Avast One Essential review

Avast
One
Essential
is
the
free
starter
product
in
its
Avast
One
range,
a
powerful
set
of
security
suites
with
an
excellent
antivirus
and
an
array
of
bonus
security
layers.

Avast’s
strong
core
protection
engines
block
access
to
phishing
and
other
malicious
websites,
for
instance.
Downloads
and
incoming
emails
are
scanned
for
threats,
ransomware
protection
shields
files
in
your
most
sensitive
folders,
and
a
firewall
helps
to
control
which
processes
can
access
the
web
and
which
can’t.

That
already
beats
some
of
the
competition
(Avira
Free
Security
doesn’t
include
full
system-wide
web
protection),
but
Avast
One
Essential
is
just
getting
started.
A
free
VPN
may
not
allow
you
to
change
location,
but
it
includes
a
very
generous
5GB
data
a
week
(Avira’s
free
VPN
offers
500MB
a
month);
and
there
are
tools
to
scan
your
network,
find
missing
app
updates,
identify
Windows
security
holes,
tweak
your
privacy
settings,
and
a
whole
lot
more.

Looking
for

antivirus
software
only?
Avast
Free
Antivirus
has
the
same
leading-edge
protection
engines,
but
far
fewer
extras,
and
may
be
a
better
choice.
But
if
you
like
the
sound
of
a
free
antivirus
with
more
features
than
many
paid
security
suites,
Avast
One
Essential
is
well
worth
a
closer
look.

Avast
One
Essential:
Getting
started

Some
companies
(hi,
Bitdefender)
offer
free
security
but
demand
you
‘create
an
account’
first,
which
involves
handing
over
your
email
address
and
maybe
other
personal
details.
Avast
and
Avira
are
exceptions;
both
companies
recommend
that
you
register
your
email
address
with
them,
but
that
isn’t
necessary,
and
you
can
install
and
use
the
software
entirely
for
free.

(That’s
not
just
a
theoretical
privacy
point;
it
has
practical
benefits,
too.
Bitdefender
doesn’t
allow
you
to
use
its
free
app
on
more
than
three
devices
per
account.
As
Avast
doesn’t
know
who
you
are,
you
can
install
its
software
on
as
many
Windows,
Mac,
Android
or
iOS
devices
as
you
need.)

It’s
important
to
pay
attention
when
installing
Avast
One
on
Windows.
If
you
accept
all
the
defaults,
it
also
installs
Avast’s
secure
browser
and
makes
it
your
system
default.
That’s
such
a
major
change
that
we
would
prefer
Avast
to
use
an
opt-in
system,
where
the
browser
isn’t
installed
unless
you
specifically
ask
for
it.
Still,
it’s
clearly
highlighted
during
setup,
and
as
long
as
you
read
each
installation
screen,
you’ll
be
able
to
turn
down
the
browser
with
a
single
click.

Avast
One’s
installer
does
have
one
very
unusual
plus:
you
can
set
Avast
to
Passive
Mode,
which
installs
the
scanner
but
not
real-time
protection.
The
advantage
of
that
approach
is
you
can
run
Avast
One
alongside
another
antivirus
without
conflicts,
use
the
other
antivirus
to
detect
threats
in
real-time,
but
run
Avast
One’s
scanner
on
a
schedule
or
on
demand
for
extra
safety.
That’s
not
necessary
for
most
users,
but
could
be
a
welcome
extra
touch
if
you’re
looking
for
the
maximum
antivirus
protection.

Avast
One
Essential:
Interface

Once
the
Avast
One
App
launched,
it
displayed
six
tiles
covering
its
various
functions.
We
could
run
a
Smart
antivirus
scan
or
connect
to
the
VPN
with
a
click,
clean
our
browsing
history
or
our
full
hard
drive,

update
drivers
or
optimize
system
performance.
It’s
a
little
cluttered,
but
we
quickly
found
our
way
around.

Avast
One
mostly
does
its
antivirus
work
in
the
background,
without
you
noticing,
but
there’s
one
exception.
If
you
run
a
file
it’s
not
seen
before,
Avast
stops
it
and
spends
up
to
60
seconds
scanning
the
file
for
threats.
If
you
regularly
download

open
source
or
other
small
tools,
then
this
might
happen
a
lot,
and
it
can
become
very
annoying.
But
it
is
good
for
security,
and
if
it
gets
too
much,
you
can
always
turn
the
feature
off.

