It’s taken a while to get the word out, but almost all Mac users now understand that their devices are not immune to virus attack. Antivirus protection is important. However, that doesn’t mean everyone wants to pay for such protection. AVG AntiVirus for Mac is one of several totally free antivirus solutions designed to protect your Macs. This bare-bones software doesn’t do much beyond taking care of basic antivirus tasks, but its protection against malicious and fraudulent URLs has improved since our last review.
Since Avast’s acquisition of AVG a couple years ago, this product and Avast Security (for Mac) are now, if not siblings, at least cousins. On the PC side, the two free antivirus products are extremely similar under the hood, and company contacts assure me that the same is true of the Mac products. Note, though, that Avast offers Mac users a bit more than AVG does. In addition to basic antivirus protection, it includes a network security scanner.
AVG’s main window is a dark gray expanse that holds four large panels. Panels labeled Computer and Web & Email appear under the label Basic Protection. These two are available and active. Under the label Full Protection, the panels for Hacker Attacks and Payments are locked away, available only if you upgrade to the paid edition. You can use the Scan Mac button at center bottom to launch various types of antivirus scans.
Shortly after installation I noticed a banner across the bottom of the window stating, “We have found 3 risks to your online security.” When I clicked to resolve the problem, AVG pointed out three features that were turned off: Ransomware Protection, Phishing Net, and Fake Website Shield. Clicking to resolve these problems revealed the page to be nothing more than an upsell attempt, as those features are only available in the paid edition. That’s misleading, and it’s not likely to inspire confidence in users.
How Much Does AVG AntiVirus for Mac Cost?
Like Sophos and McAfee, AVG requires macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher. If you’re a prudent user who always accepts operating system upgrades, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, if for some reason you’re stuck using an old macOS version, consider ClamXAV or Intego Mac Internet Security X9. Intego supports macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later, while ClamXAV goes all the way back to 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
As noted, AVG is completely free. Sophos Home Free (for Mac), Avast, and Avira are among the other vendors offering free antivirus for macOS. However, like Avast, AVG is only free for noncommercial use. If you want to use AVG in a business setting, you must splash some cash for the business edition.
The most common price point for commercial Mac antivirus is just under $40 per year for a single license. Half of the current products fit that model, and most of those give you three licenses for $59.99 per year. With McAfee, that $59.99 subscription price gets you unlimited licenses, not just three. You can install McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) on all the macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS devices in your household.
Good Malware Protection Scores
When reviewing Windows antivirus utilities, we look at test results from four independent labs, and we also perform our own hand-on testing with live malware. That’s not as dangerous as it sounds. We use virtual machines, so if malware wreaks havoc, we just revert to an earlier clean snapshot. We don’t perform that level of testing on macOS, so results from the two labs that test Mac antivirus take on much greater importance.
As mentioned, Avast now owns AVG, so I wasn’t surprised to see that the two earned precisely the same scores from AV-Comparatives. Both protected against 100% of all three sample groups: macOS malware, macOS PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications), and Windows malware. Naturally, both earned this lab’s certification.
AV-Test Institute also included Avast in its latest report, but omitted AVG. This lab rates products on Protection, Performance, and Usability; that last category refers to minimizing false positives. Avast scored the full six points for Protection and Usability. A minor system slowdown brought its Performance score to 5.5. Avast’s total score, 17.5 of 18 possible points, merited the designation Top Product. It’s likely that AVG would have scored the same, but the labs state very clearly that test results apply only to the precise product tested.
At present, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is the only macOS antivirus with perfect scores from both labs. Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, and Kaspersky also have a perfect score from AV-Comparatives. Clario, MacKeeper, and Norton 360 Deluxe (for Mac) also scored 18 of 18 with AV-Test.
Scan Choices
If you just click the big Scan Mac button, AVG scans the most likely places for malware traces. On the MacBook Air I use for testing, this scan finished in less than five minutes. Clicking the gear icon next to Scan Mac lets you choose a Deep Scan of the entire system, or a File Scan looking just at certain files or folders. Even the Deep Scan only took 17 minutes, just a hair longer than Avast, and well below the current average of 27 minutes. I suggest that you run a Deep Scan immediately after installing AVG, to root out any hidden nasties
Avast, Avira, ClamXAV (for Mac), and several others include the option to define a schedule for regular malware scans. Sophos, Malwarebytes, and a few others eschew the scheduled scan, figuring that real-time protection should handle any new threats. Since our last review, AVG has added scheduled scanning. You can schedule a Mac scan, deep scan, or file scan on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and you can create multiple scheduled scan jobs.
