okay look the market is flooded with
supposedly good antivirus software but
that doesn't make choosing a provider
that's going to match your online habits
any easier and yeah protection is
crucial so at least I'm here to offer up
some hopefully good insights for you
[Music]
all right look I've tested endless
providers over the years and let me tell
you there's actually some dangerous
stuff out there poor detection rates ad
blockers that don't actually block
malware and that's not even half of it
so today I've carefully curated an
updated list of the best antivirus 2023
options with pros and cons for each
alright first provider up is total AV
once considered an underdog in the
antivirus world but truly living up to
that Underdog becomes a superhero
stereotype I mean independent testing
scores Show excellent malware detection
rates both with zero day threads and
four week old malware and that all means
that your device is protected against
newly discovered threats which can be
harder to uncover now in my own testing
you know where I plant 10 malicious
files onto my PC and then run a full
system scan total AV scored the highest
score 10 out of 10. now these were all
detected in around 18 minutes but I
couldn't instantly quarantine them this
means threats still on my device as the
scan runs and well could cause some
damage now having said that there is
real-time protection so usually threats
are determined instantaneously and this
is a crucial feature that I could not
recommend any provider without it
luckily totally the antivirus has this
enabled by default performance is also
important which is why I should mention
total AV took the longest out of the
providers I tested to finish its full
scan but I also wouldn't say my computer
was slower with total AV running in the
background and if performance is a big
consideration for you well they do have
some system tune-up options with their
entry level Premium plan so that's good
now detection rates and performance are
part of the antivirus 2023 pie sure but
there are only a few of the slices throw
in Total av's ransomware Protection and
you've got yourself a stellar offering
here this can be found through their
browser extension feature and when I
tested it out on a PC it detected 10 out
of 10 of the malicious URLs but to be
completely trans parent I gotta say the
Web Shield extension isn't as user
friendly as I'd like and it can be a bit
of a mixed bag on mobile devices in
terms of blocking those annoying ads
then there are the more expensive
add-ons you get with the higher tiered
plans this includes a fully fledged VPN
and password manager after seeing
independent testing Institute score
totally the antivirus with top marks and
usability well I did some testing and
once I installed and set it up I noticed
the streamlined dashboard in there this
is where you'll also find your plan
dependent features they're right under
the relevant tabs on the left see them
great all right across different devices
your experience shouldn't vary too much
the mobile apps are equal to the desktop
version being fully fledged antivirus
options right from your pocket the
biggest difference between them well the
iPhone version looks like it's lacking
some stuff but that's really only
because there's built-in duplicate Apple
features so they drop the virus scans
basically so finally is total AV worth
it well there is is a free plan but oh
boy it is really stripped back and can
basically only remove current malware
from your device that said to get all of
the security features the most expensive
plan is really the only option now hang
on I know that's not always possible for
everyone on here so if you want to get
good protection at a lower cost will the
entry level plan sits nicely at around
19 for the first year at the moment and
that's pretty average when looking at
other competing plans I'd say all things
considered it's definitely one of the
best antivirus 2023 options
now another provider I gotta talk about
is Norton Antivirus now I noticed that
on trustpilot that over 60 percent of
the reviewers gave four stars or above
so yeah time to do some updated research
for 2023 huh oh and speaking of
detection rates Norton has a glowing
past with AV test.org across all major
categories this goes back years too and
it's impressive when compared to other
Market leaders but hey I gotta do my own
tests right and well Norton didn't do as
well detecting 8 out of 10 malware
samples now while those tests aren't as
thorough as independent institutes they
can give me an idea of consistency and
performance for instance Norton's full
scan took around 10 minutes and it was
one of the quickest out of my testing
one caveat here though was that it was
fairly heavy on my system resources so
not exactly perfect if you're going to
be doing heavy activities all the time
but despite having a lower score in my
personal testing I can't deny that
Norton has a lot of protection against a
whole host of threats all right looking
a little deeper into its capabilities
and features the smart firewall is
impressive it's a two-way silent
firewall so it monitors traffic going in
and out and again just as important as
real-time protection and a must-have
from any supposedly best antivirus
provider now there's also this isolation
mode too which is an added security
measure that lets me browse at ease
because if I do happen to visit a
harmful site well it's going to make
sure no damage comes to my device by
stripping the webpage of any risky
content before it's even presented to me
so yeah gotta say this really is a full
cyber security Arsenal here their safe
