Being a world-spanning purveyor of free antivirus protection involves walking a fine line. Giving away your core technology gets you plenty of gratitude, but gratitude doesn't pay the bills. The clever people at Avast Software seem to have mastered the balance. Avast Free Antivirus 2016 (reviewed here) is full-featured and powerful, and yet there are still plenty of additional goodies to entice you to upgrade to Avast Pro Antivirus£31.99 at AVAST.

Avast has retained more or less the same appearance for quite some time, but the 2016 edition got a complete makeover. The wide-open main window features a bit of abstract art, with a security status report in the middle. A menu of icons across the top lets you select Scan, Tools, Passwords, or Store. Like the icons used by Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security 2016£24.95 at Trend Micro UK, these icons animate when you mouse over them.

Installation is simple enough. Note that unless you opt out, the installer will install Google Chrome and add the Google Toolbar to your system. Perhaps in reaction to the recent kerfuffle regarding AVG's privacy policy, the installer includes a screen of information about how Avast handles your information, with a link to the full privacy policy online and instructions on how to opt out of participation. Another screen offers a link to protect your Android device with Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus.

Good Lab Results
All of the labs I follow scrutinize Avast's technology, even ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs, both of which certify Avast for virus detection. Virus Bulletin included Avast in 11 of the latest 12 rounds of testing and awarded it VB100 certification in nine of those tests. AVG AntiVirus Free (2016)See it at AVG participated in all 12 tests and earned VB100 in 11 of those.

In the three-part protection, performance, and usability test by AV-Test Institute, Avast earned 5.5 of 6 possible points for protection and got 16 points (of a possible 18) overall. AVG and Panda Free Antivirus (2016)SEE IT took the full 6 points for protection.

Avast Free Antivirus 2016 Lab Tests Chart

In four different tests by AV-Comparatives, Avast would have earned the best rating, Advanced+. However, false positives (valid files detected as malware) knocked one test's score down to merely Advanced. Panda flips those scores, with three Advanced and one Advanced+. Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2016)£19.99 at Kaspersky UK and Bitdefender participate in five of this lab's tests, and both managed Advanced+ in all of them.

The elaborate website-playback system used by Dennis Technology Labs for testing requires a lot of work, so this lab doesn't test as many products—ten or fewer, where AV-Test and AV-Comparatives test 20 or more. Products earn points for thorough malware blocking and lose points for any they miss; negative scores are possible. In the end, the lab offers certification at five levels: AAA, AA, A, B, and C. Both Avast and AVG earned AA certification.

Avast's lab scores are quite good for a free product. If you want an antivirus that gets the very best scores across the board, though, you'll have to spring for a paid product like Kaspersky or Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016£19.99 at Bitdefender UK.

See How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests

Effective Malware Blocking

For the vast majority of antivirus products, my malware-blocking test starts the moment I open my folder full of samples. The tiny access that occurs when Windows Explorer displays file details is enough to trigger a scan. Avast is one of the few that only initiate a scan just before an unknown file executes.

Having seen Avast in action, I can report that the just-before-launch scan seems effective. In a few cases, it held off the program's launch for about 15 seconds pending analysis by Avast's DeepScan technology. It performed the same kind of analysis on some of my hand-written testing tools before green lighting them.