Amazon
• Bitdefender Total Security 5 Devices (2 year): was $150 now $75 @ Amazon
• Malwarebytes Premium 5 Devices: was $60 now $40 @ Amazon
• ESET Home Security Premium 5 Devices: was $80 now $50 @ Amazon
• McAfee Total Protection 3 Devices: was $100 now $20 @ Amazon
• Webroot Internet Security Complete 10 Devices: was $100 now $25 @ Amazon
• Webroot Premium with Allstate Identity Theft Protection 3 Devices: was $40 now $15 @ Amazon

Antivirus package deals

Black Friday is the ideal time of year to pick up one of the best VPNs, and Surfshark's Black Friday 2025 deal launches today.

There are three tiers of Surfshark plans to choose from, so you're spoiled for choice. We rate the first, Surfshark Starter, as the best cheap VPN out there. Its current $1.99 per month price remains in place for Black Friday.

However, despite technically being the cheapest Surfshark deal, I don't think it's the best choice this Black Friday.

That accolade goes to Surfshark's second tier – Surfshark One. As well as everything you get with the Starter plan, Surfshark One throws in Antivirus, secure search, and personal data alerts.

On the two-year plan, it only costs around $5 more overall than Surfshark Starter. Considering standalone antivirus software often costs upwards of $5 per month, getting two years' worth for that price is unmissable.

The numbers: Surfshark One costs $2.19 per month, paid upfront at $59.13. This is a two-year subscription, and represents a $0.30-per-month saving when compared to its usual monthly price of $2.49. Generously, three months are thrown in for free as well.

Surfshark Starter costs $1.99 per month, paid upfront at $53.73 – although this plan misses out on those excellent extras.

Surfshark One leads the way

Surfshark has three tiers of plans to choose from this Black Friday. All come with three extra free months and a 30-day money-back guarantee:

• Surfshark Starter: $1.99 per month ($53.73 up front) + 3 months FREE
• Surfshark One: $2.19 per month ($59.13 up front) + 3 months FREE
• Surfshark One+: $4.19 per month ($113.13 up front) + 3 months FREE

Right now, Surfshark One is the best value, coming in at $2.19 per month. This is less than $60 all-in for 27 months of protection. Adding Antivirus to your VPN package costs just $0.20 per month ($2.40 extra per year) more than Surfshark Starter – which I think is well worth it.

The Antivirus offered by Surfshark is award winning, having been certified as a "TOP PRODUCT" by AV-TEST last year. It scans your device for threats and harmful files, with quick scan and full device scan options available.

Surfshark has a large database of threats, and any dangerous code found by a scan is sent for analysis. Botnets and fileless malware is protected against and you can enable real-time protection.

Other Surfshark One features include personal data leak alerts plus ad and tracker free search.

Despite its price, Surfshark VPN packs a punch. You can protect an unlimited number of devices on one plan and in our latest round of testing it recorded speeds of 848 Mbps – making it one of the fastest VPNs out there.

This speed is one of the reasons Surfshark is the best streaming VPN available. In our testing it unblocked everything we threw at it. Its 3,000+ servers worldwide mean all major locations are covered.

Alternative ID is Surfshark's most unique feature and is included on all plans. It allows you to generate a dummy online persona, including a fake name, birthday, and address. There's also an email generator to keep your regular emails private.

American users have access to Alternative Number, where a fake phone number can be created. It links to your Alternative ID but is a US-exclusive and a paid add-on.

Surfshark isn't the most customizable VPN, but its apps are easy-to-use and don't take much getting used to.

If you're not interested in Antivirus, and simply want a cheap VPN, then Surfshark Starter includes all the above for $1.99 per month ($53.73 up front pre-tax).

For those that want to spend a little more, Surfshark One+ is $4.19 per month ($113.13 up front pre-tax). This plan includes everything offered in previous plans but adds the data removal service, Incogni.

Incogni is available for US, UK, EU, Swiss, and Canadian users. It contacts data brokers on your behalf and sends deletion requests, helping you combat spam.

All Surfshark plans auto-renew at a higher price once your initial deal has expired. Our research found its price increase was second only to NordVPN – both providers are owned by NordSecurity.

Surfshark Starter and Surfshark One both saw a renewal price increase around 230%. Surfshark One+ saw a 149% increase.

Whether you subscribe to Surfshark or another provider, we always recommended cancelling your VPN subscription before it auto-renews. You can then re-subscribe at the cheaper price.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

For those who need extensive antivirus protection without the frills, ESET Home Security is a good option that is also affordable. The Premium tier offers unusual features such as a gamer mode (which disables antivirus protection interruptions), parental filters, deep virus scanning tools, and a unique antitheft service. ESET Home Security should probably be more well-known than it is.

Part of the reason it’s not in the same league as some of the best antivirus software available has to do with both the features and the interface being fairly complex. The Premium tier is also conspicuously missing a VPN client, which is included with ESET Ultimate. While upgrading to Ultimate is more expensive it does include identity theft protection.

That means ESET Premium is caught in the middle -- you either choose a tier that doesn’t include a VPN (Premium version which covers 5 devices for $56 a year as an entry price) or pay more for the VPN and identity theft features (the Ultimate version which costs $126 a year to cover the same five devices). Another cold hard truth is that our overall top pick, Bitdefender Total Security, has more extensive antivirus protection for almost the same price.

For this review, we tested ESET Premium, but we’ll cover what you get with ESET’s other products as well.

ESET review: Costs and what’s covered

ESET offers three tiers for its Home security products.

Premium costs $49 currently for three devices if you pay annually (but that’s only for the first year). This is cheaper than both Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee+ Premium, which are over $100 per year, and about $15 cheaper than Bitdefender Total Security (which costs $79.99 for the first year). ESET Premium is $79.99 after the first year pricing expires while Bitdefender jumps up to $139.99 after the first year deal.

The caveat with all of this is that ESET Premium does not include a VPN client. That’s a glaring omission since the only tier that includes the VPN also happens to include identity theft protection as well, which makes it both pricier and hard to compare to other antivirus programs. ESET Ultimate costs $126 for first year annual pricing, then $179.99 the second year. While other antivirus apps like Norton 360 also include identity theft protection, they are about the same price.

Fortunately, ESET Premium does include other frequently needed features like a password manager and parental filtering, ransomware protection (but not cloud back-ups), and a few interesting but useful extras, such as an antitheft system that notifies you if your computer was stolen and even allows you to capture a webcam image and look up the IP address to determine the device location.

ESET review: Antivirus features and performance

ESET Premium does offer extensive antivirus protection that goes far beyond the basics. You can do a quick scan or perform a custom scan. Unlike other antivirus apps, the custom scan isn’t just for selecting specific files and folders. Instead, it’s where you can choose to perform an “in-depth” scan that searches every last file on your computer including boot sector files.

Surprisingly, the more you dig into the app the more security protection you’ll find. For example, the ESET ThreatSense feature monitors the boot sector of your computer and actively scans for threats, comparing signature files against a database of known attacks (a feature known as ESET LiveGrid). But ESET Premium also scans for any suspicious activity using what ESET calls Deep Behavior Inspection. This is a more powerful form of antivirus scanning because it looks for suspicious activity, as opposed to just comparing files to a database.

Another feature called the Host Intrusion Protection System or HIPS provides some self-defense for ESET itself, preventing someone from tampering with the app. Ransomware Shield looks for suspicious app behavior and blocks access in real-time. There are also settings to protect against botnets, brute force attacks, and network-based attacks.

ESET Premium is a light and speedy app. During our testing, the quick scans only took about five minutes to find 300,000 files on the same PC used to test other antivirus apps which is comparable to other antivirus programs; Bitdefender's quick scan typically only ran for a few minutes. The in-depth scan took around 30 minutes and scanned about 750,000 files. ESET did not scan some lower-level system files that Bitdefender Total Security found. In fact, Bitdefender scanned around 1.5M files total in about the same amount of time that ESET did a full scan.

In independent testing, ESET performed well overall: During AV-Test’s May-June 2025 Protection testing, ESET scored a 6 out of 6 when it came to protection against zero-day malware attacks including web and email threats, and in detection of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last four weeks. In AV Comparatives March 2025 Malware Protection Test, ESET scored a 99.95% blocking 10,025 files and only producing 6 false alarms.

ESET Premium antivirus: Other features

Beyond all of the extensive antivirus protection features, ESET Premium does include many additional security tools. For example, it’s one of the few products we’ve tested that includes a full parental filter that can block a full range of harmful content from adult-oriented sites to deepfakes. The service allows you to select categories to filter and set the age limit for your kids. This makes it more useful than other parental controls that only allow you to limit screen time or block search terms.

The password manager is useful and performed adequately, even if it seems more like a browser extension that you might find online for free. The service can generate complex multi-character passwords, store credit card numbers, and provides a security report showing how many passwords you have saved, whether you are using two-factor authentication, and if your saved logins have been leaked.

Other features include the browser protections: a privacy and security extension that helps distinguish between safe and unsafe sites, and a secure browser mode that can help protect against keylogging and keep financial transactions safe. While again, there is no VPN, there is a firewall, as well as an antispam feature for your email, a file encryption feature, a Wi-Fi blocker that protects your home router and smart home devices, an anti-theft feature to track missing or stolen laptops and more. ESET Premium can also block your webcam and alerts you when an app like Microsoft Teams asks for permission to access the webcam.

ESET Premium antivirus: Interface

One reason ESET Premium did not score quite as high as competing products is that the interface is a bit complex and feels dated. Many of the antivirus scanning features are buried in an advanced settings menu which makes them time consuming to track down. There are very few graphical cues in the app, and even finding the in-depth scan option took time because it is located in the custom scanning section. (Most antivirus apps make it more obvious how you can do a quick scan or a full scan.)

That said, we do credit ESET in making the interface “light” in the sense that the app has a slim and text based interface that meant it was not bogged down with added graphics or images. It performed fast and well during use and while a few visual cues would have helped, at least you can find most of the features with some digging.

ESET Premium antivirus: Support

ESET offers phone support during limited hours: Monday–Friday from 6AM to 5PM PST. Email support is 24-hours and requires making a support ticket. Chat support varies but appears to function during normal business hours only. The extensive knowledge base allows you to find answers to common issues. From within the app, there’s an AI-based chat agent as well.

ESET Premium antivirus: Verdict

In the end, ESET Premium does offer an impressive set of antivirus tools, and the price is reasonable compared to some of our top picks such as McAfee+ Premium and Bitdefender Total Security. We wish the Premium version included a VPN, because the upgrade to the Ultimate version that includes that service costs more than every other antivirus app (even if Ultimate also includes identity threat protection). The interface is a bit confusing to use, but overall the security features are easily on par -- if a little less powerful -- than similar apps.

People often have a lot of questions for me when they find out I'm a security editor, and one of the most frequent is "what kind of antivirus/security solution should I use?" And, since my household is in need of an antivirus software right now, I thought I'd explain what I'm likely to go with, and why.

In our house right now, we’ve got three computers, two tablets, and three smartphones to cover at the moment, with Windows, Android, iOS, and a Chromebook thrown in there.

That’s a fair amount to juggle, and while I'm a security editor with over two decades of experience working for technology publications, my partner… isn’t. So I need something that’s going to work both for someone who is pretty tech savvy and for someone who is decidedly not.

I haven't personally tested any antivirus software, but I've edited our reviews and I'm not unfamiliar with the in's and out's of how our testing procedures work. I looked at our best antivirus software buying guide and some of our reviews, as well as some other online references to think about what would meet our needs best and in the end, I think McAfee + Premium is what will work for us.

Unlimited devices

One of the best reasons to pick McAfee+ Premium over other antivirus programs is that the package covers unlimited devices, which means that the eight devices I currently need to cover for my household – and any we buy in the future are all covered. Even after the first initial year, that means I'm paying roughly $19/year per device, which isn’t unreasonable.

Features

Another reason I like McAfee as a choice for my household is both the variety of features, and the features themselves. McAfee + Premium includes two features that every antivirus package should include: a VPN and a password manager. A VPN helps protect our online activities, and the password manager is a must because I know my partner has a tendency to use some insecure password practices otherwise.

We’ve both been caught up in at least a few data breaches, so the identity monitoring is a nice feature to have included. Ditto the personal data cleanup. As a security editor, I'm usually pretty savvy when it comes to current social media and text scams; however, my partner nearly fell for that toll road scam earlier this year, so having that as a feature is appreciated.

Other features I like having included are the file shredder, the feature to identify malicious websites with color coding, and the social media settings that identify where accounts could be better locked down for privacy purposes.

Performance and protection

In independent testing, McAfee scored 99.96% in March 2025 AV-Comparatives testing and a 6 out of 6 in AV Tests Jan-Feb 2025 report, which is great overall; however, there were also 15 false positives reported in the AV-Comparatives testin,g which is pretty high.

Overall, I can deal with some false positives for a good antivirus performance as well as fast and reliable software. I also liked the multiple scan options, and that there was a full scan mode for every last file.

Interface

Lastly, the fact that the interface is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate is a bonus both because I like a nicely designed interface and because my partner is easily frustrated by a bad one and will quickly give up on it, which means I'll have to spend time sorting it out.

Overall

More from Tom's Guide

• 7 easy changes I made that drastically improved my digital security
• It’s time to stop believing these lies about antivirus software
• The best antivirus software 2025: Tested and reviewed

It can be an easy thing to let your digital security get away from you: the endless emails in your inbox, the multiple devices, app permissions, and personal data to keep track of... It can be a lot when you look at it as a big project. But when you break it down into smaller steps, it's just a few easy changes to make at a time.

In order to begin improving my own digital security, I started making a list of the things I knew needed to be updated, overhauled or changed and then organized them by whether they could be done as a single task or whether they were going to take multiple stages.

Some of these are going to be ongoing habits, and some took a lot of effort up front but all of them were worth it.

1. Switching to passkeys when possible (or using a password manager)

Switching over to passkeys may seem time consuming, but as I’ve pointed out before it’s really not – I was able to do so with a few of my main online accounts in less than 10 minutes. Whenever an app or account offers me biometric options like Face ID I’m happy to use it.

Those accounts that don’t offer passkey support yet can still get protected via one of the best password managers, which helps me make sure all my accounts have strong and unique passwords – and this also means I don’t have to remember anything.

While it may have taken a bit of an initial time investment to set up my password manager, it’s still better than stumbling across an account and having to reset a password.

2. Using two-factor or multi-factor authentication

Likewise, if an account offers two-factor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA), I’ll always opt for it This security feature is absolutely vital when it comes to protecting my accounts from hackers. That's especially true when it comes to high profile accounts like banking, email, social media or cloud storage accounts.

There are even two-factor authentication apps that can be employed to broadly protect your accounts and provide you with recovery codes. That means even if someone uses a brute force attack or has a reused password for an old account, you’re still protected.

3. No more single sign-on

I liked single sign-on initially because it was convenient and there are certain accounts I didn’t mind having tied together. It was easy to link my Google account for log ins because it meant everything was all tied together… but this convenience was actually putting me at risk. The reason being is that this meant if anyone were to crack into my Google account they would have access to all those other accounts.

That very thought alone was enough to get me to go back and unlink those accounts and get them their own log-ins, and then I put those new credentials into my password manager, of course.

An unexpected bonus is fewer companies can track me across multiple platforms as well, which I’ll admit I don’t hate.

4. Keeping sensitive data off the cloud

It wasn’t convenience here but plain old laziness – old documents, resumes, scans of IDs, and notes that were in cloud accounts. When I went back in to see what was there, I realized it was a gold mine for identity thieves so into the trash bin and file shredder it all went.

Documents I know I’ll be needing can be kept on one of the best external hard drives, which is easier to encrypt and keep in a safely secured location.

Does it take a little more planning when I need to access them? Sometimes. Do I still use the cloud? Plenty, just not for those sensitive items.

5. Deleting old accounts and unsubscribing from junk (a work in progress)

I’ve shared before about how this is one of the bad computer habits you may not even know you have – and I’ll admit, it’s one I’m slowly but surely breaking myself. It can take a long time to unearth all those old accounts, find a way to delete them and unsubscribe from all that junk but it’s not so bad if you do it while streaming your favorite shows in the background.

There are also helpful tools like Just Delete Me that can help make it easier and when you’re done, you have fewer ways for hackers to get access to your accounts and your data. And as an added bonus, your inbox won’t look like mine, which trust me, is enough of a reward.

6. Reviewing app permissions and settings on your phone

This is something I do frequently, because apps aren’t my friends – they’re tools on my phone that are there to do a job.

If I make sure to check on which apps are pulling location data, or camera/mic requests, I know which ones are asking for too many permissions. Alternatively, viewing these menus frequently also lets me know which apps I'm not using very often and can maybe delete altogether.

The fewer apps on my phone, the farther my battery life goes and the more secure I feel – I know I'm not allowing apps to be intrusive, I know what they're requesting and gathering and if there is a data breach, I know which apps are accessing what information.

7. Not saving passwords in a browser

This one became easy because, well, I’m already using a password manager so I didn’t need my browser to also hold this information.

Now I don’t have to worry that anyone who borrows my phone or my laptop could have access to my accounts just by opening a browser window, and all my passwords are in a single location and not divided up across multiple devices, browsers or saved locations. Plus, it doesn’t matter which browser I use, I can still use my password manager to get logged in.

A great start but far from finished

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the ways in which you can make small changes to increase your digital security, it's a good way to start by making steps in the right direction with small, easy increments.

A little work making good habits can go a long way when it comes to staying safe online, just like making sure you use one of the best antivirus software suites on all your devices and know all of its features from the VPN to the safe browser measures. It all becomes second nature once you've established security practices that help make you harder to hack and phish.

Do you have any other quick and easy tricks you used to improve your own cyber hygiene. Let me know in the comments below and until next time, I'll be working to improve my online security even further.

More from Tom's Guide

• Hackers love these 7 smart home devices — here’s how to keep them secure
• National Public Data is giving out your address and phone number — here's how to stop them
• I’m a security editor and this is one security rule I never break

Our online data is being collected all day, every day. Whether it's browsing the web, watching our favorite shows, or online shopping, everything we do online can be tracked, used to push ads, sold on, or even used to scam us.

This all sounds very doom and gloom, but there are actions you can take to protect your personal information.

For the Tom's Guide VPN team, the best VPNs are always our first port of call for digital security, but they are just one piece of the privacy puzzle.

VPNs, the best antivirus software, the best password managers, secure browsers, authenticators, the best encrypted messaging apps, and data removal services can all be used to take back control of your data.

You could spend hundreds of dollars on tools like these, but you don't have to. So we asked the Tom's Guide VPN and Security teams to build a collection of privacy bundles for all eventualities – here's what they came up with.

The products

No right answers

Every tool we recommend here is reputable and will protect your data – that's for sure. But not every product will be right for you.

We've therefore tried to include a range of different products, at different prices, allowing you to decide what's best for you.

VPNs

No matter what privacy bundle you want to create, a VPN is a must have in all of them. VPNs protect your privacy online by routing your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel.

Your data is kept safe from hackers, third-parties, and your ISP and the most private VPNs will never log, store, or share your browsing data.

Many leading VPNs include password managers and antivirus in their plans, so it's worth comparing all the features offered and see which plan is right for you.

Our top picks:

NordVPN: from $2.91 per month. Our top-rated VPN. A great all-purpose option with lots of added extras.

Surfshark: from $1.99 per month. An excellent bargain alternative that also offers antivirus as an add-on.

ExpressVPN: from $4.99 per month. More expensive, but includes a huge amount of privacy extras for no extra cost.

Antivirus

Scams and threats from hackers are unfortunately commonplace on the internet – but antivirus software acts as a powerful shield against these dangers.

The software can scan your device and its files for malware, warn you about suspicious links, block sites, and detect data leaks. It can't protect you if you give away your information but it'll do its utmost to warn you before that happens.

Our top picks:

Bitdefender Total Security: from $4.17 per month. Effective, real-time, malware and phishing protection. It can scan your system and is easy-to-use.

Norton 360 Deluxe: from $4.17 per month. Security giant with a feature-rich offering, including a decent VPN.

Malwarebytes Plus: from $2.81 per month A cheap, light, alternative for those looking for basic malware protection without the fuss.

Password managers

Weak and re-used passwords are a significant reason people get hacked – 123456 is currently the world's most popular password. You might struggle remembering multiple passwords but a password manager takes all the hassle out of account security.

Password managers generate and store secure, complex passwords so you never have to worry about passwords again.

Our top picks:

1Password: $4.99 per month. Total password protection which includes Travel Mode, security monitoring, and 2FA and passkey support.

Bitwarden: Free. Sync an unlimited number of passwords with this completely free service. Premium plans with more features are also available.

NordPass: from $1.29 per month ($3.76 per month w/ NordVPN Plus). Easy-to-use, mobile friendly app from the NordVPN team. Great features, including biometric support.

Secure browsers

Google Chrome dominates the browser market, but it's a privacy nightmare, riddled with trackers and it simply loves your data. There are alternatives that don't collect your data, block ads and trackers, and are way more privacy-focused.

Browsers vary in their speed, features, and usability but there will be a Chrome-alternative for everyone. A chunk of secure browsers utilise Chromium (what Google Chrome is built on) so you'll find these more familiar and easy-to-use if you enjoy Chrome's design.

Many also come with in-built ad-blockers, VPNs, and password managers – plus a lot of them are free.

Our top picks:

Brave: Free. Based on Chrome, but is privacy-focused and dedicated to ad and tracker blocking.

Vivaldi: Free. Hugely customizable to suit any need, and has partnered with Proton VPN.

Tor: Free. A secure browser veteran, whose decentralized networks takes you into the world of anonymity.

Encrypted messaging apps

Your data isn't just at risk when browsing the web – it's when you message too. WhatsApp, iMessage, and Messenger are three of the most popular apps, but none of them protect your privacy.

WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, so your message content can't be seen, but it collects and shares your metadata and has recently introduced ads into its app.

Secure messaging apps encrypt your messages, collect little to no metadata, and some don't even require a phone number to use.

Our top picks:

Signal: Free. A popular, open-source, app that keeps little to no metadata. A phone number is required though.

Session: Free. Highly private, Signal-based app which operates a decentralized network and requires no phone number. But it can be a little buggy.

Threema: $6 one-off payment. An open-source and audited messaging service which doesn't require a phone number. A one-off payment of $6 is its biggest downside.

Data removal services

Fed up with spam calls and emails? Then you might want to explore data removal services. These tools search the records of data brokers for your information and send removal requests on your behalf.

Brokers then have to delete records of your data and you should see a reduction in spam over time. Combining a data removal service with other privacy tools mentioned here should mean there is less of your data available to profit off.

Data removal services can be purchased on their own, but they are included in some premium VPN plans.

Our top picks:

Incogni: from $8.29 per month ($3.99 per month w/ Surfshark One+). Developed by the team behind Surfshark, Incogni is a affordable and effective – and one of the few to cover the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Optery: from $3.99 per month (but free basic plan available). Provides tons of detail and what information it has helped delete, but only covers the US.

PrivacyBee: from $8 per month. With over 850 data brokers on its books, Privacy Bee has the widest reach – but again, it's US-only.

Best Cheap Bundle

Protecting yourself online doesn't have to break the bank. This is the best privacy toolbox for (well) under $10 per month.

