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What Is The Best Antivirus Software For Windows 10

The all-time Windows 10 antivirus software in 2022

A woman typing on a laptop displaying a green lock icon, with a plant behind the laptop.
(Image credit: thodonal88/Shutterstock)

Keeping one of the best Windows 10 (and Windows 11) antivirus programs installed on your PC will deliver first-rate protection against malware, ransomware, phishing scams and other attacks — all without costing too much.

Some of these programs come with a ii-way firewall to supplement the Windows one. Others offer a secure browser for online banking and shopping, "rollback" of files that take been encrypted by ransomware, and advanced protection to stop all sorts of nasties: phishing emails, malicious weblinks, fileless malware or boot-sector infections. And all of them support both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

However, these inexpensive, entry-level programs don't provide most of the extra features that you get with higher-priced internet security suites. Only a couple of the best Windows 10 antivirus programs offer VPN service or password managers, and none has parental controls.

We've looked at the best Windows x antivirus programs to meet how well they protect you against malware infection, how much they slow down your system and how much you should exist paying. Because everyone has different needs, we've also got tips on how to choose the all-time Windows 10 antivirus software for you.

The best Windows x antivirus you can buy

Box art for Kaspersky Anti-Virus, 2021 edition.

(Paradigm credit: Kaspersky)
(opens in new tab)

The best protection, with few frills

Specifications

Backup software: No

Firewall: No

Game way: Yes

Hardened browser: No

Password manager: Express

Ransomware rollback: Yes

Virtual keyboard: Yes

VPN: Limited

Wi-Fi scanner: Yep

Reasons to buy

+

Excellent malware protection

+

New stalkerware protection

+

Light load during scans

Reasons to avoid

-

Not many actress features

-

VPN, password manager but teases

If you want the very best Windows x antivirus protection, Kaspersky Anti-Virus should be your first choice. No other brand of antivirus software matches its nearly impeccable record in tertiary-party lab tests.

The company'southward entry-level package, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, covers up to 3 Windows PCs for $60 per yr, or upward to five for $fourscore, though you lot'll ofttimes get half off for the first year.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus doesn't give many of you the extra bells and whistles y'all'll find with more expensive security suites. At that place are no parental controls, the password managing director holds only 15 entries and the VPN service is limited to 300MB per twenty-four hour period. (Yous tin pay extra to get unlimited versions of those.)

But Kaspersky Anti-Virus does requite you what you need: dedicated protection confronting encrypting ransomware, a filter against phishing emails, browser extensions to beef up web safety and a security scanner for your habitation Wi-Fi network.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus also has new protection against "stalkerware" spying programs that the company is rolling out across all its antivirus products.

Read our total Kaspersky Anti-Virus review .

Box art for Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, 2021 edition.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)
(opens in new tab)

Very good protection with lots of useful extras

Specifications

Fill-in software: No

Firewall: No

Game mode: Yes

Hardened browser: Yes

Password manager: Yes

Ransomware rollback: Yes

Virtual keyboard: Yes

VPN: Limited

Wi-Fi scanner: Yeah

Reasons to buy

+

Very proficient malware protection

+

Lots of useful extra features

+

Light agile scans

Reasons to avoid

-

Heavy groundwork system affect

-

VPN service quite limited

If y'all want some extra features with one of the best Windows x antivirus programs, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus offers a lot for its depression pricing, which ranges from $40 per year for a unmarried PC to $80 for 10 machines.

There's an unlimited password manager (Windows-only for now), a secure browser with an onscreen keyboard for online banking and shopping, a file shredder and new web-privacy software.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus also has a VPN service, but it's limited to 200MB per solar day unless you pay actress. And of course, in that location are no parental controls. However, the program is like shooting fish in a barrel to use, its malware-detection record almost matches Kaspersky's and it also rolls back ransomware and guards against fileless malware and rootkits.

Read our full Bitdefender Antivirus Plus review .

Box art for Norton AntiVirus Plus, 2021 edition.

(Image credit: NortonLifeLock)
(opens in new tab)

For those who deserve the very best

Specifications

Backup software: Aye

Firewall: Yes

Game mode: Yeah

Hardened browser: No

Password manager: Aye

Ransomware rollback: No

VPN: Depends

Wi-Fi scanner: No

Reasons to buy

+

Excellent malware protection

+

Backup software, online storage, countersign manager

+

VPN if you lot're willing to pay a bit more than

Reasons to avoid

-

Heavy slowdown during total scans

-

Pretty pricey for a unmarried PC

Norton sells nine dissimilar antivirus packages, but we'll focus on the two cheapest hither. Norton AntiVirus Plus protects ane PC or Mac for a rather pricey $60 per year, but it does come with a 2-mode firewall, an unlimited countersign manager, fill-in software and 2GB of online storage.

The next rung up, Norton 360 Standard, puts you in net-security-suite territory by adding an unlimited VPN, webcam protection, dark-web scans for your personal information and 10GB of online storage. But at $85 per year for a single PC, it might a bit rich for some customers. Other brands cover up to 10 PCs for that cost.

On the upside, Norton's track tape at finding and defeating malware is second only to Kaspersky'south. If you don't mind paying a premium toll for an entry-level antivirus parcel, or if you were planning to pay for a VPN or password director separately, you could exercise a lot worse.

Read our full Norton AntiVirus Plus review .

Box art for ESET NOD32 Antivirus, 2021 edition.

