Avast Antivirus & Security Mod Apk v6.50.0

CONS

• Some bonus features require separate purchase
• Boot-time scan can be very slow

Excellent Malware Protection Scores

Malicious software from the Internet must run the gauntlet of numerous defense layers before it can infect your PC. Avast Antivirus & Security v6.50.0 Mod Apk could block all access to the malware-hosting URL, for example, or wipe out the malware payload before the download finishes—I’ll discuss those malware protection layers shortly.

If a file is already present on your computer, as my malware samples are, Avast assumes it must have gotten past the earlier protection layers. Like AVG, Emsisoft, McAfee, and a few others, it checks those files just before they execute.

To test Avast Antivirus & Security v6.50.0 Mod Apk skills, I opened a folder containing my current collection of malware samples and tried to launch each one. Avast blocked over 90% of them immediately, wiping them out so fast it left Windows displaying an error message reporting that the file could not be found. It killed off some of those that managed to launch before they could fully install, but missed some low-risk types.

Avast detected 96% of the samples and scored 9.6 of 10 possible points, the same as AVG. Tested against this same malware collection, Sophos and G Data earned 9.7 and 9.8 points respectively. At the top is Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus, which earned a perfect 10 points.

Unusual activity by a few files merited deeper examination. Avast displayed a message stating that it detected a suspicious file and promising an evaluation within a few seconds. All my hand-coded testing utilities triggered this warning; all three got a clean bill of health. But when a ransomware sample came under the same scrutiny, it wound up in quarantine.

The samples I use for the malware blocking test stay the same for months. To evaluate each product’s capabilities against the very latest malware, I start with a feed of malware-hosting URLs supplied by MRG-Effitas. Typically, these are no more than a few days old. I try to launch each one, recording whether the antivirus blocked access to the URL, eliminated the malware download, or totally failed to notice anything wrong.

I test using URLs from the last few days, continuing until I have a large enough sample set. Then I tally the results. Avast blocked access to 65% of the URLs and eliminated another 29% at the download stage, for a total of 94% protection; AVG turned in identical results. That’s quite good, but some competitors have done even better. Avast Antivirus & Security v6.50.0 Mod Apk leads the field, with 100% protection. Bitdefender, Sophos, and G Data all managed 99%.

I did notice that Avast identified the pages it blocked in two different ways. For some, it reported that it aborted the connection because the page was infected with URL:Botnet. For others, it reported URL:Blacklist. Blacklist I understand, but it’s hard to imagine that all the other dangerous URLs were literally associated with a botnet.

Excellent Phishing Protection

Phishing websites are significantly easier to create than websites that secretively launch malware attacks. All a phishing fraudster need do is create a convincing duplicate of a sensitive site. They go after banks and financial sites, but also try to scam such things as gaming and dating sites.

Any user who logs in, not recognizing that the page is fake, has just given away account access to the fraudsters. If a thousand web surfers spot the fraud and just one falls for it, that’s a win for the bad guys. And when the authorities quash the fraudulent site, the fraudsters just pop up another one.

I test antiphishing using the very newest phishing sites, including plenty that haven’t yet been fully analyzed and blacklisted. I launch each probable phishing URL in four browsers. The product under test protects one of the browsers, naturally. The other three rely on protection built into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

Scan Choices

If you just click the big button in the middle of Avast’s Status screen, it runs a Smart Scan. In addition to a quick check for active malware, this scan looks for browser threats, apps with missing security patches, and what it calls “advanced issues.” On my test system, it only found the last category.

Digging in for details, I found no actual issues, just efforts to upsell me to Avast Antivirus & Security v6.50.0 Mod Apk. It noted that the system has only a basic firewall, and warned that hackers could hijack my DNS. Clicking the big Resolve All button sent me to the upgrade page.

Clicking Virus Scans on the Protection page gets you more choices. The Full Virus Scan took 85 minutes on my standard clean test system, quite a bit longer than the 34 minutes it required when last tested. You really should run a full scan after installing any antivirus. Once that scan has rooted out any malware that was already present, the many real-time protection layers should handle any new attack.

Avast offers a boot time scan, designed to eliminate pernicious and persistent malware that resists normal cleanup. Because the scan runs before Windows boots up, the Windows-based malware doesn’t have any chance to defend itself. You should set aside plenty of time for the scan. Two hours after I started it, the display still reported one percent complete.

I checked its log in the morning, but alas, it doesn’t report scan duration. You’ll find a twin to this feature in AVG. Note that Bitdefender’s Rescue Mode reboots in a non-Windows operating system for even more power against Windows-centered malware.

Along those same lines, you can click a link to create an Avast Rescue Disk on a bootable CD or USB drive. If you have a computer that won’t even boot due to malware, try creating a Rescue Disk from a clean computer.

Conclusion

Avast Antivirus & Security v6.50.0 Mod Apk combines an antivirus engine that scores high in testing with a surprisingly extensive collection of bonus features.