Paid or Free?

Paid antivirus software typically offer better support and greater protection features than the free ones. Internet security suites go a step further, offering useful features, including firewalls, parental control, etc.

Top Antiviruses

Top Antivirus Software for PC

Best Price: $59.95 Symantec's Norton is one of the oldest and most well-known PC protection software around. It is an established player in the antivirus market, and Symantec's extensive experience in this area makes it one of the top contenders in the game. Norton Security with Backup offers a total of 10 licenses, designed to cover all your personal devices, including your PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. Also, apart from the regular antivirus features, Norton also offers anti-spam, identity protection, two-way firewall, PC tuneup and backup facility. This package is easy to install, and puts only a light load on the PC and other devices. It features a clean and user-friendly interface, effective tuneup and optimization features, along with 25 GB of shared online storage space. As such, even though it is pricier than most other offerings in the market, Norton still turns out to be very good value for money.

Best Price: $39.33 For online protection, the Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 offers one of the most complete packages. It provides all the useful features that you would expect in an Internet security suite, including an antivirus software, anti-spyware, online protection (Internet banking included), and one-click PC optimization and tuneup. Additionally, it features configurable predefined settings for specific uses, like gaming, watching movies, working, etc., along with a startup organizer. The installation process is pretty straightforward, and the front-end has a modern tile-based interface. The optimizer is capable of taking care of junk files, registry entries, as well as privacy related issues and settings. The greatest selling point of the Bitdefender is its impeccable scanning capability. It is able to clearly distinguish between legitimate and malicious software, putting forth almost no false positives. It also has an excellent detection and prevention record for both, known and unknown malware types. Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 lacks a two-way firewall, parental control, online backup, and anti-theft. It also marginally slows down the PC. However, considering that it has one of the best (if not the best) malware protection, we feel it is worth investing in. Also note that, if you are willing to spend more, you can get the Bitdefender Total Security 2015 suite, comprising all the features mentioned above.

Best Price: $34.99 Webroot SecureAnywhere is perhaps the future of PC-protection software. It is impossibly tiny, and yet, it manages to outperform some of the most renowned names in the business. The Webroot installation file is only about 750 KB, which after installation in the system only takes up a little over an MB on the disk. One of the secrets to its small size is that, unlike most other conventional antiviruses, it doesn't maintain a local malware signature on the machine, and instead uses its cloud service for detection and identification. Webroot features a very basic user-interface, comprising the usual buttons and switches which can be used to run scans and turn other features, such as Real-time Shield, Web Shield, and Firewall on or off. This software is able to identify a threat, both, using its cloud-based database as well as by employing the more recent heuristic scanning methods. Webroot has earned positive reviews on several independent tests and reviews, and except for the fact that it requires a constant net connection to work, it is perhaps the lightest and most efficient antivirus software at present.

Best Price: $29.21 The only thing 'micro' about the Trend Micro Internet Security is its price tag, which is significantly lesser than the competition. This is a big and powerful offering from a company that has been around for almost 25 years, and has been constantly updating its products, making them more upscale and contemporary. The Internet security suite offers antivirus, anti-spam, identity protection, parental control, and PC tuneup. It offers a look-ahead type browser protection, which categorizes sites as good or bad depending upon the experience gained from other Trend Micro users. It also scans the privacy settings of social media to protect your virtual identity. The user interface features numerous animated icons, sliding panels, and popups, making it fun to use. Although the scanning speed of this protection suite is on the slower side, it does manage to compensate for it with highly accurate scans and minimum false positives. It performs exceptionally well for identifying and isolating, both, widespread malware types as well as the new and unknown ones, and doesn't bog down the performance of the computer system to a great extent. On the down-side, Trend Micro doesn't have a backup or a password manager functionality. Also, it is a Windows-only suite, and so if you wish to protect your Android or Apple-based devices, you will have to purchase the top-of-the-line Maximum Security product.

Best Free Antivirus

Best Price: Free As mentioned previously, a free antivirus software cannot match the levels of protection and features offered by the paid ones. However, the Avira Free antivirus, with its array of contemporary features, manages to give a number of paid protection software a run for their money! It provides very good malware protection, coupled with a few other useful features, such as child protection, mobile protection, scan scheduler, etc. Avira can be easily downloaded from its website without even needing to create an account. The installation process too is as simple as it gets. The best part perhaps is that, unlike other freeware, it doesn't nag you to upgrade to the paid version. The Avira user interface is very minimalistic, and does take some getting used to. Also, this software considerably slows the system down. Avira claims that it uses the same malware detection mechanism in the free version as it does in the paid one. Considering this to be true, the free version should offer premium levels of protection against both, widespread as well as new malware, making it the best free antivirus software in the market.

Best Antivirus For Mac

Best Price: Free If you are a Mac user, the best things in life (at least the best antivirus) is free. Now, in the digital realm, there are very few malware that can actually affect a Mac. However, they are out there, and so it is better to be protected. Also, since this protection can be availed for free―in the form of the Sophos Antivirus―there is no need for a second thought. Sophos antivirus is a neat little program, with a spartan disposition. It has a limited number of core features and capabilities, which we feel is sufficient for the already less-vulnerable Mac. It is easy to install, and has a minimalistic user interface, which still manages to do what it is supposed to. Sophos doesn't have a quick scan option, but it does let you schedule a scan and even customize one. It even scans Windows-specific malware, preventing them from spreading via Mac over a network. Sophos also includes some other protection features that run in the background. It automatically scans the files being accessed, and has a Secure Web Browsing feature that scans URLs across all major browsers, and blocks users from accessing the potentially dangerous ones. Though Sophos does bog down the Mac's performance, it manages to put up very good detection results―in par with the top antivirus software out there―and considering that it does all this for free, it is our top pick for Mac.

Best Antivirus For Android

Best Price: $14.99 With the growing popularity and prowess of Android-based gadgets, the number of Android malware too has been on the rise. Since many of us are inclined to do a lot of our online dealings, including bank transactions and email messaging, using these devices, to be safe, it is best to ensure that they are virus-free. From among the hundreds of Android antivirus applications out there, the Avast! Mobile Security for Android is our top pick for this job. The free version of the Avast application itself packs more punch than most other paid Android antiviruses. The paid version, at $15, however, is all you can ever hope for and even dream of in terms of mobile protection. In addition to a comprehensive full mobile scan, some of the intuitive extra features of this application include privacy adviser, customizable blacklist, firewall, SMS and call filter, app-locking, app-manager, anti-theft, and even options for rooted phones and devices. Avast offers a full application scan, which can also be scheduled to run on certain days and times of the week. It also provides real-time scanning, which scans applications as and when they are installed. File shield and URL scans are other useful features of this antivirus. A very useful feature of this program―the geofencing―automatically marks your device as lost if it moves beyond a certain range. If your device is stolen, the Avast backup utility can prevent data loss by saving all your important data on Google Drive. Last but not the least, the privacy protection prevents unauthorized usage of selected apps on your device without entering a PIN. Avast performs well for malware-detection, and hardly slows down the device it is running on. Thus, thanks to its excellent malware protection and a plethora of anti-theft and privacy-protection features, Avast is our best choice for an Android antivirus.