Almost all the Mac antivirus utilities I’ve reviewed include the ability to detect Windows malware as well. True, malware designed for Windows can’t run on a Mac, but eliminating it means there’s no chance of it somehow leapfrogging to a Windows system on your network. AVG promises to detect and remove Windows and mobile malware, in addition to malware aimed at macOS.
To test AVG’s skills against Windows malware, I copied my current malware collection from a thumb drive to the desktop. AVG immediately started wiping out the samples, quickly eliminating 83% of them. Avast and AVG turned in identical scores in almost every test, whether on Windows or macOS. This test is an exception; Avast managed to catch 89% of the Windows malware samples. Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (for Mac) has the best score this test, with 100% of Windows malware eliminated.
Excellent Phishing Protection
Writing a malware program to steal sensitive information while at the same time evading operating system traps and antivirus defenders is tough. Why bother when you can get the user to just hand over the desired information? Phishing websites mimic banks, financial sites, and other sensitive sites, trolling for innocents who will use the fake site to log in. The moment some poor sap logs in, that account belongs to the fraudsters. Rather than trying to fool the operating system, they aim to fool the user.
Our phishing protection test uses URLs reported as fraudulent on various phish-tracking sites. We make sure to include some that haven’t been analyzed and blacklisted yet. That’s important because phishing sites are ephemeral. Once they’ve been blacklisted, the fraudsters just create new ones. Any effective phishing protection must be able to detect frauds, not just match URLs against a blacklist.
We launch each URL in four browsers, one protected by the product under testing on the Mac, and three using the built-in antiphishing of Chrome, Edge, and Firefox on Windows. For Windows, I’ve written a small program that launches each URL and lets me record the result with a click. On the Mac, it’s all hand work; I’ve become adept at the necessary button-mashing.
With all results recorded, we discard any URLs that didn’t load correctly in all four browsers. We also discard any that don’t truly fit the profile for phishing, meaning they don’t attempt to fool visitors into giving away login credentials for a secure site.
When AVG blocked access to a problem page, it reported its action in a popup window. In some cases, it also displayed a note in the browser stating that it fended off an infected website.
AVG detected 97% of the verified phishing attempts, precisely the same as its Windows equivalent. Avast and Webroot also scored 97%. Only McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) and Bitdefender, with 98% and 99% respectively, scored higher than AVG.
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What’s Not Here
AVG covers the basics, scanning for malware on demand, on schedule, and on file access. It offers excellent protection against phishing frauds. And that’s about all. Other free Mac antivirus utilities bring more to the party.
With Sophos, you get full remote management of up to three installations, so you can fix Uncle Ernie’s antivirus without driving across town. It also includes a simple content filter for parental control.
Avira rates links in search results, so you don’t accidentally visit a dangerous page. By default, it runs a scheduled scan every week. It brings along a raft of other security-related components, some free, others free trial.
AVG’s cousin Avast is nearly identical feature-wise, and its test scores almost all tracked precisely with AVG’s. The one big difference is a network security scan that lists all the devices on your network.
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Edged Out By Avast
AVG Antivirus for Mac totally handles the basic tasks of antivirus protection, and its detection of malicious and fraudulent URLs is especially notable. However, it suffers a bit by comparison with other free Mac antivirus utilities. In particular, it doesn’t stack up well against Avast’s free Mac antivirus, which earns a rating of 3.5. Avast has more lab test results and includes that useful network inspector. Since the underlying technology is virtually identical, the main reason to choose AVG over Avast is if you’re a long-time AVG aficionado.
Those willing to pay for Mac antivirus protection can get significantly better protection. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac both cost $59.99 for three licenses, and both earn top ratings from the independent labs. Bitdefender takes the top score in our antiphishing test, and its ransomware protection feature prevents unauthorized apps from modifying your important files. Kaspersky goes beyond the basics with an effective parental control system, protection against webcam spyware, a network attack blocker, and more. Norton 360 Deluxe (for Mac) looks expensive, at $104.99 per year for five licenses, but that subscription also gets you five no-limits VPN licenses and 50GB of online storage for your (Windows) backups. These three are our Editors’ Choice winners for Mac antivirus.
