Free antiviruses do not have the best reputation, not only because free usually means fewer features than paying, but also because of the assumption that companies have to somehow get business and facts like the recent fine of 13.7 million euros to Avast for selling users' browsing data to third parties without your knowledge or authorization. This practice, which has been sanctioned by the data protection authority of the Czech Republic, was carried out between 2014 and 2020.
Although it is not wise to put your hand in the fire for any technology company, the truth is that Some degree of protection against cyber threats is better than none., and that, if you want to improve the protection of a computer without spending money, a free antivirus can be a good alternative. In this sense, the OCU has analyzed the antivirus available on the market and has selected the ones that offer the best protection without costing a euro, both on Windows and Mac.
The Organization of Consumers and Users remembers that Windows already has a default antivirus that is Defend, and despite having scored slightly lower than last year's report, it is also an option, although not the best. He reproaches Defender not have anti-phishing protectionso that the browser is the only barrier, the protection against unknown malware is poor, a decrease in the blocking of web pages with malware that goes from 100% to the 98.33%and malware in general that comes down from 99.95% to the 97.36%.
On the positive side, it has The number of false positives has decreased, it consumes fewer resources and it is not necessary to install it since it is already integrated with the operating system.
The case is worse for Mac computers that They do not have any specific solution against malwarealthough this environment has the advantage that since it represents a small percentage of the market, cybercriminals They concentrate on breaking the security of Microsoft's operating system before Apple's.
The best free antivirus for Windows
The winner is Bitdefender Antivirus Free. The developer of Romanian origin has enjoyed well-deserved prestige for years in both its free and paid solutions. The OCU considers that Bitdefender provides excellent anti-malware protection by detecting the 99.81% during a manual scan and lock the 99.33% of web pages with a direct link to a virus, hardly any false positives. It also offers a excellent anti-phishing protection with the blocking of 90% of illegitimate pages. And unlike others, it does not harass the user with invitations to upgrade to the paid version with which they offer other added services.
The best free antivirus for Mac
In the case of Apple computers, the best choice is AVG Free Antivirus, but without great enthusiasm. The OCU highlights that the Czech developer's antivirus is capable of detect 100% of viruses and block 84% of phishing websitesbut that is very invasive with its continuous promotions to move to the paid version. As with the rest of free antivirus, does not offer extra functions such as parental control, VPN, password manager or a specific tool for banking protection.