In today’s world of full connectivity, where every product or device obtains data from the internet, it is difficult for a system to protect itself from attacks and malware. In these situations, a good antivirus or a PC scanner will come in handy. Furthermore, you do not have to pay to scan your PC to determine whether or not your system is affected. Cyber-attacks, on the other hand, have been steadily increasing, and they are now one of the most serious threats to our interconnected world. So, today, we’ll show you some of the most popular PC scanners that you can download for free.
Apart from this, we are also going to show you their features and why you still need a good PC scanner for yourself in 2022, after the release of Windows 11, which is said to be one of the most highly secured operating systems to this date. Furthermore, we will talk about different types of malware and viruses that can infiltrate your computer and make it slow or even worse. But don’t worry; these PC scanners will take care of these infiltrations and keep your PC secure and running at optimal speed. So shall we start?
Why do you need a Pc Scanner?
There are many reasons for you to have a PC scanner installed on your computer. One of the key reasons is to protect your system and data from unwanted malware, applications, and viruses. These three can easily make your system slow down while making it hard for you to work on it as well. Eventually, you will have to ditch the current operating system and install a fresh copy to make it run smoothly once again.
With the help of a PC scanner, you can find out which of the files are having issues and which ones you need to permanently delete from your system before you think about anything else. In the next section of this article, you will see why having a free PC scanner can affect your computer’s performance a lot and make it run at its optimal speed without putting extra pressure on your system to work while it’s scanning the system’s other files.
7 Free PC Scanner for you to download In 2022
So now that we are done with the introduction, and overview of the purpose of PC scanners, let’s move on to the key purpose of this article which is the list of best PC scanners that you can download for free on your system and scan if your PC is housing any virus or malware in it or not.
1. Norton Antivirus
Well, we have all heard the name of Norton in one way or the other; for 90s kids, Norton is a synonym for antivirus. Even to this day, Norton as a company provides one of the best free PC scanners and antivirus removal tools to PC owners. You can download the latest update of Norton antivirus for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 here as well.
Instead of a free version, Norton is giving you a free 30-day trial in which you can remove most of the malware for free and keep your system safe. It’s no-nonsense software that does what it advertises. If you don’t want to keep an antivirus on your system all the time, Norton antivirus’s 30-day free trial scheme can be very useful in removing viruses from your system. This software is everything that you need from an antivirus, so if you are having any second thoughts, then you should restrict them and get this PC scanner now!
Features
- It has the feature of anti-theft, so even if someone takes your system or a laptop without your knowledge, you can easily track down your system and get it back.
- It comes with an unlimited VPN to provide you with free and secure internet browsing all the time.
- In addition to this, you are also getting webcam protection, a firewall, parental controls, game mode, and even a password manager for your ease of use.
2. Avast
Avast has been removing viruses from computers for over 20 years around the world, and it does so for free; yes, it is completely free!It has such a well-defined history of providing antivirus at no cost that it would be an injustice not to include it in this list. For many years, Avast has had this theme going on which features a dark gray and slightly textured background. In between these, you will find that it has the highlights of green and purple. Likewise, you will see the famous orange color as well.
But now the UI has been completely overhauled, but everything is still easily accessible to you. Despite all the cinematic touch-ups, you are still getting the same antivirus engine along with some added features as well. The virus removal scores are pretty top-notch, so there is nothing to worry about here.
Features
- It comes with some of the best antivirus lab scores, which is something hard to obtain.
- In the same way, it pretty much gets full marks in our hands-on tests as well.
- Besides this, you are also getting a generous amount of VPN bandwidth.
- Lastly, you are getting a privacy and performance feature, and you can switch between them according to your liking.
3. Kaspersky
This isn’t the full-fledged paid version of Kaspersky that you are getting for free; it is more of a stripped-down version of it, but still, you are getting a tonne of features and tools with the addition of the Kaspersky Security Cloud suite. In addition to this, Kaspersky also comes with free updates, which will automatically take place in the background to update the database signatures. You can even manually call out the update installation if you want to.
So, if you want to keep your system secure but are on a tight budget, Kaspersky can be of great assistance to you at no extra cost.It is the same technology that has the maximum scores in independent lab results. You are getting a free VPN along with added suite-level features that keep your system completely secure from all the latest malware and other threats.
