Download the Avast Security for Mac setup file by clicking the button below and save it to a familiar location on your Mac. Download Avast Security for Mac Double-click the downloaded setup file avast_security_online.dmg and select Avast Security.

Mac users have been forced to face a cold reality lately—the days of security through obscurity are over. Macs have traditionally been off the radar, and relatively safe just by virtue of being Macs. Now that malicious attacks are targeting Macs, users need to defend themselves. Avast is stepping up to offer its popular free antimalware software for Mac OS X.

No, malware is nowhere near the scourge for Mac OS X as it is for Windows. I am not saying the “sky is falling”, and I’m not declaring a “Macpocalypse”. But, the reality is that malicious attacks exist, and the threat will continue to grow. Macs have been gaining in market share, and the growth rate of Mac is outpacing the growth rate for Windows-based PCs, so the operating system has captured the attention of malicious developers. It’s time to recognize that, and implement security tools to defend against attacks.

Even if you truly believe that malware is just not an issue for you on a Mac, there’s still good reason to use security software. A recent report found that many Macs are like the “Typhoid Mary” of the Internet. One in five Mac systems was found to be carrying malware that has no impact on Mac OS X, but can still be shared and pose a risk to Windows PCs.

Thankfully, protecting your Mac doesn’t have to cost you a penny. Avast announced today that it now offers a version of its popular antimalware and security software for Mac OS X.

An Avast press release explains, “The new app provides Mac users with three defensive shields: the Web and Mail Shields for incoming data and the File Shield to scan the user’s hard drive.”

Avast uses avast! CommunityIQ--a user-based sensor network--to collect data and detect new threats in real time. The constant stream of new threat data enables Avast to identify new threats and quickly issue updates for emerging threats to protect users.

For Mac users, phishing attacks and other social engineering threats are probably a bigger threat than the traditional malware that affects Windows PCs. Mac users lack the cautious skepticism and security conditioning Windows users have, and are generally more likely to click on a link to a malicious site or share sensitive data. Avast WebRep is an anti-phishing and Web reputation plug-in that uses information from avast! CommunityIQ to detect and block suspected phishing sites.

You may not think you need it, but you do—and the price is right. Give the free Avast for Mac software a try.

Macs may be a far less tempting target for malware and viruses, but they’re not immune from attack. Even if you don’t care about adware or being used as a means to infect users on other platforms, it’s still possible to fall victim to ransomware, password theft, or stolen iPhone backups.

Accordingly, good antivirus software will protect your Mac on all of these fronts. It’ll catch malware that’s still spreading or in circulation; block ransomware; protect older systems with out-of-date software from security vulnerabilities; prevent your Mac from acting as a carrier for malware aimed at other operating systems; and keep infected files off of any virtual machines you’re running.

Antivirus for Mac cheat sheet

Our quick-hit recommendations:

• Best paid antivirus for Mac:Sophos Home Premium for Mac[sophos.com]
• Best free antivirus for Mac:Avast Free Mac Security[avast.com]

Many antivirus suites provide a decent level of protection, but a few rise above all others by providing the very best in performance. Our top contenders dominate by posting perfect (or virtually near perfect) scores from security research labs, passing our own malware detection tests with flying colors, offering well-designed interfaces, and even throwing in extra features like a firewall or password manager.

Updated 08/15/19: Added our review of Avira Free Antivirus, a worthy free option that’s easy to use and effective.

Looking for Windows antivirus recommendations? You can read about the best antivirus suites for PC on our sister site, PCWorld.

Best overall antivirus software

Sophos Home Premium has the most extensive and up-to-date approach to fighting malware at an unbeatable price.

Sophos Home Premium has it all: Effective malware protection, ransomware monitoring, protection against potentially-unwanted-apps, and additional features that often require separately licensed software. Its cloud-based configuration and generous licensing (up to 10 Macs and PCs) also make it easy to shield friends and family from threats, no matter where they live. (Full details available in our review.)

Best free antivirus software

Though Sophos does offer a good free version of its software, Avast Free Mac Security edges it out as the best free antivirus software for macOS. In security lab tests, Avast detected 99.9 percent of macOS malware, and 100 percent of Windows malware. However, if you want more advanced protection (like ransomware detection), you’ll need to upgrade to paid software.

What to look for in antivirus software

By our reckoning, antivirus software should be able to neutralize a threat before it can begin wreaking havoc. That means preventing the download, installation, or execution of malicious software.

