Whereas providing a full set of safety options in a free antivirus doesn’t put any money in firm coffers, it pays off in goodwill and mindshare. The very best free antivirus apps pack in all of the antivirus fundamentals, sweetening their premium version with added security measures or requiring cost for business use. TotalAV Free Version doesn’t swing that method. Whereas it contains some bonus instruments, it lacks the real-time scanning that’s important to antivirus safety, leaving these duties to Microsoft Defender. As a substitute of coping with two separate antiviruses, look to our Editors’ Alternative winners without spending a dime antivirus, Avast One Primary and AVG AntiVirus Free. Avast combines award-winning antivirus with a group of suite-level options, whereas AVG focuses on capably dealing with fundamental antivirus duties. Each do their respective jobs with out counting on Microsoft Defender or another exterior assist.
Getting Began With TotalAV Free Version
To get pleasure from TotalAV’s restricted safety, you solely have to obtain and set up it. In testing, I discovered the set up took a surprisingly very long time. After finishing the set up, TotalAV launched into a compulsory multi-faceted scan, checking for malware, junk recordsdata, and extra. On condition that the antivirus doesn’t embrace real-time safety, this preliminary scan is sort of vital.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Free customers routinely begin with a seven-day trial of TotalAV Antivirus Professional. I needed to confer deeply with the product supervisor to negate that trial so I might check the free version.
Just like the business TotalAV Antivirus Professional, this antivirus defaults to a darkish theme. You’ll be able to dig into Settings to decide on a lightweight theme or set it to match the theme utilized in Home windows routinely.
It is Surprisingly Simple to Be Extra Safe On-line
The window’s format is similar as that of the premium version. Three icons on the far left allow you to select House, Complete Safety, or Settings. With House chosen (the default), you get a vertical menu divided into sections for Safety, Privateness, and Optimisation [sic]. Simply as with the premium version, an enormous, pulsing standing indicator resides on the prime proper, and toggle buttons within the center report the standing of Actual-Time Safety, WebShield, and Risk Intelligence.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Within the business version, a inexperienced standing icon means all the pieces is ok, and the three toggles usually show the phrase On in inexperienced. Free customers gained’t ever get to inexperienced. Actual-Time Safety and WebShield are completely turned off, and Risk Intelligence works just for antivirus scans. The standing panel studies that real-time safety is disabled, and the standing icon pulses a threatening orange shade.
Get used to reminders that not all cylinders are firing. TotalAV sometimes pops up a notification inviting you to improve to allow real-time safety, and fairly a couple of of the menu decisions merely go to an upsell web page.
Respectable Lab Scores, However Just for the Professional Version
To get an thought of how efficient a given antivirus is, I peruse studies from 4 unbiased testing labs all over the world. With its substantial workers of researchers, a lab can put antivirus apps by way of grueling exams, which showcase the most effective and provides clues for enhancing the much less profitable ones.
After we see an antivirus in a lab’s check outcomes, we all know that the corporate thought of testing vital sufficient to benefit the fee, and the lab thought of the antivirus important sufficient for inclusion. Whereas two of the 4 labs I observe embrace TotalAV Antivirus Professional of their testing, the free version simply isn’t appropriate. Nearly all of the lab exams presume that the apps concerned embrace real-time safety.
Briefly, the premium antivirus scored 17.5 of 18 doable factors in exams by AV-Take a look at Institute, adequate to earn it the label High Product. All the topics of this lab’s newest check reached 17.5 or 18 factors. Within the three exams I observe from AV-Comparatives, TotalAV’s full-powered antivirus scored three Superior certifications, the second-best certification stage. Placing these scores by way of my normal algorithm, I got here up with an mixture rating of 9.1 factors.
That rating is first rate, however others have achieved fairly a bit higher. Examined by all 4 labs, Avast managed 9.9 of 10 doable factors. Microsoft Defender Antivirus reached 9.5 factors, as did Norton, each primarily based on exams from 4 labs. Avira Free Safety scored 9.5 additionally however with outcomes from simply three labs. AVG’s good 10-point rating comes from studies by two of the 4 labs.
Most antivirus firms put full protecting options of their free editions. Meaning we are able to depend on the lab outcomes even when a paid equal was examined. As soon as once more, outcomes for TotalAV refer solely to the premium antivirus, not to the free version reviewed right here.
Full-Powered Scanning and Scheduling
Although TotalAV Free Version doesn’t supply real-time safety, its skill to run a scan on demand or on schedule is exactly the identical as within the premium version. Click on Antivirus Scan in the principle menu to launch a fast, full, or customized scan.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Operating a full scan on a clear check system took 53 minutes, nearly an hour sooner than the present common. A subsequent scan ran in 37 minutes. Some opponents clearly carry out severe optimization through the preliminary scan to hurry up subsequent scan actions. A repeat scan with Bitdefender Free, F-Safe, and K7 Antivirus Premium lower 90% or extra from the primary scan’s time. Then again, the preliminary scan with these three took roughly twice so long as TotalAV.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Out of the field, TotalAV schedules a full scan and a clean-up scan each week. I’ll talk about the clean-up scan under. You’ll be able to disable both of those scheduled scans or change the interval to every day or to 2, three, or 4 weeks. There’s no choice to schedule a fast or customized scan.
