Best Antivirus Software 2025: PC Protection & Security (Keywords: Antivirus, software, security, PC protection, malware)

Navigating the Antivirus Landscape: Protecting Your PC in 2025

In today’s digital world, safeguarding your personal computer is more critical than ever. The threat landscape has evolved dramatically, with cyberattacks becoming increasingly sophisticated, often leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to bypass traditional security measures. Even the most tech-savvy individuals can find themselves vulnerable to malware, spyware, and ransomware. This is why antivirus protection is no longer a luxury but an essential component of responsible PC usage.

While Windows computers come equipped with built-in security software, many users find that upgrading to a dedicated antivirus suite offers enhanced protection and a more streamlined security experience. Choosing the right antivirus software can be overwhelming, given the multitude of options available. To assist you in this crucial decision, we’ve meticulously evaluated various products based on their protection capabilities, valuable features, and minimal impact on computer performance.

Why Trust Our Recommendations?

PCWorld has been rigorously testing computer hardware, software, and services, including security suites, since 1983. Our deep-seated experience in the field allows us to provide insightful and reliable recommendations. For antivirus applications, we continually assess popular and noteworthy software, taking into account the user experience, strength of protection against online and offline threats, and the ability to address the ever-expanding range of attack types. Our comprehensive testing methodology is detailed in our guide on how we test antivirus software at PCWorld.

Key Considerations When Choosing Antivirus Software

Beyond the basic requirements of detecting and removing malware, modern antivirus suites offer a variety of additional features to enhance your overall security posture. These extras can include:

• Backup Service: Provides secure storage for your most essential files, ensuring their safety in case of data loss.
• Mobile Security Apps: Protects your Android and iOS devices from mobile threats.
• Advanced Firewall: Offers more granular control over network traffic, blocking malicious incoming and outgoing connections.
• Family Protection Features (Parental Controls): Allows you to restrict access to inappropriate content and monitor your children’s online activity.
• VPN (Virtual Private Network): Encrypts your internet traffic, protecting your privacy and security when using public Wi-Fi.
• Password Manager: Securely stores your passwords and helps you generate strong, unique passwords for each of your online accounts.

Determining which of these features you need will depend on your individual requirements and budget. As a baseline, we recommend choosing a suite that includes a firewall, supports all your devices, and provides access to a password manager and VPN if you don’t already have separate services.

Our Top Antivirus Picks for 2025

Here are our top recommendations for the best antivirus software of 2025, based on our extensive testing and evaluation:

1. Norton 360 Deluxe:

• Pros: Excellent protection, affordable pricing, wide range of features, including malicious link and attachment screening, dark web and privacy monitoring, webcam safeguards, 50GB of cloud storage, password manager, VPN, and parental controls.
• Cons: Slightly awkward interface.
• Why We Recommend It: Norton 360 Deluxe offers a comprehensive suite of security tools at an affordable price, making it ideal for most users. It consolidates all the essential online protections into a single, easy-to-use interface.

2. Avast One:

• Pros: Solid protection, simple and friendly interface, useful extra features, multi-device coverage, safeguards against remote webcam takeovers, malicious websites, and trackers, dark web monitoring, VPN with up to 5GB of bandwidth per week, and utilities to keep your PC’s drivers up to date and optimize your apps.
• Cons: Fewer features for the price compared to Norton 360 Deluxe.
• Why We Recommend It: Avast One offers top-ranked antivirus protection with a user-friendly interface and useful extra features. It’s a great choice for users who prioritize ease of use and threat detection.

3. AVG Internet Security:

• Pros: Comprehensive protection, easy management of tools, guards passwords saved to browsers, webcam takeovers, unknown access to files with sensitive data, malicious redirects for websites you’re trying to visit (aka DNS hijacking), and Windows Remote Desktop attacks, minimal impact on system resources.
• Cons: Lacks parental controls, VPN, and a password manager.
• Why We Recommend It: AVG Internet Security expands on the company’s excellent free antivirus with more comprehensive protection and easy management of tools. It’s a great option for users who want deeper control and more expansive protection without paying for features they don’t need.

4. Avira Prime:

• Pros: Simple, clear interface, password manager, unlimited VPN, and a boatload of PC utilities that (among other things) can keep apps up to date, securely delete files, and back up data.
• Cons: Lacks parental controls, can hit older and budget PCs hard when full scans are running.
• Why We Recommend It: Avira Prime is a great choice for users who want a simple antivirus suite with broad online protections and robust PC utilities.

5. McAfee Total Protection:

• Pros: Solid protection against malware, identity and privacy protection, dark web scanning for multiple pieces of personal information, VPN access.
• Cons: Can impact system resources on mid-tier and budget machines.
• Why We Recommend It: McAfee Total Protection addresses both malware and identity/privacy issues, making it a good choice for users who want comprehensive online security.

6. Panda Dome Complete:

• Pros: Striking interface, virtual keyboard, advanced virus removal, update manager for your Windows apps, disk defragmenter, hard drive cleaner, startup apps manager, Wi-Fi protection, password manager, parental controls, and a VPN.
• Cons: More expensive than other options, particularly for multi-device plans.
• Why We Recommend It: Panda Dome Complete puts a ton of features right at your fingertips, making it ideal for users who want to dive into everything straight away.

7. Windows Security:

• Pros: Free, lightweight, unobtrusive, comes preinstalled on Windows machines.
• Cons: Protection isn’t quite as strong as third-party rivals when your PC is offline, requires manual configuration.
• Why We Recommend It: Windows Security is an excellent free antivirus option for users who want lightweight, unobtrusive protection and don’t mind configuring it themselves.

For Mac Users: Intego Mac Internet Security X9

If you’re looking for antivirus protection for an Apple machine, we recommend Intego’s Mac Internet Security X9. This suite includes VirusBarrier, which spots and eliminates malware threats, and NetBarrier, a two-way firewall.

Our Testing Methodology

Our approach to testing antivirus software is multi-pronged:

1. Interface Evaluation: We assess the ease of use and intuitiveness of the interface.
2. Feature Examination: We evaluate the usefulness and practicality of extra features.
3. Performance Benchmarking: We run benchmarks to test the suite’s demand on system resources.
4. Detection Capabilities: We rely on the opinions of security researchers such as AV Comparatives and AV Test.
5. Pricing and Value: We take into account the cost of the software and what you get for it.

Do You Really Need Antivirus Software?

The answer is a resounding yes. Viruses, malware, and other online threats have only increased and become more sophisticated over time. Spending time on the internet or attaching any external drives to your computer without antivirus software is like going into battle without a stitch of armor.

Can Antivirus Software Slow Down Your Computer?

While antivirus software can affect the speed of your computer, it is most likely not the only factor. Scheduling scans during downtime can minimize any performance impact.

Free vs. Paid Antivirus Software

If you just need a program that will scan, detect, and remove malware, then go with a free version. But if you are looking for more advanced features, then you should seriously consider upgrading to a paid premium antivirus service.

Conclusion

Choosing the right antivirus software is a critical step in protecting your PC from the ever-evolving threat landscape. By considering your individual needs, budget, and technical expertise, you can select the suite that provides the optimal balance of protection, features, and performance. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and stay safe online.