Apple always finds a way to improve performance or to get rid of bottlenecks that plague your Mac. Either way, unless your Mac is hopelessly outdated or not supported anymore, the latest macOS updates tend to make things run smoother. To check for updates, open the Mac App Store and click on the Updates category. Install updates for everything that you see listed there.

• Download Avast SecureLine VPN for macOS 10.12 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. ‎Protect your data and your privacy with a personal, secure VPN that hides your online activity so you can bank,shop,or simply browse,confident that no one is stealing your precious data.
• Free Antivirus for Mac is also equipped with a File Shield, which scans all programs stored and executed from your hard drive. Everything is packed in a brand new GUI and is now available as a public beta.

Today's best Avast Free Mac Security deals

Avast Free Mac Security doesn't break a lot of new ground. As is the case with most free software, it does an OK job and — like popular free-to-play games — aims to pull money from your pockets after it's installed.

The one major perk of Avast Free Mac Security is that it can identify attacks in your email inbox, a feature that we'd like to see in all Mac antivirus services. At the end of the day, though, Avast's Mac malware protection rate isn't quite as good as its competitors', which is the most important part of antivirus software.

Avast Free Mac Security costs and what's covered

Avast Free Mac Security is free. It supports Macs running any version of macOS, as long as they have 128MB of RAM and 750MB of available disk space.

Antivirus protection

Avast Free Mac Security keeps Macs free of malware using traditional signature-based detection by unpacking Mac-specific file formats and scanning them for malicious content. It also uses its artificial-intelligence system to apply lessons from its user base to train its software.

Avast also thwarts PC malware on Mac, to prevent it from spreading on networks, and scans unopened ZIP files. It performs system protection scanning in the background, permits both on-demand and scheduled scans, and can scan your router to protect you against DNS hijacking and other threats.

Antivirus detection

Avast Free Mac Security's on-demand malware-scanning engine has a mixed record in recent lab tests. It stopped 100% of malware in tests conducted by Austrian lab AV-Comparatives in July 2018 and June 2019.

Results from German lab AV-Test were less consistent: 100% of Mac malware was detected by Avast in June 2018 and June 2019, but Avast caught only 96.3% of malware in December 2018.

That means Avast tied with Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac on the AV-Comparatives test (both hit 100%). However, it failed to match Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton 360 Deluxe on the AV-Test study, in which all three earned 100% scores.

Of all the Mac antivirus programs we tested, Avast Free Mac Security was the only one that flagged items already on our system as threats. Specifically, it found three email messages in my old, inactive, Outlook database that contained links to phishing websites.

Security and privacy features

Avast Free Mac Security includes Avast's Online Security browser extension, which automatically installs itself in Chrome unless you opt out, while Firefox provides a confirmation prompt to make sure you approve the extension. The Avast extension appears as a button that is green when you're safe and red if a site is potentially harmful. Similar flags will appear next to search results.

If you're wary of sites that monitor your actions, the Avast browser extension also displays a counter badge that tallies the number of activity trackers found in a website and provides an additional option to block social network-based tracking.

Not only does Avast scan activity on your hard drive and web browsers, but it also monitors POP3 and IMAP email clients, including Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Postbox and Airmail, and scans email attachments as well as email messages.

Avast For Mac Review

Avast monitors your computer and its network connections in the background, scans new files upon installation and lets you schedule scans. However, Avast Free Mac Security doesn't have any of the extra features offered by paid competitors, such as parental controls, a VPN service, firewalls or webcam blockers.

Performance and system impact

Avast Free Mac Security had a moderate impact on system performance, which we assessed by running our custom Excel VLOOKUP benchmark test, which matches 60,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. Our test machine wasa 2017 MacBook Air with a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i5 CPU and approximately 54GB of data stored on a 128GB SSD.

With Avast Free Mac Security installed on our MacBook, but without any active scans running, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 3 minutes and 38 seconds, 1 second longer than without any antivirus software installed. That's a passive system hit of less than 1%, and not something you would likely perceive.

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Other antivirus products' passive system impacts ranged from 5% (Sophos Home Premium) to zero percent (Bitdefender). This is overall great news for Mac users: Most of the time, you'll never notice that you've got antivirus software running.

You would be more likely to notice the slowdowns created by Avast's active scans. During full-system scans, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 4 minutes and 59 seconds, resulting in a big performance dip of 37 percent. That's not as bad as McAfee AntiVirus Plus' 47% fall (the worst offender), although it wasn't as good as Sophos' 7% full-scan system hit.

Avast's full-scan completion time, which took an hour and 11 minutes on average, was on the longer end of scores but was not the longest we found — Sophos' 2-hour-and-56-minute time was the longest. Malwarebytes for Mac Premium's full scan took a miraculous 16 seconds, while Bitdefender closed its full scan in 4:25. Kaspersky (41:20) and Norton (25:49) fell in the middle of the pack.