The best cheap VPN is Surfshark. Surfshark One+ is just under $4 per month and you'll get the fastest VPN on the market, which doubles as the best streaming VPN, protection for an unlimited number of devices, and high-level security and privacy.

Surfshark One+ includes its own award-winning antivirus which can scan your device, protect your webcam, monitor for data leaks, and offers real-time protection.

You'll also get a full Incogni subscription – saving you a chunk of cash. The data removal service will scan data brokers for your data and send out deletion requests on your behalf.

There's no password manager with Surfshark, but Bitwarden offers a truly free unlimited version of its services that allow you to sync as many passwords as you want.

The free, open source tier is very secure and provides useful included features like autofilling, secure-note storage and sharing. It has browser extensions for popular, and lesser used, browsers and apps for desktop and mobile.

You'll also get secure cloud storage, two-factor authentication and health reports to alert you to weak, or exposed, passwords.

Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, DuckDuckGo, and Firefox are all free, so the secure browser is up to you. They're designed with privacy in mind and come with some great additional features.

You'll be able to block ads, trackers, and cookies, allowing you and your data to break free from the clutches of Google Chrome.

Almost all the best encrypted messaging apps are free. Signal is our favorite and it's very popular, open-source, messenger service.

Session and Wire are some other free encrypted messaging apps. Your best bet is to try them all out and see which one you like best.

Best Overall Bundle

If you want a best-in-class privacy toolbox, then you won't go far wrong with these products. For your VPN, we'd recommend NordVPN. It's the best overall VPN, fast, secure, and unblocked all the streaming sites we tested it with.

You can protect up to 10 devices on one plan and its extra features include Threat Protection Pro, the NordPass password manager, and encrypted cloud storage.

Two-year NordVPN plans, covering NordVPN Plus and above, are currently on offer, in one of NordVPN's best ever deals. Plans come with free Amazon gift cards – between $20-$50 – as well as four extra months of free protection.

Threat Protection Pro is a threat protection feature, not an antivirus. It's the best VPN malware protection and is great to have, but we'd still recommend a dedicated antivirus.

NordPass is one of the best password managers and if you just want password generation, storage, and 2FA, this will do the job – but it's not "the best."

Bitdefender has made the top of our antivirus software picks because of its great value, quality real-time protection against malware and threats.

Its quick and custom scans learn your computer’s file structure and the Advanced Threat Detection can monitor your system for suspicious activity in real-time to stop infections before they occur.

The interface is clear and efficient to use, there's a firewall, and webcam protection. You'll also get a free VPN and a secure browser, but you'll likely want alternatives to these.

If you want more than NordPass, 1Password is our top choice. It’s accessible on a variety of platforms and has a Travel Mode feature that can hide your passwords at international borders. The "masked" email addresses feature is a privacy bonus and there's autofill and passkey support.

Security monitoring tools will list weak or reused passwords, and alert you about unsecured or breached websites and logins. 2FA, mobile app PIN unlock, and biometric login are also present.

Secure browsers are more of a personal preference. Your browser of choice depends on speed preference, how much customisation you want, and whether you like the Chromium design.

Brave and Vivaldi are two great privacy-focused choices. Brave has in-built ad, tracker, and fingerprint blocking and its Chromium design is compatible with most sites. Vivaldi is a little slower, but is far more customisable and comes with email and calendar features – as well as Proton VPN Free built-in. Both are free and will protect your privacy far better than Google Chrome.

For a data removal service, it's Incogni. Incogni is very easy to use and comes included with the NordVPN Ultra and Surfshark One+ plans. It's cheaper than a lot of alternatives, but the range of data brokers isn't huge. Incogni is also unavailable outside of the UK, US, Canada, EU and EEA areas, and the Isle of Man.

Signal is the best encrypted messaging app out there. It's free to use, end-to-end encrypted, open source, and records a very limited number of metadata. Signal is the most popular WhatsApp alternative, but you do have to sign up with a phone number.

Best Bundle For Total Privacy

All of these products will protect your online privacy, but in this bundle we'll detail some tools that have the highest levels of privacy – and even some that delve into the world of anonymity.

Mullvad VPN is one of the most private VPNs available. Mullvad is a no-logging VPN and its privacy policy goes into specific detail of the types of data it collects and for what purpose. Mullvad VPN is open source so you can examine it for yourself and it protects your data with post-quantum encryption.

You can even pay for Mullvad in cash and its €5 per month price (approx $5.82) never changes. Mullvad also launched its own secure browser.

Proton Pass is an encrypted password manager and Proton makes privacy its mission. It uses AES-256 encryption and is open source. It's zero-knowledge, so only you can see your passwords and it supports biometric logins. There's 2FA, passkey support, and account recovery capabilities.

Tor is a decentralized network, run by volunteers, that focuses on anonymity and privacy. The Tor Browser routes your traffic through three relays before connecting to the internet. The website, and anyone watching, will see a connection from Tor and not your IP address.

There's no browsing history and cookies are only valid for one session. Fingerprinting is prevented as all users look the same and your traffic is encrypted at each relay. Because of the relays, Tor is a much slower browser than others, so you may find it harder to use on a day-to-day basis.

For messaging apps, we're going with Session. It's based on Signal but has more privacy-focused features. You don't need an email or phone number to sign up – instead you get a random Session ID.

Like Tor, it's decentralized and your messages are end-to-end encrypted. Almost no metadata is collected and it's been audited. Session isn't as popular as Signal, and there have been reports of bugs. But as an app, it's the most private.

It's a little trickier to recommend truly private antivirus software and data removal services. Incogni was developed by the team behind Surfshark so there is an element of data privacy to its offerings. It has fewer partners than its competitors and its privacy policy is clear about how it uses your data. It also doesn't sell your personal data.

However, it shares data with the likes of Google Analytics and does need your details to operate its service.

Norton 360 Deluxe is not only an excellent antivirus, it boasts some handy privacy features too. You can monitor the dark web for names, your social security number, or email. It can't compete with the market leaders, but Norton's VPN is solid and has had its no-logs policy audited.

If you want any privacy issues fixing automatically, you'll need to pay $109.99 per year for Norton's Privacy Monitor Assistant add-on – and that's quite a considerable downside.

Best Bundle For Mobile

It's not just your desktop that requires privacy protection, it's your mobile too. NordVPN has great iPhone and Android apps. They might be a little complex for absolute beginners, but if you're familiar with VPNs then you shouldn't have any trouble.

NordPass is the best password manager for mobile. It's intuitive, simple, and is included with all NordVPN plans except NordVPN Basic.

Bitdefender Mobile Security offers its top-tier antivirus in mobile form, for both Android and iPhone. It's fairly cheap and has a tonne of security features. One of which is app lock which can turn off apps that may pose a security risk.

Again, secure browsers are a personal preference. Although I use Brave on my laptop, I prefer Vivaldi on my phone.

I enjoy Vivaldi's UI a little more and its customization options mean I can set it up exactly how I want it.

There are no mobile apps for data removal services, so we haven't recommended one for this bundle.

Best All-In-One Bundle

You may not want to subscribe to or purchase a wide range of apps. So if you're after convenience, consider Proton Unlimited.

For $9.99 per month, you'll get Proton VPN, Proton Pass, Proton Drive, Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, and Proton Wallet.

Everything is end-to-end encrypted and the interconnected ecosystem works seamlessly and is perfect for breaking away from Google.

Antivirus isn't offered, so you would need to purchase that separately. Proton VPN does include NetShield but this is a threat protection and isn't quite as good as others offered by VPN providers.

Vivaldi has partnered with Proton to include Proton VPN Free as an extension. It's one of the best free VPNs available and will slot nicely into your Proton arsenal.

For those who just need basic antivirus protection without a lot of fuss, Malwarebytes Plus is a good option that runs light and fast. The price is far lower than most - about half what you would spend on products like Bitdefender or McAfee+ - even if this app doesn’t match the advanced features of our top picks for the best antivirus software.

In many ways, the biggest advantage with Malwarebytes Plus is that there are few features to configure, especially when it comes to identify theft protection. You can dive right in with a quick antivirus scan and see if a computer or mobile device has malware installed.

Surprisingly, even though some advanced features like boot sector scans and a password manager are missing, there is a full VPN you can use for establishing safe and secure internet connection. Like any robust VPN client, you can select the server you want to use –- say, one in Canada or the UK.

Malwarebytes is not in the same league as Bitdefender Total Security, the best antivirus protection you can find for the price. Both McAfee+ Premium and Norton 360 Deluxe offer far more features such as a secure browser, disk performance tools, and cloud storage that helps protect against ransomware attacks. While Malwarebytes Plus does block ransomware attacks, it doesn’t encrypt files or offload them to the cloud for safe keeping.

Sadly, the privacy features are severely limited, basically offering only a fast scan based on your emails. You can see what problems are out on the internet, such as compromised passwords or that your Social Security number is available online, but to correct them you have to upgrade to the Identity Threat Protection app and pay an additional subscription fee.

Malwarebytes Plus: Costs and what’s covered

Because Malwarebytes Plus is intended as a more basic antivirus scanner, the price is much less than competing packages from companies like Norton and McAfee, which both cost north of $100 per year. By contrast, Malwarebytes Plus costs just $59.99 per year.

For that price, you can protect three devices such as a Mac or Windows PC and iOS or Android devices. Three devices is about right for many users, who likely have a couple of computers and a phone. Malwarebytes does offer a family pricing plan that is $120 per month for protecting 10 devices, and also a Teams package for a business protecting 20 devices or more - for a much higher price of $519.99 per year. (A 10-device plan costs $399.99 per year.)

Malwarebytes Plus does include a VPN for the price, and there are no limits on data transfers. There isn’t a password manager, but you can install the Browser Guard extension for a browser like Chrome, which scans for web-based threats and blocks them in real-time. There’s no email protection like you will find in the Avast Premium antivirus app. (Avast Premium has a somewhat similar pricing option -- one device for $69.99 but without an included VPN.)

Malwarebytes Plus review: Protection

You won’t find extensive antivirus features with Malwarebytes Premium, although there are a few interesting advanced options that pop up here and there. For starters, there’s a quick scan that can be scheduled to occur regularly - offering good protection if you forget to run a manual scan. You can also use a custom scan and select specific folders.

The main interface for Malwarebytes Plus shows a dashboard with a Trusted Advisor score that reflects how many settings you have enabled. For example, if you use the VPN and enable a daily scan, you’ll see a higher score. That was helpful in determining whether the product is actually helping protect against threats and is not often found in other competing apps.

Digging deeper, a few advanced features are available that are unique and powerful. For example, you can enable a specific protection related to anti-heap spraying (an exploit that’s related to code injections). Another advanced setting helps you fight against exploits related to ASLR (address space layout randomization) which can corrupt computer memory.

The VPN is not exactly full-featured. You can select a server to use, and while there’s a map shown on the screen, you can’t actually use it to select the server location (it’s just a list). You can configure which apps, IP addresses, or ports can or cannot access the internet, and there’s even a proxy server option and a killswitch to block all traffic if the VPN disconnects.

Malwarebytes Plus review: Performance

One discovery with Malwarebytes Plus is that it is speedy and light. You barely notice the antivirus app is running on your PC. In repeated tests running games in the background and loading multiple apps, Malwarebytes Plus ran light and lean.

A quick scan took only 26 seconds and scanned the most important files (4,142 on the same computer used to test several competing antivirus apps). Since Malwarebytes does not provide a full scan option or a way to do a boot secretary scan before the operating system loads, we were not able to measure the performance of a full scan.

Malwarebytes Plus review: Features

There’s no question Malwarebytes Plus is trying to be a light antivirus tool, and the features you will find are a testament to this. There’s a quick scan option and a VPN, plus a firewall you can enable and protection against ransomware and real-time exploits.

Beyond the antivirus protection and VPN, plus the Browser Guard extension, there isn’t a password manager to help you store logins and the privacy options are limited. In fact, the identity threat protection seems more like an ad to upgrade to another subscription, because it only allows a quick scan based on your email address. redit bureaus you can use.

To upgrade to the Identity Threat Protection app, you would have to pay $9.50 per month for Advanced or $10 per month for Ultimate, both billed annually. The main difference between those packages is the amount of insurance offered and how many credit bureaus you can use.

Malwarebytes Plus review: Interface

This light and lean app also has a simple, straightforward interface. It’s all white backgrounds with black text, except for the main dashboard that shows a large icon for your protection score. That makes all settings easy to find without a lot of color or flair.

Compared to Norton 360, which tends to highlight important options in yellow, it can be a little challenging to find the most important options in the Malwarebytes app since they seem to be just listed on the screen without any hints about which ones are most critical.

Malwarebytes Plus review: Support

Email, chat and phone support is available 24x7 and is free to all users. One unique differentiator here is that the tech support can provide remediation guidance for a specific virus and help the user resolve the problem which is included with the subscription.

Malwarebytes Plus review: Verdict

Not everyone needs extensive and powerful features when it comes to antivirus protection. You may just need a quick scan option to see if a computer or phone is infected, and that’s where Malwarebytes Plus excels. It’s not an advanced product, nor does it offer a password manager or cloud backups. Yet, the price is also about $40-$50 less than the most well-known utilities, such as Norton 360 and McAfee+. For what it offers, Malwarebytes is a good low-cost tool.

When it seems like there is a security hole everywhere you click on a computer or mobile device, Norton 360 Deluxe is a welcome relief. There are extensive security protections available, beyond what we’ve found offered in some of the other best antivirus apps. And, like hugely popular tax preparation app TurboTax, Norton 360 is incredibly intuitive to use.

What makes Norton 360 a top overall pick in the category has to do with the added security protection. You can do a quick antivirus scan, a full scan, and then a much deeper scan that runs during startup and before Windows loads. Ransomware protection creates a backup of important files -- even the ones held in the UEFI (what used to be called the BIOS).

The more we explored the app, the more features we found, and we were pleased to find they were not just meaningless add-ons. You can protect your identity using a webcam blocker, get a warning on websites before you visit them, and even ward off botnets.

Bitdefender Total Security is still our top pick for antivirus software, but that mostly comes down to value. Both McAfee+ Premium and Norton 360 Deluxe are more expensive for the core security features that all three products offer -- including ransomware protection. Bitdefender limits file transfers in their VPN to 200MB per day and the password manager is a trial version, but the antivirus features are just as robust as anything on the market -- for less.

Our other gripe with Norton 360 Deluxe: It tends to ping you about upgrading quite often. We get it: Norton is a powerhouse and they have a lot to offer. But we could stand to hear about it via pop-ups for their privacy monitoring assistance and system performance apps a little less frequently.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Costs and what’s covered

We always evaluate antivirus software according to the normal annual pricing, not the first year deals which tend to change frequently. We’ve even seen two different websites offer markedly different first-year pricing, so that pricing is a bit too fluid.

Norton 360 Deluxe costs $119.99 per year (after the first year) for up to five devices. That’s the same price as McAfee+ Essential which also protects five devices. However, we strongly prefer the McAfee+ Premium subscription in terms of pricing because it protects unlimited devices in your home for $149.99 per year.

Meanwhile, Bitdefender Total Security offers equally robust security protection features as both Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee+ Premium, but for a lower price of $109.99.

So what’s included in Norton 360 Deluxe that makes it a compelling antivirus option? For starters, there are several differentiators that might be worth considering for $10 more per year than Bitdefender, and even compared to protecting unlimited devices with McAfee+ Premium.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Protection

The security features are so extensive that it takes quite some time to find them all. Norton 360 Deluxe includes intrusion protection against botnets, brute force attacks, and file and print sharing vulnerabilities. You can block access to your webcam and start apps in a protected “sandbox mode” to make sure they are not infected. A Safe Search feature shows you a warning before visiting any iffy website, explaining any risks involved. And, a rescue disk feature lets you generate a full ISO, or digital copy, of your disk or save everything to a USB drive. That’s a long list.

For scanning, we really liked the ability to do a very quick scan that only lasts a few seconds, looking for the most obvious problems. Unlike most antivirus apps we’ve tested, Norton 360 Deluxe then lets you choose from many deeper scanning options -- a full scan, choosing specific folders, scanning only critical files, and then doing a deep scan that runs before Windows loads.

The full scan is not quite comparable to the full scan in other antivirus apps because it only took about four minutes, whereas the full pre-boot deep scan took about 35 minutes. Overall, the antivirus scanning options are more extensive than most apps. Norton 360 Deluxe also offers parental protection for your kids, up to five devices. It’s somewhat basic but you can control usage time, which sites to block, and even where access is allowed. The included VPN is also powerful. It can disable your internet connection if you visit a site that’s compromised and supports split tunneling, allowing some sites to bypass the VPN.

One huge bonus with Norton 360 Deluxe is the Scam Protection. It’s an AI bot that scans for threats, warns you about websites, and can even protect you from text message threats. Norton's Scam Protection even has a chatbot mode where you can ask it about specific websites and whether they are safe. To use the Scam Protection on mobile to ask about text scams, you will have to install a separate app.

In order to gauge antivirus detection ability, we reference the testing done by independent labs: SE Labs, AV Test and AV Comparatives.

In AV Comparatives March 2025 Malware Protection Test, Norton received a 99.96% antivirus protection rate, blocking 10,026 files and allowing four through, but produced 10 false positives. McAfee and Avast had similar scoring here, while Bitdefender performed ever so slightly better. In AV Test’s Jan/February 2025 Product Review and Certification Report, Norton scored a 6 out of 6 for protection against malware attacks, and produced only 3 false positives. Norton also participated in SE Labs’ October - December 2023 Endpoint Security Home Protection testing, where they scored 100% accuracy in 100% protection against general and targeted attacks and showed zero response to false positives.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Performance

As you might expect from a mature and well-known product, Norton 360 Deluxe is fast and reliable. We tested the app on an Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, a Windows computer with 32GB of RAM, and an Apple iMac with 24GB of RAM. The full scan took about four minutes to scan 927K files. That’s a bit surprising because both Bitdefender Total security and McAfee+ Premium took around 30 minutes and scanned 1.5M on the same test computer.

The reason is that Norton does more of a deep scan before Windows even loads. Oddly, that Startup Scan (as Norton calls it) took 35 minutes and did not report on how many files it found.

As for the included VPN, we tested a 150MB download and didn’t notice any speed difference whether we had the VPN enabled or not. That finding is the same as the McAfee+ Premium speed test with the VPN, whereas the download with Bitdefender took a bit longer with the VPN enabled. The reason might have to do with how fast the servers are for each product.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Features

One discovery with Norton 360 Deluxe is that the “extras” beyond the antivirus scanning, ransomware protection and included VPN are a mixed bag. Some are powerful and useful, even if advanced features require you to pay for an added subscription.

For example, we liked all of the privacy and identity theft features that are included, although they are mostly there as alerts. You can scan the dark web for your email, social security number, and even your mother’s maiden name to find any known privacy threats. The downside is that you’ll need the Privacy Monitor Assistant add-on that costs $109.99 per year to actually fix any issues automatically, as opposed to fixing them yourself manually.

In some tests, the privacy monitoring flagged the wrong person. It showed alerts for someone living at different addresses, which seems like false alarms. Overall, the fact that you have to manually delete old accounts and fix vulnerabilities could mean some users won’t bother to take the time -- or will choose to upgrade to the more advanced automatic assistance.

Norton also provides plenty of performance features as well. You can check whether software on your computer needs to be updated -- and that’s more of a security feature than you might realize. Outdated software is often a huge hole that attackers use to breach a system.. You can also remove junk files and even speed up your computer by disabling some startup files. We bumped into some promotions to upgrade to Norton Utilities for performance boosts. That product costs $69.99 per year. For example, we found 417 broken registries on a PC, but only Norton Utilities lets you fix them.

Cloud backups are only supported on Windows, although you can view archives from other devices. Another slight “gotcha” is the cloud backup limit is for all devices, not per device. A “protection promise” that says you can get a full refund if you are not able to remove a virus applies to all versions of Norton 360 Deluxe on any platform.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Interface

We mentioned earlier how Norton 360 Deluxe reminded us of a tax preparation app like TurboTax. That is not a diss. Millions of people use these well-known programs, so they have to be easy to navigate for non-technical users. Norton 360 Deluxe uses a familiar, almost reassuring interface where anything important or that you have to click on is in yellow, like a school bus.

Thankfully, the app also shows the most common features front and center. There is a row of buttons on the left for security, performance, privacy and identity. In each section, the most common functions are the most obvious, and then you can drill down to more advanced features. There’s even a search function similar to TurboTax for finding features quickly. That makes it easy and quick to find for experienced users and hard to miss for those less experienced ones.

Norton 360 Deluxe: Support

Norton offers 24/7 support through online chat or phone. There did not appear to be a way to open a support ticket by email. You can also post in a community forum and, surprisingly, you can also contact tech support through Twitter(X) and Facebook, but that is only for general questions.

The online chat starts with a virtual agent that was helpful about an issue related to cloud storage on Mac. A human agent took five minutes to respond and resolved the issue. (Oddly, the virtual bot provided the wrong answer, though the tech contradicted and corrected that advice.)

Norton 360 Deluxe: Verdict

Norton 360 Deluxe is one of the best and most intuitive antivirus apps around, it has extensive features to help you stay protected from security threats, from ransomware protection to botnet blockers, the price is reasonable compared to Bitdefender, and it gets props for having so many antivirus scanning modes.

Though our other top pick, Bitdefender, costs $10 less, we’d say McAfee+ Premium is arguably a better value for those with many devices because it protects unlimited devices for about $40 more per month. However, Norton 360 is a thorough and feature-rich choice for those who know they have a set number of devices to protect. Our only caveat is we wish the app didn’t prompt us to upgrade to advanced tools so often.

Protecting yourself online can be overwhelming especially in an age of social media misinformation, deep fakes and phishing attacks designed to make you believe that you're clicking on a link from an old coworker. It can be easy to believe in things you learned long ago that may no longer apply to current operating systems, things you picked up from someone who seemed more knowledgeable than maybe they actually were or things that were just untruths that spread like wild fire.

For example, the lie that Macs don't need antivirus protection. We all know that one's not true, right? Or how about that you can skip antivirus protection if you're really, really careful about what websites you visit and what you click online?

That lie has died out by now hopefully, but in case it's still floating around let's settle it now: Macs do need antivirus software, but have it built-in, and no matter how careful you are you should always use one of the best antivirus programs on your computer no matter which operating system you have. Let's dispel some other lies and myths while we're at it, shall we?

1. You don’t need antivirus software

It doesn’t matter if you’re working on a Mac or a PC, if you’re super duper careful or extremely experienced, you need to have some sort of antivirus protection. You might be careful every time and have excellent PC experience but what if you lend your laptop to your roommate, who is perhaps not so savvy? Or your little cousin who likes to download mods for their D&D character from some iffy websites?

While both operating systems have a built-in antivirus offerings – with Microsoft providing Microsoft Defender and Apple providing a host of iOS-specific security features – those only provide basic protections against malware. For added security you should still consider a third-party software to help protect against phishing, ransomware, and other viruses as well as to provide additional features you’d likely pay for anyway such as parental controls, a VPN, or a file shredder.