An
Explore
menu
has
individual
options
covering
Avast’s
various
antivirus,
privacy
and
performance
features.
It’s
good
to
see
these
clearly
highlight
features
which
aren’t
available
in
the
free
edition;
there’s
nothing
more
annoying
than
repeatedly
choosing
some
exciting-looking
option,
only
to
get
the
same
old
screen
saying
‘nope,
sorry,
can’t
have
that
unless
you
pay.’

Overall,
Avast
One
Essential
looks
good
and
is
reasonably
easy
to
use
for
simple
tasks,
but
poor
organization
of
features
caught
us
out
occasionally.
Avast
One
has
the
ability
to
exclude
items
from
scans,
for
instance,
but
instead
of
making
this
available
from
the
Scan
Center,
Avast
hides
it
away
in
a
Settings
menu
in
the
Account
area.
If
you
like
Avast
but
don’t
need
Avast
One’s
lengthy
feature
list,
Avast
Free
Antivirus
gives
you
the
same
protection
engines
in
a
modern,
simpler
and
more
straightforward
interface.

Avast
One
Essential:
Protection

We
track
the
performance
of
all
the
top
antivirus
apps
as
reported
by
independent
testing
labs
including
AV-Comparatives,
AV-Test,
MRG
Effitas
and
SE
Labs.
Most
providers
submit
their
full-featured
paid
versions
for
testing,
but
Avast
sends
its
free
edition,
which
shows
a
lot
of
confidence
in
its
power.

That
confidence
seems
fully
justified,
too.
We
keep
an
aggregate
score
of
antivirus
performance
across
nine
major
tests,
and
currently
Avast
is
equal
first
with
Bitdefender
and
McAfee.
(ESET,
F-Secure
and
Norton
are
equal
fourth,
and
Avira
follows
in
seventh
place.)

Lab
results
are
important,
but
we’re
always
keen
to
run
further
tests
of
our
own.
We
began
by
attempting
to
access
50
of
the
latest
phishing
URLs,
as
collected
by
experts
OpenPhish.
Avast
did
a
good
job,
blocking
86%
immediately.
Avira
Security
Free
scored
a
little
better
in
recent
tests
with
a
90%
protection
rate,
but
that
was
with
a
browser
extension
only.
Avast
One
is
better
overall
because
it
has
system-wide
browsing
protection
which
covers
every
browser
and
app
on
your
device.
(And
even
if
you
prefer
Avira’s
browser
extension,
there’s
nothing
to
stop
you
using
it
alongside
Avast
One.)

We
switched
to
our

malware
test,
and
tried
to
download
a
series
of
very
dangerous
files
from
50
brand
new
links.
Avira
Free
scored
a
90%
protection
rate
in
its
last
test,
but
this
time
Avast
One
won
out
by
blocking
94%
of
threats
either
at
the
URL
level,
or
when
the
files
hit
our
hard
drive.
(We
didn’t
test
further
but
Avast’s
full
protection
rate
will
be
even
higher
because
even
if
malware
isn’t
detected
on
download,
Avast’s
behavior
monitoring
detects
most
new
threats
by
their
actions.)

Avast
One
Essential:
VPN

Avast
One
Essential
includes
a
free
edition
of
Avast’s

free
VPN.
This
automatically
connects
you
to
the
nearest
server
and
doesn’t
allow
you
to
change
location,
which
means
you
can’t
use
it
to
unblock
streaming
content
in
other
countries.
It
has
a
data
limit,
too,
but
that’s
exceptionally
generous
at
5GB
a
week;
for
comparison,
Avira’s
free
VPN
gives
you
only
500MB
a
month.

There
is
one
particularly
disappointing
restriction:
Avast’s
free
VPN
doesn’t
give
you
access
to
any
settings,
including
its
kill
switch.
If
the
VPN
drops
while
you’re
using
it,
that
means
your
identity
and
traffic
may
be
exposed
to
snoopers.

Although
this
makes
the
app
a
poor
privacy
choice
for
really
sensitive
situations,
it
still
has
some
value
for
the
most
basic
tasks.
If
you
just
want
to
spend
five
minutes
on
not-especially-sensitive
private
browsing
via
public
Wi-Fi,
for
instance,
you’re
safer
using
Avast
One
Essentials
than
no

VPN
at
all.

Avast
Free
VPN
speeds
were
a
little
below
par
at
a
peak
of
190Mbps
and
average
of
92Mbps
(NordVPN
and

Surfshark
typically
reach
900Mbps
and
more.)
That’s
better
than
many
free
VPN’s
we’ve
tried,
though,
and
more
than
enough
for
browsing,
streaming
and
other
basic
tasks.

