The Top 3 Free Antivirus Software For Windows 10: Feature Comparison
All Windows devices come with an inbuilt antivirus, the Windows Defender. It has all the basic features you need and offers decent protection.
However, it does miss out on some handy features compared to other security packages.
Read this detailed comparison to find out which is the best free antivirus for Windows 10.
Panda
Panda offers a free version that’s light, user-friendly, and secure. The package is inclusive of real-time protection, an antivirus scanner, and a rescue kit. Here are the essential features you can enjoy with the free version:
- Effectively protects the system from malware launched through USB devices
- Protects the system from slowing down when playing games or watching movies
- No need to keep a watch on the complicated settings and product updates after installation
- Immediate protection against every type of spyware and malicious software with scheduled periodic scans
- Rescue kit helps with the PC recovery system
- Checks and displays access permission to the device’s contacts, images, location, and so on
- Effective optimization to maximize battery life when installing and stopping particular apps
- Real-time tracking of devices when stolen or lost
- Free VPN with 150MB data per day for streaming and sharing files, sending emails, and browsing on the internet
- Tracks all the running processes, limits the number of devices with internet access, and inspects the connections
Panda Free Antivirus doesn’t come with a bundle of fancy features. It focuses on providing the user with effective malware detection and protection. You get 100% protection from malware and viruses with the free version.
For unlimited access to VPNs and additional benefits like parental controls, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid package.
Avira
Avira ranks high among the most reliable cloud-based scanning engines available in today’s market. Since the antivirus is operated through Cloud, the analysis and malware detection aren’t carried out on the PC.
Therefore, it’s extremely light on your device. Here are some of the essential features that make Avira worth a try:
- Helps with user-friendly tools for nearly every device, including iOS, Android, Macs, and PCs
- Offers with real-time scanning, web protection, and prevention of malware attacks
- Smart scanning facility for security issues, viruses, junk files, privacy settings, and so on
- Quickly cleans unnecessary data, fixes privacy issues, changes apps on startup, and updates outdated apps with a single click
- Comprehensive optimization of the privacy settings and configuration for the system
- Users can carry out scheduled scans like local drive scans, rootkit scans, external device scans, and so forth
- The complete package for antivirus protection includes password manager integration and limited feature VPN
- Automatically blocks malicious software and advanced ransomware
- Seamlessly scans all the suspicious files on the system through Cloud technology
Avira is cloud-based and detects malware and viruses instantly. This makes it best for low performance PCs since it doesn’t consume a lot of the device memory.
Apart from active virus protection, the software also provides internet security features for Chrome and Firefox to ensure complete protection from phishing and online shopping scams.
Sophos
If you’re looking for an effective yet free security solution for Windows 10 that also offers the best parental controls, Sophos is the right package to install. The antivirus protects every device and system used by family members.
It also has advanced technologies like web filtering and malware protection. Here’s the list of the comprehensive features one can enjoy by installing Sophos.
- The free plan includes parental controls (this feature is usually a part of premium antiviruses)
- The web filtering tool allows users to restrict kids from using any malicious website or those with inappropriate content
- Helps with utmost protection against malware along with internet security browser extensions that help in blocking phishing websites
- Free installation on up to three devices
- Identify and block malicious software that’s never been seen before
- Solid protection against malware, computer viruses, worms, Trojans, PUAs, bots, ransomware, and so on
- Incredible web protection due to its blacklisting databases. These block dangerous or compromised websites
- Through a simple web interface, you can secure multiple PCs from any location
- Protects your identity by preventing your passwords and usernames from getting hacked
Sophos is a highly recommended antivirus for parents looking to protect multiple devices from malware and restrict their children from seeing certain websites.
The Bottom Line
Windows Defender is a great product for meeting all the basic needs to detect and protect your system against viruses.
However, it provides limited protection against cyber threats, phishing scams, and ransomware.
Read More: Other antivirus software for Windows 10