2. Antivirus software will protect you against everything

Most third party antivirus software will do a bang-up job against existing and developing malware threats, which means your computer is protected from a wide range of unpleasant viruses but that doesn’t mean you can ignore your part.

You are still the first line of defense – you can’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders or download apps from sketchy developers and count on your antivirus program to clean up your mess. You as the user are still expected to practice good cybersecurity hygiene.

Schedule your antivirus program to run regular scans to check for malware signatures, and then do your part and make sure that you are using strong passwords – or a password manager – to help protect your accounts. Know the signs of phishing attacks, use a VPN or hardened browser and enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication on accounts whenever possible.

3. Antivirus software is a hassle

This may have been more true in the past but these days, antivirus programs have come a long way. Many of them can perform shorter, smaller scans that are much less system intensive than a full scan. Also most of the heavy duty scanning can be scheduled for times when you’re not actively using your computer, which makes it easier to make sure that your antivirus software is kept up to date, able to perform it's duties and still not impacting your workload.

Additionally, many antivirus programs have updated interfaces that have made adjusting their settings and configuring their features much more user friendly –even for those users who don’t find it enjoyable to spend hours playing around with software settings. This makes it easy to set up your antivirus program the way you want it once, and then let it do its job without interfering in your day to day tasks.

4. You can tell if your computer is infected with malware

Much like some medical diseases are asymptomatic, some computer viruses are designed to stay hidden in order to continue malicious behavior. Infostealers for example want to stay under the radar so they can continue to steal your data and information, or cryptominers who want to use your IP address to shield their own behavior.

This is why your antivirus program scans through your system for various virus signatures and behaviors – because an infection may not be obvious to you through typical means like overheating or pop-ups. And it's why it's so important to watch your personal account for suspicious behavior, as well. If you've been the victim of a data breach (or don't realize your data has been taken), seeing odd behavior on your accounts may be the first sign of identity theft especially if you don't already have any identity protection or monitoring in place.

5. Only your computer needs antivirus software

These days, you're likely on your smartphone at least as often – if not more often – than your PC. In some places, people rely entirely on their smartphones for their computing needs and those devices require antivirus protection just as much as a desktop or laptop computer.

It's just as easy to click on a bad link in an email or social media message, or download a malicious app, on a smartphone as it is on a full sized computer so it there's every reason to make sure your mobile devices are covered as well. If you already have one of the best antivirus programs available, it likely has a bundle or package that will cover mobile devices. If you have an Android phone, there are a lot of good antivirus apps you can get to protect it; and if you're using an iOS device, make sure you know how to adjust and enable all the security settings on it.

More from Tom's Guide

• Do I need antivirus software for Windows 11?
• Why aren't there antivirus apps for the iPhone?
• Do you really need to pay for antivirus software?

Avast Premium is a powerful antivirus program that’s loaded with extra features. Compared to some of the best antivirus programs, this low-cost package doesn’t throw in bloatware to make it seem like the subscription fee is worth it. Instead, you’ll be able to create a backup of your sensitive files to protect against ransomware, search for sensitive files and protect them against prying eyes, and even block your webcam.

The biggest surprise with Avast Premium is that the list of security features doesn’t stop there -- there is so much to explore in the app that it might even seem overwhelming at first. The antivirus software doesn’t mess around, it also offers a highly capable security tool for protecting your email called Email Guardian. The app protects against DNS hijacking and remote desktop exploits, both dangerous and all-too-common attacks.

Yet, with all of this power comes a downside: Avast Premium does not include a VPN or a password manager, features that are often included in competing products. You can still rely on the extensive security protection but will have to add a VPN and password manager if those are features you’re going to need.

That means Avast Premium can’t best Bitdefender Total Security, our top pick for antivirus software. It’s also not as capable as McAfee+ Premium or Norton 360 Deluxe. All three of those top picks include a VPN and a password manager for one subscription fee. (Thought Bitdefender Total Security has a 200 MB per day limit on the VPN and includes a trial version of the password manager.)

Avast also tends to include many “reminders” to upgrade to their VPN app, Avast SecureLine VPN, and add their performance tool, Avast Cleanup. That said, if you’re mainly looking for extensive security protection, Avast Premium is a wise choice.

Avast Premium: Costs and what’s covered

Even with all of this security capability, Avast Premium is actually one of the lowest cost options out there, cheaper than most security packages for consumer use. To protect one device, the subscription fee is only $79.99, which is a good $30 less than most antivirus programs like Bitdefender. For protecting 10 devices, the yearly cost is only $99.99, which is about $10-$20 less than antivirus products from Norton, Bitdefender, and McAfee with a similar feature set.

There’s an exceptional value here if you can set aside the fact that the Premium version does not include a VPN or a password manager -- which are included with Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee+ Premium. In fact, McAfee+ Premium does not set a limit on how many devices you can protect. With Avast, you can select the package for one device or 10. The app works with Apple Mac, Windows, tablets or your smartphone (iOS or Android).

Avast includes limited privacy protection features, such as a data shield for your sensitive documents and a data shredder. For performance tools, the app only includes a tool for seeing if your installed software needs an update and a way to disable notifications while you work. That last feature is a bit unusual and seems to be mostly about not being interrupted.

Avast Premium: Protection

As mentioned, the security features are quite extensive and include a few options that go beyond our top picks in the category, such as Bitdefender and Norton 360. For virus scanning, you can do a quick scan or targeted (which allows you to select specific folders). Like Norton 360, you can also do a boot detector scan which runs before you load Windows.

Digging into the app, there’s a new feature to explore at every turn. You can scan your computer for sensitive information -- such as a Social Security number in a PDF or login info -- and then add extra protection to those documents by blocking access to them.

The Email Guardian feature worked perfectly by scanning incoming messages, then adding a “safe” label to emails that did not pose a threat. There’s a sandbox mode to run any app in a protected environment, and a banking mode that lets you conduct financial transactions in a browser that runs on top of Windows. (You can’t even take a screenshot when in that mode.)

Avast doesn’t stop there. You can run a dedicated browser beyond the bank mode, although it should be noted this Avast browser is available for free. The browser runs in a safe mode that doesn’t allow you to be tracked by advertisers and blocks harmful sites.

Avast Premium: Performance

Avast Premium is a speedy and capable app while lacking some of the polish of Norton 360 Deluxe (though both apps are made by the same company). That straightforward design is a benefit for those who just want to run antivirus scans. In our tests, a fast scan only took about three minutes; faster than the Bitdefender, McAfee, and Norton antivirus offerings. The full boot sector scan took 12 minutes, which is about 15-20 minutes faster than the competing apps. However, Avast Premium only found about 900,000 files on the same PC used to test the competitors, which found about 1.5M files.

Since Avast Premium does not include a VPN, we weren’t able to test downloads using that encrypted connection. However, Avast Premium generally ran faster than the glossier competing apps, and we noticed the iOS and Android apps both operated in a streamlined way.

When looking to measure how an antivirus program protects against actual threats, we compare the results produced by independent labs: AV Test, AV Comparatives and SE Labs. In AV Test’s Jan/February 2025 Product Review and Certification Report, Avast scored 6 out of 6 in protection scoring where it was able to scan through over 16,000 samples in four weeks to search for malware samples. It also produced only three false positives in over 850,000 samples.

In AV Comparatives March 2025 Malware Protection Test Avast scored a 99.96% protection rate and scanned over 10,026 files, correctly catching 4 compromised ones. However it produced ten false positives during this testing, much the same as Norton. In SE Labs’ 2023 Endpoint Security testing, Avast produced 100% accuracy against both targeted and general attacks with zero false positives.

Avast Premium: Features

While Avast Premium is loaded with security features as described above, the package is a little thin on extra protection for privacy and when it comes to disk cleanup tools and other features meant to make your PC or Mac run faster and leaner.

It’s clear that Avast Premium is focused primarily on antivirus protection, and if that is what you really need, this might be a top choice. Some of the competing apps in the space add both privacy and performance enhancing features designed to make your PC run safer and faster, but Avast mostly points you to add-on programs with a separate subscription fee.

For example, you can scan for privacy problems and see the results, but to actually fix any of those issues, Avast only offers an option to buy Avast Secure Identity which costs $99.99 per year. That app does provide access to experts to help resolve identity theft problems, so it may be worth it depending on the issues you’re facing. For performance-related functions like disk cleanup, you will need to buy Avast Cleanup Premium which costs $41.88 per year. That app can remove hidden files, clean up a broken registry, and even fix fragmented disk problems. It’s similar to the Norton disk cleanup app.

Product name: Interface

Avast Premium is a slim and functional app. It lacks the polish of a slicker and more polished app like Norton 360 Deluxe, which has a clean white and yellow look. The Avast interface looks more dated, although it was never hard to find a feature or run a utility.

The interface has a black and green interface with red labels on anything important or that needs to be addressed. As such, you can find issues and solutions for them quickly.

There are obvious buttons on the left for protection, privacy and performance -- although as stated above, the privacy and performance functions are limited. That means you might spend most of your time running antivirus tools. However, that may be exactly what you need and is what Avast Premium focuses on most.

Avast Premium: Support

Avast Premium comes with 24x7 tech support by chat, and during our tests, the technicians helped resolve a question about cloud storage easily (the app does not offer cloud storage). The phone support is more for billing questions, but you can also send in a support ticket by email.

Avast Premium: Verdict

Avast Premium is a highly capable antivirus package that focuses on the most serious security threats -- protecting you from ransomware scams, protecting sensitive documents, and even offering a safe browser for banking and other online activity. It’s also reasonably priced,protecting one device costs lower than Norton, McAfee, and Bitdefender. In the end, Avast Premium is a good choice for antivirus protection at a fair price, but the lack of any privacy protection, a VPN or a password manager makes it less compelling.

A researcher referred to as es3n1n has developed a tool called Defendnot that is capable of tricking a Windows computer into disabling Microsoft Defender, leaving the device completely unprotected against malware.

By registering a fake antivirus product, Defendnot convinces Microsoft to turn off its built-in antivirus software to keep any conflicts from happening between the two security programs.

As reported by Bleeping Computer, Defendnot can do this even when there is no actual antivirus software installed on the machine by using an undocumented API in the Windows Security Center (WSC) – the same one used by legitimate antivirus software – to inform Windows that it’s properly installed and handling the real-time protection for the system.

Once the registration step is complete, Defender will immediately shut itself off to prevent any issues, leaving the computer without active antivirus protection. The Defendnot tool also includes a loader that passes configuration data through a ctx.bin file, allowing users to set the name of the fake antivirus software to anything they like. Defendnot will create an autorun through the Task Schedule, so it starts when you log in to Windows.

It’s based on a previous project, the researcher called “no-defender,” which laid the groundwork by using code from third-party antivirus software to spoof Windows Security Center registration. However, the vendor of that software filed a DMCA takedown request, which resulted in it being pulled from GitHub.

Defendnot, on the other hand, learned from this and built the anti-virus functionality from scratch through a dummy DLL, which causes no copyright infringement. It injects a DLL into a Microsoft system process, Taskmgr.exe, which is signed and already trusted. Within this process, it can register the dummy antivirus with any spoofed display name.

Though it is a research project, Defendnot demonstrates how easy it can be to turn trusted system features into security issues; currently, Microsoft Defender is detecting and quarantining Defendnot as a trojan based on its own machine learning algorithm.

How to stay safe

Because Defendnot is a research project — and has already been quarantined by Defender — it is not putting any particular systems at risk currently. There are also no details about how Defendnot may operate on a computer that is running a third-party antivirus software in addition to Windows Defender.

That being said, users who want the best level of protection for their Windows PCs should always use one of the best antivirus software programs and the built-in protection provided by Windows Defender. These security suites usually provide excellent malware protection and added features like parental controls, a VPN, and a password manager that can help keep you safe while online.

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If you’re new to using a computer or new to Microsoft, or on the flip side, very, very experienced you might be thinking: Do I really need an antivirus program for my Windows 11 computer?

The short answer here is yes. Always yes.

The long answer is still yes. That's one of the reasons why Microsoft provides its users with the free, built-in antivirus program Microsoft Defender.

But if your question is more along the lines of: Do I need additional third-party support on top of what Microsoft Defender provides, then that’s a more nuanced answer… that is mostly also going to be yes, for the reasons we'll explain below.

Why does Windows 11 need antivirus software?

The reality is, every computer should have an antivirus program – even Mac owners should consider adding third-party antivirus software at this point. However, it's particularly important for Windows 11 users because they're even more likely to be targeted by malware, ransomware, phishing, spyware or other cyberattacks.

As of April 2025, Windows 11 made up for almost 44% of desktop users worldwide, and an AV-Test report from 2020 showed that 83% of the malware that year targeted Windows computers. Cybercrime is an industry that makes trillions of dollars each year, and Windows computers are at the top of the list.

It’s often preventable through the simple use of one of the best antivirus software suites and good cybersecurity hygiene. You, the user, are the first line of defense, but in the instance that you slip up, you’ll want a solid security program backing you up with virus scans, access to a password managers, a VPN, website blockers, and more to help keep your data safe and your computer running smoothly.

What does Microsoft Defender offer?

Microsoft Defender is included free and automatically enabled when you set up Windows 11, making it an easy antivirus option for Windows users – particularly new users or those who don't want to spend a lot of time downloading and installing a third-party program.

Defender is kept automatically updated and uses the cloud to provide fast malware identification. When we reviewed it, we found its malware protection to be good, with four scanning options including a quick scan and a custom scan option.

It also offers some great additional features like the basic ransomware protection that will back up OneDrive files and folders and can prevent malicious changes without administrator approval.

There's also SmartScreen, an Edge browser feature that can warn you if a website, app, or download you open or run is potentially malicious. Billed as an anti-phishing tool, SmartScreen, can be easily dismissed if you want to get around it and is more intended as a warning to the user than a block.

Another feature Defender offers is a firewall, which filters network traffic to protect against malicious apps and hacks that want access to your network or devices. The firewall can filter or limit network traffic based on your preferences, and it will automatically block any untrustworthy attempts from connecting to your network or devices.

There's more, like a password manager for Edge, some parental controls for limiting screen time, app control that can block unsigned apps, and VPN and identity protection. But as with any free program, some of it is limited or includes an add on fee.

Why should you add additional antivirus software?

Microsoft Defender offers a good base layer of protection for your Windows 11 system, it's true. But it's generally considered a starting point – while the security features offered by Defender are usually good enough, they often put the responsibility of safety into your hands (think SmartScreen's warning pop ups) and you'll still need to practice excellent cybersecurity practices to keep yourself safe by watching what sites you visit along with what you download and click on.

It's also worth pointing out some of the advantages that a third-party antivirus software can provide: more robust antivirus protection that can anticipate malware and virus attacks, more expansive features and bundled packages that protect a whole household or multiple devices.

Third-party, or paid, antivirus programs like those from Norton or Bitdefender may offer up better parental controls, a VPN that's included instead of one that you have to pay extra for, a password manager that works with any browser of your choice (and not just Edge), and include other features like identity theft protection, a file shredder, or webcam blocker.

Regardless of what you choose, built-in and free or third-party and paid, or both, you should absolutely, always, make sure that your Windows 11 computer has one of the best antivirus software programs installed, running and up-to-date. It might take a little bit of time to get one set up the way you like it, and it may occasionally give you a warning about an app or website, but that is always better than having to deal with a virus, getting your data stolen, or having your computer taken over by hackers and malware which would be a much, much bigger hassle.

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Though it's often thought that Apple users with a Mac are exempt from worrying about viruses and malware, that isn't the case anymore and these days, more and more malware is being developed specifically for macOS. According to a blog post from security researcher Patrick Wardle who specialized in Apple products, there were 22 new Mac malware families in 2024 – up from 13 in 2022.

Even without the surge of new malware being developed for Apple's operating system, much of the viruses and scams that are designed to infect Macs rely on user error, like phishing, cryptojacking or USB jacking. There are ways to protect yourself against those threats too, but they rely on, well, you.

Here's a rundown of what security features are included in Apple's ecosystem, as well as what you can do to stay informed and alert on your end.

The one that scans: XProtect

XProtect runs in the background automatically without interrupting anything that you're doing, and you won't need to configure it or touch it much at all if ever really.

It's basically a scanning tool that helps your system continuously check apps against a reference list of malicious and infected programs. If you attempt to open one that XProtect identifies as being on that list, it will tell you what kind of malware it is and give you a pop-up warning with details.

If that happens, you should delete the file, though this won't provide you with complete protection. XProtect is considered basic protection, with the benefit of it being written directly into the operating system which keeps it from bogging down system performance.

But because the updates to XProtect are vital to keeping its list relevant, and effective in protecting your system, it's essential that you keep your Mac up to date to keep it protected. Unfortunately though, unlike with Windows Defender on PC, you can't tweak its settings or run a manual malware scan.

The one that blocks: Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper, also automatic, is designed to block any software that is "unsigned" which means the developer hasn't been approved or verified by Apple. The company is notoriously strict about the software it approves, and though it is not unheard of for malware to sneak through, this is extremely rare.

The Gatekeeper program checks for malicious software every time you run an app, and if you try to open something that is unsigned you'll get a warning message to notify you that the program is from an unidentified developer.

Gatekeeper can be configured to only allow you to install programs from verified developers (as well as the App Store).

The one that contains: Sandboxing

You may be familiar with sandboxing from iOS, as it is also used there, but the concept carries over into macOS as well: Apps are isolated from the operating system and other apps in a way that keeps them from making any changes without prior permission. This means that, hypothetically, even if you were to download an infected app it couldn't spread to other apps or areas of your computer.

However, there are various flaws known to sandboxing – such as, users are frequently asked permission to use the camera or microphone and don't think deeply upon giving this approval to apps. Additionally, Mac apps that are not sold on the App Store do not have to be sandboxed.

The one that locks: Lockdown mode

Lockdown mode is a pretty straightforward feature, and was more recently introduced in order to combat cyberattacks.

If you toggle the feature on to activate it, all your Apple devices are protected and threat actors will (theoretically) be prevented from stealing your data.

The setting limits a variety of apps like Messages, Safari, FaceTime and Apple services from full functionality. Once you've regained control of your devices, it can be disabled and you can restart your device to enable normal functions.

The one for the web: Safari protections

There are a variety of protections in place for Apple's Safari web browser from phishing prevention and anti-tracking technology. If you visit a fraudulent website, Safari will disable the page and show an alert. It also provides a Privacy Report that gives users information on the cross-trackers that Apple has prevented and allows users to keep advertisers from tracking them on the web.

Other Safari features include alerts that inform users of weak passwords when they're creating accounts online, and Private Browsing which keeps others from viewing your screen when you're not around and stops trackers from using tracking codes and recording data about you online.

The one for login credentials: Passwords and passkeys

As we mentioned, Apple will warn you if you try to create a weak password, but ecosystem will also alert you if you have reused a password, if your password has appeared in a leak, or if your password is easy to hack.

And with the recent transition to Passkeys, more secure methods are being used more frequently in addition to the increased use of the iCloud Keychain password manager across all devices. There's a dedicated app to manage passwords, and one password to unlock all others as well as an option to set up verification codes instead of using an authentication app.

Do you need third-party antivirus software on your Mac?

So, with all of those features (and more) do you still need a third-party option on your Mac? Well, the answer to that depends on what kind of device you have, what version of the software you're running and how you're using your device.

Apple offers a lot of well integrated features to keep users protected, and a third-party solution may provide you with an added layer of security. For instance, you might need a VPN or parental control software too. Third-party options like Bitdefender or Intego can scan your machine for malware, but can also back up files, provide dark web monitoring or identity theft coverage, cloud storage and more.

Some of these features can extend to your mobile devices as well, so depending on what your needs are, it may be well worth an additional subscription fee to include a third-party software in your Mac security arsenal while also relying on Apple's built-in protection.

However, that doesn't let you off the hook. Given that much of the malware that's developed for macOS is intended to prey on user error, you still need to watch your own online habits and make sure you're well informed.

How to stay safe on your Mac

Whether or not you opt to install a third-party solution, you need to know and practice good security habits to stay safe.

Phishing is one of the main ways that threat actors look to prey on Mac users, so make sure you know the signs: Don't click on or download anything from someone you don't know or are not expecting. When in doubt, ask the sender through an independent channel about a particular message or file they've sent over. Also, be suspicious of anyone who is trying to pressure you to do something with a sense of urgency or immediacy.

Update your software as soon as new patches become available. Your Mac's built-in security features rely on those updates to keep you safe and hackers love to exploit any holes left by old or outdated software.

Also, don't install apps from unknown sources, and don't plug your device into power chargers in public spaces or put unknown USB flash drives into your machine. Likewise, you want to avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi unless you're using a VPN.

With this bit of background knowledge in hand and taking some proactive steps, you can keep both your Mac and the sensitive personal and financial data it contains safe from hackers and cyberattacks.

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Though it's long been said that iOS devices are "immune" to viruses, they are now getting targeted more and more often by hackers, scammers and other cybercriminals.

At the same time, Mac owners should really consider investing in the best Mac antivirus software as malware and other viruses are now being designed specifically to run on macOS.

But what about iPhones and iPads? Don't they need antivirus apps? The answer is complicated but the short version is, no. While iPhones and iPads don't have antivirus apps – for the reasons I'll explain below – they do still need to be protected against malware, phishing attacks and hackers.

And you should take steps to make sure that you're safe from all of those threats, even if you can't get a traditional antivirus app for your iOS device.

Built-in security features

Apple designed iOS to include a secure architecture meaning it has built-in security features to make it less vulnerable to traditional viruses and malware.

Many of these security features, like encryption, are intended specifically to protect these devices from any unauthorized access or potential threats.

Sandboxing

Another feature of iOS is it's inherent self-containment, meaning each and every app is intended to run in its own environment.

No app can access the data or functionality of any other app, or even really understand that they exist, and likewise they cannot touch any of the functionalities of the operating system.

Known as sandboxing, this feature in particular makes it difficult for viruses to spread; malicious code cannot replicate itself to the wider system or infect other aspects of the device.

Hypothetically, even if an app were infected with a virus, it would remain in that app and would not be able to access any other part of the iPhone or iPad.

Strict control over the App Store

Apple has very strict control over the App Store – and for good reason as it's the only place iOS users (at least outside of the E.U.) can go to in order to download apps, unless they jailbreak their devices (something we obviously don't recommend for security reasons).

Apple tightly controls and vets all the apps to ensure that they don't contain malicious code and that they meet security standards.

That doesn't mean there haven't been reports of bad apps showing up in the App Store but they're few and far between.

Lack of direct access

Related to sandboxing is the lack of direct access: any antivirus app available for iOS would be required to operate within all the same constraints as any other app that's approved for use in the App Store.

That means that any antivirus app you see available in the App Store is sandboxed from other apps and isn't able to directly access the operating system kernel or scan for malware in a thorough manner.

What's available in the app store

So, that brings us to the question... what actually is available in the App Store? There are plenty of antivirus apps you can download and some of them come from the same companies behind the best antivirus software like McAfee, Norton, Malwarebytes, AVG and Avast.

However, most of these operate within the boundaries of iOS and the App Store meaning they provide what they can: a VPN, phishing protection, text scam protection, web browsing protection on public Wi-Fi or even identity theft protection.

