There was more good news in our self-protection tests ,where we launched a number of attacks on Avast One to see if malware could disable it. These involve attempting to delete files, change Registry settings, stop or disable services, close processes, unload drivers and more, but none of them made the tiniest difference to the package, which continued to protect us as usual.Īvast One has a totally redesigned interface, and that's mostly a good thing. Out go the dark backgrounds, the tabs, the tiles: in comes a light and airy look, with friendly graphics and speedy access to all of One's core features. Looking to run a scan, connect to the VPN, accelerate your system, for instance? No need to go browsing through various tabs, then try to remember wherever everything is.

Just scroll down and there are shortcuts to scans, the VPN and others, and you can run them all in a couple of clicks.Ĭlicking the Explore button displays a full list of Avast One's features, which does look a little more complicated.

And if you don't understand something - what is 'File Shield', exactly? - clicking the option gets you a simple explanation (the File Shield allows Avast to scan every file you access to make sure it's safe.) But it's easier to understand what's on offer when you can see everything in one place, rather than browsing around a number of tabs. Several options aren't available in the free Avast One Essentials (Webcam Protection, Web Hijack Guard, Driver Updater, more.) Some free apps don't mark these, so you're forever clicking buttons and being told 'can't have that until you upgrade, you freeloader.' Avast highlights options you can't use with a padlock, a smarter approach which makes One Essential much more comfortable to use.

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