Microsoft Does the Heavy Lifting
The entire group is safer when everyone has at the very least a modicum of antivirus safety. That’s why Microsoft Defender kicks in on any PC that doesn’t have antivirus put in and energetic. While you set up an antivirus, it registers its presence with Home windows, letting Defender know it could take a nap.
(Credit score: Microsoft/PCMag)
Right here’s the trick. TotalAV Free Version doesn’t register with Home windows. You’ll be able to see the distinction within the break up picture above. On the left, the safety heart reveals that TotalAV Antivirus Professional is energetic. On the precise, with the free version put in, it simply reveals Home windows Defender. My TotalAV contact made it clear that Microsoft Defender is meant to tackle the burden of real-time safety.
For testing functions, I left Microsoft Defender energetic since that’s how it will work for the common person. On this evaluation I’ll do my greatest to tell apart protecting exercise by TotalAV itself from actions taken by Defender.
A Modified Malware-Blocking Take a look at
My hands-on malware safety check usually begins once I open a folder containing a group of malware samples that I’ve rigorously curated and analyzed. The minimal file entry that happens when Home windows Explorer checks the file’s title and dimension is sufficient to set off on-access scanning by many antiviruses. Others wait till the second the file tries to execute.
Right here’s the kicker—the free version doesn’t supply real-time malware safety, so TotalAV does neither. Technically, it will rating an enormous fats zero on this check. Nevertheless, it does run a compulsory scan upon set up, and I made a decision to switch the check by giving it credit score for the malware eliminated by that scan.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
When the preliminary scan completed, 99% of the samples have been gone. That was a shock, provided that the business TotalAV solely detected 72% of the identical samples on sight. Its real-time safety skill let it catch fairly a couple of extra once I launched the surviving samples, however even then, the whole for the premium version solely reached 97% detection.
Checking TotalAV’s Quarantine web page and Microsoft Defender’s logs, I decided that this spectacular rating was a crew effort. TotalAV took credit score for 51% of the detections, Defender logged 22%, and one other 44% have been merely gone with out being credited to both. Sure, that involves greater than 100%, as each TotalAV and Defender claimed among the samples.
The 2 antivirus applied sciences collectively scored 9.9 of 10 doable factors, matching the achievements of Avast, AVG AntiVirus Free, Norton, and UltraAV. Actually, although, TotalAV’s rating ought to have an asterisk, indicating it’s not the identical as the remainder. The opposite 4 relied strictly on real-time safety, with no probability to run a full scan. And so they received no assist from Microsoft Defender.
Most antivirus apps embrace some type of web-based safety, holding customers secure from malicious and fraudulent web sites. Some, like TotalAV Antivirus Professional and Avast Free Antivirus, filter out harmful websites on the community stage earlier than they even hit the browser. Most, although, depend on browser extensions for internet safety.
With the free TotalAV, you get neither—no below-browser scanning and no browser extension. Your solely safety comes from Microsoft Defender and the SmartScreen Filter constructed into Microsoft Edge.
Taking into account that Microsoft Defender is the solely safety right here, I launched into my common malicious URL-blocking check. This check begins with a feed of malware-hosting URLs not too long ago found by consultants at London-based lab MRG-Effitas. I launch every URL in flip, skipping any which have already gone darkish, and word whether or not the antivirus blocks entry to the URL, eliminates the damaging obtain, or completely whiffs the detection.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
When SmartScreen Filter detects a phishing web page, it swaps in a crimson warning web page with the message, “This web page has been reported as unsafe.” I anticipated an identical message for the malware-hosting pages in my check listing however noticed no such factor. In only a few instances, the obtain halted, stating that the file was blocked as unsafe. However a lot of the detections occurred a couple of seconds after the obtain completed, with a transient popup from Microsoft Defender.
Sadly, Defender doesn’t quarantine all of the malware it finds. For much less extreme gadgets, it merely prevents them from executing. I needed to click on every popup for particulars, click on once more to see the filename, reply to a UAC immediate, and ensure the motion was set to quarantine the pattern.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Once I analyzed the numbers, I discovered that Home windows Defender (on behalf of TotalAV) prevented 12% of the malware downloads and eradicated one other 84% after the obtain completed. Its whole of 96% safety is best than the 88% rating earned by TotalAV’s premium antivirus.
