All versions of TotalAV, including the free version, offer a free virus scanner, that once installed will scan your computer for all types of threats and report back the results in an easy to understand format. The scan will also inspect your system for ways it can increase its performance by giving you a complete system tune-up option. You'll be protected from virus, malware, adware, and malicious websites without the annoyance of ads hounding you to upgrade (like AVG and Avast do, for example).
TotalAV protection from malware is one of the strongest parts of the product. They utilize SAVAPI anti-malware engine which is powered by a combination of artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, and endpoint antivirus scanning, to protect your private data against all types of viruses and malware including ransomware, Trojans, and spyware. TotalAV have built in phishing url blocking to stop fake websites tricking you. They also have a password vault, vpn, ID protection all giving you top level of security. The full system and real time scans will work silently in the background, constantly and consistently checking on potential threats and the overall health of your PC. Results are displayed in a clear and concise format making it easy to understand what issues your computer has and an option to instantly fix the issues discovered.
The TotalAV customer service is what takes the product from very good to great, with multiple contact options and wonderfully easy access to information. If you don't like to wait around for a reply to an email, you can start a chat with a TotalAV expert who will be able to answer and resolve any query, from technical issues to billing problems. Having such easy access to support is very important in 2019, as even if products are becoming more simple and easy to use, the technology to support chat is readily available and it's effectiveness is undeniable. It's worth opting for a product which has chat support, even if it's slightly more per month; luckily, TotalAV include it at no extra cost! You can choose upgrade your support experience with Priority Support if you feel like you need it, it means your tickets go right to the front of the queue.
The TotalAV application allows you to perform a quick scan. You can also opt for the much deeper system scan which can detect most malware items but of course, that will consume more resources and will take longer. The quick scan still takes a few minutes, but that is expected. A quick scan shouldn't be able to scan your machine in ten seconds. Generally, if a quick scan is too quick, it can mean that the scan isn't checking for potential threats in all the necessary areas. Not the case here. Our experience and research tell us that you're better off performing full scans rather than quick scans. The full scan on TotalAV should take you about 28 minutes. Our tests rated the full scan an 'A' with it even handling pesky tracker cookies as well.
Installation is straightforward: Download the TotalAV app from the downloads page, and then locate the TotalAV.exe file from your 'downloads' folder (most likely in the downloads section of your browser) and open it. This will run the installation wizard which should complete in a matter of seconds.
The TotalAV App will run when you start up windows, but can also be found in your program files, the same as any other piece of software you have installed.
Dashboard: As far as visuals are concerned, after installing the actual antivirus software, it is easy to see that the developers behind TotalAV have put a lot effort into making the view clean and organized. In other words, you'll find that you'll be able to navigate through the antivirus application's interface rather easily and quickly, the first time around.
The basic TotalAV application allows you to perform a quick scan. You can also opt for the much deeper system scan which can detect most malware items but of course, that will consume more resources and will take longer. The quick scan still takes a few minutes, but that is expected. A quick scan shouldn't be able to scan your machine in ten seconds. Generally, if a quick scan is too quick, it can mean that the scan isn't checking for potential threats in all the necessary areas. Not the case here . Our experience and research tell us that you're better off performing full scans rather than quick scans. The full scan on TotalAV should take you about 28 minutes. Our tests rated the full scan an 'A' with it even handling pesky tracker cookies as well.
Unsure if a website is safe? Play it safe, and use their Safe Site browser extension. They claim its powered by an extensive database of known malicious phishing URLs (updated regularly), designed to steal and harvest your personal data. Claims are nice, but our testing actually showed this little tool catching all of the malicious test websites... And its free.
