Even the entry-level Bitdefender Antivirus Plus product provides excellent web protection and top-notch defenses against phishing and malicious links in general. The sheer amount of features incorporated with Bitdefender is seriously impressive. Nothing that threatened our security though, and this antivirus once again received a top rating from AV Comparatives for its prowess in dealing with advanced threats. We found it to be excellent in defending against malware during our Bitdefender review, albeit with very slight caveats when it came to the exact way of dealing with some test ransomware threats. Of course, being affordable wouldn’t mean anything if Bitdefender was at all shaky with respect to the core malware protection it delivers, but that isn’t the case. But considering some of the best antivirus providers out there cost less than $10 / £10 / AU$20 per year, we’d always recommend playing it safe and paying for protection as you head into 2022. If it's free antivirus that you're after, we have some top recommendations for you, too (as well as some top business packages). Thankfully, 2021's best antivirus providers combine watertight protection, extra features to keep you safe from scams, and are easy to install and use. We're not trying to scare you and, since you’ve come to this page, you probably already have a fair idea why virus protection is such an essential tool. Threats come in many forms, but malware, ransomware and Trojans are generally designed to either take your data or do enough damage to your system that you'll pay a high price to reverse the effects.

The way that viruses behave and their end goal has changed over the years, but generally the purpose is the same - to steal your money.

Windows defender and avast