Interface

Avast Free Mac Security may not be the prettiest antivirus app, but it provides a number of functions and options. Its main window shows users a Protected status, as scans are enabled by default. All other features, including on-demand scans, are located in a menu bar on the left.

Avast's main window presents users with their status — Protected or otherwise — and a 'Run scan' button that pushes you to Avast Cleanup Pro. You'll be confused by this abrupt switch of apps if you weren't paying attention to the fine print, and you'll soon realize that Cleanup Pro is a paid product that looks to tidy up your hard drive and costs between $2.99 or $3.99 per month.

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After you click that Run scan button once, it changes to an Upgrade button for Avast Security Pro, which features anti-ransomware protections and Wi-Fi and network scanning. To avoid further confusion, click on Scans in the left-hand menu, which opens that section as well as other sections of the app, such as Reports, Virus Chest, Shields and Preferences.

In Scan, you can select from a number of different types, such as scans of custom directories, scans of removable volumes and scans of your home network. Avast also includes scheduled scans, an increasingly rare option these days.

Clicking on New Scan presents a Start button for activating a Quick Scan and a Change Scan Type button to switch to a full-computer scan.

You'll find database updates and analyses of scans performed on your system in Avast's Reports. Avast places files it flags as malicious into the Virus Chest quarantine section, where you can delete or restore them (if you think Avast is mistaken).

Open the Shields section to see real-time analysis of scanned files. Annoyingly, if the file directory is especially long, Avast won't give you the full directory, so you can't go look up the offending file for yourself. You may not need to, but we'd prefer to have the option.

In the Preferences tab, you'll find options to change the frequency of notifications, system updates and scans. Here, you can also disable hard-drive, email and web protection, although Avast wisely makes you enter your system password first. Additionally, you can disable Avast's menu-bar icon from this window (it's under Miscellaneous).

If you create an account with Avast, you can check the status of any systems you've logged into in the Account tab as well as at my.avast.com. Avast's menu-bar button provides links to open the main interface window, see current activity and application information, and review previous notifications.

Installation and support

To install Avast Free Mac Security, you open Avast.com and click Download, which will place the installer DMG on your Mac. (Thankfully, you won't have to go through download.com anymore, an annoying part of the previous model.) After you click through the end-user-license agreements, the installer will download more files and install Avast.

No restart is required, and the whole process took about 2 minutes for me, which felt about normal. In the middle of the installation, you get the option to not install Avast's unlimited Password Manager and the company'sSecureLine VPN client. The Avast Online Security browser plug-in is free, but you get only a seven-day trial of SecureLine VPN service, which otherwise starts at $60 per year.

To get technical support, click Help in the menu bar, select Avast Technical Support and then select Contact Help to open Avast's Support site. Here, you can find a FAQ, ask for help in the forums and call a customer-support line that will provide free advice for installing, configuring, updating and removing Avast.

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If you need more help than that, Avast offers paid support starting at $79 for any call that isn't related to removing a virus or malware, or at $119 per call for virus-related calls. For more support, you can spend $199 for a year of unlimited service, or $10 per month plus a $99 setup fee.

Bottom line

Avast's email scanning gives it an edge over competing Mac antivirus products. It needs such an advantage when the rest of its package is such a mixed bag.

Not only does Avast's software continually push you to spend money on additional services (unlikely if you've already chosen to use free antivirus software), but its malware detection rates aren't great overall.

If you're going to pay, you should instead choose Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, which gives you excellent protection and a low system impact for $40 a year. If

you'd rather not pay, then Avast is the best free option, but only because Sophos Home, which has a more full-featured free tier, has undetermined malware-protection abilities on Macs.

Officially Avast Antivirus 2018is compatible with Windows 10 as well with both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. However, some users may have issues with running Avast on the latest Windows. This article covers the most known ones, as well as solutions for fixing them.

So far, this article covers three issues

1. BSOD after Anniversary Update
2. Cortana menu critical error
3. Avast SecureDNS can’t run

General advise to avoid any compatibility issues between Windows and Avast antivirus is to keep both of them updated to the latest version. Make sure you are running the latest Avast version available. See more details in our article about updating Avast.

Issue #1 – BSOD After Installing Anniversary Update

The major issue which affected many Avast users and caused a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) after they installed latest Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Cause of the issue was the incompatibility between one of the Avast drivers (aswvmm.sys) and Intel CPU from the Skylake family. However, Avast has promptly identified the issue and released an emergency program update which fixed the issue.

Solution #1.1 – Update your Avast before installing Anniversary Update

Since the issue has been officially fixed by Avast, you just need to make sure you are running the latest compatible version.

