These days just about every new computer comes with a short-term antivirus product installed, which is great. When the subscription ends, you have to either extend it or choose another product. The folks at Avast Software naturally hope you'll choose Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 ($34.99 per year; $49.99 for three licenses). It offers the same antivirus protection as Avast's free edition along with some high-tech additional features.
Unlike many vendors, Avast doesn't limit use of its free product to personal use. You can use it at home, at work, wherever you like. In fact, the company even offers a free product aimed specifically at business use, with the centralized management that IT departments love. So, your choice whether to use the free or paid edition comes down to how much you value the additional features that you get by paying.
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Those familiar with previous editions of this product will notice that the current edition has a very different appearance. The old model featured four big buttons in the middle, a left-side stack with seven more buttons, and a large status panel. In the current edition, most of the main window is empty space, with some abstract art in the corners. Four simple icons across the top are labeled Scan, Tools, Passwords, and Store. The icons animate when you mouse over them, much as the icons in Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security 2016$34.95 at Trend Micro do.
As with the free product, the installer installs Google Chrome and the Google Toolbar, unless you opt out. Once you click Install, it goes to work without further ado. The installer displays a page summarizing Avast's privacy policy, with a link to the full policy. Another screen offers a link to install Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus on your Android device.
Shared Features
The core antivirus protection in this product is precisely the same as that of Avast Free Antivirus 2016Free at AVAST Software, so I won't rehash all of my findings here. Please read my review of the free product for the juicy details.
All of the labs I follow include Avast in testing. It earned 5.5 of 6 possible points in AV-Test Institute's protection test; its total score came to 16 of 18 possible. In three of four tests by AV-Comparatives it rated Advanced+, the best rating. And Dennis Technology Labs certified Avast at the AA level, the second-best rating.
These scores are good, but Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016$29.96 at BitDefender and Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2016)$39.99 at Best Buy rate even higher. For example, both earned Advanced+ in five tests by AV-Comparatives, and Bitdefender took a perfect 18 from AV-Test.
Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 Main Window
Avast performed very well in my hands-on malware-blocking test, detecting 100 percent of the samples either just before launch or shortly after. Those that it didn't block at launch all managed to sneak some executable traces onto the test system, though, and some of those were actually running. Even so, Avast's overall 9.3 points puts it in a tie with Bitdefender for best score among product tested using the same sample set. Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2015)$19.99 at Webroot managed a perfect 10 against my previous sample set.
When I tried downloading malware from just-discovered malware-hosting URLs, Avast didn't do quite as well. Its 69 percent protection rate is well above the current average of 42 percent, but both McAfee AntiVirus Plus (2016)$24.99 at McAfee and Symantec Norton Security Premium$49.49 at Norton - 1 year plan managed 91 percent.
Like the malicious URL blocking test, my antiphishing test always uses the very freshest fraudulent URLs. I use Norton as a touchstone for this test, reporting each product's detection rate as a delta from Norton's. Avast and Kaspersky came extremely close, just 1 percentage point behind Norton. Bitdefender is the only recent product that's done better than Norton in this test.
Other Shared Features
A full antivirus scan on my standard test system took over twice as long as the current average, though of course you can continue to use your computer while a scan runs. Avast's boot-time scan runs before Windows (or any Windows-based malware) can launch, and it now runs to completion without user interaction. You can also create a Rescue Disk (CD or USB) to clean up your system when malware has rendered it unbootable.
The browser cleanup scan reports on any of your browser add-ins that have a bad reputation. Introduced last year, the network security scan checks for insecure settings in your router, including poor or no encryption, a CPU that's open to command from the Internet, and use of default login credentials. The product can scan for outdated software and, in most cases, perform the updates for you. There's also a system cleanup scan, but actually performing the recommended optimizations requires a separate purchase. And you can click Smart Scan to run a quick antivirus scan along with all of the other available scans.
New this year, all of Avast's products include a fully integrated basic password manager. It performs the expected password capture and replay, syncs across multiple devices, and includes a password generator. It also stores personal information, though the form-filling component isn't yet fully functional. You won't find high-end features like two-factor authentication or secure sharing of credentials, but it's a nice bonus.
Safe Zone Browser
Past versions of this product have included the SafeZone desktop, a completely separate desktop with its own hardened browser and the option to run other apps in the SafeZone. Its purpose was to keep your financial transactions and other sensitive activities separate from the main desktop, to avoid the possibility of interference by malware.
In practice, the full hardened desktop proved unnecessary, so Avast has repackaged and revised the technology into a hardened browser with useful security features built in. As with most modern browsers, the default new tab contains tiles representing your frequently-visited sites.
SafeZone is based on Chrome's browser technology, but with a stripped-down and hardened feature set. When you visit a financial site, it switches into the extra-secure Pay Mode. You can also click a toolbar icon to manually turn Pay Mode on. This mode isolates the browser to prevent interference by malware, especially keyloggers.
Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 SafeZone
To check this feature, I downloaded and installed a popular free keylogger. I typed some text in the SafeZone browser, switched to Pay Mode and typed some more, and typed a final note after switching out of Pay Mode. In a similar test on Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2016$44.95 at ZoneAlarm, I found that the keylogger captured gibberish keystrokes. This time, nothing at all was captured in between the two unprotected typing events. Interestingly, the keylogger utility logged a Lock event when I entered Pay Mode, and an Unlock event when I left.