Some of them offer scans but you have to check the details of each app to see what they can actually do – for example the app for McAfee says it has a system scan but the details in the app states "Not all features are available for all devices or locations. See System Requirements for additional information."

That doesn't mean it isn't worth getting your iPhone or iPad covered if you already have an antivirus software suite with support for mobile devices – it's well worth having an extra layer of protection for all of the reasons above, even though Apple does offer security features that will cover most of these circumstances.

How to protect your iPhone and iPad

Just because iOS lacks a traditional option for antivirus solutions doesn't mean there aren't things you can do to provide yourself with extra protection.

First off, don't jailbreak your iOS devices as it removes the protections Apple has put in place. Next, enable automatic updates for iOS or make sure you are regularly updating your iPhone to get all the security patches in a timely manner – these often happen when a critical fix is rolled out, so they're of particular importance.

Also, you don't want to use public chargers as they're just a security risk due to juice jacking. Instead, buy one of the best power banks to bring with you.

Next, be regular and thorough about checking your settings and app permissions: Know what apps have access to Bluetooth and your photo roll, turn off automatic connections to public Wi-Fi, check who can use your location services and also check your App Tracking Transparency settings.

Lastly, if you have a password manager and a VPN which are often included in your antivirus security suite, use them! If you don't, look into getting them separately as they too offer a great added layer of security for your mobile devices. And if you've ever been caught in a data breach, you should also strongly consider signing up for identity theft protection as well.

Apple already does a lot to keep your iPhone safe from hackers but by following these tips and practicing good cyber hygiene, you'll be way less likely to fall victim to a cyberattack or a nasty malware infection.

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Even though you absolutely should protect your computer with one of the best antivirus programs, one of the first questions you may ask yourself is: Do I really need to pay for an antivirus program? And the answer is, in a word, no.

However, you still need to protect your computer with something, and though reasons should be obvious just in case they're not here’s why. Not having any antivirus software at all on your computer leaves you utterly defenseless from all sorts of different malware, spyware, ransomware, viruses, trojans and bots that can wreck havoc on your system, steal your sensitive and personal data and if worse comes to worst, even completely upend your life.

Windows Defender: A built-in free option

The good news is there are plenty of free antivirus programs available to protect your computer – starting with Windows Defender which is built-in to Microsoft’s operating system.

Windows Defender actually offers up quite a lot for a free program. It has very good protection against malware, low impact on system performance, and still manages to throw in a silent mode, a hardened browser (for Microsoft Edge), ransomware file reversal and 24/7 support both via email and telephone. You can also schedule scans.

You may have noticed it does lack many of the features of a paid program, like a file shredder, password manager, firewall, parental controls and a VPN. However, not having features like these are one of the trade-offs you make when you opt for a free program, and that’s often going to be the case.

If you’re looking for a security suite that offers all those features, you’re going to want to look at Norton 360 Deluxe which we highlight as the most feature-packed antivirus software.

Other free antivirus programs

Windows Defender isn’t your only free option – Bitdefender, our best overall paid choice, also offers a free tier in Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Windows.

It includes the same excellent malware protection, easy to use interface and fast scanning as the paid version.

When we reviewed Bitdefender's free antivirus, we liked how easy it was to set up once and then let it run. However, the scanning engine did take up a good amount of system resources and it does lack features like a file shredder, password manager and customer support.

Likewise, Avast, Avira and AVG all provide free versions of their products which we've reviewed in the past.

We liked Avast’s features which include a password manager, Wi-Fi network scanner and a silent gaming mode as well as its ability to adjust its sensitivity, but we felt like it offered rather iffy malware protection and took a long time to scan a system, as well as being resource-heavy.

Likewise, Avira Free Antivirus comes with a firewall and browser extensions that can rate websites based on their reputation and protect against unwanted extensions. Additional features like a password manager and VPN can be downloaded with the Avira Free Security Suite. However, just like with Avast, it had a heavy impact on system performance without the outstanding antivirus performance we like to see.

AVG was easy to use when we tested it and offered some customization options along with a few solid extras like a file shredder. We found it wasn't resource heavy but it's malware protection was only rated as "so-so" which might be too much of a trade-off.

Why should you pay for antivirus software?

What do you get when you pay for antivirus software?

Well, paid options will go a step beyond free ones and offer more comprehensive security features, advanced protection against unknown or newer threats, a more thorough feature set which includes a VPN, password manager, a file shredder that will fully remove deleted files and may cover more devices including tablets and smartphones.

Paid antivirus software also generally includes customer support via phone, chat and email whereas free versions will not.

Paid services also adds extra functionality like the ability to customize your antivirus service, a feature to block suspicious sites and a backup service to save data or back up your devices. They might also include features like webcam protection, remote desktop prevention to keep others from controlling your system and the ability to run certain apps or software in a “sandbox” setting.

If just the basics will do, a free antivirus will likely be enough but if you’re looking for something more feature rich then it’s worth looking at some paid options too.

Keep in mind, many paid antivirus suites will also offer a free 30 day trial so you can test out their product for a limited time before making your final decision.

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If you've ever owned a car in a city, you may know the rule about break-in's: It's not that you'll never get broken into, but more about making your vehicle look the least attractive to thieves by making sure you don't leave valuables in plain sight while keeping your doors locked and parking in well lit places.

When it comes to computer security practices, many of the same philosophies apply – you're basically looking to maintain the best practices at all times to make sure that your system is the least attractive to hackers spreading malware, infostealers and ransomware. How do you do that? Well, funny you should ask...

1. Avoid, ignoring or postponing updates

Among the common reasons that people don’t update their software are: an unwillingness to interrupt their work or tasks, a fear of bugs or flaws in the new update and a reluctance to change a familiar interface.

These are all understandable enough, however when you don’t update your operating system, software or antivirus suite what you’re essentially doing is leaving giant holes open making it particularly easy for hackers to access your system.

Many software updates can be automated or scheduled around a convenient time so it’s best to make sure you don’t avoid updates or leave your machine vulnerable when possible

2. Hanging on to older versions of applications

Even after you’ve updated a program, don’t forget that some older versions may not automatically update or remove themselves after a new version is installed.

Just like with un-updated software, keeping an old version of a program on your system alongside a new one is essentially a gateway that a hacker can exploit. It’s like a giant hole in a fence that any thief could walk through which basically renders the fence meaningless.

3. Disabling User Account Control (UAC) features

The “User Account Control” feature sends an alert whenever a program tries to make changes to Windows settings and particularly anything that would require Admin privileges.

If it’s disabled, that means you get absolutely zero warning if a program (either benign or malicious) attempts to make any changes to the Windows operating system. The only benefit is you get slightly fewer pings and alerts, and the downside is… far greater than that, so it's best to leave this one enabled even if it is a little annoying.

4. Clicking on any link, QR code, attachment or file

There is no quicker way to infect your computer with malware than to click on all the things.

In fact, don't just click on anything you receive via email or in a message is one of the pieces of advice we include in almost every article we write about malware for a reason. You really, really shouldn’t do it.

That link in an unexpected text message? Don’t click it. A random attachment sent by a stranger in an email? Don’t click it. A download button on a website that just popped up while you were browsing? Yep. You guessed right – don’t click it.

Unless it’s something you were expecting, and you know the sender, do not under any circumstances click that link, extension, file, download, code or attachment.

5. Downloading programs from anywhere

One of the fastest ways to pick up malware, ransomware, infostealers or other malicious software is to put them on your computer yourself via a quick Google search and clicking on the first downloadable result for whatever service or software you’re on the hunt for.

An easy rule to follow is to make sure you’re always downloading apps and software from an official website or app store. It’s honestly not that much harder to make sure you’re at the correct site or app store to start with, so why risk winding up with a malicious file?

6. Piracy, cracks and keygens

Though it may seem easy enough to poke around on the web to find one of the many of dozens of cracked files or keygens for a slightly-less-than-legal copy of Windows or Adobe Photoshop in order to save some cash, it’s certainly going to cost you way, way more.

Especially when you realize that what you’ve actually downloaded is a malicious file that’s stolen a bunch of your personal data and credit card information.

Downloading pirated software or other content online is the easiest and quickest way to end up with a malware infection. So don't do so yourself and make sure that everyone in your household isn't either.

7. Shortlinks

Though not as popular as they once were, shortened URL services like bit.ly and TinyURL were once used much more frequently.

While they certainly have plenty of legitimate uses, they’re also perfect for concealing a link’s true destination. Which means if users don’t have any sort of link preview add-on in their browser, these little links can be an ideal vector to get victims to navigate blindly to phishing sites or to downloading malicious files.

8. Using open, unsecured Wi-Fi

It doesn’t really matter if you’re connecting to an open guest account at the local laundromat, or if you’ve just left your own network open to everyone.

Either way, it’s a genuinely bad idea. First, if you’re connecting to random open, unsecured Wi-Fi networks, please just start using cellular data instead. And if you’ve been leaving your own wireless network open and unsecured, now is the time to fix that as well.

Unsecured Wi-Fi routers are an incredibly common way for malware to enter your network, and it’s easy to get started securing your wireless router.

These days, many of the best Wi-Fi routers and the best mesh Wi-Fi systems ship with security software built-in. However, it's up to you to configure it and keep it updated.

9. Surfing on an administrator enabled account

Something that is actually a pretty easy security fix right out of the gate is to make sure you’re using a Standard account and not an Administrator account.

Though it may seem useful to be operating under an Admin account because it offers you more access and control, a lot of different types of malware and exploits actually won’t run if you’re using a Standard account. So, if you need to use your Administrator account, switch over and then switch back because you’re actually protecting your machine by doing so.

10. Using an outdated operating system

Look, it’s fine if your car is a classic, your decor is vintage and your music taste isn’t current – but your operating system absolutely should be.

Sure, Windows 10 is a perfectly fine OS but it was released in 2015 and that was a decade ago. Think about the amount of things that have changed, technologically, in the past decade.

Patches and updates can only do so much and the reality is that older operating systems, in addition to being rife with potential security vulnerabilities, can also leave you with a machine that has various performance problems or compatibility issues. No one needs their machine to run harder, just so it can have a higher risk of being infected by exploits and security leaks.

It's also worth noting that if you're still using Windows 10, you have until October 14 of this year to upgrade to Windows 11. After that time, Windows 10 will no longer receive new security updates and patches which puts people still using this version of Windows at serious risk of getting hacked.

11. Using the same password everywhere

You know better. You really do. But every time you need to start an account for a new fitness app you impulsively decided to download, purchase a piece of furniture from a new website, or caved into signing up for a new streaming service you’re going to need to register and create a strong, unique password.

Many of us are guilty of being lazy and reusing passwords, which is just a bad habit that leaves our accounts open to being easily hacked.

If you don’t have one of the best password managers yet, get one. That way you can go back to being lazy! Or better yet, set up a passkey on your mobile device. But at the very least make your password a phrase instead of any of the easy to guess options like 12345.

12. Not using antivirus software

Do you drive without a seatbelt? Probably not. You also probably have smoke alarms in your house, and lock your front door when you leave. You should also have one of the best antivirus software suites on your computer.

Unless for some reason, you’re intentionally interested in leaving your system available for viruses, there’s no reason not to install any of the many free or paid options out there.

Even the safest, hyper-vigilant online habits can only take you so far and all it takes is a one wrong click on a site that’s been hijacked, or falling for the most convincing phishing link in an email, and you’re toast.

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First, we compared Bitdefender versus Norton. Next we put Norton versus McAfee in a head-to-head roundup. Now, we're putting McAfee versus Trend Micro into a comparison to see, point by point, how the two antivirus software programs match up against each other.

Which one offers more features? Which one covers more devices or has more plans? Which one produced more false positives in testing? Which one takes up fewer system resources?

While both of software suites are among the best antivirus software you can get today and are good at protecting your computer from viruses and malware, those aren't the only factors you're going to take into account when it comes to determining which program you want on your PC.

Like our roundups before it, this McAfee versus Trend Micro comparison is written so that you can make a choice between these two top antivirus software options.

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Specs

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Costs and what’s covered

Neither McAfee nor Trend Micro offers a free tier, though both offer a free 30-day trial. Trend Micro's entry-level Antivirus + Security tier costs $40 and includes a Mute Mode and Pay Guard secure browser; it can often be found online for half off. McAfee's Basic plan retails for $90 for a single device but can often be found for a more reasonable $25.

That Basic plan gets you its antivirus program as well as features like a firewall, password manager, file shredder, and VPN (for one user) for use with a Windows, Mac, Android or iOS device. Trend Micro's Antivirus + Security covers a single Windows computer only.

Each suite has a variety of paid tiers that go from there: Trend Micro's next step up is Internet Security which covers three Windows computers for $80 and includes protection against ransomware and email scams, as well as parental controls, a social media scanner and a system optimizer. The $90 Maximum Security package will protect five systems and throws in a password manager, while Premium Security will cover ten systems, and has a VPN (for five users) as well as dark web scanning but will cost you $150.

McAfee tiers up from the $60 McAfee+, to McAfee+ Premium which has Individual or Family plans ranging from $70 to $150 and can cover up to 2 adults and 4 children. There's also McAfee + Advanced which is focused on identity theft protection and can be found for $90 or $120 for an Individual or Family plan. At the top of the tier is Ultimate, which isn't usually found for less than $250. McAfee's Privacy & Identity Guard is an additional service which can be found for $100.

Winner: McAfee

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Antivirus Protection

Trend Micro's antivirus plans all scan for known malware and will monitor your system using heuristic behavioral analysis to spot early signs of an attack. The software also has dedicated defenses against phishing, cryptocurrency-mining malware, ransomware, tech-support scams and fileless malware.

McAfee's products use a cloud-based infrastructure with an emphasis on machine learning to catch dangerous code early. The malware scanner on the software sends potential new threats to McAfee's servers for analysis and - unlike other programs - you can't opt out.

If Trend Micro's heuristic behavioral analysis notices anything suspicious, it will get uploaded to the company's labs for further identification and examination. However, if you feel like this is too much information to send, you can opt out of this data collection via the online portal. Each system protected by Trend Micro software gets periodic downloads of new malware signatures, sometimes several times a day.

McAfee's Ransom Guard feature will lookout for any suspicious file changes and if it sees them, it can quickly make copies of targeted files in case of an attack. The Advanced Malware Detection speeds up the detection of any problems and McAfee can also remotely clean the system - however, this service is only included if you have auto renewal activated. There's no rescue disk available.

Trend Micro also has a PC Health Checkup feature that will optimize your system while highlighting any vulnerabilities, as well as a Fraud Buster feature which uses AI to warn about any scams hidden in emails. The Fraud Buster also has a browser extension to advise about malicious websites. And there's a Rescue Disk that can be downloaded to help recover a system overwhelmed with malware.

McAfee has multiple reports: one that can be run for antivirus and one for firewall. They're provided weekly, monthly or annually with data on the program's activities. The antivirus report details threats and attacks as well as how many of the systems files have been scanned; while the firewall report explains what's being monitored and blocked.

Winner: Tie

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Antivirus Performance

In AV Comparative’s Real-World Protection Test July-October 2024, McAfee scored a 99.8% protection rate while Trend Micro scored 98.1%. This is because McAfee along with Avira, F-Secure and Norton blocked all but one of the 471 malicious code samples the testing lab used in their analysis. Meanwhile, Trend Micro blocked 462 samples with nine slipping past its defenses.

McAfee continued to perform well in AV Comparative's false positive tests with just 10 which put its antivirus towards the middle of the pack. Unfortunately for Trend Micro though, it ended this test at the very bottom with a total of 76 false positives.

McAfee also saw solid results in SE Labs’ Endpoint Protection Home 2024 Q4 tests with a perfect accuracy rating of 100%. Trend Micro no longer participates in this lab’s testing though, so we can’t compare the results of both antivirus products here.

Winner: McAfee

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Security and Privacy Features

Though Trend Micro does not include a firewall, it does have a Firewall Booster feature that monitors web traffic for evidence of intrusion and botnets. And all four security suite tiers include the Pay Guard hardened browser which doesn't permit browser extensions, requires an encrypted connection and recognizes legitimate financial sites, as well as a 128-AES file encryption program called the Vault to hide files. There's also Secure Erase feature which is a file shredder with two removal options, and a gamer-friendly Mute Mode to reduce interruptions by delaying non-critical updates and scans.

The Maximum and Premium Security tiers include parental controls that have features like scheduling computer use, filters that look for objectionable subject matter and a lock-out for preselected apps. Premium also includes the ID Security mobile app that can scan the dark web for your personal information and act as an early warning system by detecting fragments of your data before an attack occurs.

McAfee has a strong emphasis on protection against phishing, and keeping your personal data private via browser extensions that can block mistyped URLs and malware-spreading websites. It also has an AI Scam Protection feature that uses machine learning to detect and counteract realistic looking emails and fake websites in real time. There's also a Social Privacy Manager to safeguard personal information across platforms, and a firewall that works alongside Windows Defender.

Other features include a True Key password manager, which costs $20 on its own, a file shredder, a Safe Connect Virtual Private Network for up to five users (which costs $60 on its own), a Protection Score which shows your security weak spots, and Safe Family which runs $50 a year on its own. The top two tiers of McAfee protection add identity protection features as well.

Winner: McAfee

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Performance and System Impact

Our custom benchmark test clocks how long a PC takes to match 20,000 names and addresses on an Excel spreadsheet. We use a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 laptop with 2.5Ghz Core i5-7200U processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB of solid-state storage with 50.7GB of files to conduct these tests.

When testing Trend Micro, the Think Pad took an average of 9.8 seconds to complete the Excel benchmark test. That rose to 10.0 seconds after the antivirus program was installed, marking an almost undetectable 2% loss in performance potential. This means Trend Micro is one of the most efficient security apps when it's monitoring the system (not scanning).

However, when it ran a Full Scan of the entire system for malware, we saw a bigger hit: the benchmark score fell to 13.0 seconds which is a 33% decline in performance possibilities. When it came to Quick Scans, the software was even more resource hungry; the benchmark scores averaged 14.0 seconds which is a 43% decline compared to the baseline – only McAfee's 70% decline on quick scans was worse.

The same test ran with McAfee+ Premium registered a benchmark time of 9.8 seconds slowed to 10.0 seconds, which is one of the lowest passive declines in performance that we've seen.

During a full scan of the system, the benchmark declines to 16.0 seconds which is a 63% loss in performance potential. This is a slower class than most. Quick scanning lowered performance potential ever further, reducing the benchmark score to 16.7 seconds, which works out to a 70% decline in performance resources, making McAfee's security products among the most resource-hungry apps we've seen.

Winner: Trend Micro

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Interface

Trend Micro's interface is functional, well-designed and though it only takes up about one-third of an HD display it can’t run full screen. The subsidiary pages are simple, well-organized and lead to detailed configuration choices. The main screen has a prominent Scan button, as well as links for other most used feature like settings, file shredding, password manager and parental controls.

Trend Micro provides a way for users to adjust the program's overall response – with a Protection level between Normal and Hypersensitive. It also provides a periodic Security Report up front; it's the pie chart to the right of the settings logo and gets incredibly deep with aspects for overt threats and access to the optimizer app and other features.

Additionally, Trend Micro's tasktray icon's is one of the best of any security suite we've tested. It has links for the main screen and to check for updates as well as to start a scan or run the troubleshooting tool. Automating scans from here is easy and the Smart Schedule option is a particularly nice touch.

McAfee's interface has evolved with the aim of simplicity; currently, it takes up one-half of an HD desktop but can't run full screen. Six boxes highlight your most pressing items, but you can't change them or add favorites. The options include running a scan, turning on the VPN, check your Protection Score and more.

The My Protection area has a pull-out menu for major tasks like scheduling and running scans, though you have to scroll to the bottom to get to the Security Report.

There's also a Settings gear for General, Information and Access Protection. Overall, the McAfee interface isn't for those who want to control every aspect of the program, but prefer malware protection at its simplest.

Winner: Trend Micro

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Installation and Support

The efforts to streamline the McAfee installation process has clearly paid off: In total, choosing the program, paying for it, activate the license, download the installer and the full program and a little more in 4 minutes 55 seconds.

The support steam at McAfee do work 24/7 but are only available via chat window, phone, X and Facebook (not email). McAfee also has a money back guarantee if its software can't clean up your system, but only if auto-renewal is enabled.

Getting started with Trend Micro's software process was straight forward: select which product you want, pay, decide if you want the extra $40 Premium Service Plan (which includes virus and spyware removal and computer health checks). Next was a fairly typical, but lengthy, process of registration, getting a serial number, downloading the 433MB file, having the system checked for malware, approving a license, activating it.

Overall, it took 12 minutes and 15 seconds making it one of the slower installation processes around, and then it's follow up with a survey about your computer use and a list of suggestions of features to use and a scan of how to tighten the system up. It's thorough, but you'll need to set aside some time for it.

Trend Micro has support available Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm (Pacific), or if you sign up for the Premium Service plan, there's 24/7 support. They also have options for online chat or email support.

Winner: McAfee

Trend Micro vs McAfee: Overall

Trend Micro provides a thorough interface with plenty of detail over various controls; we especially like the option to adjust the Protection level. However, it was resource hungry and feature light when compared to McAfee and those 39 false positives in antivirus performance testing certainly made an impact. While some of the options like Mute Mode and Pay Guard are terrific features, it still lacks a full set of expected others like VPN, an actual firewall or any webcam protection.

McAfee has plenty going for it as well including an extremely quick installation, a very clean and easy interface, and a truly great set of included features that save a lot of money when purchased separately. However, it also uses a lot of system resources and didn't score as high in the antivirus testing. It also doesn't let you get as granular in the controls.

Based on the results of this comparison, McAfee is the overall winner but neither of these antivirus programs is a bad bet. Both of them offer good malware protection, interesting and useful features and completely workable interfaces. Deciding between them may come down to how pleasing your find the UI, your own feature preferences, your budget and how many devices you're looking to protect.

Shopping for the best antivirus software for you is not easy. For starters, the entire security field is going through a major upheaval with the advent of artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and much more advanced phishing scams. It’s hard to keep up on the attack vectors, and even harder to find software that will protect everything you do online. In some cases, there’s even a tendency to simply choose whichever antivirus app is included with a new computer.

Security experts who talked to Tom’s Guide said the antivirus software market is changing rapidly as new threats emerge. Unfortunately, there are several easy mistakes to be made when shopping for the right product for your own needs, which can lead to a data compromise, stolen identities, and disruption in your work and your productivity.

Here are the top mistakes to avoid.

Relying on free software

Free antivirus software might seem attractive -- after all, these apps tend to look and function the same as the “real” subscription-based programs. They typically scan your computer for viruses and malware, and some even include a free virtual private network (VPN) service.

The problem is related to assurances about up-to-date security protections. There’s no way to know with a free app whether the security updates are being done on a regular basis, and there’s typically very little support or documentation. Hackers are an industrious group - they are constantly adapting, adjusting tactics, and creating new methods to steal information.

One recent example has to do with Gmail, the free email software from Google used by millions all over the world. With the help of artificial intelligence, hackers have been able to create new phishing scams by sending emails that look exactly like they are from a bank or other institution. Free apps might not protect you from this more advanced and recent threat.