cam which blocks unauthorized access to
your PC and like total EV the password
manager and VPN are also great additions
but it is a shame that a lot of these
extra features open up in different tabs
meaning a beginner could get a little
flustered at times now having said all
that the main features are still
accessible from here if you can see past
this little Quirk Norton is a barely
streamlined provider scan options can be
found on the drop down menu under device
security and what's really cool is your
security status can be seen here at just
a glance the desktop version was easy
enough with an introductory guide after
installation and with regards to the
mobile apps well I'd say the Android
version has a couple more features than
iOS and is arguably one of the best
antivirus for Android options but both
still offer device security and
protection as you browse so you're good
to go either way Norton has been called
expensive at times but I honestly just
don't see it despite having no free
version their entry level plan is still
currently the same as total AV just
under 19 for the first year okay but do
you get the same protection well it's
only possible to protect one device at
this price and with total AV while
they're a bit more generous now I will
say the cheapest plan is basic and fine
for a novice but for people looking to
protect their browsing too well the
standard plan and above are tailored
more towards Advanced users throwing in
the VPN and dark web monitoring again if
you're considering this provider I've
got updated deals in the description for
you to try them out
and another really popular antivirus
provider that I wanted to do a fresh
take on is bitdefender and if you were
about to say they've had a good run well
that would be an understatement these
guys have won AV comparatives product of
the year more times than any other
antivirus provider in their April
testing it blocked 100 of threats and
what's cool is the virus scan is based
on a malware directory so in short this
means it's capable of detecting unknown
and known threats while being synced
across a whole network alright time for
my testing ah look at that 9 out of 10
threats were detected sitting
comfortably just under total AV in terms
of my testing scores looking at duration
well-bit Defender antivirus took around
17 minutes to complete a full scan but
what's more impressive here is the low
impact that the provider had on my PC
while running with full marks in the AV
comparative's performance category I
don't feel like this was a fluke this is
all thanks to their scans happening
within their cloud out so the impact on
your PC is lowered and it's hardly
noticeable when running in the
background alright now looking under
their cyber security Hood well there's
some must-haves like Advanced threat
defense and ransomware mitigation the
former is basically real-time protection
and the latter protects you against a
dangerous threat that encrypts your
precious device files and holds them
captive and another feature that amps up
the value here is anti-spam something I
really appreciate since it works with
your mailbox scanning all the contents
metadata and even the headers for signs
of spam emails love it they also have a
password manager a VPN and even webcam
protection nothing groundbreaking
compared to what we've already covered
but I will say that the system
optimization tools are really cool they
help me to clear up some space and
there's even an option to do privacy
cleanup so bitdefender is a reliable
option with a good offering in terms of
performance Focus Features and even in
security but what about its ease of use
well once you've got bitdefender up and
running it's a breeze just know that it
does take a while to install and get set
up at least compared to other providers
now their UI is nothing revolutionary
it's a classic take on the antivirus
dashboards and to the left you're gonna
find all the main sections all neatly
categorized in there now the desktop and
Android apps will they're my preferred
options because they are fully fledged
versions with Protections in most forms
so I'd say it's one of my best antivirus
for PC options but I really wouldn't
recommend bitdefender to expert
antivirus users who want to use it on
their iPhones I mean it's fine but it's
really more of a strip back and
watered-down version of what they really
can offer and speaking of what they can
offer is all this worth the money well
there's actually a totally free version
but again just like many other free
plans out there they are basic as hell
so I wouldn't call it the best free
antivirus on the market the biggest
negative that I can find is only being
able to protect one device which takes
us to the premium offerings are they
reasonable well starting currently at
under 18 a year their plus plan is the
cheapest that I've mentioned thus far
even with their reputation alone and
advanced architecture I'd say this is a
great value and you can protect three
devices with it as well
now another provider that you may be
surprised to see here today is nordvpn
yep namely with their threat protection
plan now bear with me here and I have
added this for good reason so stick with
me the first is that the company has a
strong reputation and excellent security
background second nordvpn antivirus is a
good option for someone who wants a
layer of protection but also at an
affordable price it gives you the
ability to browse without worry while
blocking malicious trackers ads and
sites sure calling it a full antivirus
could be a little controversial but what
I do like most is that it can detect
downloaded malware now do keep in mind
