AVG AntiVirus for Mac Review

If you just click the big Run Smart Scan button, AVG checks for antivirus updates, scans the most likely places for malware traces, and “finds” issues that require upgrading to a paid product. Even with the necessity of clicking Next between each phase, this finished in less than two minutes on the MacBook Air I use for testing.

Clicking the Run Other Scans link at the bottom right lets you choose a Deep Scan of the entire system, a Targeted Scan looking just at certain files or folders, or a scan of removable storage devices. Even the Deep Scan took just 25 minutes, not much more than half the current average of 46 minutes. I suggest you run a Deep Scan immediately after installing AVG to root out any lurking nasties.

(Credit: AVG/PCMag)

Avira Free Antivirus, ESET, Webroot AntiVirus, and others not only let you set up a schedule for regular malware scans, but they also schedule one by default, typically weekly. AVG does have a scheduler, but it starts out empty. It’s up to you to set the schedule. You can add multiple daily, weekly, or monthly scans, each with its own configuration.

(Credit: AVG/PCMag)

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 an app’s skills against Windows malware, I copy my current malware collection to a thumb drive and plug it into the Mac. As soon as I opened the drive, AVG immediately started wiping out the samples, quickly eliminating 72%. That’s better than the 61% it scored when last tested, but others have done better. McAfee’s Mac edition caught 96%, Avast got 97%, and Webroot reached an impressive 99%.

(Credit: AVG/PCMag)

Once again, malware written to run on Windows simply can’t harm your Mac. Even so, it’s encouraging when an antivirus goes the extra mile to ensure the elimination of Windows malware.

If you dig into the app’s settings, you’ll find a collection of tabs with Ransomware Protection at the far right. That makes sense. AVG AntiVirus Free on Windows includes a permission-based ransomware protection system, as does the free Avast One Basic. However, choosing this feature with the free AVG just displays an upsell page.

(Credit: AVG/PCMag)