“Consumers will often settle on freeware or basic options, ignoring needs which they do not address,” says Yaron Litwin, a spokesperson for the Canopy Online Safety App. According to Litwin, the free apps often don’t provide protection against advanced threats such as ransomware, and sometimes do not offer real-time detection.

Choosing the most well-known brand

Most of us are used to choosing brands based on marketing and popular opinion. It’s what made Apple such a powerhouse, and for good reason -- the iPhone is an exceptional product.

That same concept of choosing the most popular brand does not always apply to antivirus software, however. You may have heard of Norton and McAfee more often than other brands, and they are top picks in general, but they might not be designed for your specific needs.

One example of this is Bitdefender Total Security, which is arguably not as well known as either Norton or McAfee. This antivirus app tends to have the best interface for new users and actually has a higher rating in our antivirus tests than either Norton or McAfee.

Dr. Darren Williams, Founder and CEO at ransomware protection company BlackFog, says some of the mainline brands in the antivirus market have not kept pace with the emerging attack vectors these days, such as deepfakes and phishing scams. “Many cybersecurity vendors cling to the old techniques and target attacks head-on using perimeter defense approaches,” he says.

“Today's cybercriminals are armed with more sophisticated algorithms than ever before and are now utilizing AI to target victims, just as we are using AI in our daily business lives. They are targeting organizations in entirely new ways, from profiling individuals within an organization to establish a beachhead to more sophisticated spoofing using deepfakes.”

A better strategy is to look for apps that offer a comprehensive suite of security protections, from basic scanning to phishing scam protection, a VPN, and identity theft protection.

Choosing an antivirus app based only on price

Interestingly enough, another mistake is to choose antivirus software based only on price -- either the lowest cost option, the highest priced, or the one with the most add-on features.

Litwin says choosing software based on the price is the most common mistake they see in the security sector. Instead, it’s better to look for the features that meet your needs and include add-ons and extras that are actually valuable to you and will help the most.

“Higher prices in any industry are not always a reflection of quality, and my observation is that there are some people who are trying to skip making an informed decision by just defaulting to a higher-priced option,” says Oleg Stukalenko, a Product Manager security firm at Moonlock / MacPaw.

“I would suggest doing some research, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. It is important to understand how committed a cybersecurity company is to updates, support, and adopting new technologies to stay ahead of malware authors and their attacks.

Looking for software with the most add-ons

Related to the mistake of choosing the most well-known brand or the best deal, it’s also easy to choose a product that has the most add-ons.

Litwin says this is common because the apps give the appearance of value but in some cases have nothing to do with security. “Paranoid customers will sometimes overpay by subscribing to add-on features that they do not really need to pay for, like password managers which can be obtained for free,” he says.

Another example of choosing antivirus software based on perceived value has to do with optimization. In some cases, an antivirus product might include add-ons to update drivers, optimize software, or offer other enhancements, but these “extras” are not actually protecting you from threats. They are the worst kind of bloatware.

“While the AV features remain the core of most suites, some of their other features wander into privacy, identity protection and even system maintenance areas,” says Stukalenko.

“For example, some of the suites will provide you with system cleaners or parental controls. These features are great, but virus protection can definitely work without them. It's up to the users to decide if they need them.”

Not doing enough research

It’s too easy to subscribe to an antivirus app these days. They are often included on a new laptop, for example, and even some with a long trial period. The security software industry bundles apps frequently, so once you find a good app, there can be a tendency to install the software and then assume you are well-protected at all points of attack.

The problem with this approach is that it can lead to even more data compromises. One example of this is choosing an antivirus app that does not offer enough protection against phishing scams, which - as mentioned previously - are becoming more and more common. Emails that are trying to steal your identity and trick you into handing out a Social Security number or credit card now look utterly convincing, so it’s important to shop for an antivirus app that can detect the latest threats.

One app to recommend here is Norton 360 Antivirus. This app includes AI-based Scam Protection that can detect the latest scams in real-time.

Any way you slice it, the main point of researching antivirus software and knowing which app is right for you comes down to evaluating your specific needs. You might not be a heavy email user, so a bundled VPN might be a better fit. You might be concerned mostly about identity theft, so it will be important to look for add-ons related to that security threat.

In the end, extra research will go a long way in determining which product is right for you.

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The internet is a scary place. Even for someone who spends most of their time on Amazon.com and checking email, there are scams everywhere these days, websites designed to trick you into handing over credit card information, and dangerous malware that can infect your computer and steal your identity before you can even login to Netflix.

Fortunately, antivirus software offers some powerful security when you’re online and even when you’re not. The best products from companies like Norton and McAfee are designed for non-technical users and offer protection no matter what you do on a computer.

While you may already use antivirus protection software you might not have a full understanding of how these apps actually work, what they do behind the scenes, and how they offer multi-layered protection beyond simply scanning for a virus on your computer or phone. Here’s an overview of how the software actually works and what they do.

Basic protection from viral infections

At the most basic level, an antivirus program can scan your computer to find, quarantine, and eradicate a computer virus. The apps can also protect your computer from an infection in the first place, blocking attacks before they occur and keeping your data safe. Scanning can take place whether you are online or not. The best antivirus apps tend to offer plenty of powerful features beyond scanning, but at their heart, they are meant to stop and block attacks.

The best way to understand this protection is to think of your computer as an open endpoint on the internet - e.g., a live target for hackers. A virus is any piece of code that intends to cause harm - either in terms of making your computer inaccessible, slowing it down, disrupting services, or stealing your information. Like a real virus, this computer code is malicious and often meant to cause mayhem; you likely won’t even know if your computer is infected.

“At the core of an antivirus is the process of matching a pattern inside a malicious file against signatures which range from a simple file hash to more sophisticated types of signatures, which match not only file contents but also metadata or behavior,” says Oleg Stukalenko, Lead Product manager at Moonlock, MacPaw's cybersecurity division.

In many cases, malicious hackers often have a financial incentive - they are trying to steal your data that can then be sold on the dark web to the highest bidder. A virus might cause mayhem and confusion, but for hackers it is often all about the financial rewards.

How the software actually works

Antivirus software runs in the background and, in most cases, will monitor your internet connection in real-time looking for harmful software. The AV software compares detected software against signature files that are constantly updated. Here’s an example of how that works.

Let’s say you are browsing the web and come across a new video game. You click an option to install the software on your computer. When you install the software, your AV program will scan the code to determine if there’s a virus about to infect your computer. The app does this by looking for a pattern in the code (stored in a database) that matches a known threat.

The good news is that the AV software can quarantine the file and protect your computer. That means, before an infection even occurs, the AV app has blocked the virus.

Apart from this real-time protection, the antivirus apps can also periodically scan your hard drive looking for malicious software, although it is becoming less and less common to install local apps and store data locally. That’s why the best antivirus software does both: the apps scan for threats in real-time and block them, but you can also scan for local infections and look for code that is acting like a virus, even if it is not in the database of signature files.

“Behavioral analysis is an even more advanced detection method,” says Stukalenko. “Some system calls, execution flow, memory access, and interactions with system components are more suspicious types of behavior that could indicate malware even if the exact sample isn't in the database. The behavioral analysis may incorporate machine learning and AI as well.”

Advanced antivirus protection

Of course, if that’s all the protection an AV program offered, we’d all be in trouble - it’s just not enough protection these days. While the two pillars of AV protection involve real-time scanning and local scanning, the apps do far more than those two main functions.

One of the key advanced features has to do with blocking websites. To do this, antivirus software also maintains a database of websites that are known to be harmful. When you attempt to visit a website that has been identified as a conduit for distributing harmful and malicious threats, you’ll see a warning that it’s not safe to proceed. This is valuable because the AV software is blocking the site to minimize and reduce the threat. The AV app won’t even have to scan for a viral threat, because you’re never even exposed to the virus.

Many AV apps also include a virtual private network or VPN. This is a critical function because a VPN secures your actual endpoint - you are no longer a “live target” as explained earlier, but instead can rely on an encrypted connection. Hackers don’t know your actual IP address to track your location and identity, and they can’t access sensitive information on your local computer because it’s not even available to them - it’s protected from prying eyes.

A VPN is like a secure tunnel. Your computer connects over the internet to a private server run by the VPN, and the server in turn becomes the live endpoint. You can even switch to the server you want to use, even if it is in another country. Hackers are not able to see which sites you are visiting and they are unable to capture real-time transmissions, since they are encrypted.

What AV software doesn’t do

Any discussion about what AV software does and how it works should include some mention about what AV can’t do for you. Yes, it offers advanced protection with real-time scanning, blocking software and harmful websites, and - in some cases - providing a VPN to encrypt and protect your connection. That‘s all well and good, but no AV program is perfect.

In terms of understanding how AV programs work, it’s important to note that a virus could still slip through the cracks in rare cases. If you recall, these apps are constantly monitoring your connection and scanning for malicious code, comparing the viruses against a database of known threats. The issue is that the database of known compromises is not perfect. Hackers are industrious and attempt to stay one step ahead of AV software - sometimes, they succeed in spreading a virus before the AV firms can react and update their database.

AI is helping stem the tide. While hackers keep inventing new ways to compromise your information, advanced machine learning intends to keep pace. That means, as the threats become more advanced, AI will help us stay at least one step ahead.

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If you bought Avast antivirus software between August 2014 and January 2020, you should do two things right away: First, look into filing a claim for some of the $16.5 million dollar settlement that the FTC has awarded customers of the antivirus service. Secondly, look into a good identity theft protection program and make sure you’re monitoring your credit reports.

According to a Federal Trade Commission announcement on Monday (February 24), the software company will make payments to millions of customers who bought their products in that time frame because Avast “failed to protect their customers' privacy.” Instead, according to the FTC ruling, Avast collected user information through their antivirus software and browser extensions and sold it through a subsidiary called Jumpshot — all without notifying customers or gaining their consent.

The personal information that was gathered and sold includes religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, locations and financial status according to a 2024 FTC consumer alert.

Avast customers who have been affected should receive an email from the FTC sometime between now and March 7. It is estimated that more than 3 million customers purchased software in the August 2014 to January 2020 time period.

Eligible Avast customers can check their FTC email for a claim number to use when filing a claim for an online payment. The deadline to file is June 5, 2025; the amount of individual payments is not yet known and will depend in part on how many people file a claim. Payments will go out sometime in 2026, and once the date is decided it will be updated on the FTC’s settlement website. Additionally, anyone who needs help with a claim can contact a refund administrator at 1-866-290-0165.

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Bitdefender and Norton are two of the best antivirus software suites available today. They are on par when it comes to protecting your computer from viruses and malware, and have similar reputations for effectiveness.

However, when it comes to determining which program you want to put on your PC, you might still be deciding between the two. Which will work best for your machine, what features are the most important to you, which will take up the least amount of resources and which will keep you safe from malware?

This Bitdefender vs Norton face-off is made to help you decide specifically between these two excellent antivirus software options.

Bitdefender vs Norton: Specs

Bitdefender vs Norton: Costs and what’s covered

Only Bitdefender offers a free tier; Norton doesn’t have a free tier, only a free private Chromium browser.

Norton’s lowest paid tier starts at $60 but the first year can be as low as $20. With the cheapest paid Bitdefender program, Antivirus Plus, you get real-time scanning, Bitdefender’s Network Threat scanner, a file shredder, its Safepay hardened browser and protection for three devices for $60. Similarly, with Norton's basic offering, AntiVirus Plus, you can protect a single PC, Mac, phone or tablet against common threats and you also get access to a password manager and 2GB of online cloud backup.

Each suite has a variety of paid tiers that go from there: Norton has seven main Windows antivirus products ranging from $95 to $180 annually, though the prices are often discounted significantly during the first year. For instance, Norton 360 Standard costs just $40 when you sign up but jumps to $95 if you renew your subscription for a second year.

Meanwhile, Bitdefender has a wider – and almost confusing – array of offerings including a $15 mobile tier, as well as several Windows tiers ranging from $85 to $240, though again these are often heavily discounted during the first year. Bitdefender Internet Security covers three devices and costs $50 at signup but jumps to $85 upon renewal. Additionally, Bitdefender allows you to sign up for some of its security products, like the Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Bitdefender VPN, a la carte.

Winner: Bitdefender

Bitdefender vs Norton: Antivirus Protection

Regardless of which tier of Norton's security suite you choose, you still get the company’s excellent malware protection which guards against malicious email attachments, fake websites, phishing attacks and spam as well as emerging threats, ransomware and hacker intrusions. Bitdefender’s Total Security option covers all the malware bases you would expect, while the Premium Security option adds VPN use and Ultimate Security adds identity protection.

Norton’s Community Watch program sends samples of suspect code to the company’s online lab for analysis though you can opt out of this data collection program at any time. Norton updates its hazards database and sends data on the latest threats to its 500 million users.

Meanwhile, Bitdefender’s malware-scanning engine also uploads suspicious items to the company’s online testing lab for analysis and new malware signatures are distributed several times daily. These uploads do include some information about your system, and what it was doing when a new threat was detected, so you can opt out but still get updates unlike with some competitors.

Norton’s Quick Scans can be started from the main page and scheduled for daily, weekly or monthly execution however, full or custom scans require going a level below the surface. For example, USB drives require a manual scan.

Bitdefender has a Profiles feature that monitors what you’re doing and tailors its protection accordingly without being overly intrusive. Preset profiles are available for work, movie, games and public Wi-Fi. In the event of an attack, Bitdefender will produce an after-action Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) incident report that shows what damage took place in an easy to read timeline.

Winner: Norton

Bitdefender vs Norton: Antivirus Performance

Norton aced the June 2023 AV-Test of malware and new threats, and produced no false positives. However, it detected only 99.6% on the AV Comparatives May 2023 report. The Norton test runs in that report resulted in 14 false positives of safe software as malware, which is high. Norton was one of only three malware companies that worked with SE Labs on testing and eradication of online threats, and scored a 99% there.

Meanwhile, in the same June 2023 AV-Test Bitdefender scored a perfect 100% but also flagged five safe items as potentially dangerous. It held that 100% scoring with the AV Comparatives May 2023 report, but again had false positives – two this time. Bitdefender doesn't work with SE Labs for antivirus testing.

Winner: Bitdefender

Bitdefender vs Norton: Security and Privacy Features

Norton’s programs, starting with AntiVirus Plus, all have features that are usually found in top tier software suites, like a two-way firewall, password manager, and file-backup program with 2GB of online space. Other features include Norton Genie which uses AI to thwart online scams, Norton’s Sensitive Data scan that identifies important files on your Windows system that need to be backed up, a Safe Web browser extension that can stop online attacks based on a site’s reputation, Private Email to mask your actual email address behind an alias, a Secure Browser that uses a secure HTTPS encrypted online session, a secure VPN, parental controls, and an array of LifeLock plans for identity theft protection.

Each Bitdefender paid program includes browser extensions that will block web-tracking in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Bitdefender also has a File Shredder that can eliminate all the vestiges of an item and be used directly from the File Explorer. A few tiers – Internet Security, Total Security and Premium Security – still have one of the best webcam protection features as well as parental controls. The top suites also include a two-way firewall. And there’s a OneClick Optimizer that will sweep a system to offer a list of items to remove for a privacy cleanup.

Winner: Norton

Bitdefender vs Norton: Performance and System Impact

Our custom benchmark test clocks how long a PC takes to match 20,000 names and addresses on an Excel spreadsheet. We use a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 laptop with 2.5Ghz Core i5-7200U processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB of solid-state storage with 50.7GB of files. When testing Norton 360, the benchmark test slowed from 9.8 seconds to 10.0 – a two percent loss of available resources. While running a Full Scan, the benchmark slowed further to an average of 12.8 seconds, a drop of 30%.

The same test ran with Bitdefender Total Security registered a benchmark time of 9.8 seconds slowed to 10.2 seconds, which is a 4% drop in performance potential. During a System scan, Total Security’s version of a full scan, the benchmark score dropped significantly to 2.8 seconds which is a 31% drop. Quick scanning fared worse at 13 seconds, which works out to a 34% decline in performance.

Winner: Norton

Bitdefender vs Norton: Interface

Norton has two options for its interface: Classic or MyNorton, with the latter echoing the formatting used in its mobile app and a list of main categories along the right with subscription information along the left. The right hand list of options includes most of the necessary features like Device Security (scanning), Software Updater (new patches), Privacy Monitor and more. Partially filled circles indicate which features you have set up; the Settings wheel at the bottom will give you a tour of the program and let you toggle between the two interfaces.

Be aware that you may have to click through a level or two to get to the meat of the program and access all the controls.

Bitdefender's interface for desktop has been updated to show major categories on the left, including Protection, Privacy, Utilities, Notifications and Settings but the program can’t run full screen. Along the right side are functional boxes to start features and functions. There’s also a Tasktray icon to let you open the main program or update malware definitions but it can’t start a scan.

The Bitdefender Central online portal lets you access its features and requires two factor authentication, but needs to be scaled to 33% on a full HD screen so all the elements can be seen without squinting.

Winner: Norton

Bitdefender vs Norton: Installation and Support

Downloading and installing Norton 360 Deluxe required a typical amount of information including an email address, password, and credit card details. There were options to download the 4.7MB installer app to the computer in question or forward a link to another machine. The program used conflict checking software to remove old extensions that could potentially cause issues, and a license had to be accepted. Dark web scans, VPN and cloud backup had to be set up but the whole process took less than 15 minutes. Norton has technicians available to help 24/7 and there are self-service options as well.

To install Bitdefender, first you need to create an account at Bitdefender Center then download the 12.2MB installer app. It then downloads the remainder of the 678MB program. You agree to the license and a slide show runs showing its features, then you need to pay and activate the program. This installation process took less than 7 minutes but afterwards, the software wanted to perform a Device Assessment scan to look for any existing infections. Bitdefender's paid options include 24/7 tech support, you can call, email or use chat; Premium Security customers have the option to use priority support as well.

Winner: Norton

Bitdefender vs Norton: Outlook

Norton offers a comprehensive approach to computer security by providing a lot of features on top of good malware protection. There are a slew of add-ons from a password manager, parental controls, an unlimited VPN, a secure browser, and more. However, it lacks a few security bonuses like a file shredder and encryption and it produced some false positives in testing.

Bitdefender has several tiers of products that all provide excellent malware protection. There are some great features spread across the offerings, as well, but the software eats up a lot of a system’s precious resources. It also doesn’t let anything dangerous come through to your computer but it did produce some false positives in lab tests. Bitdefender doesn't have the full range of features that others offer, for example there’s no file encryption, and trying to decide which product to choose can become a bit complicated.

Based on the results of this face-off, Norton is the overall winner but at the end of the day, you really can't go wrong with either antivirus suite. Deciding between Bitdefender and Norton really depends on your own personal security needs, your budget and whether you want the option to buy some tools on their own.

It's the holiday season, and if you played your cards right and landed on the Nice list, soon you'll be unwrapping everything you put on your Christmas wishlist. The anticipation of getting your new laptop, phone, or tablet is undoubtedly in full force, but there are some things you should consider once it's finally here.

Once the device of your dreams is finally unwrapped and ready to set up, you’ll want to protect it from cybersecurity threats. So, you might want to invest the best VPN, some strong antivirus software, and a secure password manager.

But how do you pick the safest solutions without breaking the bank? In this guide, we’ll talk you through how to choose the best cybersecurity tools to protect your tech. Let’s dive in.

1. Get a VPN

If you want to protect your new device, a VPN is an essential tool, as it will encrypt your data to keep it hidden from cyber criminals or other third parties. At Tom’s Guide, we regularly test out a wide range of providers. Thankfully, our top three providers also have excellent VPN deals available:

How to pick a VPN to secure your device

If keeping to a strict budget is one of your New Year's Resolutions, you might be tempted to sign up for a free VPN to continue your money-saving streak. While there are some good free VPNs out there, many can actually do more harm than good to your cybersecurity, as some make money by selling customer data to third parties.

They also often come with restrictions e.g. a smaller number of servers or data limits, which means you won't be able to use them as freely as you might want to.

Instead, you’d be much better off choosing a reputable, premium VPN with a small monthly subscription cost that comes with security features that will protect your data, such as leak protection, malware blockers, and a kill switch.

2. Install an antivirus

With viruses becoming increasingly sophisticated, it’s never been more important to install the best antivirus software on your device.

We’ve put all the biggest providers to the test and have come up with our top three recommendations to help you choose a safe solution.

How to pick an antivirus to secure your device

Antivirus companies claim their software will keep your device safe from all forms of malware. But be sure to pick a solution that’s been tried and tested by expert reviewers. It’s also important to choose one that fits your budget and offers protection for all the devices in your household.

Besides this, look out for other key features that will keep you safe from cyber threats, such as password protection, file encryption, virus removal, and identity protection. To find out more, take a look at our guide to choosing the best antivirus software.

3. Download a password manager

A password manager is an essential cybersecurity tool that allows you to save all your passwords and will fill them in automatically whenever you want to access any of your accounts.

The best password manager will allow you to have strong and unique passwords for each account that you’ll never have to remember, while also keeping your data safe.

We’ve tested out plenty of password managers and these are our top three recommendations:

How to choose a password manager to secure your device

When choosing a password manager, the most important factor is, of course, ensuring it offers robust security. So, be sure to choose one that’s been proven to keep passwords safe.

You’ll also want to pick one that will work across all your devices and that offers a cost-effective plan that your household can use.

Hackers have come up with a clever new way to deliver malware to your Windows PC that both you and even the best antivirus software might completely miss.

As reported by Cybernews and first discovered by the threat intelligence services firm ANY.RUN, hackers have started sending out phishing emails which contain broken or corrupt Microsoft Office or ZIP files.

Since these ‘broken’ or intentionally corrupted files cannot be properly read by antivirus software (and Outlook spam filters too), they bypass any security measures that are in place which results in these emails appearing in a victim’s inbox. Once a victim attempts to recover the corrupted files by executing the corresponding program in recovery mode, the malicious content they contain is able to infect their computer.

For example, a victim receives a broken .docx document that won’t open in Word, but a prompt appears that asks if they want to recover its contents. If the user presses yes, then Word will reconstruct and process the malicious file which then infects their system.

In a post on X, ANY.RUN explains that the threat actors are deliberately corrupting these file types to make it more difficult for security tools to detect the malicious content they contain. At the same time though, the apps used in these attacks were chosen specifically as they have built-in recovery mechanisms that the hackers behind this campaign can abuse in their attacks.

After being provided with the corrupted files, security solutions will assume they need to scan their contents but will fail to extract them. Since they don't find any files inside the archive and overlook the archive itself, the scanning process never really starts.

This basically means that the attackers are exploiting the recovery mechanisms of popular apps in a way that the corresponding programs, like Word or Outlook, inherently handle these types of files.

In a separate post on its site, ANY.RUN provides an example of one of the phishing emails used in this campaign which impersonates an HR department email hinting at a potential salary increase. However, it contains a malicious Word document with an additional malicious QR code to open a supposedly secure file which likely leads to a malicious domain. These phishing attacks are similar to those used by infostealers to steal login credentials, credit card details and other sensitive information.

How to stay safe from phishing attacks

It should go without saying but don’t click on any email or message from an unknown sender. When it comes to emails that are supposed to be internal or within your company, know the policies: Would your HR department send you a QR code normally? Check the sender’s email: Is this a regular, known source or person? Is the subject line suspicious, urgent or poorly spelled?