Like ZoneAlarm Extreme, Avast didn't manage to keep the keylogger from capturing clipboard contents in Pay Mode, but it did foil the keylogger's attempt to capture screen images, something ZoneAlarm didn't manage. It looks like Avast achieved the stated aim of preventing interference by other programs, though I'd like to see that clipboard data-leak patched.
SafeZone Bonuses
In addition to the protective Pay Mode, the SafeZone browser includes a number of useful bonuses. For starters, it incorporates ad blocking powered by AdBlock Plus{/ZIFFARTICLE}}. By default, it uses AdBlocks' EasyList and allows "some non-intrusive advertising" to come through. You can choose a number of additional lists, some in other languages. And if an ad you don't like gets through, you can right-click it and choose Block Element.
I could tell by looking at the settings that SafeZone includes a video download tool, but I couldn't figure out how to use it. Turns out I was over-thinking. When I went to my daughter's YouTube channel and launched a video, a handy download arrow appeared above. With one click, I downloaded an MP4 version of the video. Simple!
When you're buying online, you always want to get the best price, right? SafeZone's SafePrice feature kicks in when you select an item on a shopping site. It submits the item to partner Ciuvo and gets back a list of prices at other sites. Avast doesn't send any personal information to Ciuvo, not even the site you're looking at. A toolbar slides in at the top of the webpage with information about prices at other venues, and a notification if SafePrice found a lower price.
This could be a useful service if you don't have any attachment to a particular online merchant. However, in testing I found that it frequently reported a better price on a different product. For example, it reported that it found a $7,000 TV for $2,300. But the original product had a 78" curved screen, while the "better deal" was a flat 65" screen.
Interestingly, when I first loaded up SafeZone there was a fifth element identified in the settings, Web Reputation. That makes sense to me, since Avast's plug-in for Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer offers this feature. However, shortly after I spotted the icon for Web Reputation, it disappeared. My Avast contact confirmed that this is a known problem, one that should be resolved very soon.
Play in the Sandbox
If you run across a program that you suspect might be malicious, the best course is to delete it and move along. However, if you really need the program, or if curiosity gets the better of you, Avast's Sandbox tool can help.
The purpose of the Sandbox is to allow programs to run while preventing them from doing any damage to the system. Changes to sensitive areas are virtualized. From within the program, the file and Registry changes seem to have succeeded, but no permanent change has actually occurred. There's also an option to deny Internet access to sandboxed programs.
To run a program in the Sandbox, you simply right-click it and choose Run in sandbox. I experimented by running Notepad that way and saving a file, but I found that the file remained visible even outside the Sandbox. My Avast contact explained that the system doesn't virtualize files created using the standard Save As dialog, since that's a user action, not something malware could do. When I tried creating files without using the standard dialogs, the Sandbox worked as promised.
Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 Sandbox
There are eight pages of settings for this feature. A very few are simple. For example, you can choose to have sandboxed programs identified by a tab attached to the window or by a colored border. You can choose whether files downloaded by a virtualized browser should be saved outside the Sandbox, too. Most, though, are for experts only. Not an expert? Hands off!
Secure DNS
Another component not found in Avast's free antivirus is Secure DNS. Secure DNS protects your system against malware that re-routes Domain Name System (DNS) traffic. DNS is what translates a human-friendly URL like www.pcmag.com into an IP address like 23.204.109.42. If the bad guys compromise your system's DNS settings, they can totally redirect your Web surfing to their own nefarious servers, and you won't be able to tell the difference.
Security Watch
For me, the problem with Secure DNS is that there's no way to see it working. It functions as a kernel-mode network driver, so you don't even see any difference in your network's DNS settings. Fortunately, Avast's tech experts have set up a (harmless) fake server to show off this feature.
I configured my virtual machines to use the supplied fake DNS server and visited Google in two machines, one with Secure DNS, one without. On the machine without Secure DNS, everything looked OK at first, but after any search, all images changed to cartoon burglars, and the text of all links gradually and visibly changed to "How secure do you think you are?" The machine with Secure DNS sailed along with no problems. Nice demo, Avast!
For the Experts
Avast Pro Antivirus 2016 gets very good scores in independent lab tests, and it did extremely well in my own malware-blocking and antiphishing tests. However, that's also true of Avast Free Antivirus 2016. The Pro edition adds a hardened browser, sandboxing for suspect programs, and protection against DNS hijacking. These features may justify the price for those with the training to understand and use them, but for the average consumer, the free edition is a better choice. In fact, it's an Editors' Choice for free antivirus protection.
If you're a dedicated Avast fan and you want a little more protection than the free edition offers, by all means try the excellent Avast Pro Antivirus 2016. Otherwise, if you're going to spend hard-earned cash on antivirus protection, consider one of our Editors' Choice products. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2016 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2016) earn top marks across the board from the independent test labs. McAfee AntiVirus Plus (2016) protects all of your Windows, Android, Mac OS, and iOS devices. And the behavior-based detection used by Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2015) makes it by far the tiniest antivirus around. Source
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