Features
- With Kaspersky, you are getting the malware removal power that has gotten near-perfect scores from the top four independent testing labs.
- You are also getting effective ransomware protection, which makes sure your data won’t be locked away by the hacker.
- It is a great tool to keep you safe from online phishing.
- It has support for both the Windows operating system and the Mac OS.
4. AVG
Many people confuse AVG and Avast as they have quite a similar name and even the logo looks the same. Well, that’s because Avast acquired AVG in 2016. But both of them have the same underlying protection engine as we were able to find in the results of independent labs and even in our tests. Now you might wonder why the company keeps both of them. The simple answer is that both AVG and Avast have a major following. Globally, each one of them is strong in their own areas, and with the combined fan following, they can easily cover the global market. This is not a pro edition of AVG that you are getting.
Even though it provides users with free antivirus protection, it still takes its time before releasing the tool to the public. AVG asked and paid four different independent lab testing facilities to score their free antivirus version to see how they performed.
Features
- The interface that comes with AVG is pretty simple to use, and in no time, you will get used to it.
- It has tons of features that will keep your system in check for any intrusion.
- Lastly, it comes with phone and chat support, so you are always going to get your issues resolved in no time.
5. Panda Free Antivirus
If you want a light application that can be easily installed in minutes while still giving you an ample amount of protection, then Panda-free antivirus should be on your list to try once. It doesn’t hog all the power from your CPU and memory. In addition to this, you can’t make changes to the user interface, and some of the options are hard to find as they are tucked away in the program’s main settings.
You can set up manual on-demand and automatic scans to see if the files in your system have hidden any unwanted programmes in them. It will ask you before neutralising the virus or deleting the file if it needs to be done. It also has a unique feature where it will notify you about the latest news and other informational messages, which will notify you when a vendor experiences a data breach that could affect your personal information.
Features
- The design is pretty much minimal and uncomplicated.
- The complete scan can be done in just a few minutes if you want to check out actively running threats.
- Passwords protect the entire application.
- All the important buttons are present on the front, while the rest can be found in the settings with ease.
6. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
This software is free to use for a 30-day trial period; during this time, you can run as many scans as you want to remove malware from your computer. It won’t bombard you with tonnes of tools that are of no use to you. The UI is clean, making it easier to understand even for newcomers; however, there are no feature shortfalls.
Moreover, you are also getting a virus shield which helps in keeping your system protected from zero-day exploits, spyware, and other malware as well. Even though it will check every single file that is present on your computer, you are not going to feel any system slowdowns because of that. As a result, your computer will keep on performing at the same speed as it used to, even when the PC scanner is working in the background.
Features
- It has some of the best scores that you are going to find in the independent lab test results.
- You are also getting protected from ransomware malware, which could cost you millions, or even thousands, if you have some important data that should not be deleted or shared.
- It comes with banking protection as well, to keep your online transactions completely safe.
- Likewise, you don’t need to download any VPN as it comes with free VPN support.
- There are tons of security-centric bonus features as well to keep your system fully guarded against viruses.
7. Avira
Who can forget the classic red umbrella of virus protection? The latest free version of Avira is fully cloud-operated. As a result, all detection will come from online analysis and data breaches, rather than from your computer.This also makes your scanning extremely fast, lightweight, and low on system resources. During our test, we were able to find most of the malware and viruses that were present on our test system.
Also, working while the system is being scanned by Avira is a piece of cake; you won’t experience any hiccups in performance of any kind. The list of features and protection it provides you with is just insane. You can also make Avira clean up your system’s junk and cookies. along with fixing hidden privacy settings that could potentially leak your data to websites and other applications.
Features
- It has its own software updater, so if an application needs to be updated, it will notify you of the same.
- Integrated firewall protection means all the threats will stay away from your system.
- The PC scanner can easily detect a number of privacy and performance issues that you might not be aware of in the first place.
Wrapping Up
So now you have the details of the top 7 free PC scanners to try if you want to keep your system safe from viruses and malware. You can download any of these and start with the protection of your computer in no time.