Avast Premium Security Review: Strong Protection for PCs

Price When Reviewed

$51

Best Prices Today: Avast Premium Security

Avast is well-known for its free antivirus software—and with how highly rated it is, upgrading to a paid suite may seem a needless expense. After all, the internet is full of advice proclaiming that Windows’ built-in defenses are enough.

Those commenters aren’t wrong per se, but a software suite like Avast Premium Security packs extra protections against online threats not found in Windows Defender. A couple aren’t even in most competing paid antivirus software. Just as important, this particular Avast suite sports an elegant, easy-to-navigate interface that streamlines the management of different features and tools. It even minimally upsells other Avast services (which shouldn’t be a positive, but this is the world we’re living in).

However, this security suite lacks comprehensive coverage. No VPN or password manager is included (Avast One does have a VPN service). But as you’ll see, its performance can carry the day if it fits your style. For some folks, it will—so long as they can ignore a couple of buggy features.

Further reading: The best antivirus software for Windows PCs

What does Avast Premium Security include?

Avast Premium Security builds on the company’s excellent free antivirus and firewall, which already provides broad protection against online threats. Malware, ransomware, network intrusions, compromised applications, shady websites and downloads—that’s just start of what gets blocked. This security suite also shields against webcam takeovers; malicious redirects for websites you visit (aka DNS hijacking); attacks through Windows’ remote desktop protocol; and unauthorized access to files with sensitive data (e.g., social security numbers). You can run programs and browse online within isolated environments, too, which keeps other apps on your computer from snooping.

PCWorld

Additionally, Premium Security includes a utility that lets you securely delete files from hard-disk drives.

Avast Premium Security does not include VPN access—that requires a separate subscription or a different Avast suite. It also lacks a password manager and parental controls. You’ll have to look elsewhere for those services, as Avast doesn’t offer them at all.

How much does Avast Premium Security cost?

If purchased from Avast, you’ll pay a discounted price for the first year, then the standard rate thereafter. Interestingly, Premium Security costs more for its first year than another similar plan from Avast. Subscriptions bought through Avast come with a 30-day money-back guarantee and are automatically enrolled in autorenewal.

Single-device plan (1 PC)

• £39.99/$51 for the first year
• £64.99/$78 per year thereafter

10-device plan (Multiple devices)

• £54.99/$70 for the first year
• £89.99/$100 per year thereafter

Avast Premium Security includes Family Sharing, which lets you invite other users with separate accounts to share in your device limit. You can install Premium Security on PC, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

For bigger savings on a multi-device Avast Premium Security plan, you can buy a license through Newegg. You’ll actually end up paying less than Avast One using this same method.

Key features of Avast Premium Security

Installation and user interface

To get started, you’ll download Avast Premium Security from your online account dashboard, then install. At the end of the process, you’ll be prompted to start a scan of your PC. Only afterward will you get access to the app.

PCWorld

The interface for Avast Premium Security is clear and easy to understand, though some people may not like its dark theme. The navigation bar on the left of the screen is where you’ll dive into features, which are grouped by category and represented by large buttons in a simple grid layout. Everything is clearly labeled, with bright green used as a highlight color, and features often have descriptions explaining their purpose.

When you first open the app, you’re dropped into the Status screen, which shows your PC’s protection status and a big green button that starts a Smart Scan when pressed. You’ll find other scans under Protection, and you can tailor the sensitivity and depth of the default scans—Full Virus Scan, Targeted Scan, and Boot-Time Scan—as well as custom scans to a surprising degree. (Popular rivals like McAfee and Norton have far more stripped-down settings.) 

PCWorld

More so than other apps, Premium Security’s feature groupings make logical sense. Each feature is explained well, too. And impressively, Avast sequesters its upsells for its other apps and services in a single More apps section. If you want to add on services like the company’s SecureLine VPN or AntiTrack software, you can find them fast—or ignore them just as easily.

Menu options are neatly packaged as well. You can hop into them at anytime from the upper right corner of the screen. It’s quick work to tweak what you need—no need to click around within the software to find everything. Avast still lets you cut over to these settings from within specific features, too, so this centralized approach never feels restrictive. Just tidy.

Virus, malware, and threat protection

Real-time protection

Avast constantly monitors your PC for real-time threats, both local and online. On your system, the app watches for unusual behavior from apps, scans files you add or open, screens downloaded email for malicious attachments, and limits access to your webcam. It also controls access to folders targeted by ransomware. (A bad app can’t encrypt the files if it can’t get at them.) You can customize which folders are protected.

