Avast Free Antivirus named 2018 Product of the Year by AV-Comparatives

Some of the finest anti-virus software products have been celebrated in a recent report.

AV-Comparatives, an independent test lab which tries out security software products, recently published its 2018 conclusions. Avast Free Antivirus was awarded Product of the Year, among other honours.

No less than 18 security products for Windows were put to ‘rigorous investigation’ by AV-Comparatives last year. They were all examined in several, far-reaching areas.

Investigation ranged from whether they could protect against real-world internet threats, to whether they could identify thousands of new, malicious programs.

Meanwhile, providing protection without slowing down a PC was also a big priority, as well as removing malware that had already infected a PC.

The AV-Comparatives Summary Report 2018 is now available! https://t.co/Ko931GFgZg pic.twitter.com/QD1vs2U0Ol

— AV-Comparatives (@AV_Comparatives) February 7, 2019

How did AV-Comparatives mark the class of 2018?

“Whilst all of the programs in our test reached an acceptable level overall, some programs outperformed others,” read a summary statement.

It added: “In order to recognise those products that achieve outstanding scores in our tests we have given a number of end-of-year awards that highlight the best results in each test, and overall.

“The Product of the Year, Outstanding Product and Top-Rated awards are based on overall performance in the Public Main Test Series. There are also Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for each individual type.”

Avast awarded Product of the Year

Overall, Avast Free Antivirus beat all paid security products tested by AV-Comparatives to receive the accolade. The company behind the product announced their success on Thursday February 7.

“AV-Comparatives is one of the industry’s leading independent antivirus institutions,” said Ondrej Vlcek, President, Consumer at Avast. “So, winning the Product of the Year award is like winning the world championship of antivirus products.

“The recognition of Avast Free Antivirus as Product of the Year is a testament to our technological leadership in the cybersecurity space.”

Overall, Avast Free Antivirus was crowned Product of the Year. Credit: Avast

He added: “Whether it’s new types of crypto-mining attacks, banking trojans, or increasingly sophisticated phishing campaigns, the complexity of threats is constantly evolving.

“In 2018, we saw the dawn of adversarial AI and the growth of IoT devices as a growing target for hackers. Staying ahead of these threats requires continued technological progress and innovations, and that’s exactly what we’re focusing on at Avast.”

In addition to the grand title, AV-Comparatives awarded Avast Free Antivirus the Gold Award for Malware Protection.

So, Avast Free Antivirus – a worthy winner?

Without a doubt, definitely. Avast say their threat detection network is among the most advanced in the world. It protects hundreds of millions of users globally, thanks to big data and machine learning technology. This helps them analyse and block around 1.5 billion threats every month.

Moreover, their product achieved an Advanced+ classification in every test carried out by AV-Comparitives. Its ability to score high in protection against real-world threats secured its coveted Product of the Year award.

Avast say reviewers also praised Free Antivirus for its “clear, modern, touch friendly interface” and comprehensive Smart Scan feature.

Our very own @jiribracek, VP of @AvastThreatLabs Labs, receives the “Product of the Year” award 🏆 for Avast Free Antivirus from Andreas Clementi, @AV_Comparatives CEO and founder 🎉🥳🎉 #WeAreAvast pic.twitter.com/6ZtDwOsysn

— Avast Software (@avast_antivirus) February 8, 2019

Founder and CEO of AV-Comparatives, Andreas Clementi, said his team were “delighted” to name it Product of the Year.

He added: “The robust protection of PCs has become extremely important in the face of increasing threats and attacks.

“It’s for this precise reason that we subject these products to rigorous testing every year. Across all seven tests Avast achieved the highest standard.”

Want to know more?

For more information about Avast Free Antivirus and other products in the Avast range click here. Alternatively, you can visit their product description and download pages at FileHippo.com

To see how the likes of Bitdefender, AVG, AVIRA, Kaspersky Lab, and others were scored check out the AV-Comparatives report for full details.