(Image credit: ESET)

Very good and innovative protection, just rather spare otherwise

Specifications

Backup software: No

Firewall: No

Game mode: Yes

Hardened browser: No

Password manager: No

Ransomware rollback: No

Virtual keyboard: No

VPN: No

Wi-Fi scanner: No

Reasons to purchase

+

Very skillful protection

+

Extremely light organisation-performance impact

+

A la card pricing

Reasons to avoid

-

Few extra features

Compared to other all-time Windows 10 antivirus programs, ESET NOD32 Antivirus is similar a street-racing hot rod — light, cheap, fast and effective, just with few extra frills.

It's got the smallest drag on system operation of any paid antivirus product we've seen, information technology zaps malware with the best of them, and it's got a unique per-device pricing structure than ensures you pay no more than than you demand to.

ESET's extra features are under the hood. It scans a PC's starting time-up sector, running memory and Registry for hidden malware and also blocks known malicious websites. Merely if yous're looking for convenient goodies like a countersign manager, VPN or firewall, y'all'd meliorate look elsewhere.

Read our full ESET NOD32 Antivirus review .

Box art for McAfee AntiVirus Plus, 2021 edition

(Image credit: McAfee)
(opens in new tab)

10 devices at deal rate, and off-white number of useful extras

Specifications

Backup software: No

Firewall: Yes

Game mode: Yes

Hardened browser: No

Password manager: No

Ransomware rollback: Yes

Virtual keyboard: No

VPN: No

Wi-Fi scanner: No

Reasons to buy

+

Protects lots of machines for cheap

+

Decent array of extra features

+

Good malware protection

Reasons to avert

-

Heavy system bear upon during scans

-

Can't opt out of data collection

McAfee AntiVirus Plus is a bargain among the best Windows 10 antivirus programs if you accept a lot of computers and smartphones to protect. For $60 per year, you can cover upwardly to 10 devices running Windows, Mac, Android or iOS, and McAfee doesn't heed if y'all add a few more than.

Windows users get a file shredder, ransomware rollback, a firewall and protective browser extensions. McAfee AntiVirus, without the "Plus," delivers the aforementioned features to a single Windows PC for $40 per twelvemonth.

McAfee'southward malware protection hasn't always been the all-time in lab tests, just it'due south improved a lot in the past year. The simply big downsides today are very heavy organisation slowdown during active malware scans, plus the fact that y'all can't terminate threat-data drove from your PC if you lot cull not to accept information technology.

Read our full McAfee AntiVirus Plus review .

Box art for Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security, 2021 edition.

(Paradigm credit: Trend Micro)
(opens in new tab)

Proficient protection but very Spartan

Specifications

Backup software: No

Firewall: No

Game mode: Yes

Hardened browser: Yep

Countersign manager: No

Ransomware rollback: Yes

Virtual keyboard: No

VPN: No

Wi-Fi scanner: No

Reasons to buy

+

Very good malware protection

+

Secure browser

+

Cheap

Reasons to avoid

-

Heavy performance hit during scans

-

Many false positives on some tests

Trend Micro does very well in some lab tests, simply its Antivirus+ Security packet is even more Spartan than ESET's among the best Windows 10 antivirus programs. For $40 per year for one PC, yous become a gaming mode, a secure spider web browser for online banking, ransomware rollback and an email screener to baby-sit against phishing attempts.

The downsides are that yous'll meet a pretty heavy arrangement slowdown during scans, so make sure to run them during off hours. Yous may as well get a lot of faux positives, or benign items flagged as suspicious, which may indicate that Trend Micro's malware-detection engine is a bit overtuned.

Read our full Tendency Micro Antivirus+ Security review .

How to cull the best Windows 10 antivirus for you

As with all kinds of software, yous demand cull Windows 10 antivirus programs according to your needs and your upkeep. The best bang for your buck lies with Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, as it's fairly inexpensive and has an unlimited countersign manager, a file shredder and its own secure browser.

If you've got deeper pockets and merely one single PC to protect, yous might consider Norton AntiVirus Plus or Norton 360 Standard. Both give you an unlimited password manager, and Standard adds unlimited VPN service and dark-web personal-information monitoring.

If you've got Macs and Android devices to comprehend as well as Windows x machines, McAfee AntiVirus Plus will take care of y'all at a bargain rate — $60 covers 10 devices. But McAfee'due south malware defenses are not quite equally good as those of Norton, Bitdefender or Kaspersky.

To go the best Mac antivirus software or the best Android antivirus apps as office of a bundle, you've ofttimes got to upgrade to midrange antivirus software, if not the premium tiers.

Of course, if all you desire to practise is keep your PCs gratuitous from malware, then Kaspersky Anti-Virus is the best choice. It doesn't practise much only block malware, phishing emails and dodgy websites, but information technology does these things better than the rest.

How we test the best Windows 10 antivirus programs

We evaluated each Windows x antivirus program based on its interface, performance, protection and extra features.

Was the program intuitive and convenient? Did malware scans badly slow organisation performance? Was it constructive at detecting and removing malware? Did the program come up with any useful additional tools?

Our tests were performed on a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 (opens in new tab) with a 2.5GHz Core i5-7200U processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of solid-state storage containing 43.3GB of files.

To gauge each program'due south bear upon on system performance, we used our custom Excel test, which measures how long a PC takes to lucifer 20,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. The longer the chore takes, the heavier the system bear on.

For malware-detection performance, we referred to the results of tests conducted by  three independent labs: AV-TEST (opens in new tab) in Germany, AV-Comparatives (opens in new tab) in Austria and SE Labs (opens in new tab) in England.

Each lab periodically subjects major antivirus programs to stress tests involving thousands of pieces of malware, including hundreds of "nada-mean solar day" samples that the software has to larn to recognize.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul commuter, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting effectually in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown upwards in random TV news spots and even moderated a panel give-and-take at the CEDIA home-technology conference. You tin follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

What Is The Best Antivirus Software For Windows 10,

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-windows-10-antivirus

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