Also, if you don’t already have one of the best antivirus software solutions set up and running on your PC, then go ahead and get that handled immediately. Make sure all your devices are protected against malware and threats, even your mobile devices - we have recommendations for the best Android antivirus apps too but due to Apple's restrictions, there's no equivalent for the best iPhones.

Whenever you’re in doubt about an email, you can always contact the sender directly and even ask them to resend an attachment through a secure method or you can manually visit a link using a secure browser. When it comes to this kind of attack, you and your knowledge are the last line of defense.

Given that malicious attachments are one of the main ways that hackers distribute malware in the first place, don't expect this campaign to die off anytime soon. Instead, you just need to be extra careful when checking your inbox and under no circumstances should you download an attachment from an unknown sender or an email that doesn't pass the smell test.

Built into Windows 10 and 11, Microsoft Defender is so intimately tied to the operating system’s software that its protection is simple, deep and mostly automatic. There’s nothing to do and the only way to turn it off is to install a different malware product. In fact, every new Windows computer comes from the factory ready to defend against a variety of attacks with a firewall, behavioral monitoring and overall good malware protection. 

It adds a password manager for the Edge browser, and subscribers to Microsoft 365 (aka Office 365) will be rewarded with an upgrade that includes dark web monitoring, ID insurance and an unlimited VPN. As good as it is, Defender’s ability to spot and disarm malware is a half-step behind Bitdefender and Avast, but you can’t beat Defender for making security easy. Our Microsoft Defender review will help you decide if this is the best free antivirus software for you or if you’d be better off upgrading to a paid product.

Microsoft Defender review: What’s covered and upgrade options

Included with every Windows 10 or 11 computer sold, Microsoft Defender comes turned on to protect the system from day one. Short of ad hoc Registry editing, the only way to disable it is to install another security program to replace it. 

Surprisingly powerful for a freebie, Windows Defender encompasses a lot of security-related features and its menu of services is comparable to some mid-range paid security programs. Some features, however, only work with other Microsoft products, creating an exclusive security food chain. On top of its firewall, drive-level encryption and parental controls, Defender uses malware scanning and behavioral monitoring for attack warnings along with email scanning, a password manager and a secure browser. 

Previously a one trick pony, Microsoft Defender for Individuals straddles the line between free and paid software. Introduced in June 2022, it’s part of a Microsoft 365 subscription that most people get for access to the company’s Office 365 apps. It costs $84 for one and $120 for six and adds dark web scanning and ID protection that includes rudimentary credit monitoring and $1 million in ID insurance. There’s also 1TB of online storage for each user – up to 6TB for the family plan – and access to the company’s VPN but there are limitations.

While others bombard users of free malware protection with popups, emailed discounts and other enticements to upgrade to a paid plan, Defender for Individuals is one of the best kept secrets. I suspect that most have never heard of it, and that’s a pity.

The focus used to be purely on Windows protection, but Microsoft’s security ambitions have expanded to include Microsoft Defender: Security for Mac systems; it requires macOS 12 (Monterey), 13 (Ventura) or 14 (Sonoma). There’s also Microsoft Defender: Antivirus (for Androids) that requires Android 8.0 or above as well as Microsoft Defender: Security (for iPhones and iPads) that needs iOS version 14 or newer and lacks the ability to perform malware scanning.

Windows Defender review: Antivirus protection

The best part is that each and every new Windows PC comes with Windows Defender in place, protecting it from the first time it’s turned on with nothing to do or install. It may seem like the slacker’s solution to security, but Defender offers powerful protection.  

In addition to advanced behavioral analysis to catch the early actions of an attack, the program has a comprehensive malware scanner that compares what’s on the system’s drive and memory with an up-to-date database of known threats. The default setup is for Defender to send questionable items from your computer to Microsoft’s online malware analysis lab for dissection. The most dangerous items get a fix created using the latest machine learning techniques. These updates are sent to the 500 million computers protected by Defender. Unlike some competitors, it’s easy to opt out of this collection scheme at the Windows Security Center. 

Defender starts by defending Microsoft’s Secure Boot startup sequence by guarding the system’s UEFI code from manipulation and extends to sandboxing suspect code so it can be safely executed without damaging the system if it goes rogue. It all happens in less than a second. The program can block fileless-malware attacks and has a memory-integrity monitor that watches for attempts to inject malicious code into the system’s RAM. It also screens email attachments for exploits.

Running a Quick Scan is easy with an actuation button on the Windows Defender Security Center page and the Task Tray’s icon. You will need to go a level deeper to get to custom scans and full examinations of the system, though. In addition to automatically scanning new drives after they’ve been plugged in, a right click on anything in the Windows Explorer can start a viral assessment.

Defender continues to be one of the hardest security suites when it comes to scheduling scans. However, it’s better and easier to allow Defender to scan when the system is idle; it’s set up that way by default.

The ultimate defense against malware is backups and Microsoft OneDrive which can hold a full archive of the system’s key files or your own personal ones; Microsoft 365 customers get 1TB of online space. They can be recovered in case of a ransomware attack.

Too bad that Microsoft’s latest trick is only available for enterprise customers. Microsoft’s Security Copilot takes security-related prompts from its security software and uses its “grounding” technology to specify the attack vector and what can be done about it. This data is sent to the software’s generative large language model to communicate the details to the user in plain English (or another language).

Defender has a built-in WinRE recovery environment to scan for malware. There’s also the ability to re-install Windows, with your personal files intact followed by a full scan.

Microsoft Defender review: Antivirus performance

Following years of inadequate malware performance as measured by neutral third party labs, Defender came into its own in 2020 with excellent scores that rivaled the best in the business. This effectiveness seems to have peaked with good protection offered at the present that, unfortunately, allows a few threats through.

To start, its perfect scores on the July-August 2023 series of appraisals of widespread and popular threats by AV-Test show Defender to be the equal of Bitdefender and Kaspersky. Only Malwarebytes fell short of the mark at 99.9% effectiveness at finding and killing known attacks. 

That said, Defender was far from perfect at evaluating and destroying zero-day assaults that thoroughly test a scanner’s abilities to discern the safe from dangerous. The software’s grades of 99.3 and 99.4%  for July and August testing mean that two or three potentially dangerous items could slip through its malware net. In this regard, Avast Free Antivirus, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Kaspersky Security Cloud Free all had perfect runs in this category while Malwarebytes, Panda Free and Avira Free Security were lower on the effectiveness scale.

During testing, Defender incorrectly warned that a single piece of safe software was possibly a threat. That’s not bad, but Panda, Kaspersky and Avira had no pesky false positive results, making them seem more reliable.

When it came to the testing done by AV-Comparatives in September and October of 2023, no malware scanners had perfect test scores. Defender’s 99.9% success rate was good, but it translates into five potentially threatening items cleared by the scanner as safe. By contrast, Bitdefender let two potentially dangerous items through its scanner, while Avast, AVG, Avira and Kaspersky let three possible threats through. Panda led this ignominious category by missing 59 items.

During AV-Comparatives’ evaluations, the Defender software had five instances of false positives, tying with Panda in the false positive category. Kaspersky, which is often perfect or close to it, six instances of incorrect danger warnings.    

Finally, Defender tied with Avast and Kaspersky in September 2023 testing by SE Labs with ideal 100% scores. Mirroring the other results, only Panda fell short with a 97%  score.

Microsoft Defender review: Security and privacy features

Part and parcel of Windows, Microsoft Defender is an integral aspect of Windows 10 and 11. It provides an alluring alternative for those who want simple security. The philosophy behind Defender is to detect and disrupt dangerous software before any damage is done. 

The operating system has a built-in firewall that other security programs seek to replace or augment, often in their paid programs. The two-way barrier has settings for private and public use as well as the ability to craft new rules for what to block and what to allow through. 

The recently added Smart App Control protects new and novel exploits by blocking apps that load unsigned or unknown code. This can stop a break-in before it can do any damage.

Microsoft’s included Edge browser can filter objectionable sites, although its online protection can’t be used with other browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Safari. The SmartScreen website filter works with Chromium-based browsers and blocks links to online destinations that have a bad reputation for delivering malware.

Microsoft has focused squarely on credential thieves so that when you log in, Defender safeguards your credentials, although it does without an encrypted or onscreen keyboard. It isolates suspect accounts and prevents the lateral movement of attack vectors that could be the start of a cascade attack.

Meanwhile, the Edge Password Manager can store your login credentials in encrypted format. There’s no standalone security browser, but Edge has been hardened to stop attacks with what Microsoft calls “Defense in depth”. Beefed up with a sandbox for safely executing suspect code, there is protection against typos and unwanted apps being downloaded, the latest additions include hardware stack protection, control flow guard and an arbitrary code guard.

There’s no specific code to protect a webcam but Defender relies on the program’s ability to spot malicious behavior prior to damage being done. Meanwhile, the parental controls allow filtering of known objectionable categories and can limit screen time on PCs, phones and tablets. It can do this for Xbox game consoles but not Macs.

No doubt, there’s a lot inside Defender but it doesn’t match up with best of breed features, including the lack of a file shredder. To get access to the VPN and ID protection, you need to subscribe to Microsoft 365 for $84 or $120 a year for individual or family accounts. The bonus is that it includes all the Office 365 apps, although at the moment the VPN only works with Androids and after 10GB per month of use, the speed might be throttled.

Microsoft Defender: Performance and system impact

To gauge performance, we used our Excel-based benchmark, which measures how long it takes to match 20,000 names and addresses from a census database. Our test machine was a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 with an Intel Core i5-7200 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 250GB solid state drive with 175GB of free space. This notebook ran Windows 10 with the latest updates, which means that, unlike the others, there’s no way to uninstall Defender. 

As a result, there’s no post-installation/pre-scan benchmark score. It took 10.2 seconds to run the benchmark with the program in place that is equivalent to the baseline scores of the others. Using the scanner was at a large cost in terms of system resources, with the benchmark time rising to 16.4 seconds – a 61% drop in performance potential versus the baseline score. This makes Defender a resource hog compared to the likes of Avast Free Antivirus’s 14% change.

Microsoft Defender took 55 minutes and 31 seconds to run its first scan and fell to 54:12 on the third pass. This makes it one of the slowest to examine the entire system. This is particularly the case because its scans were thorough with Defender looking at 1,123,314 files, although Avast’s scan of 1,116,463 items took less than half as long. 

Its quickie scan had a lighter touch, using fewer system resources. It took 15.0 seconds to run the benchmark, which translates into a better but still poor showing of a 47% decline from its initial score. By contrast, the best was Panda’s 11% rise in benchmark time. 

The Quick Scan of the most pressing threats looked at 39,965 files, quite a lot but more than 50% fewer files compared to Panda. It took two minutes and 11 seconds but by the third scan, it was down to 1:34 for 20,872 items, making it a mid-range performer.

Microsoft Defender review: Interface

The Windows Security Center continues to be the center of attention, but it can take several clicks to get to it, rather than a single click for most of its competitors. The best way to get to the Security at a glance home page is to type “Windows Security” into the search box or to put a shortcut on the desktop. 

Happily, its pages can run full screen and have go-back arrows, and the left side category menu is a big organizational help. On the downside, many of the windows require scrolling to see everything. For instance, the main Security at a glance page has seven areas that range from Virus & threat protection to Firewall & network protection to Device security. Unfortunately, on an HD screen, Family options is below the digital fold and requires scrolling.

The Virus and threat protection page has Current threats, Protection settings and Protection update sections with a checkmark or red mark next to it to show whether it requires your attention. It’s easy to start a Quick Scan from here, but to run a Full Scan or just of a file or folder, I needed to go a level below to Scan Options.

There are detailed settings under the surface, like using OneDrive’s online storage to backup key files as protection against a ransomware attack; the program lacks the ability to automatically rollback affected files. I was able to turn real-time protection on or off and the defenses can use Microsoft’s cloud presence to enhance and speed protection. Below there’s a place to use the program’s tamper protection that protects Windows code from being subverted by a virus, a vital protection that many freebies lack. There’s also a way to submit a virus sample for analysis.

While the Device Security controls the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) settings and the Secure Boot operations, the Firewall is open to new rules for what gets stopped.

The App & browser control can help get to the right level of filtering webite without it becoming onerous and the Device performance & health has a nice Health report. While it’s not strictly about security, it encompasses everything from whether you’re running out of storage space to whether your notebook’s battery is flagging.

There’s also the Privacy review, which checks your settings. My set up needed changes to the password authenticator to enhance the safety of my online world.

Defender relies on the Windows Task Scheduler to set up automatic scans, a daunting task. It shouldn’t be a deal-breaker because the system’s default setting is to look for viruses and threats when the system is idle.

The Settings icon in the lower left is where I chose from installed security software, although I only had Defender on this system. The screenshot below is from a system that is protected by Bitdefender Total Security but can revert to Defender.

Microsoft Defender review: Installation and support

The company couldn’t have made security easier. Just turn on your PC and it’s automatically protected against a wide variety of threats. 

That said, Defender’s support is better than most in the free world and includes the ability to call or email technicians with a problem or just ask a question. This service is usually reserved for paid customers by competitors. 

In addition, the online self-service section has lots of resources. They range from getting started assistance to cybersecurity tips to help protecting Office files.

Microsoft Defender review: Verdict

With features that others reserve for their paid plans, Microsoft Defender stands out from the crowd of free security products by making protection as easy as turning a system on. Its inclusion of a password manager, firewall and tamper-resistant code makes it a viable competitor to free and many mid-level security programs. On the downside, some features only work with Microsoft products and Defender’s scanning engine can put a big burden on the system. 

Its overall protection is good and users of Microsoft 365 users get Defender for Individuals that adds a VPN and dark web scanner to protect an online life from disruption as well as ID protection services that include $1 million of insurance to cover the costs of an identity crisis. 

With nothing to install, Defender does the hard work of protection, but you don’t need to do anything. For once, the lazy person’s approach just might be the best.

You've likely heard of various types of malware that threaten your privacy, but one of the most prevalent forms of spyware out there are keyloggers. A keylogger silently operates on your computer, recording every keystroke you make and transmitting sensitive information such as passwords to a hacker.

It's important to be aware of keylogging because even if you use cybersecurity tools like the best VPN to try and protect your data, they can still compromise your privacy and security in a way that’s very difficult to recover from.

This article is a guide to all things keylogger, from what exactly they are, to how they work and how they target your devices specifically. This knowledge is key to defending against keyloggers, so read on for more information on how to keep safe from this data-stealing malware.

What is keylogging?

Keylogging is when the keystrokes you make on your keyboard are recorded by a third party, for example a hacker. Every time you press a button on your keyboard, you’re sending a keystroke to your computer. This sends a signal to your computer, which its operating system records and acts upon.

This is important to remember when we talk about software and hardware keyloggers, but you should know that anything you type on your computer has to be processed inside it, and therefore can be stolen by a keylogger.

There’s two different but related concepts at play here. The first is keystroke logging, which is the actual act of recording anything you type on your computer. Keystroke logging can be carried out in a few different ways, which brings us on to the second concept, keylogging tools. These are the actual methods that someone uses to record your keystrokes.

Since keystrokes are mainly how you interact with your computer, keyloggers give hackers information about basically everything you do on your computer. In turn, this ends up compromising your passwords, your bank account details, your private conversations, literally everything that you type.

While keyloggers are often used as spyware for malicious purposes, they can also have legitimate applications. There’s a lot of parental control software out there that gives you the ability to record keystrokes, capture screens, and enable a device’s microphone or camera in order to check what your child is getting up to on their computer.

Some workplaces also use these tools (also known as bossware) to look at what their employees are doing on the clock, however it's important to note that this is illegal to do without letting their employees know that they’re being surveilled.

How does keylogging work?

There are two different types of keyloggers you’ll encounter. Both are kinds of spyware that can be used to steal your data, but the way they work is different. First, let’s go over software-based keyloggers.

Software-based keyloggers can be installed remotely without directly accessing the device they're downloaded on. Once installed, they use sophisticated malware techniques to run without the victim's knowledge or permission. This then allows the hacker to silently collect your keystrokes in the background, passing them back to themselves over email or via an encrypted channel.

Hardware-based keyloggers, on the other hand, require physical access to your computer. These devices are typically inserted between the keyboard and the computer to intercept signals. It acts as a “virtual” keyboard, recording keystrokes while also relaying them to the computer so you don't notice that there's anything amiss. From a computer’s perspective, there’s no difference between your real keyboard and the virtual keyboard that the hardware keylogger gives it.

This means it’s much harder for a computer system to automatically detect a hardware keylogger. Thankfully, you’re most likely not going to encounter a hardware keylogger in your home. If anywhere, they’re going to be installed in a public place or potentially installed on a work computer.

If you’re worried about hardware keyloggers specifically, I recommend using an OS-based virtual keyboard. This is because the keystrokes generated by this type of keyboard aren’t being generated on the keyboard, and instead are skipped altogether. However, this isn't a fool-proof defense from all keyloggers. Software based keyloggers will still pick up on the keystrokes you create, and usually they come with screenshotting software which records your screen too.

The only foolproof way to defend against a hardware keylogger is to actually physically inspect your device for any extra connections you don’t recognize.

How can I avoid keylogging software?

You should take the same approach to avoiding keylogging software as all other malware.

Rule number one: don’t click on unknown or suspicious links, especially in unsolicited emails or messages. Hackers will often use the contact books of their victims to send malware to their friends and family on the basis that they’re more likely to trust the email.

You also shouldn’t download software unless you’re sure it’s from a trusted vendor. Even if you’re only downloading software through an app store like Google Play, there’s still plenty of malware lurking out there that masquerades as perfectly innocent software. There’s too many red flags to point out here, but free software that requests excessive permissions unrelated to the app is usually the number one sign something is wrong.

It’s pretty tiresome being suspicious of every single thing being sent to your inbox, though. Inevitably, there’s going to be a day where you end up accidentally clicking something you didn’t mean to or open an attachment without thinking about it too much. You need an anti-virus solution that’s going to have your back when this happens, which is why I’d recommend you’d check out NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro.

Created by the same company behind the best VPN on the market, Nord, Threat Protection Pro builds on the anti-malware blocklist built into its basic threat protection Threat Protection. It adds in deeper ad-blocking, malware scanning, and a URL scanner that proactively protects against phishing attempts to keep you safe from any hacking attempts.

This is all built on top of NordVPN’s existing VPN infrastructure which protects your IP and encrypts your browsing traffic, hiding your data from your ISP and hackers alike. In addition to protecting you against keylogging, Threat Protection Pro protects you from a range of online threats in a single software package.

A global IT outage that has left flights unable to take off, banks unable to serve customers and emergency services unable to take emergency calls was caused by a few lines of code in software owned by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

CrowdStrike proudly declares in its X profile "We Stop Breaches." The cybersecurity company offers threat intelligence and protection from cyber attacks to a range of large companies including Microsoft and many of the big airlines.

Founded in 2011, the publicly traded company has also led several high-profile investigations into cyber espionage attacks including against Sony Pictures and the Democratic National Committee. 

It produces security software for Windows servers and it was a fault with its Falcon Sensor, designed to prevent attacks on a machine, that triggered the outage.

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, has issued a statement to say his company is working with customers to restore systems.

What is CrowdStrike?

CrowdStrike was founded by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch and Gregg Marston and has a current valuation of more than $80 billion, providing cyber security services and threat intelligence to both public sector and private organizations.

Falcon, its flagship product, is a cybersecurity platform that protects endpoints in a network through a cloud-native architecture. It can also detect and respond to incursions in a system or on a specific endpoint. That is any physical device connected to a network including servers and laptops.

The product also includes an AI-powered antivirus system that uses behavioral analysis to identify and tackle a range of threats. Falcon is widely used across some of the largest enterprise organizations on the planet. 

Outside of directly protecting organizations to "prevent breaches", the company also offers threat analysis services. Its most high-profile case was the Democratic National Committee cyber attacks in 2015 and 2016 by Russian hackers where CrowdStrike also removed the hacking programs from DNC systems.

How is CrowdStrike involved in the global IT outage?

One of the modules in the Falcon platform is Falcon Sensor. This is a system that uses sensor data to track threats and vulnerabilities within a system.

According to CrowdStrike the issue was caused by a faulty update to the Sensor software. This was pushed out to machines running Falcon, triggering a blue screen of death failure and making it difficult to get the machines operational.

Kurtz wrote on X: "CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, and isolated and a fix has been deployed. 

"We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

The problem is that system administrators warn it won't be that easy to solve as it will require a physical USB stick boot update. The machines can't get online so can't be remotely updated. As the issue also impacts laptops there could be tens of thousands of machines to update before a system is fully restored.

One anonymous sysadmin posted to Reddit: “I am sure even the most knowledgeable and resourceful hacking groups couldn't cause a disruption and damage of this magnitude." adding: “We have hundreds of Windows servers and thousands of Windows workstations affected by this.”

What impact will this have on CrowdStrike?

Overnight this hit CrowdStrike's stock price but it has since rebounded as services are restored. Some analysts have called on companies to be more careful in the software they deploy and on CrowdStrike to be better at verifying updates.

Jake Moore, Global CyberSecurity Advisor at ESET told Tom's Guide: "Businesses must test their updates and infrastructure and have multiple failsafes in place, however large the company is." However, he added: "As often it is with the case, it is simply impossible to simulate the size and magnitude of the issue in a safe environment without testing the actual network."

Moore said the global IT outage was a stark reminder of the dependencies we have on Big Tech in running our daily lives and businesses. "Upgrades and maintenance can make systems and networks more vulnerable to small errors, which can have wide-reaching consequences as demonstrated today."

Steve Dickens, Chief Technology Advisor to the Futurum Group wrote on X that "CrowdStrike will survive" as their software is too good and widely deployed.

He added: "At times like this we have to acknowledge the importance of IT Ops teams and the tireless work they do to keep our interconnected lives up and running."

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Windows laptops in 2024: our top picks
• Best Wi-Fi routers for 2024 tested and rated
• Could VPNs kill off antivirus apps?

With phones becoming more like computers, there has been a rise in the number of viruses and malware aimed at your handset. However, these horrible digital bugs can be avoided so long as you know what to look out for and what to do.

First, you need to know the signs that indicate you might have a virus on your phone. The things to look out for are random pop-ups, sluggish responses and random text messages sent to your friends. You might even see your battery drain faster or your phone gets hotter than usual. And then there's the biggest tell — fraudulent charges showing up on your accounts.

While these things are all concerning, it should be noted that you can take steps to protect yourself and remove any viruses you may have on your phone. Android and the iPhone might have different operating systems, but both are susceptible to viruses. The methods I outline below will work for protecting phones running either OS.

How to avoid viruses: Use an antivirus product

One of the best steps that you can take to guard against mobile malware is to download reputable antivirus software onto your device. You'll benefit in two ways — 1) most antivirus programs will add an extra layer of protection while warning you of potential threats and 2) you can also scan for viruses and malware and remove them.

Specific antivirus programs will go into more detail and make you aware of additional details like where a virus might have entered the phone, making it easier to avoid being infected again. They can also pinpoint which apps should be deleted from your phone. However, you can make your life even easier by knowing where most of the threats come from. 