Since you can encounter threats by visiting compromised or malicious websites, receiving virus-laden attachments, or accessing USB drives with malware, good AV software should scan on a continuous basis unless you configure it otherwise. And ideally, files identified as malicious should be quarantined into a special storage area managed by the AV software, with the option to automatically delete files known to be malware or repair normal documents that also carry devious payloads.

Great AV suites also will monitor the filesystem for certain kinds of changes. Ransomware—which is malware that will rapidly encrypt user files like documents and mailboxes and then delete the originals—has become a huge moneymaker on other platforms. As a prime opportunity for attackers, it’s the greatest danger Mac users likely face as a category.

Detecting this pattern and halting it before any files are unavailable should be possible without an anti-malware system knowing the specific innards of a ransomware virus. Sophos, our top pick, includes this feature in the Home Premium version of its 2018 update. Other vendors, like Avast and Trend Micro Antivirus, offer an alternative feature that allows you to whitelist programs allowed to manipulate files in specific directories. So if this particular type of attack becomes rapidly popular, you’ll be protected.

Good antivirus software should also use minimal computational resources. That’s especially the case these days—AV monitoring hasn’t become much more complicated than when it first became available, and faster, multi-core CPUs can easily handle the demands of running AV software in the background without disturbing your active work.

Beyond these primary features, an easy-to-navigate interface and extra features are worth factoring into your decision. Some AV software are full-fledged suites that offer additional options like backup service for essential files, a password manager, parental controls, anti-tracking and privacy modes or options, a more advanced firewall, and the blocking of Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs).

How we test

Each software package is evaluated creating a clean installation of macOS Mojave, cloning it for each AV product, and then booting separately into each one to install a different package. This was to ensure that previous app installations didn’t interfere with new ones—sometimes AV software treats other AV software as an infection.

In addition to visiting malicious websites, downloading known malicious software, and even running said malware, we also reference the most recent reports from two labs that regularly cover macOS malware: AV Comparatives and AV-TEST. These laboratories test AV software against sets of known malware as well as products that are grouped as potentially unwanted applications (like adware).

The latter doesn’t damage or expose your computer or its files but may consume power and CPU cycles. Because the testing effectively looks at a combination of virus databases and behavior, they remain good gauges even after many months. When an antivirus software package lacks a rating from a known security research lab, we do more extensive testing with real malware.

Finally, while we gave props for a lot of different features and behaviors, we marked products down if they lacked any or all of the following:

Avast For Mac Os 10/8/18 Holiday

Free Avast For Mac Os X

• A nearly perfect score on macOS malware detection
• Ransomware monitoring
• Native browser plug-in or system-level Web proxy
• A high score on Windows malware detection

Privacy concerns

Using an anti-virus product, especially any that includes tools to also improve your online privacy, may lull you into believing you’re safe from personal and private information leaking out. That’s not quite the case. While there’s no reason to panic, you should consider a few reasonable issues.

First, an antivirus product may upload the complete text of files flagged to the cloud, where it can be analyzed by separate tools hosted there. This practice is normal and sensible: Some malware can detect when a running process may examine it, and will then engage in subterfuge. Antivirus software makers also can access their massive databases to examine files with characteristics that trigger their algorithms—certain elements that match known malware. As a result, security researchers discover new viruses, worms, Trojans horses, and the like.

However, helping the greater good means you’ll have to be comfortable with trusting a third-party with your file contents. Where appropriate, we noted privacy policy issues in individual reviews.

Second, this software may also rely partly or entirely on cloud-based checks of URLs, malware, and the like. Accordingly, an AV package might upload every URL you visit, metadata about files, signatures of files, information about your computer’s hardware, a list of running or installed applications, and more. Companies vary on their disclosure of such policies, and may not let you opt out of this kind of sharing. We note issues in each review as available.

Avast Mac Os 10.8

Third, anti-virus software makers also get a sense of what behavior is happening on your computer that’s being monitored or blocked, and may use that information for their own purposes. In some cases, you can opt out of this information gathering.

All of our antivirus for Mac reviews

Avast For Mac Os X

If you have specific requirements or just wish to see other options, below is a list of all the antivirus software we’ve reviewed. We’ll keep evaluating new and refreshed software on a regular basis, so be sure to come back to see what else we’ve put through the ringer.