It has an advanced malware engine, a wide range of additional features, and affordable plans that cover up to 5 devices across all operating systems. Norton is my favorite Windows antivirus on the market - and while it doesn’t currently have a free plan, it offers a risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee, which gives you 2 months to try it out and see if it’s right for you.

Norton - Best Overall Windows Antivirus in 2023

Comparison of the Best Free Antiviruses for Windows in 2023.

TotalAV - Simple free antivirus with an intuitive interface (recommended for beginners). Panda - Strong virus protection with good additional features (like a gaming mode).

3.🥉 Avira - Cloud-based malware scanner with good system optimization.

2.🥈 Bitdefender - Advanced antivirus engine & anti-phishing tools with low system impact.

1.🥇 Norton - Best Windows antivirus on the market (with a 60-day money-back guarantee).

Quick summary of the best free Windows antiviruses for 2023: That said, it’s better to use the best free antivirus than no antivirus at all! I found 7 good free antivirus programs that offer improvements over Windows’s built-in protections, as well as features that aren’t offered by Windows Defender. That’s why I always recommend investing a little bit into premium antivirus software that includes protection against all types of malware - with extra features like a virtual private network (VPN), dark web monitoring, and a password manager ( Norton 360 has all of these features, is ranked as the best antivirus software for 2023, and is very affordable). I didn’t only look at each antivirus’s malware protection capabilities, but also its reputation for safeguarding user privacy, its ability to integrate with recent versions of Windows, and its user interface.īut it’s important to keep in mind that every free antivirus has limitations. I tested heaps of free antiviruses against thousands of Windows malware files, both old and new.

Download Norton for Windows here (60-days risk-free).

It’s not 100% free, but it has a 60-day money-back guarantee, which gives you 2 full months to see if it’s right for you.

🥇 Norton: Advanced virus and malware protection with extras like webcam protection, a VPN, a password manager, parental controls, dark web monitoring, and more.

Short on time? Here’s the best free Windows antivirus for 2023:

Kaspersky free antivirus for mac