Avast Free Antivirus for Mac review: Basic protection, free

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There is a distinction that every software company’s marketing department must make regarding what is a demo, what is a free trial, what is a teaser, and what is the full-featured version of a product it intends to release. The free version of Avast Security for Mac, Avast Free Antivirus, combines a powerful antivirus/anti-malware core with several other modules, each with its own varying degrees of success.

Downloading and installing the software is simple; Avast Free Antivirus requires macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later to be installed. The installer somewhat surprisingly places an uninstaller in your Mac’s Applications folder for easy removal, a nod to convenience. Once installed, the software both creates a network extension for itself and requests full access to your Mac’s hard drive, which is handled effortlessly by the installer.

Like similar Mac antivirus programs, Avast’s antivirus suite is centered around several modules (Smart Scan, Virus Scans, Scam Guardian, Traffic Monitor, Network Inspector, Email Guard, Ransomware Shield, Core Shields, and Quarantine), each with its own settings and functions.

Smart Scan updates virus definitions and performs a surface-level viral scan, while its Advanced Issues feature scans for ransomware, network vulnerabilities, and fake website threats. However, you must subscribe to unlock additional features. Expect to see frequent ads offering Avast Security’s upgraded subscription package and its expanded feature set.

Other modules, such as Traffic Monitor, follow up on features available in previous versions, and it’s fun to see where your internet traffic is moving through and how much data you’re using. Network Inspector takes this to the next level, offering a full network scan as well as a list of every device currently on the network, so you can be alerted if a device has connected that shouldn’t be there. Granted, this is just a random set of network controls compared to a dedicated application, but it’s a good tool to have on hand if you’re curious about what’s happening on your network.

The virus scanning module is the heart of the app, as you would expect, and there is a lot to complement it. Avast’s viral definitions are up to date, the application can scan .zip and .dmg archives, there is a good level of customization with the preferences, and it is easy to build a whitelist.

Scanning external volumes is easy and the scheduling function works well, but the function itself doesn’t pop up and declare it’s running; you need to go into the virus scan module to see it work. The Deep Scan feature is quick, although it could benefit from a timer that declares how much time has passed and/or an ETA for how much time is left, and the overall antivirus element pairs well with macOS’s Gatekeeper and Xprotect systems, which block anything suspicious (you really have to bypass various dialog screens to warn you about what’s wrong with malware). This, in turn, equates well with the Core Shields module, making it that much harder to install malware on your Mac.

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Unfortunately, the remaining modules are locked by subscription. The Email Guard module is handy and links to 22 different types of email accounts (such as Gmail, Outlook, etc.), but it’s only available with a Premium account and there’s no way to try it without paying (with a subscription, it gives decent warnings about spam and scam emails.)

The Webguard module’s success rate is sporadic, and after clicking through to dozens of questionable links in my Gmail spam folder, it let me visit the link that claimed I had a cash payment of nearly $14,000, but caught other scam-related links and redirected me away from them as needed.

Ransomware Shield, the included sister module, also requires an upgraded account to access, and again there is no demo available in the free version, providing a missed opportunity to show what the software is capable of.

The Scam Guard module, an AI-assisted application, did not work very well in the free version of Avast Antivirus Free. You can drag and drop emails, images and other files onto it to determine how scam-related they might be. Unfortunately, it ended up being a disaster. While an innocuous .jpg of a sleeping puppy came up as non-scam-related when I dropped more questionable emails on it, it didn’t give any feedback that the content was linked to anything scam-related.

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The module completely failed when I fell into a PDF file with a Bitcoin ransom scam email claiming that I have been videotaped via my webcam and that this would be sent to my friends, family and contacts unless several thousand dollars were sent via Bitcoin to the sender. This is the height of a phishing attempt, a ransom attempt through and through, which the Scam Guardian module did not interpret correctly. The AI ​​assistant was of no help at all.

How much you should expect from a free antivirus is debatable, but Avast claims that the free antivirus includes the AI-powered anti-scam protection, online fraud defense and safer browsing and email, so really it’s fair to expect that these elements would work.

Avast will easily let you know that its Ultimate subscription level is available for free for 60 days, and all you have to do is enter a credit or debit card or PayPal information to set this up, and it will state that nothing is due today and that you will receive a reminder seven days before billing. If you want to upgrade from Avast’s free version, the retail version sells for $4.09 per month for the first year of support for one Mac, or $49.08 for the first year if paid in full. Read our full review of Avast Premium Security.

Should you use Avast Free Antivirus?

Is Avast’s free version worth trying? Yes. The antivirus/anti-malware core is as good as it’s ever been, if not better, and the supporting modules pretty much round it out and add to its functionality. Still, Web Guard is hit or miss, Scam Guard felt like the Hindenburg on a day off during testing, and the constant barrage of reminders to upgrade to the paid subscription levels is annoying.

There is some credibility here, but this application doesn’t know where it stands between freeware, trialware and a full-featured retail version, and there’s something to be said for releasing a full-featured trial version for a given period of time and letting the user see what the software can actually do.