Avast Free Antivirus is a popular antivirus software that provides comprehensive protection against viruses, malware, and other online threats. It is designed for home and non-commercial use and is available to download for free.

One of the main features of Avast Free Antivirus is its powerful virus detection and removal capabilities. It uses advanced algorithms to detect and remove all types of malware, including viruses, spyware, and ransomware. It also has a behavior shield that monitors your computer for any suspicious activity and stops threats before they can cause harm.

Avast Free Antivirus also comes with a range of additional features, such as a Wi-Fi inspector, which scans your Wi-Fi network for vulnerabilities and helps you to secure it against hackers. It also has a software updater that automatically checks for and installs software updates, ensuring that your system is always up-to-date and secure.

Another useful feature of Avast Free Antivirus is its password manager, which helps you to generate strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts and stores them securely. This means that you don't have to remember multiple passwords or write them down on a piece of paper, reducing the risk of your accounts being compromised.

Avast Free Antivirus is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a reliable and comprehensive antivirus solution that is also free to use. With its advanced virus detection and removal capabilities, additional security features, and easy-to-use interface, it is one of the most popular antivirus programs on the market today.

Key Features:

• Real-time protection against malware and online threats.
• Automatic analysis of suspicious files with CyberCapture.
• Network scanning and Wi-Fi security with Wi-Fi Inspector.
• Behavioral monitoring with Behavior Shield.
• Comprehensive scanning with Smart Scan.
• Browser cleanup to improve online security.
• Password management with autofill feature.
• Game Mode to optimize computer performance during gameplay.

• New DeepScreen technology allows avast! to make more intelligent decisions about new/unknown files. DeepScreen is a successor of AutoSandbox, now upgraded with some additional new technologies such as dynamic binary translation and dyna-gen announced earlier.
• New Hardened mode for stricter lockdown scenarios. This is a new mode that is recommended especially for novice users (such as your grandmas): it automatically blocks execution of binaries that would normally be deepscreened (Moderate level) or even allows only execution of programs that are well-known to FileRep (Aggressive level). In a way, it brings the whitelisting concept to the consumer AV space.
• Improved cloud scanning features and crowdsourced analysis of suspicious items. This includes new, optimized mechanism for collecting data from our sensors.
• Continuously streaming update (CSU) technology for up-to-minute detections. This is not entirely new for v2014, but we now have really buttoned up the whole streaming update infrastructure to allow for reliable, uninterrupted service. We’re currently doing 350-400 updates a day, which equals to one update in roughly every 3.75 minutes, 24x7, 365 days a year. Streaming updates can now also carry more types of definitions than before.
• Improved cleaning of malware. This applies to standard malware as well as rootkits and file infectors.

• All-new web browser plugins featuring comprehensive security ratings, protection against malware, phishing and typosquatting sites and Do-Not-Track (DNT) functionality for improved anonymity on the Internet. The DNT functionality doesn’t rely on the DNT HTTP headers; instead, it uses a proprietary technology that cannot be overridden by the servers.
• All-new SafeZone for more secure online shopping and banking. Users can now switch back and forth between SafeZone and the regular browser with a single click. Also, online banking sites can be automatically opened in the SafeZone.
• Rescue disk - allow users to create a bootable CD or flash disk with Avast on it. Great for cleaning.

• A new, streamlined user interface for simplified navigation and more user comfort. The new UI is actually much simplified, and it’s probably the biggest change since version 5.0. We have also redefined the shields to the total number of three (File Shield, Web Shield, Mail Shield) and tweaked the action buttons (tiles) on the home page so that they’re now fully configurable.
• Control and manage all protected devices directly from the Avast console. That is, the my.avast.com account is perfectly integrated in the UI to allow for management of all your devices running Avast.
• Dramatic reduction in product size (full installer < 60MB, compared to today’s 120MB) and memory footprint. By default, install is done through a new stub installer though (which has the advantage of always installing the most up-to-date version).
• Faster scanning thanks to optimized scanning engine (raw [in-memory] scans of EXE files are about 2x faster, while scans of text contents (e.g. web pages and scripts) are up to 10x faster).
• Completely rewritten setup/updater that makes the installation and upgrade process faster, easier and more reliable
• Firewall has been redesigned from scratch to allow for better compatibility with latest Windows, better performance and full support for IPv6 (although its UI hasn’t really changed).
• New licensing system allows for much easier management of product licenses. The system relies on activation codes, and these can be added seamlessly by simply clicking a link.
• Various improvement in the Software Updater and Browser Cleanup tool.

Known issues
- some inconsistencies in time entries in local statistics
- problems with sandboxing on win XP
- boot-time scan scheduling problems
- DeepScreen is still under development
- sometimes after upgrade from the sfx installer, the product requires manual license activation
- IE online security plugin not complete yet
- FW random BSODes
- Hardened mode not fully enabled yet
- this build doesn't contain the new Web Shield drivers yet
- minor issues with account registration
- non-English language packs haven't been updated and may not work correctly

It should be possible to install this version on top of your existing avast! installation (all settings should be preserved).

Any feedback is appreciated! https://feedback.avast.com/response/add