
And since they’re free, you can try several before settling on your favorite. Some take the fight to the browser, working to ensure you never even browse to a malware-hosting site or get fooled into turning over your credentials to a phishing site.īelieve it or not, some of these freebies even beat all but the best for-pay equivalents. All the free antivirus programs we've selected here offer real-time malware protection. Your antivirus should certainly have the ability to root out existing malware, but its ongoing task is to prevent ransomware, botnets, Trojans, and other types of nasty programs from getting a foothold.

Well, good news! You can get effective antivirus protection without paying a dime. It seems unfair that you have to pay money for programs to protect you against malware attacks. They steal and sell your personal data, or weasel into your financial accounts to siphon out cash, or trash your important files and demand a ransom to restore them. People who write malware are in it for the money. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions.

How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.There are an absolute ton of antivirus choices for Android users, but these four should be at the top of your list. A free service should be a long-term service with an option to upgrade to a better version of the app with a subscription.

We also filtered out any “free” apps from major antivirus vendors that were only limited free trial since a free service and a free trial are not the same thing. How we testedįor these antivirus apps we installed and ran the app for each selection, as well as consulted with third-party testing firms to see what kind of protection scores the apps received. If you’re looking for active real-time scanning, for example, that is a paid option from most services. Pretty much all the features you can expect in a free app are like the ones we highlighted here. Finally, see if it has the features you’re looking for. It’s also a good idea to see what third-party testing firms are saying in their reports about various Android apps.Īfter that, you should see if the company is using ads in their app and whether you’re okay with it or not. We’ve already touched on this briefly, but you should always get your antivirus from a well-known security company. How to choose a free antivirus for Android