Meanwhile, on the web, Premium Security scans sites for malware and for attempts to redirect you to fake websites. It also keeps an eye on the traffic passed to and from your PC, restricts access to your browser(s)’ saved passwords, and blocks any remote connection requests from unknown sources.

PCWorld

Avast Premium Security also tracks your email address (the one associated with your Avast account) on the web. If it appears in a data breach, you’ll get notified.

Scheduled and manual scans

Strangely, Avast Premium Security does not automatically set up scheduled scans during installation—a useful way to maintain the security of your PC with little effort.

To establish a schedule, you must first create a custom scan. You can choose to run it just one time, daily, weekly, or monthly while also selecting its depth (Full Virus Scan, Targeted Scan, or Quick Scan). Full Virus Scan gives your system a thorough pass; Targeted Scan looks at specific files or folders; and Quick Scan checks over critical and commonly targeted parts of your PC. Custom scans can also be further tailored beyond these presets.

PCWorld

For manually run scans, you can choose from Smart Scan (which behaves similarly to Quick Scan), Full Virus Scan, Targeted Scan, Boot-Time Scan (which hunts for threats before Windows starts), and any of the custom scans you create. You can adjust these scans to be more or less sensitive, as well as where they dig around on your PC and how thoroughly. Quarantine behavior can also be modified.

Firewall

Avast Premium Security’s firewall completely replaces Windows’ built in defenses—and boosts the control you get over the traffic passed to and from your PC. Most people will do best with the default settings, which allows known apps to access the internet and requires others to get explicit approval. But you can also crank up those limitations (or down, though that’s not advisable).

Generally, Avast’s firewall remains lowkey and unobtrusive, though if a possibly compromised or malicious program tries to connect to the web, a notification will appear. Its biggest advantage is how clearly it shows you which apps and services are currently online, as well as which ones have requested internet access.

Ransomware Shield

Folders often targeted by ransomware get an extra layer of protection in Avast Premium Security, which bars untrusted apps from making changes (or even outright deletions) to files in those locations. Even if such malware slips through, it won’t be able to cause trouble.

PCWorld

When first installed, Premium Security keeps watch over the Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Videos, and Music folders in Windows, and only specific types of files. You can expand those parameters to include more folders and file extensions (or just all files). You can also switch between the default Smart Mode, which gives commonly known apps automatic access, and Strict Mode, which only lets specifically approved apps change or delete protected files.

However, even with this additional safeguard, your best defense against ransomware is a current, offline copy of your files—like an external drive you only connect when performing the backup.

Additional features

Bank Mode

One of Avast Premium Security’s unique features is Bank Mode, which lets you use Chrome, Edge, or Firefox in a virtualized environment. (Other Avast suites, like Avast One, don’t have it.) Your web browsing is thus isolated from the rest of your computer, so that the other apps on your PC can’t spy on your activity. 

If you’re familiar with Bitdefender’s Safepay mode, Bank Mode will sound similar, but it has a couple of key differences. It behaves like a desktop environment—you can use Chrome, Edge, and Firefox simultaneously within it, if all those apps are already installed on your computer. (Bitdefender Safepay uses its own browser.) You can also pin shortcuts for each app to a taskbar, just like in Windows. You also don’t get any prompts from Avast to use Bank Mode when visiting a bank website in the normal way. You have to remember to launch it yourself.

PCWorld

Navigating to websites in Bank Mode feels the same as in Windows. Even on a slower, old laptop, browsing felt snappy. You can also change settings and even install extensions on the browser.

Browser extensions

From within the Avast Premium Security app, you can install the Avast Online Security & Privacy extension. It adds visual badges to search results in Google and Bing, letting you know which sites are safe. They’re a little subtle, though—I found them easy to miss at first.

The extension also provides anti-tracking, blocks a handful of ad networks, and automatically requests only necessary cookies from sites. The last feature is genuinely exciting—you get far fewer pop-ups asking you to tell the site your preferences.

Data Shredder

This utility securely wipes files, folders, or entire drives by overwriting them with other data. You can choose between three different algorithms (Gutmann, Department of Defense 5250.22-M, and random) as well as a generous maximum of 100 passes. Selecting a file or folder can feel clunky—it’s done through a file tree, and you have to check either folders or individual files to select them for…