it can only run scans on executable
files so it's a shame that this doesn't
include Word documents because oh boy
those are the common ways cyber
criminals spread malware now it does
have real-time protection which is super
crucial and it's intuitive and it's
great that it runs all in the background
but I do wish it had a scan option like
you know some more dedicated antivirus
providers do out there now also I didn't
face any UI quirks here and I think that
any beginner is going to have a smooth
experience it hasn't been audited yet so
I did some testing against ransomware a
growing threat that's become a booming
industry for cyber criminals and nor
detected 10 out of 10. they also
detected 8 out of 10 malware files that
I planted so pretty good for a new
provider and it only took under a minute
and just to make things super clear this
service has two options depending on
your device threat protection and threat
protection light the former only
currently works on Windows or Mac OS
this version is more fully fledged with
the ability to scan downloaded files so
if you're looking to use the mobile
application well it's called the lite
version which checks URLs only on the
DNS level and it works only if your VPN
is connected so it can detect malicious
websites though but it doesn't block ads
or trackers so so in general the threat
protection feature is simple yet
effective and all at a reasonable price
now if you've already got a nordvpn
account it can be activated for free as
well so go check that out
now going with a particular theme Here I
want to talk about surf shark antivirus
again a VPN provider if that's branched
out a bit but they've done it with a
different audience in mind I found
surfshark antivirus to be a lot more of
a cyber security bundle offering a VPN
anti-virus safe search and alerts with
their surfshark1 plan unlike Nord they
have a scan option and while it isn't as
Lightning Fast it did detect my files in
around 11 minutes now I gotta say I am
happy that they've made some adjustments
since my last review adding real-time
protection and expanding their software
to Mac OS users yep now you can access
surfshark1 on most of the popular
operating systems but sadly they don't
have a firewall yet so I couldn't really
recommend them to Die Hard cyber
security enthusiasts now I did a lot of
testing with this provider recently and
I gotta say it's a streamlined
experience and a reliable option what I
like most is that this company has such
a transparent background I've used their
VPN for quite some time and that alone
has been a consistent experience so I'm
really glad they've branched out here
this plan does feel like a good value
with having so many dedicated tools all
housed Under One Roof and it's really
competitively priced just know that your
only option is the full bundle since you
can't get the antivirus as a standalone
plan but hey why not cover all your
bases at once right
now to save you some time I've got two
notable mentions that I want to quickly
recommend Avira antivirus it's a great
free antivirus provider that also has
Stellar premium plans with impressive
independent testing scores Avira
successfully blocked 99.2 percent of
threats but what I really like is that
they pretty much offer most of what I'd
expect real-time protection a VPN and
password manager and even a free version
that is simple but a great start for
beginners now having said all that I was
a little disappointed that the free
version lacks web protection so you
might want to consider the premium
counterparts for more sophisticated
protection which yeah yeah can look more
expensive compared to the other
providers that I've mentioned and a
final shout out goes to McAfee Antivirus
quit screaming stop jumping to
conclusions here because McAfee has
changed a lot in recent years and I was
surprised just like many of you to see
that it does a lot more than just basic
malware protection McAfee has a password
manager a VPN and even encrypted storage
including tools to speed up your
browsing and protect all your documents
now I will say I didn't run into any
problems navigating their UI the
scanning options are clear but the IOS
app doesn't have as much to offer as the
Android and desktop versions do now one
big factor why I've added them to this
list is that the independent testing
scores speak for themselves detecting
100 of a whole host of malware and they
boast impressive security features like
a firewall so to be honest looking at
their pricing yeah well gets a little
confusing doesn't it and they aren't
exactly the cheapest on this best
antivirus list but hey I will say they
do have so much to offer regardless of
your online habits
now look even experienced internet users
still fall victim to device hijacking or
loss of data by downloading those
annoying malicious programs so that's
not only why using an antivirus is
important but finding one that has all
the features you need for your daily
activities is crucial now I can't tell
you which one to get but I can say that
all of these top antivirus options are
trustworthy now whether you need a cheap
and reliable fix like total AV or a
lightning fast provider like Norton it's
all going to come down to your personal
preference just promise me that you will
get protected please and on an important
note at least for me how did you find
our little best antivirus software video
here and did I skip something that you
were dying to know about what should we
cover next you can ask those questions
and drop me a comment and say what you
gotta say write down in the comments
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