How to avoid viruses: Don't ignore warnings

One of the best methods for steering clear of viruses is to avoid sites flagged as unprotected or dangerous. Pay attention to the URL and avoid dangerous scams designed to look like the real deal. The usual method used by scammers is to alter a site's URL.

Usually, a site's domain will end after the initial http:// and before the first /. So for instance, Google Maps would appear as http://google.com/maps. In that instance the main domain is Google. However, scammers and virus sites might instead look like this: google.com.cust_login.ie — in that instance the actual domain is cust_login.ie. 

You should also be aware excessive use of numbers and symbols in URLs, which are rarely used in normal sites. Also if the site is entirely numbers, avoid it entirely as it is impossible to know who the real holder of the domain is. 

Another method malicious sites use is to hide the link in the text. (For instance, this link for google.com actually goes to our homepage instead of to Google.) Links like these can also be hidden in ads and banners, so avoid clicking on any ads and you may want to use an ad blocker as well.

How to avoid viruses: Avoid unverified sources

One of the most common sources of viruses is from malicious downloads and apps from unverified sources. While many phones will try to lock you into downloading apps from either the App Store on iPhones or the Google Play Store on Android phones, but it is possible to change the settings to allow for downloads from other sources, particularly on Android.

The risk comes from downloading programs and documents from less-than-reputable sites that often contain hidden viruses. The rise of emulators on iPhones, and their prevalence on Android devices, has led to an increase in sites promoting ROMS of certain video games that download directly onto the device. These kinds of files can be malicious, so if you have to have that PS1 game, make sure the download comes from a well-known site and has plenty of reviews.

Downloading files is less common on mobile than on desktop, but it can still happen and it's worth knowing what to be aware of. One of the best ways to protect yourself is to have a basic knowledge of file extensions. For instance, a text document usually ends with .doc, .txt or the .pdf extension. Meanwhile. an image will have .jpeg or .png as an extension.

The main thing to note is that a verified download will always ask you if you want to download. If the the downloads happens without consent, then quickly leave the site, find and delete the file immediately, and run a scan for malware using your antivirus software.

How to avoid Viruses: Steer clear of public Wi-Fi

One of the best ways to protect your device is to avoid connecting to unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. For instance, a pub or coffee shop's public Wi-Fi options tend to have their name on display for everyone to see and easily connect to. This can allow malicious actors to create their own hotspots with the same name.

The best way to avoid this from occurring is to always connect via your phone's 4G or 5G network. Despite everyone having access to cellular networks, the service has much better security than many Wi-Fi networks. 

Still, regardless of whether you happen to be on Wi-Fi or on a mobile network, you still have to be careful. Likewise, you may have to use public Wi-Fi to get online in certain situations. When asked to sign in on public Wi-Fi, avoid giving away too much information and turn off features like AirDrop and Auto File Share. This will help make it harder for any third party to auto-install malicious apps or files onto your device. It’s also worth using a VPN on public Wi-Fi as that will encrypt all the data being sent to and from your phone, making the entire experience much safer.

How to avoid Viruses: Download and install updates

One of the best ways to protect your phone is to update your phone's software as often as possible and as soon as it becomes available. Most updates include a wealth of new security features that help to protect against known viruses and it's in your best interest to periodically check that your iPhone or Android is up to date. 

We live in a world of data, and with that comes a whole new host of threats to be aware of. However, the biggest danger from most viruses is due to not being aware of where the threats come from in the first place and not protecting yourself properly. Hopefully, this guide will help you protect your phone from most of the more common viruses. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Downloading this new browser could leave you with a nasty malware infection
• Hackers are using 'malware cluster bombs' in their attacks — how to stay safe
• Scammers are impersonating this government agency to steal your cash

The U.S. government has announced an upcoming ban of Kaspersky’s antivirus software that will go into effect next month.

As reported by The Hacker News, this “first of its kind” ban will prohibit the Russian company from directly or even indirectly selling its security software in the country. However, it also extends to Kaspersky’s affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies.

In a press release announcing the ban, the U.S Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry & Security explained that the company’s “continued operations in the United States presented a national security risk-due to the Russian Government’s offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky’s operations.”

At the same time, Kaspersky has been added to the U.S. government’s Entity List as a result of its "cooperation with Russian military and intelligence authorities in support of the Russian Government's cyber intelligence objectives." Other companies on this list include Huawei and DJI; the former's products are banned for sale in the U.S., while a ban on DJI drones recently passed the House.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. government has gone after the 26-year-old cybersecurity firm. Back in 2017, Kaspersky’s security software was banned from being used by government employees on federal networks, once again over national security concerns. Then almost five years later, the company was added to the FCC’s “Covered List” of companies that pose an “unacceptable risk to the national security” of the United States.

In response, a Kaspersky spokesperson provided the following statement to Tom's Guide:

“Kaspersky believes that the Department of Commerce made its decision based on the present geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns, rather than on a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services. Kaspersky does not engage in activities which threaten U.S. national security and, in fact, has made significant contributions with its reporting and protection from a variety of threat actors that targeted U.S. interests and allies. The company intends to pursue all legally available options to preserve its current operations and relationships.” 

What does this mean for Kaspersky customers

Beginning on July 20, American businesses and consumers will no longer be able to purchase Kaspersky’s antivirus and other security software. However, existing customers will still be able to receive updates until September 29.

If you’re a Kaspersky customer, you have 100 days to find a suitable alternative. We haven’t heard anything yet about refunds for those with annual plans but if the ban does go into effect, it’s likely the company will announce something along these lines.

Kaspersky’s antivirus has long been considered some of the best antivirus software due to its excellent malware protection, light system impact and included extras. If this ban does go into effect, we’ll be updating all of our antivirus and security software guides accordingly.

For now though, Kaspersky users should be looking for alternatives just in case. While we highly recommend Norton 360 and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, there are plenty of other antivirus software suites to consider. 

If you use Windows, Microsoft’s built-in Windows Defender antivirus is a great free option and if you use Mac, Apple also includes its own XProtect antivirus software with macOS. 

On mobile, Google Play Protect can help secure the best Android phones but there aren’t any iPhone antivirus apps due to Apple’s malware scanning restrictions. However, Intego Mac Internet Security X9 and Intego Mac Premium Bundle X9 (both featured in our best Mac antivirus software guide) can scan an iPhone or iPad for malware when either device is connected to a Mac with a USB cable.

We’ll be following the Kaspersky ban closely, so stay tuned for the latest updates.

More from Tom's Guide

• Urgent Windows security flaw lets hackers infect your PC over Wi-Fi
• Hackers are now using emoji to speed up their cyberattacks
• Chrome security alert — clicking this error will open the malware floodgates on your PC

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If you've been looking to increase your online security and privacy, no doubt you've come across suggestions that you start using a VPN. This handy bit of kit encrypts your internet connect and masks your IP address, anonymizing you online and keeping your data safe from prying eyes. Plus, the best VPNs will help you in your downtime, too, helping improve your gaming experience and unblocking content from across the globe.

With all this being said, with changing VPN laws around the world and increasing cybersecurity risks, it's natural to have some anxiety over whether VPNs are safe.

This answer is a little more complex than you might think. While there are so many excellent, secure VPNs out there, there are also some that (put simply) aren't. This can be in a range of different ways, from logging or selling your data to turn a profit, having security vulnerabilities that can be used by hackers to infiltrate their networks, or even being government-regulated and therefore useless. To avoid this, you must be careful when selecting a VPN provider.

Luckily for you, here at Tom's Guide we have thousands of hours of hands-on experience in testing VPNs, putting their claims to the test and making sure that they will keep you safe. This guide will answer your questions on VPN safety, from whether you can trust free VPNs to how travelling with a VPN can impact your safety.

What is a VPN?

A virtual private network, as the name suggests, creates a private network by redirecting your internet traffic away from your internet service provider's (ISP’s) servers and routing it through remote and privately owned (or rented) servers of the VPN provider. This essentially hides your IP address (your device’s digital signature) and replaces it with a fake one, thereby spoofing your location and safeguarding it from prying eyes.

Additionally, a VPN also encrypts your internet traffic, meaning anyone without the decryption key cannot go sneak peeking into your data or what you are doing online. Put together, VPNs are security tools that enhance your online privacy, safety, and anonymity. 

VPNs become all the more crucial when you are on an unencrypted and unsecured network, such as public Wi-Fi. By using one of the most secure VPNs, you can protect your data from exposure to those who might be trying to spy on it, whether this is hackers, ISPs, and government agencies.

While security is certainly the main draw of using the best VPN services, they can do much more than that. VPNs are also extremely popular as a means of getting around content blocks and government censorship. By using one of the best streaming VPNs, you can access geo-restricted (either by the streaming providers or your government) movies, TV shows, and sports events. 

A VPN with powerful unblocking capabilities can also help you save big bucks while online shopping or booking flight tickets by allowing you to switch to a location with lower rates and/or weaker currencies. 

If you prefer to spend your leisure time gaming, a VPN can also help you out here, too. By firing up one of the best gaming VPNs, with lightning-fast speeds and a vast network of servers worldwide, can protect you against DDoS attacks, bandwidth throttling by your ISP, and swatting, while allowing you access to region-locked games and international game sales.  

All in all, there’s lots a VPN can do, from anonymizing you on the internet and making your data unreadable to interceptors to enhancing your gaming experience and helping you access your favorite content and apps no matter where you are on the map.

Is using a VPN safe?

It’s worth noting that not all VPNs are created equal, and some low-ranking VPN providers may not be as trustworthy and secure as their high-ranking counterparts who are just better at encrypting your internet connection and hiding your online presence. 

While you can always sift through our VPN guides and rest assured that any provider you pick from there is a reliable one, if you want first-hand expertise on the matter with the ability to distinguish a safe VPN from an unsafe one, here are some things to look for:

• Verification: One of the biggest hallmarks of reliability is that the VPN app should be verified on the site you are purchasing it from. This could be the Apple App Store (if you’re looking to get one of the best iPhone VPNs) or the Google Play Store if you’re after the best Android VPN. So, stay away from third-party apps and if you are traveling to a country where VPNs are banned on online stores, make sure you install it on your device beforehand.
• No-logs policy: A safe VPN will without question have a strict no-logs policy. This means that the VPN company doesn’t store any user data, including the websites you visit or the devices you connect, your connection’s duration, location, etc., let alone sell it to third parties for a profit.
• Obfuscation: Note that the most secure VPNs come with obfuscated servers. VPN obfuscation masks your VPN usage—so, your VPN traffic will look like a normal internet connection to your ISP. This is super important, particularly in countries where the legality of VPNs is a sensitive matter. These include China, Russia, and Turkey, among others where governments constantly monitor citizens, trying to catch and therefore stifle VPN usage. If you’re caught using a VPN trying to access restricted content in these countries, you could have to pay heavy fines or go to jail. Excellent VPN obfuscation not only boosts privacy and security but also allows you to bypass VPN bans and access more foreign content, even on streaming services that are otherwise quite good at detecting when a VPN is in use. 
• Reputation: Needless to say, you must always pick a trusted VPN provider—to be cautious plus simultaneously narrow down your choices because the VPN market is filled to the brim with providers claiming to be secure when they are actually not. Popular VPN and cybersecurity companies with a large number of customers and loads of positive reviews and ratings, including from our experts in Tom’s Guide’s in-house VPN testing should be higher up on your list of VPN options. Top names that come to mind right away include ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Proton VPN, and Private Internet Access.
• Customer support: A dedicated customer service offering is often a good way of separating a rock-solid, reliable VPN from the crowd. Look for an in-depth knowledge hub with detailed guides that can help you out on the fly—and, of course, there must be prompt support through live chat, phone, and email. 

In addition to all aforementioned criteria, factors like the VPN's connection speeds, number of server locations, servers, and simultaneous connections, unblocking capabilities, price, etc. are all important things to consider when out shopping for a VPN. 

If your memo is all-round security, you will be better off with VPN providers that bundle antivirus, password managers, and parental controls into their VPN offering to keep you even safer online. What's more, such security bundles can also help you save a lot of money—because it's obviously cheaper to get an all-in-one all-inclusive package than three/four individual security software on separate subscriptions.

Are free VPNs safe to use?

The best free VPNs are those from high-quality providers like Proton VPN are designed to give you a glimpse of the tool—so that they can woo you into ultimately upgrading to a paid plan for more benefits. This means that free tiers are almost always limited in their offerings. For example, you're not going to get fast speeds, lots of server options, simultaneous connections, or rotating IP addresses, meaning you can forget about gaming or unblocking geo-restricted content with most free providers. 

However, that's just about the sweetest end of the deal you can get i.e. a free VPN that keeps no logs, doesn't embed malicious links in ads, and actually gives you basic VPN protection without having to pay a single penny. This is because most free VPNs are a privacy nightmare to begin with, rendering any and all of their offerings useless right from the outset. 

Think about it: if not as a promotion of their paid plans, free VPNs have to rake in money from somewhere for the company—and that's often through pesky advertisements that ruin the entire user experience or by logging and selling user data to third parties for a profit. Not only that, but some free VPN apps are actually Trojan horses for malicious software, and downloading them may infect your device with malware, and even allow hackers to steal your private information.

So, long story short, free VPNs are limited in their offerings at best and outright unsafe at worst. Plus, given that even the best free VPNs come with upgrades that entice you to pay for them, you’d be much better off with a premium service—and the best part is that you can use one for free. This is made possible through generous, often 30-day money-back guarantees that allow you to try it on for size and see if it is really worth it. 

To address the elephant in the room, using a premium VPN does not necessarily mean paying premium prices. Even if you're on a very tight budget, the best cheap VPNs both safe and packed with features (a great example is our #2 rated VPN overall, Surfshark), but won't break the bank.

Is it safe to use a VPN while travelling?

Using one of the best travel VPNs is crucial if you're headed a country (or countries!) where apps and services of their everyday use may not be freely accessible. This includes social media platforms, banking portals, productivity and work apps (like Slack), as well as streaming services that may be banned in the country where you are going. 

For example, social media sites like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are banned in countries including Egypt, Turkmenistan, UAE and Türkiye. Secondly, streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video offer different libraries in different countries—so, if you’re hooked on a particular TV series in your home country, you won’t be able to continue watching it the moment you cross borders.

VPNs with strong unblocking capabilities and a large number of servers located all over the world can mask your real IP address and make it appear to streaming services and governments that your device is operating from back home, thereby allowing you to circumvent restrictions and access restricted content when you're in a foreign country. 

Additionally, by hiding your internet activities, VPNs for traveling protect you from the prying eyes of foreign ISPs and governments. However, the most important takeaway here is that every scenario comes with a different safety rating. Let us explain: 

Suppose you are trying to access region-restricted content that is blocked for copyright or revenue reasons (movies, TV shows, or video games, for example). In that case, this may be in violation of the streaming or gaming service's terms and conditions—so, while it won't lead to any legal action against you, there is a high chance that your account will be terminated.

However, if you are trying to access content blocked by the government, this is most likely illegal and can result in fines or even jail time for violating these bans. Governments in countries like North Korea, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Iran, etc. that want to suppress dissidents and anti-government elements have resorted to heavy internet censorship. 

They don’t want their people watching independent news channels, interacting with the ‘free world’ through social media, or organizing large protests against the country’s government. So, it is easy to see how using a VPN in these countries to access banned content can be a criminal offense. 

The silver lining, though, is that so far there have been no reports of foreign travelers being penalized for using VPNs. However, in the spirit of ‘precaution is better than cure’ we suggest using VPN providers with obfuscated servers. They will not only encrypt your data but also hide the fact that you are using a VPN.

Without obfuscation, your internet service provider (ISP) can see that your data is being encrypted by a VPN—although it still won’t be able to access your browsing data or online activities. And if you are in a country where VPN use is illegal, your ISP can then report this to the authorities, which is likely to have legal consequences.

VPN FAQs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you spend a lot of time on the internet, whether it’s searching for funny cat pictures on Google, checking your emails, chatting to friends on social media apps, or watching TikTok videos.

But despite its many positives, the internet can also be a dangerous place. Without adequate online security, your online devices are vulnerable to threats such as data theft, malware, viruses, and third-party tracking.

As cyber security threats grow in volume and sophistication, it’s paramount that you take your online security seriously. Luckily, there are a range of tools that make it quick and simple to secure your online devices and accounts, including virtual private networks, antivirus software, and password managers.  

This article provides a guide to these software applications and how they can keep you and your new device safe online, as well as providing recommendations for which ones to go for.

Top 3 VPNs to protect your devices in 2026

One of the best ways to improve your online security and privacy is by installing a virtual private network (or VPN) on your device. A good VPN service will conceal your actual internet protocol (IP) address and encrypt your online data, re-routing it through private servers.  

This will prevent cyber criminals, internet service providers, advertisers, and governments from tracking your online activity, compromising your data, and finding out where you live. However, because VPN servers are based in all parts of the world, they can also help you access TV shows, websites, and other internet content not available in your country.

How to pick a VPN to protect your new device online

When it comes to choosing a VPN service that will keep your devices safe online, there are a number of things to consider. The best VPNs offer features such as kill switches, leak protection, strong encryption, zero-log policies, and a range of security protocols.

A top-rated VPN service will also offer reliable servers located in different countries, easy-to-use apps that work on a variety of platforms, the ability to access major streaming platforms, 24/7 customer service, and competitively priced subscriptions that suit different users and budgets.

Besides enhancing your online security and privacy, VPNs also have many other uses. You can get VPNs for accessing specific streaming platforms, such as Netflix and iPlayer, and torrenting. Understanding the key use cases of different VPNs will guide you in choosing the most suitable provider. 

Although you can use a free VPN, they typically have a number of limitations. These include stringent data restrictions, in-app adverts, dismal performance, and no customer support. Some free VPNs may even compromise your online security by logging your data. Whether you choose a premium or a free VPN service, it’s worth reading online reviews before making your decision. 

VPN FAQs

The best antivirus to protect your devices in 2026

Downloading and installing antivirus on your device is another great way of staying one step ahead of cybercriminals. This software is capable of spotting and removing malware, viruses, and other online security threats. Premium antivirus apps also offer advanced features such as password managers, built-in VPNs, and parental controls. 

How to pick an antivirus to protect your new devices online

There are a few things to remember as you choose an antivirus provider for your device, namely the number of devices it’ll support, the types of malware and viruses it’ll remove, its malware detection rate, the platforms it supports, and its price. 

If you want a well-rounded antivirus application that’ll protect your devices from a range of online threats, it’s worth checking whether the provider has features like a password manager, a VPN, identity protection, and email and web protection. 

Should you use several multi-platform devices, it’s probably worth considering an antivirus app compatible with any operating system. Before purchasing a premium antivirus app, you can take it for a spin by signing up for a free trial.

While there are some free antivirus services out there, they’re unlikely to offer protection against new and advanced cybersecurity threats. You’ll also miss out on advanced features like password managers and VPNs.

Using antivirus software FAQs

Top 3 password manager to protect your devices in 2026

Using the same password for all your online accounts can be tempting as it’s easier to remember, or perhaps you’ve created different passwords but have noted them down on paper. 

What you may not realize is that both these common practices can leave your accounts vulnerable to hacking. With a password manager, you can create strong, unique passwords for all your accounts and access them from a single app.

How to choose a password manager to protect your new devices online

A password manager is a great way to improve your device’s security, but how do you choose the best service? Deciding what you want to get out of a password manager is an important first step. Obviously, the main aim of this software is to create secure passwords and manage them all in one place. 

Beyond this, password managers also offer many other security features, such as data breach alerts, the ability to store credit card numbers and other personal information, and built-in VPNs. Typically, these features will cost an additional fee.

If you’re planning on using a password manager on multiple devices, you’ll want a provider that provides multi-platform apps. You should also check how many devices you can use under a single subscription. 

Another important consideration is how you want your passwords to be stored: locally on your device or on a private server. Device-based storage means it’s less likely that your passwords will get into the wrong hands, but loud storage will automatically sync your passwords across all your devices. And if you ever lose or break your device, you can easily recover your passwords with cloud storage.

Using a password manager FAQs

How we test software

At Tom's Guide, we review everything from smartphones to electric scooters and subject them to a comprehensive range of tests based on real-world scenarios. When product testing, we check to see if manufacturer claims are accurate. We also review products based on factors such as their design, usability, features and price, comparing them to their competitors. 

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

If you're looking to unblock content from across the globe, keep your data safe from prying eyes or anonymize yourself on the internet, then using of of the best VPNs will help you achieve this. This is down to its ability to encrypt your browsing data and mask your IP address.

Due to their anonymizing and content unblocking abilities, VPN bans have gained momentum, especially in countries that don't want citizens to get around the internet censorship laws put in place by the government.

This has led to VPN useage being restricted, or even made illegal in a number of countries. These restrictions can be in a range of different ways, either via only allowing government-approved providers, severely reducing the VPN's usefulness by instructing them to only allow users to access specific sites, and blocking all access to content, websites and social media platforms banned by the government. Under these restrictions, trying to access the blocked content is illegal.

Even in countries where VPN useage is completely legal, using a VPN to access the region-locked content libraries of streaming services or gaming platforms may be against their terms of service, and can even result in your account being terminated. Another important thing to note is that while using a VPN may not be illegal, committing illegal activity while using one still is.

One thing's for sure – there's a lot of conjecture around the legality of VPNs. Here, we'll attempt to clear the air and end any confusion around this topic.

Is using a VPN illegal?

No, using a VPN is not illegal in most countries around the world, but the situation is slightly different and a bit more nuanced in privacy-invasive countries like China, Russia, and Türkiye as well as countries that like to maintain strict internet censorship.

While the US and UK, for example, feel that it is perfectly alright for their citizens to use a VPN to protect their privacy on the internet as well as access geo-restricted content, other governments ban or restrict VPN usage for more or less the same reasons, for example they don't want their citizens to access specific content like news channels, social media platforms, or websites harboring offensive or harmful content such as pornography.

Additionally, VPNs can be used to stay anonymous on the internet—they hide the user’s real IP address and route their internet traffic through encrypted “tunnels” therefore hiding their online activities and communication. So, government authorities resort to banning VPNs for national security concerns or for surveillance and control.

For example, VPNs in Myanmar have come under heavy scrutiny because the military there wants to maintain its strict censorship of the internet. The proposed law reads that if you are caught using a VPN in Myanmar without obtaining express permission from Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), you can face up to three years of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to US $2,500. This is similar to what Iranian citizens are facing, too.

The most important thing to remember regarding the legality of VPNs is that the activities that are illegal when you are not using a VPN are still illegal when you are. In other words, even in regions where VPNs are legal through and through, using a VPN does not negate the illegality of the activity—and you may be caught using a VPN even if your IP address is masked.

It is also worth noting this is a controversial and volatile area, with governments constantly debating the scope of VPNs and whether their use aligns with how they would like their citizens to tinker around with the online world. So, the situation in any given country may change drastically at any time with the introduction of a new law.

For the same reason, it is recommended that you do a little research if you are traveling to a country with sensitive VPN laws—although there have been no reports of travelers being punished or their devices confiscated for using a VPN.

Where are VPNs illegal?

The list of countries that have either completely banned or heavily restricted VPNs is a long one. Let’s look at them one by one to understand their current stance on VPN usage.

