by Stephan Kubrik
digitalwelt Lead Columnist for IT Security
Updated: November 2024
Headquartered in Prague, the Czech manufacturer Avast made a name for itself mainly through its free offering beginning in 2001. 16 years later, Avast gained the most antivirus market share out of any other competitor, which is no surprise considering they have more than 200 million users.
Pros
- Impressive Firewall
- Great Malware Protection
- Randsomware Protection
- Password Manager
- Decent Interface for Navigation
- Great Bonus Features
Cons
- Some Security Features Require Downloading Chrome
- No Ability For Parental Control
- Password Manager Has Limited Features
- Slow Scans
4.9 
Avast’s product development has made significant advances in 2024. The paid version of Avast Antivirus has special advantages over the free versions. First of all, Avast Internet Security provides decent protection for PC’s. If you use Avast, you definitely don’t need any other antivirus software.
We compared Avast Internet Security 2024 to other antivirus software and can recommend both the free and the paid version. Here we put together the most important reasons you should choose Avast over other competitors.
Top Antivirus Tools 2024
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Avast Internet Security Virus Coverage
4 out of 5
The Avast’s antivirus software is praised in 2024 exclusively. Even Tavis Ormandy, Google computer hacker and security expert, has taken the antivirus software to heart and subjected it to extensive testing.
In his detailed review he found out that the software has no security holes. Hackers no longer have a chance to install viruses, malware or malicious cookies on the computer without Avast knowing about it.
Threats are listed by the security department of Google and tested on various virus killer platforms. If no antivirus program is installed, hackers can, for example, access online banking, read and manipulate data from external computers and access emails due to specific security vulnerabilities. After analyzing Avast we found that it was able to provide valuable services and protect against hackers.
Although the likelihood your computer will experience such vulnerability is not very high, it still remains a security risk, which can be avoided by installing antivirus software like Avast. In most cases, Avast not only protects against the usual computer viruses, but also the sophisticated viruses that can otherwise find their way onto a computer. Avast proves that it can provide comprehensive virus protection without any problems.
Avast Internet Security User Reviews
4.5 out of 5
Avast user reviews on both social media and popular rating websites are vehry positive.
According to an analysis with Social Listening, the leading American service provider for social listening, 80% of statements made about Avast Internet Security 2024 are positive, while 15% are people asking questions, and only 5% are negative — mostly these are about installation or computer problems. These can occur, for example, when trying to install Avast on a computer that already has an antivirus program installed. Therefore, it is recommended that you remove the other software components before installing Avast.
A few user reviews reported the free version having more issues than just ads. Apparently the free trial continuously prompts users to update to the paid version of Avast. In some very rare cases, Avast randomly charged user accounts for the paid version, but this has since been resolved with their great customer support.
4.9
Advertisements on the Free Version
On the free version of Avast, the user is served with advertisements. Most users express dissatisfaction when they use the free software and do not want to see advertisements. Avast is one of the few antivirus vendors to offer their services completely free — however, the user must then accept occasionally seeing ads.
Consumers are motivated to buy more Avast products. In the free version, some of the messages are designed to give the impression that the computer is not secure and the purchase of additional Avast Security is necessary. However, the fact is that even the free version provides ample protection. However, if you would like to buy Avast and skip all the advertisements, we recommend Avast’s paid version.
Avast Antivirus Software Performance Review
5 out of 5
We analyzed computer load times with and without Avast Internet Security running in the background on Windows 7, 8, & 10. We found reboot times to increase 10% when running Avast and noticed slight delays when watching movies and playing various games. In fact, on various test computers we saw a 19% increase in lag times surfing the internet in some rare cases. Lastly, we noticed random “startup” updates occurring, however infrequently. Nonetheless, this can be resolved.
We concluded that users should not run Avast until after Windows starts and is loaded completely — after system services. This is something you can change easily by going under the main interface then settings. In addition, users can change the settings so updates are not occurring after the computer starts.
Avast Internet Security Value for Your Money
3.5 out of 5
At Avast, prices may fluctuate, depending on what Avast is currently offering. We analyze Avast’s prices frequently. The one-year subscription costs $59.99 and Avast offers virtually no discounts. The price remains stable and virtually unchanged due to Avast taking up 20% of antivirus software market share. If you are looking for a cheaper price, you will not find it on the Avast website. However, partner companies of Avast offer discounted pricing depending on the season. As you may know already, $59.99 is almost twice as expensive as Avira. Even Norton Antivirus 2024, which takes first place in our 2024 reviews, is cheaper ( Norton review can be read here). We recommend visiting the offer below of Digitalwelt regularly, as it changes constantly:
Avast Support/Service Tested in 2024
4.5 out of 5
Avast, like many other antivirus companies, relies on digital channels for support. Especially their personal forum, forum.avast.com, is one of the largest discussion forums in the antivirus software industry. If you want to reach Avast directly, you first have to search through their website with a questionnaire until you finally arrive to the email form. There you can mention your question or concern. We tested it and immediately received an answer within 24 hours, which is great compared to other competitors. However, we could not find a phone number on the Avast website.
Avast Internet Security Overall Rating & Review of 2024
4.7 out of 5
Avast Internet Security is one of the most powerful antivirus software on the market for both Mac and PC. However, Avast is much more expensive than their rival competitor, Norton Security. Thus, they are trying to position themselves as providing a product worth the extra money. Whether this price point is worth the money can be argued. It is interesting to note that users are very loyal to Avast: once you use Avast, your license is always extended and you will not find any complaints. This shows that Avast has become a fan product. And that’s exactly what Avast is about: Existing customers are willing to pay the price because they love the product. However, it is not easy to win new customers with this high price point. Our recommendation: If you are not satisfied with your current antivirus software, try Avast. You too can become a fan.
4.9
by Stephan Kubrik
Stephan Kubrik is a Computer Scientist and expert on VPNs and computer viruses. Stephan has been researching for the Fraunhofer Society and has been developing software for the autonomous discovery of computer viruses and trojans using artificial intelligence.
He was previously a Research Associate at the Technical University of Cologne, studied Computer Engineering, and regularly publishes in IT magazines and journals, including the PC Magazine and digitalwelt.
digitalwelt Lead Columnist for IT Security
Top Antivirus Tools 2024
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One of the advantages of Avast 2021 is not just it’s reliability and broad antivirus protection but also the price. At only $55.99, it’s one of the most affordable deals you can find among reputable antivirus tools.
The first IT’S should be ITS — the possessive form of IT. As you used the second instance correctly, you know that IT’S means IT IS or IT HAS.
I installed Avast Internet Security and it deleted all the tabs I had open before installing and also deleted my entire search history. It will take me ages to find the sources I was using (the result of many, many hours painstaking searches for digitised documents covering the period from Domesday to the late middle ages) thinking that Avast would continue as before to load all the tabs I had open each time I turned on my computer. There should be a warning to that effect, so that one can at least save the urls before installing Internet Security.