Contemplating simply free antivirus apps, Avira holds the most effective rating on this check, with 100% safety. Guardio, Sophos House Premium, and Development Micro Antivirus+ Safety additionally reached 100%.
Dismal Phishing Safety
Phishing is a a lot easier proposition than coding up a computer virus. As a substitute of making an attempt to steal passwords, you trick the poor, unlucky person into giving them to you. All you want is an online web page that completely mimics a delicate web page like a PayPal login or a financial institution web site. Each time an online surfer logs into the faux web page, you personal their login credentials. The neatest fraudsters redirect to the actual web site to reduce proof of their chicanery.
Right here once more, TotalAV Free Version has no phishing safety in-built. It depends on Edge’s SmartScreen Filter. Based mostly on my years of expertise, counting on Edge isn’t an incredible thought. For each phishing check, I evaluate the antivirus app’s detection price towards the safety constructed into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. I reached into the spreadsheet that shops these outcomes and took the common of Edge’s detection price. Over the past 12 months or so, about 30 exams, Edge has averaged 74% detection. Since half the antivirus utilities examined throughout that point reached 95% or higher, Edge’s common is certainly wretched.
After all, I didn’t merely depend on averaging outdated outcomes. I pursued my common phishing safety check, gathering a whole lot of phishing URLs and potential phishing URLs. I used a hand-coded software to launch every URL concurrently in browsers protected by Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Once I completed this laborious activity, I ran the numbers.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
As famous, when SmartScreen Filter detects a phishing fraud, it replaces the web page with an enormous crimson warning. Monitoring its successes and failures was a lot simpler than monitoring Microsoft Defender’s dealing with of downloads.
I discussed that in previous exams, Edge averaged 74% detection. After all, each increased and decrease scores feed into that common. Within the present check, Edge (standing in for TotalAV Free Version) scored 67%, placing it within the lowest third of current antivirus instruments.
Avira’s free safety suite and the free phishing-focused Norton Genie each scored 100% detection of their newest exams. NordVPN and Surfshark One primarily supply VPN providers with antivirus added, however they, too, scored 100%.
Most Privateness Options Require an Improve
The menu’s Privateness part contains 5 gadgets: Complete VPN, Complete Password, Complete Adblock, Breach Scan, and Complete Id. Even for paying customers of TotalAV Antivirus Professional, most of those aren’t obtainable. Complete VPN and Complete Password are clearly marked as premium add-ons. Clicking so as to add Complete Id (offered by associate Aura) reveals that it additionally requires an replace. Customers of the free antivirus get the identical privateness options as paying clients.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
You’ll be able to both launch Breach Scan from the menu or click on its devoted Test Now button on the Standing web page. The breach scan pulls breach studies from the HaveIBeenPwned.com web site, organizing it by 12 months. You’ll need to evaluation its findings and recommendation, although the recommendation is nearly at all times “change your password.” Not like comparable scans, you’ll be able to’t cover alerts when you’ve dealt with them.
The Breach Alert characteristic notifies you upon discovery of latest breaches. Nevertheless, it’s unavailable with out upgrading to a paid antivirus subscription.
The free version contains Complete Adblock, an extension for Chrome and Edge. Clicking its menu choice takes you to a web page inviting you to put in the extension or congratulating you for already doing so.
(Credit score:TotalAV/PCMag)
Like many comparable extensions, Adblock shows the variety of advertisements blocked on the present web page in a numeric overlay on its toolbar button. You’ll be able to click on the button for particulars, and to configure the extension’s conduct. You’ll discover that it could optionally block different kinds of trackers, together with social community monitoring. Advert blocking, tracker blocking, and “web site annoyance” blocking are turned on by default. You’ll be able to attain into configuration to allow further blocking varieties, making it extra just like the general-purpose tracker blocker provided with Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and others.
You might surprise concerning the “Disguise Cookie Prompts” choice on the configuration web page. This refers to these limitless cookie popups asking you whether or not to allow all cookies, select acceptable cookie varieties, or deny all needed cookies. Ghostery Privateness Suite and Surfshark One actively reply to those prompts, so that you get solely the mandatory cookies. TotalAV merely dismisses the cookie immediate.
Free Version Contains Clear-Up Scan and Uninstaller
System cleanup is a characteristic that many firms reserve for his or her safety suites. With TotalAV, you get it within the standalone antivirus and even within the free antivirus reviewed right here. The Clear-up Scan, discovered within the menu’s Optimisation part, cleans up junk recordsdata, deletes monitoring cookies, manages packages launched at startup, and clears junk and traces out of your browsers. The one actual distinction with TotalAV Free Version is that some end result pages embrace a banner inviting an improve to the paid antivirus.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
On completion, the speedy scan shows a abstract of its findings. The listing falls into 4 classes: Junk Information, Monitoring Cookies, Startup Applications, and gadgets out of your shopping exercise.