Avast
One
Essential:
Other
features

Avast
One
Essential
has
many
extra
features,
and
we’ll
quickly
run
through
those
here.
But
if
you’re
looking
for
more
detail,
or
you’d
like
to
know
what
extra
features
are
available
in
the
paid
products,
our
Avast
One
Gold
review
has
an
in-depth
look.

Avast
One
Essential
includes
a
simple
firewall
to
control
which
apps
can
go
online,
but
the
free
edition
doesn’t
do
much
more
than
the
standard
Windows
firewall
(there’s
more
power
available
with
the
paid
products.)

Avast
One’s
Network
Inspector
is
more
interesting,
with
options
to
check
your
network
for
vulnerabilities,
and
run
a
full
network
scan.
This
can
identify
the
devices
connected
to
your
home
network,
for
instance,
and
raise
an
alert
if
a
new
device
connects
that
it
hasn’t
seen
before.

Avast’s

Ransomware
Protection
adds
an
extra
layer
of
security
which
prevents
files
in
key
folders
from
being
modified
by
untrusted
apps.
This
might
be
useful,
but
it’s
not
exactly
original,
and
Windows
Controlled
Folder
Access
allows
you
to
do
something
similar
without
installing
any
extra
apps.

A
clever
PC
Speedup
tool
aims
to

speed
up
your
PC
by
ensuring
background
processes
use
less
resources.
This
looks
good
in
theory,
but
might
target
important
apps
which
really
do
need
those
resources
(Avast
wanted
to
access
OneDrive
and
our
BackBlaze
backup
app,
for
instance.)
We
wouldn’t
recommend
using
this
unless
you’ve
the
expertise
to
monitor
the
results
and
fine-tune
any
settings,
if
necessary.

The
Software
Updater
highlights
missing
updates
for
50
popular
applications.
That
might
be
handy,
but
the
free
version
only
warns
you
about
updates:
it
can’t
install
them
for
you.
As
most
of
these
apps
automatically
update
themselves
anyway,
there
may
not
be
much
value
here.

A
Clear
Browsing
Data
tool
frees
up
space
by
wiping
away
your
Chrome
or
Edge
browsing
history.
It’s
a
little
better
than
doing
this
from
the
browser
because
you
can
opt
to
delete
only
tracking
cookies,
while
keeping
the
browsing
cookies,
ensuring
you’re
more
likely
to
stay
logged
in
when
returning
to
your
favorite
sites.

Dark
Web
Monitoring
raises
the
alert
if
your
email
address
appears
in
a
data
breach,
and
the
Privacy
Advisor
has
simple
guides
to
improving
your
privacy
settings
in
top
apps
and
social
media
websites.
These
do
make
it
easier
for
beginners
to
enhance
their
online
privacy,
but
if
you’ve
more
web
and
security
experience,
you
could
find
much
more
information
with
just
one
or
two
web
searches.

Avast
One
Essential:
What’s
not
included?

There’s
a
lot
to
like
about
Avast
One
Essential,
but
also
plenty
of
reasons
to
upgrade.

Avast
One
Silver
enhances
many
free
features,
giving
you
an
unlimited
VPN,
scanning
of
web
email
as
well
as
local
email
messages,
a
full-featured
firewall
and
automatic
installation
of
missing
software
updates.

New
features
include
anti-tracking,
a
secure
bank
mode,
extra
protection
against
webcam
hijacking,
secure
DNS
to
keep
you
safe
from
fake
websites,
automatic
driver
updates
and
assorted
other
speed-boosting
tools.

These
extras
aren’t
always
as
useful
as
they
sound,
but
if
you
need
the
VPN
in
particular,
Avast
One
could
be
very
useful.
Read
our
Avast
One
Gold
review
to
find
out
more.

Avast
One
Essential:
Final
verdict

Avast
One
Essential
delivers
better
antivirus
protection
than
most
paid
products
at
zero
cost.
If
you’re
looking
for
an
accurate
and
configurable
antivirus,
and
can
use
the
VPN
and
its
many
other
tools,
then
this
is
a
great
free
pick.
But
if
you’re
not
interested
in
the
extras
then
Avast
Free
Antivirus
might
be
better.
It’s
less
configurable
but
has
exactly
the
same
protection
and
is
easier
to
use.

We
list
the
best
cloud
antivirus.