China

It is not officially illegal to use a VPN in China. However, only those VPNs are allowed to operate in the country that follow the Chinese government’s internet censorship and regulation system, often known as “The Great Firewall of China.”

If you are caught using an unlicensed VPN that does not comply with local regulations, you can be slapped with a massive penalty, put in jail, or even lose your job.

Russia

The VPN situation in Russia is very similar to China—VPNs are legal but heavily restricted by the government. All approved VPNs must operate within the Kremlin’s legal framework and block access to websites and content that have been banned by the government.

Not only that, but they must also log user data and provide it to the government for inspection. The best workaround is to use an independent VPN with class-leading obfuscation—just make sure you install it before heading to Russia.

Belarus

All VPNs are completely illegal in Belarus as the government there does not want its citizens to use the internet anonymously. For the same reason—and to suppress dissent, restrict free speech, and prevent anti-government sentiments from spreading—the Belarusian government has also banned the Tor Browser and messaging apps like Signal and Telegram. If you are caught using a VPN, it could result in a hefty fine.

Türkiye

Much like China and Russia, Türkiye, too, is dead set on internet censorship. Citing reasons of national security, the Turkish government has banned all major VPN providers as well as the Tor network, news channels, websites, and social media platforms including Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

Iraq

The Iraqi government, since 2013, has banned all VPN providers and defaulters can land up in jail for a year if found using a VPN. Plus, unlike China, Russia, and Türkiye, there is no such thing as government-approved VPN providers in Iraq.

The primary reason for such heavy censorship is to prevent the spread of polarizing content and terrorism—there were reports claiming that ISIS had been hiring people through the Internet. Although Iraq’s internet censorship powers are not as potent as China's or North Korea’s, it can still block social media platforms as and when it deems necessary.

United Arab Emirates

VPNs, although legal in the UAE, have to comply with the government’s strict regulations to operate freely. This includes the complete banning of all offensive and harmful content such as those involving pornography or political dissent. What’s more, the government has also banned VoIP apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook—to maintain a monopoly on these services.

While the rule reads that anyone caught using a VPN in the UAE to access the aforementioned restricted content can have to pay a fine of roughly $550,000 or face temporary imprisonment, there have been no real-world instances where such a punishment has come to pass.

Oman

Like the UAE, the Omani government likes to maintain airtight control of the internet as well. It allows VPNs to operate but only under the condition that they block objectionable content such as pornography and drug use. If authorities catch you using a VPN to access banned content, you may have to pay fines of up to $1,277—nowhere as steep as in the UAE, but certainly significant.

Plus, if you are an institution or organization in Oman, you must obtain express permission from Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to be able to use a VPN as a business.

India

Using a VPN is completely legal in India—plus, the Indian government hasn’t placed any restrictions on the type of content that can or cannot be accessed using a VPN. In short, there are no fines or punishments attached to VPNs in India.

The only catch is to not use a VPN with physical servers in India. This is because, in 2022, the Indian government instructed all VPN providers to store user data and share it with the authorities if they wished to have physical servers in the country. Following this move, all reputed VPNs like NordVPN and ExpressVPN shut down their servers in the country and now offer virtual servers located outside India but in nearby countries such as Nepal and Bhutan.

Iran

You can legally and safely use only government-approved VPN providers in Iran, which is a concern because these services are instructed by the government to monitor users, log their data, and hand it over to the authorities.

Egypt

VPN laws in Eqypt are almost identical to Oman’s and the UAE’s—VPNs are allowed but with restrictions. These include blocking access to VoIP services such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype, and Viber for security concerns, as well as restricting access to content that the government considers inappropriate for its citizens.

It is also worth noting that the government monitors and censors online activity, so while going against the government’s wishes and accessing restricted content is already incredibly difficult, if you manage to find a way through and are caught doing so, you might face serious fines or jail time.

Turkmenistan

A landmine for internet users, Turkmenistan has not only completely blocked and illegalized all VPNs, but it has also banned social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Viber, and Twitter. Next, to maintain tight control over the internet, the government constantly monitors the online activities and social media traffic of its citizens—so, it is extremely difficult to bypass content blocks, even with obfuscated servers.

There have been reports of citizens being arrested in Turkmenistan for using a VPN and accessing content on social media that’s not aligned with the government’s agenda. In one of the most extreme cases of a VPN ban, the Turkmenistan government has also hiked internet prices in an attempt to discourage people from using social media.

North Korea

As one of the most repressive countries in the world, it is no surprise that VPNs are illegal in North Korea. Not only that but even the internet as we know it is unavailable to North Koreans—they can only access the national intranet called Kwangmyong. The government does not want its citizens to access outside news, so it has put in place severe penalties for those caught using a VPN or any other internet circumvention tool.

Uganda

Uganda is perhaps the only country that has attempted to block VPNs for economic reasons. Recently, the government introduced a social media tax where it would tax its citizens for using social media platforms—a move like no other and baffling, to say the least.

Naturally, using a VPN is an excellent way to circumvent this rule, which is why the government then instructed the ISPs to block VPN users. However, VPNs are so far completely legal in Uganda, so all you have to do if you are in Uganda is pick a VPN provider with good obfuscation.

Is it legal to use a VPN to access content blocked in my region?

Whether or not it is legal to use a VPN to access region-blocked content depends on where you are, and what content you are trying to access. For example, if you are on your school or work computer trying to bypass blocks put in place by your school or organization, it won’t be illegal but depending on how strict the authority is regarding those restrictions, you may find yourself in trouble for it—but no heavy fines or punishment, of course.

Next, if you are trying to get around content blocks put in place by a streaming service, a video game, or an online shopping website (to avail of discounts), for example, this, too, won’t result in any legal action. However, since you would most probably be in violation of the service’s terms and conditions of use, you can have your account terminated.

Streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video offer different libraries in different locations, but if you are dead set on accessing foreign content, including games you can only play with a VPN, choose from our list of the best streaming VPNs and best gaming VPNs as they come with powerful unblocking and obfuscation capabilities—meaning they can hide the fact that you are using a VPN, so the service then can’t detect your VPN traffic, let alone ban you.

Lastly, and the only scenario where trying to access restricted content may be illegal, is when you are trying to access content blocked by your government. Countries like China, Russia, Turkey, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates allow VPNs to operate but instruct them to block certain content such as news channels, pornography, and social media platforms—either to suppress dissent and anti-government sentiments, maintain national security, ensure that the citizens’ online habits are in line with the nation’s moral ethics, or control the internet in general.

If you’re caught using a VPN trying to access restricted content, it can result in fines or even jail time. Then there are countries like Belarus and Iraq that have completely banned all VPNs and you may be punished or have your device confiscated for simply having a VPN installed on your device.

The best foot forward is to always stay informed about the laws dictating VPN usage in your country or the country you are visiting.

Can you get caught using a VPN?

Yes, you can get caught using a VPN. Although VPNs do a great job at masking your real IP address and replacing it with a fake one as well as encrypting your data to make it unreadable to hackers, ISPs, and government authorities, they cannot hide the fact that you are using a VPN.

This means that while your internet service provider (ISP) can’t look into your browsing data and find out what you are doing online, it can easily see that your internet traffic is being encrypted by a VPN.

So, if you are in a country where using a VPN is illegal—Turkmenistan or North Korea, for example—your ISP can report that you are using a VPN to the government authorities, which is likely to have legal consequences, including fines and imprisonment.

However, you will be glad to know that there is a tried and tested workaround—using a VPN with obfuscated servers. In simple terms, obfuscation makes your VPN traffic look like a normal connection, meaning that the fact you are using a VPN stays hidden. Additionally, it also allows you to bypass VPN blocks and use the VPN service in countries that have otherwise banned VPN use.

However, it is crucial that you pick a provider with excellent obfuscation—otherwise, you risk exposing VPN traces in your connection which could then be picked up by your ISP. If you are after a quick answer, go for ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or Proton VPN. For more details about the providers, check out our most secure VPNs page.

VPN FAQs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Whether it's to learn, play games, or watch their favorite content, your child likely spends a lot of time online. So, as a parent or caregiver, you need to take proactive measures to protect your child from the dangers of the internet, such as data theft, cyberbullying, and illegal surveillance.

Tom's Guide experts have reviewed the best security software in the industry and suggest installing a high-quality VPN, an antivirus, and a password manager on your child's device(s). Together, these tools will hide your child's internet activities from snoopers, safeguard their device from malware and viruses, and prevent their personal details from leaking to the web and therefore falling into the wrong hands.

We also recommend including a parental control app in this security suite, as it'll allow you to monitor your child's online habits and location, as well as prevent them from accessing inappropriate content. We've done the hard yards for you, scouring the market and testing every single security software, so keep reading to find out what the best cybersecurity tools are.

The best VPN in 2026

A VPN can spoof your child’s IP address and encrypt their internet traffic, hiding them on the internet and keeping them protected from snooping third parties like hackers, ISPs, and government entities.

In addition to cranking up your child’s online security, the best VPN services can also allow them to sidestep geo-blocks and access their favorite movies, TV shows, and games, as well as enhance their online gaming experience by keeping DDoS attacks and ISP throttling at bay.

We’ve scoured the VPN industry, and these are our top three recommendations:

How to pick a VPN to secure your child online

A VPN on your child’s device must be able to protect them against prying eyes. For this, look for a VPN with rock-solid security in the form of a fully functioning kill switch, leak protection, strong encryption protocols, and a clear-cut no-logs policy.

Next, you’d want a VPN with a vast network of servers and fast and reliable connections so that VPN users in your family can connect to locations of their choice – either for work or play. At the same time, if you want a VPN for streaming geo-exclusive content, make sure it has servers in regions whose content library you want to unblock.

Your budget is going to play a crucial role when choosing a VPN. The key is to match your budget with the features you want, and luckily for you, most top VPN services are very reasonably priced. However, if you’re pinching for pennies, check out our list of the best cheap VPNs.

Ease of use and customer support are important as well. Look for a VPN with simple apps on various devices and round-the-clock support via channels like email, live chat, and/or phone so that your children can sail through slight hiccups with ease.

Using a VPN FAQs

The best antivirus in 2026

The best antivirus software will protect your child from malware, viruses, and ransomware, as well as cyber criminals trying to infiltrate your child’s device and steal their personal data.

Plus, many antivirus providers bundle other recommended protection software like VPNs and/or password managers in their offering, allowing you to fully protect your child online with just one purchase.

With this in mind, the antivirus providers we’ve picked out for you are all-in-one security packages, offering extras like dark web monitoring, identity theft, and bundled VPN/parental controls.

How to pick an antivirus to secure your child online

Needless to say, you’re getting an antivirus, first and foremost, to stay protected from malware. So, pick a solution with at least a 95% malware detection rate – and it shouldn’t churn out a lot of false positives, either.

To find an ideal antivirus for your needs, you can bank on our detailed antivirus guides and combine our findings with the ratings given by independent labs, such as AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives that thoroughly test every single antivirus solution by throwing various malware files at it.

The extent of protection you want is another important consideration. If you’re well-informed about healthy cybersecurity practices or if you don’t want to spend too much on an antivirus, you can opt for entry-level plans – even free antiviruses such as Avast Free Antivirus, Windows Defender, AVG AntiVirus Free, and Bitdefender Antivirus Free can meet basic protection needs.

However, if you want a solution that’s awash with advanced security features (which would be apt for protecting your children), we recommend choosing a full-fledged internet security suite that can not only cover a lot of devices, but also offer real-time web protection, dark web monitoring, password managers, parental controls, backup software, and more.

Also, if you want your child to be able to navigate the antivirus app with ease, pick a solution that’s easy to use. So, look for simple interfaces and prompt customer support.

Using antivirus FAQs

The best password manager to protect your child online 2026

A password manager on your child’s device(s) will safeguard their personal information, such as their login credentials to various online accounts, banking details, etc. from falling into the wrong hands. Such security is promised by the best password managers’ strong encryption, identity theft protection, anti-phishing features, strong password generators, and more.

Here are our top three recommendations:

How to choose a password manager to secure your child online

Before anything else, make sure the password manager you’re considering employs rock-solid encryption and a strict no-logs policy to protect your passwords and passkeys.

The next most important thing is to decide whether you want a cloud-based manager or one that stores data locally on your device. The former is much more practical and convenient in today’s day and age where each individual has multiple devices and would like their data synced across all those devices.

While cloud-based password managers are generally very secure – and none of our top recommendations have been breached, ever – local storage is undoubtedly more secure, as your stored information never reaches the internet.

One of the key advantages of picking a password manager is the additional perks it offers, so naturally, that’s a factor you cannot ignore – plus, it’ll also affect the price you’ll be paying for the password manager.

Although basic and free password managers offer the same level of protection and storage for passwords and passkeys as premium-level plans, they don’t come with security extras such as biometric authentication, password sharing, multi-factor authentication, simultaneous logins, and more. For the right price, some of them can also offer dark web monitoring and bundled VPN/antivirus.

Last but not least, consider the password manager’s ease of use. It should allow you to migrate easily (i.e. if you’re already using a password manager) and offer straightforward apps with everything clearly spelled out.

Password managers FAQs

The best parental control app in 2026

A parental control app is a great way to keep your child’s online activities in check, ensuring their safety. You can restrict their access to objectionable websites, set screen time limits, find out who they're chatting with – whether they’re friends or predators posing as friends, as well as zero in on their location.

We’ve tested dozens of solutions, and these are the three best parental control apps right now:

How to choose a parental control app to secure your child online

The best parental control app for your child depends on their age. If they’re under 12, look for an app that allows you to block inappropriate websites and apps.

However, if your child’s a teenager, app blocking may not be your #1 priority, but you’d still want to be aware of what your kid is doing online, including who they’re chatting with and where they are.

So, lean towards parental control apps that offer location tracking, a website filter, an app blocker, screen-time limits, and compatibility for both Android and iOS, especially if your child has multiple devices like a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop or PC.

Next, depending on your needs, you can also prioritize apps that offer geofencing, call and text logging, and the ability to block phone numbers, as well as those that cover multiple children (and their devices) on a single plan.

We also recommend opting for plug-and-play apps, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. This means choosing apps that are easy to install, have clear-cut interfaces, and offer prompt support.

Parental control apps FAQs

How we test software

Tom’s Guide experts test every software first-hand for a minimum acceptable number of days where we evaluate the provider’s ease of use, performance, usability, design, and value for money.

For this, we follow Tom’s Guide’s comprehensive testing methodology. First, we download all apps offered by the provider, including its Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android clients. We also test other platforms, such as browser extensions.

Next, we dig deep and find out whether the features work as it says on the tin. This includes trying to break the kill switch on a VPN, intentionally downloading malware to test an antivirus’s malware detection capabilities, and monitoring the target device’s activity from multiple devices (for parental control apps).

To accurately rank the products on our buying guides, we evaluate every single tool’s value by putting the features it offers and its asking price into perspective, as well as considering what its competitors are offering and at what prices.

While we’re dabbling with an app, we also draw conclusions on its design and usability – is the interface easy to navigate, and are the settings in the right place? Lastly, we test the platform’s customer support by throwing various curveballs at the agents and recording their response time.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Whether you've got a brand-new computer for gaming, work and/or play, you need to protect it (and yourself). Unfortunately, the internet is awash with cybercriminals trying to steal your sensitive information and use it against you, whether this is through financial fraud, identity theft or other cybercrimes. 

At Tom's Guide, we've tested the best security software and we believe that a combination of a good VPN, an antivirus, and a password manager is a strong defense against those trying to track your IP or attempting to infect your new computer with malicious software like viruses, malware, or ransomware. 

Now, there are hundreds of “security” solutions trying to lure you into buying them but in reality, they don't deliver on their promises. Our Tom's Guide experts have looked beyond their advertised claims, tested them hands-on, and filtered out the best ones for you in this guide. 

The best VPN in 2026

A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and gives you a new IP address, making it look like you’re in a different location than your actual, physical one, thereby keeping you protected from hackers, ISPs, and governments, and unblocking content restricted in your region. 

We test dozens of providers daily, and these are the best VPNs on the market right now: 

How to pick a VPN to secure your computer

When selecting a VPN, the first thing you should look for is a VPN provider with excellent security and privacy credentials. Not only should it offer a rock-solid kill switch, strong encryption, and leak protection, but it should also follow a strict no-logs policy—meaning it never stores or shares your personal data with any third parties.

The next most important thing when choosing a VPN is the number of locations on offer. Ideally, the provider you pick should have a massive fleet of servers spread nicely across the world. This way, you will be able to enjoy stable and fast connections from and to the countries of your choice, such as one that's home to your favorite content library.

The number of devices you want to protect is also an important consideration. Providers like Surfshark and Private Internet Access come with unlimited simultaneous connections, allowing you to share the VPN’s security with all your friends and family members.

Next, if you’re on a tight budget and cannot quite grab the best premium providers, we recommend picking one of the best cheap VPNs. Regardless of how much you’re paying, make sure the provider boasts robust customer support with quick response times and in-depth resources. 

Using a VPN FAQs

The best antivirus in 2026

The best antivirus software is a must-have for your new computer, as it not only provides potent defense against malware, viruses, and ransomware but also keeps your device running smoothly.

Tom’s Guide experts review top antiviruses across core aspects like ease of use, performance, extras on offer, and value for money. These grabbed the top three spots:

How to pick an antivirus to secure your computer

The primary task of an antivirus is to identify and eliminate malware, so, needless to say, the malware-detection rate of the provider is a high priority. Bitdefender, Norton, and Trend Micro boast the best malware detection and at the same time, do not churn out a lot of false positives either.

Your new computer deserves the best upkeep, so pick an antivirus solution that’s light on system resources. If you’re not a techie, we highly recommend that you pick an easy-to-use antivirus that allows you to run scans from the home screen. However, if your memo includes deep customization, solutions like Avast that let you fine-tune settings will fit your bill better.

As is the case with any purchase, your budget is pivotal. Although free antivirus products such as Avast Free Antivirus, AVG AntiVirus Free, and Bitdefender Antivirus Free all offer solid malware protection, if you can splurge a little, we recommend opting for higher-tier plans.

This is because premium products come packing tons of extra cybersecurity tools for all-round protection, including parental controls, dark web monitoring, password managers, backup software, identity protection, and online storage, as well as the ability to protect multiple devices simultaneously. 

Using antivirus FAQs

The best password manager in 2026

A password manager is an essential part of your digital security toolkit, storing your passwords, passkeys, and other frequently used information from intruders while also cranking up your online accounts’ privacy through strong password generators, identity theft protection, anti-phishing features, and more.

Here are the three best password managers you can consider getting in 2026: 

How to choose a password manager to secure your computer

The most important decision you have to make is whether you want a cloud-based password manager or one that stores data locally on your device. The former is more convenient and allows you to sync your passwords on all of your devices in real time, while the latter offers a security advantage—your data doesn’t reach the internet giving you full control over it.

It’s worth noting that almost every top password manager can store an unlimited number of passwords, so the extra features offered can help you decide which is the right one for you. Depending on your needs, you may look for a password manager that offers add-ons like data breach alerts, parental controls, or dark web monitoring and/or one that can also store other information such as your credit card details.

Unlike VPNs and antiviruses, the only trustworthy choice we’ve come across in our testing as far as free password managers are concerned is Bitwarden, as it offers premium-level features such as cross-platform synchronization and two-factor authentication without asking for a single penny.

Other important factors include solid customer support and the password manager’s compatibility with the device you wish to use it on. At the same time, all of its apps and browser extensions should be easy to navigate.

Password managers FAQs

How we test software

We get hands-on with every software we recommend, such as VPNs, antiviruses, password managers, and parental control apps. Our testing methodology equips us to look beyond the marketing blurb you can find on the provider’s website and find out whether it actually works as advertised.

For this, we sign up for the services, download their apps on every single compatible platform, and conduct multiple rounds of testing where we evaluate their features, ease of use, performance, and if they offer good value for their price. While we’re at it, we also draw conclusions on the platform’s design—does it feel premium or cheaply built?

We’re aware of the pain of picking the wrong software, which is why we ensure that we only recommend the best tools in the industry. We do not take payments for software reviews, our opinions are based on extensive testing, and if a product doesn’t live up to the hype, we’ll tell you why. 

Also, we constantly update our buying guides, chopping and changing the order and even replacing a few tools if need be—all to make sure that our reviews are, at all times, accurate and relevant.

Shielding your child's phone from potential threats like data breaches and identity theft is paramount, especially after Christmas when many of us buy (or receive!) gadgets. Start with a dependable VPN to encrypt their online activities, fortifying the cloak around their privacy. 

Enhance protection with antivirus software, actively guarding against malware for a secure digital space. Integrate a password manager for robust security, crafting unique and resilient passwords for every account. Finally, instil peace of mind with parental controls, filtering inappropriate content, and managing screen time effectively.

The best VPN in 2026

A VPN encrypts the data transmitted from your child's device, turning it into unreadable code. This ensures that even if someone intercepts the data, they won't be able to decipher it. 

Because your child's IP address is like their digital fingerprint, it can reveal their real physical location. A VPN masks this address, providing anonymity, and keeping their identity hidden and safe, preventing hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities and accessing your child's photographs, chats, and other sensitive information.

Here are three of our best VPNs: 

How to pick a VPN to secure your child’s phone

When deciding on a VPN to safeguard your child's phone, there are some crucial criteria to consider. For instance, if you are unfamiliar with VPNs you’ll want to go for something more user-friendly. This will also ensure that implementing and managing the VPN is a straightforward process, contributing to a hassle-free experience for parents overseeing their child's online safety.

You may also want to look at the security features the VPN offers. This may include advanced cyber security abilities for an added layer of protection, a reliable kill-switch that ensures instant disconnection in case of VPN interruptions, or robust leak protection to prevent any accidental exposure of sensitive information. 

You may consider using a free VPN for your child’s tablet, and while there are many options available, they can fall short. Many free services impose limitations on bandwidth, server locations, and aren’t up to the latest security standards, potentially leaving your child vulnerable to online risks. By investing in a reputable paid VPN service, such as Surfshark which offers a cost-effective solution at just $2.50 per month, you ensure comprehensive security at a price that doesn’t break the bank.

How we test VPNs

When evaluating VPNs for child safety, we prioritize features like robust content filtering and parental controls, ensuring parents have an easy way to block inappropriate content. 

Our main concern is privacy, so we thoroughly check VPN providers for strict no-logs policies to protect children's online activities. We also focus on user-friendliness, making sure the VPNs are simple, clear, and easy for parents to navigate, especially for those less tech-savvy. 

Security features like a kill switch and leak protection are crucial for a safe online experience. We also consider device compatibility, aiming for consistent performance across various devices kids might use. Additionally, we highlight VPNs that provide educational resources for online safety and stress the importance of responsive customer support for parents with concerns.

Using a VPN FAQs

The best antivirus in 2026

Antivirus software serves as a frontline defense against cyber threats, scanning apps, files, and websites for potential malware and viruses. Identifying and neutralizing these threats prevents malicious software from infiltrating your child's phone, safeguarding their personal data, and securing their digital environment.

The best antivirus solutions offer real-time protection while browsing, blocking access to harmful websites that may contain phishing scams, inappropriate content, or other online dangers. 

Our favorites below provide insights into the behavior of installed applications, helping parents monitor and control the apps their child uses.