Total AV
TotalAV Antivirus Pro Review
By Neil J. Rubenking
Updated December 24, 2024
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(Credit: TotalAV)
3.5
Good
The Bottom Line
TotalAV Antivirus Pro includes the real-time protection component missing from its free edition. Bonus features include online backup, ad blocking, system cleanup, and more.
Per Year, Starts at $99.00
$19.00
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Pros & Cons
- Respectable scores from two testing labs
- Good scores in our hands-on tests
- Well-designed user interface
- Simple online backup and sync
- System cleanup scan and uninstaller
- Unlimited license tier available
- Some cleanup features duplicate Windows built-ins
- Uninstaller can’t uninstall many listed programs
TotalAV Antivirus Pro Specs
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| On-Demand Malware Scan | |
| On-Access Malware Scan | |
| Website Rating | |
| Malicious URL Blocking | |
| Phishing Protection |
More Specs
Every antivirus should scour your PC for existing malware infestations and keep any future attacks at bay. That’s the minimum. Some, like TotalAV Antivirus Pro, go well beyond that, adding features such as backup, tuneup, ad blocking, and more. This antivirus naturally includes the real-time protection features missing from TotalAV’s free offering. In lab testing and our own hands-on tests its scores were good, not great. By contrast, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus earns excellent lab scores and piles on even more helpful bonus features than TotalAV. Norton AntiVirus Plus turns in top scores in lab tests and our own tests. TotalAV is steadily improving but can’t dethrone these two Editors’ Choice winners.
What’s the Price of TotalAV Antivirus Pro?
TotalAV lists for $99 per year to protect five PCs. When I last reviewed it, that price got you three licenses, so it’s a better deal now, though still a little high. Most competitors cost less at the five-device tier. Norton charges $84.99, Malwarebytes Premium Security costs $79.99, and ESET runs $59.99 for five licenses. A five-license subscription for G Data costs $49.95 per year, roughly half the price of TotalAV.
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
Like Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security, TotalAV doesn’t offer different pricing tiers. Rather, if you want more licenses, you must buy a more advanced application. TotalAV Internet Security adds VPN protection and gives you six licenses for $129 per year. TotalAV Total Security raises that to eight licenses and adds a password manager for $149 per year.
These are all list prices since that’s the only fair way to compare. You’ll find that your actual price for TotalAV is less, possibly much less. And this doesn’t just apply to the first year—renewals also come at a discount. That policy isn’t guaranteed to continue, but it’s been the case for as long as I’ve known of TotalAV.
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(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
I said that TotalAV doesn’t offer different pricing tiers, and that’s true as far as your initial purchase. However, digging into the app, you can add one, two, or five more licenses for an additional $40, $49, or $69 per year, respectively. Doubling the base price to $198 per year gets you unlimited licenses. McAfee, Norton, and Panda offer security suites with unlimited licenses, but in the antivirus realm, only Panda Dome Essential does, at $113.99 per year.
Getting Started With TotalAV Antivirus Pro
To install TotalAV, you can either start with a free trial and upgrade or register your purchase online and download the Pro edition directly. In testing, the installer took an unusually long time to set up protection. The free edition automatically launches into a combined malware and performance scan after installation, with no option to skip or stop. That makes sense, given its lack of real-time protection. Paying customers can choose whether to run that startup scan. For testing purposes, I skipped it.
TotalAV defaults to a dark mode color scheme, though you can choose to put it in light mode or have it follow the system’s style. A simple menu of three icons at the left edge lets you select Home, Total Security, or Settings. Home is where you’ll spend your time; the Total Security page is mostly about upgrading to add features.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
When you’re on the Home page, an extensive left-rail menu appears, divided into sections titled Protection, Privacy, and Optimisation [sic]. A big, pulsing icon at the top right reflects security status, along with a large text statement, “Total Protection is Enabled.” If it’s not green, you know you need to fix something.
Those using TotalAV Free Edition will always see an orange status indicator because real-time protection features aren’t (and can’t be) enabled.
Below the status banner, three toggles let you control Real-Time Protection, WebShield, and Threat Intelligence. Naturally, you want all three of these to be turned on. Finally, a button near the bottom lets you check whether your email has appeared in any breaches.
Good Scores from Independent Labs
Antivirus testing by independent labs around the world is a cooperative venture. The lab offers to test antivirus apps, and the antivirus companies that accept pay to support the testing and receive detailed results that they can use to improve their antivirus apps. I follow four such labs, two of which include TotalAV in their latest reports.
Experts at AV-Test Institute rate an antivirus app’s efficacy based on three criteria: how well it protects against malware, how little it slows performance, and how carefully it avoids flagging legitimate apps and web pages as malicious. Apps can earn up to six points in each area, for a maximum of 18 points.
In this lab’s latest report, TotalAV earned the full six points for protection and false positives but only took 5.5 points for performance. Its score of 17.5 points total is good enough to earn it the sobriquet Top Product. All antivirus tools in this report reached at least 17.5 points, and more than half managed a perfect 18-point score, including Avira Free Security, ESET, and G Data.
Researchers at AV-Comparatives put antivirus tools through a variety of t
- Product PremiumProtection against online threatsInternet SecurityOnline protection and VPN privacyTotal Security100% complete online protection
- Security AntivirusReal-Time ProtectionVPNEncrypt your connectionWebShieldBrowse the web safelyData BreachProtect your personal data
- Privacy AdblockRemove unwanted adsTotal PasswordSecurely store passwordsIdentity ProtectionMonitor, alert & restore
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