TotalAV divides junk recordsdata into cached Home windows updates, recycle bin contents, temp recordsdata, and Home windows error studies. You’ll be able to click on to see a listing of things in every class, however the listing simply reveals file names and places, no different particulars. You’ll be able to’t exempt gadgets from deletion like you’ll be able to with an identical characteristic in some opponents. Most customers will simply click on to wash away the junk recordsdata with out worrying about particulars.
Monitoring cookies assist advertisers and different trackers profile you, observing what you do and the place you go on the internet. These are distinct from the helpful cookies that retailer issues like your web site preferences, so go forward and let TotalAV erase them.
The startup program supervisor in Norton AntiVirus Plus provides you useful details about all of the packages launching at startup, together with how common they’re and the way a lot they have an effect on startup time. It permits you to reversibly disable any of them or set them to launch after a delay. G Knowledge Antivirus provides one thing comparable. TotalAV merely lists the startup packages and allows you to reversibly disable them. You are able to do the identical factor utilizing Job Supervisor.
Browser cookies and historical past entries might let a snoop study what you’ve been doing on-line. TotalAV checks historical past and cookies in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox and, along with your permission, deletes them. Be aware that urgent Ctrl+Shift+Delete in any trendy browser brings up a window that allows you to accomplish the identical factor with a finer diploma of management.
Whereas a few of its actions replicate issues you could possibly carry out in Home windows, or your browsers, Clear-up Scan does accumulate a helpful group of system tweaks. It runs on a weekly schedule by default, so that you gained’t neglect about it.
The Uninstaller characteristic is one other part that I’d anticipate to see in a business antivirus or perhaps a safety suite. With TotalAV, you get it on the free stage. This part scans the system for put in apps and allows you to examine off any you need uninstalled.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
The profit this characteristic provides over the Management Panel is that you would be able to examine off a number of apps and have it uninstall all of them. As well as, it does its greatest to automate the method, minimizing person intervention. It labored advantageous for third-party packages like Firefox and Opera.
In testing, I found that it lists quite a few Home windows parts, permits you to examine them for elimination, and studies them as uninstalled…all with out uninstalling something. My contact on the firm confirmed this commentary.
No Change to the Complete Safety Web page
Each the free and paid editions of TotalAV have a column of three icons on the far left, representing House, Complete Safety, and Settings. In each editions, clicking Complete Safety provides you a web page exhibiting the options obtainable to you and a listing of add-ons, most of which require an improve.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
So far as I can inform, the Complete Safety web page is exactly the identical within the two variations. A gaggle of things titled My Suite permits you to prolong TotalAV, Complete Adblock, and Complete WebShield to your cell gadgets. It additionally permits you to set up a coupon finder on your procuring, very like with Avast, AVG, and Avira.
Within the Addons part, Complete Password, Complete Cleaner, Complete VPN, and Complete Id aren’t obtainable with out an improve. That is true whether or not you’re utilizing the free or paid antivirus. An merchandise titled Licenses permits you to add to your paid subscription and even get safety for limitless gadgets by paying twice the essential value. However that’s not related for customers of the free version.
That leaves Complete Drive. As soon as once more, it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re paying on your antivirus—both method, you get 2GB of storage to sync recordsdata between your gadgets.
(Credit score: TotalAV/PCMag)
Complete Drive creates a sync folder in your machine. Any file additions or edits propagate instantly to your different gadgets, together with cell gadgets. You don’t have to put in TotalAV so as to add Complete Drive on a brand new machine. And also you get full entry to your backed-up recordsdata by logging into your TotalAV account on-line.
In the event you like and use this characteristic, you may contemplate upgrading to limitless storage for $78 per 12 months. Limitless is unusual. The closest you get with Google Drive is 2TB for $99.99 per 12 months. With IDrive, you pay $99.50 per 12 months for 5TB. To be truthful, these two Editors’ Alternative apps supply extra flexibility than Complete Drive’s easy sync folder.
Verdict: Look Elsewhere for Free Antivirus
With TotalAV Free Version, you get partial antivirus safety, patched up by its reliance on Microsoft Defender. The mix earned a prime rating in our malware blocking check, however solely once we modified the check to accommodate its deficiencies. Relying completely on Defender tanked the phishing safety check. Skip this one and go for a free antivirus that does the job independently. Avast One Primary extends glorious antivirus safety with quite a few suite-level options. AVG AntiVirus Free features a firewall and different bonuses however primarily focuses on important antivirus duties. Each are Editors’ Alternative award winners without spending a dime antivirus.
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The Backside Line
There are higher free antivirus apps than TotalAV Free Version, which scans for malware on demand or schedule however provides no real-time safety and depends as an alternative on Microsoft Defender.
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About Neil J. Rubenking
Lead Analyst for Safety
Learn the newest from Neil J. Rubenking