1. Make sure your Avast is updated to the latest program version by going to settings » Update » PROGRAM » click on ‘Update‘. For more information about the program update check our guide ‘How to Update Your Avast Antivirus 2018‘
2. Download Windows 10 Anniversary Update from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history » click on ‘Get the Anniversary Update now‘
3. Run the download file ‘Windows10Upgrade28084.exe‘ and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation

Installation of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Solution #1.2 – Repaid your Avast before installing Anniversary Update

Another way how to get the latest version of Avast is to repair the current one. Internet connection is needed, of course.

1. Repair your Avast by going to Programs and Features » select Avast » Uninstall/Change » Repair
2. Once the repair process of Avast will finish, restart your computer
3. Download Windows 10 Anniversary Update from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history » click on ‘Get the Anniversary Update now‘
4. Run the download file ‘Windows10Upgrade28084.exe‘ and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation

Issue #2 – Critical Error: Start menu and Cortana aren’t working

This one is probably the most popular issue on Windows 10. It basically locks up the Start menu and Cortana so you can’t use them at all which is really painful.

Although many tech guys are saying it’s caused by Avast or any other antivirus, it’s not true. This issue is caused solely by Microsoft and a bug in Windows 10.

Just make sure you are running the latest version of Avast before trying any of the solutions below.

Solution #2.1 – Boot into Windows Safe Mode

If you are lucky the only thing you need to do is boot into Windows Safe Mode and then restart to the regular mode. If you are not sure how to do it, follow the instructions below:

1. Open Windows Run dialog by simultaneously pressing Windows key on your keyboard and ‘R’
2. Enter ‘msconfig’ into Windows Run dialog and confirm
3. System Configuration dialog will open. Go to ‘Boot’ and tick the option ‘Safe boot’
4. Confirm and restart your computer
5. Once you are in the Safe Mode just restart again into regular mode and the critical error with Start menu and Cortana should be gone

Alternatively, you can boot into Safe Mode using the Advanced start-up:

1. Go to Power in the Windows Start menu, hold ‘Shift’ and click on ‘Restart’. This also works on the Sign-in window
2. Your computer should reboot and display Recovery options. Go to ‘Troubleshoot’ » ‘Advanced options’ » ‘Startup Settings’ » ‘Restart’
3. Windows will reboot and the Startup Settings should display. Select Safe Mode by pressing F4 key on your keyboard
4. Once you are in the Safe Mode just restart again into regular mode and the critical error with Start menu and Cortana should be gone

Solution #2.2 – Add new user account to Windows

Another solution which helped some users is creating a new local user account in Windows. If you are not sure how to do it, follow the instructions below:

1. Right-click on the Start menu icon and select ‘Command Prompt (Admin)’
2. Enter ‘net user [username] [password] /add’ where username and password is the name and password of the new account. For example ‘net user Paul P4ssw0rd! /add’

Alternatively, you can create a new user from the Control Panel:

1. Open Windows Run dialog by simultaneously pressing Windows key on your keyboard and ‘R’
2. Enter ‘control userpasswords2’ into Windows Run dialog and confirm
3. User Accounts window will open. Click on ‘Add…’
4. A sign-in window will open. Click on ‘Sign in without a Microsoft account’ at the bottom of the screen
5. Add a user window will open. Click on ‘Local account’ at the bottom of the screen
6. Enter the user details for the new account, click on ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’

Solution #2.3 – Run the System File Checker tool to repair corrupted system files

You can try to repair the corrupted or missing system files using the Windows tool called System File Checker or SFC. It’s quite simple and apparently worked for lots of users:

1. Right-click on the Start menu icon and select ‘Command Prompt (Admin)’
2. Type down ‘sfc /scannow’ and hit ‘Enter’ and wait after it finishes
3. Restart your computer the Start menu and Cortana should be working again

Issue #3 – Avast SecureDNS can’t run on this network

Recently many of the Avast users have reported the issue with Avast SecureDNS on the official forum. SecureDNS is a premium feature which protects you from phishing attacks using fake DNS servers. It is available only in the paid products Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security and Avast Premier.

Avast For Mac

When this issue happens Avast will display a message ‘SecureDNS can’t run on this network’ in the status monitor. Although it will stay in the ‘green’ state like on the screenshot below.

Solution #3.1 – There is no solution at the moment 🙁

So far there is no available solution, but Avast is aware of this issue. Also, you don’t need to worry about your security, it doesn’t have any impact on Avast detection.

Additional Notes

Avast For Mac Problems Starting

Although we have used Avast Free Antivirus 2018 screenshots in this article, these steps are also applicable for all Avast Antivirus solutions (i.e. also for Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, or Avast Premier) running the latest version available.

We have also a similar guide for compatibility issues on Windows 8 / 8.1.

If you are having any different problems with Avast Antivirus and Windows 10, just let us know in the comments below. Same if the described solutions and fixes didn’t work for you.