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
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.
(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 tests. I follow three of those: a simple malware protection test, a test that emulates real-world protection, and a performance test. Each antivirus earns certification at the Standard level if it makes the grade. Those that go beyond the minimum requirements can receive Advanced or Advanced+ certification. In the latest tests, TotalAV holds Advanced across the board. That’s good, but Avast One Basic, AVG, and ESET NOD32 Antivirus reached Advanced+ in all three tests.
The four labs all use different scoring scales, which makes comparisons tough. I’ve devised an algorithm that maps all four to a 10-point scale and returns an aggregate lab score for any antivirus with two or more scores. TotalAV’s aggregate score of 9.1 is decent. It certainly beats the many antiviruses that have no lab scores.
With scores from all four labs feeding into a near-perfect 9.9-point total, Avast Free Antivirus is the current lab score champ. ESET also reached 9.9 points, though only three labs tested it. Based on scores from all labs, Microsoft and Norton achieved 9.5 points.
Good Scores in Hands-On Tests
I start my hands-on malware protection test by opening a folder full of malware samples I’ve curated and analyzed myself. For many antivirus utilities, the tiny file access that occurs when Windows Explorer gets each file’s name and size is enough to trigger a real-time scan. Others wait until just before the sample executes to activate a real-time scan.
TotalAV started wiping out malware samples the moment I opened their containing folders. It took a while to get through them all. Rather than use multiple popup notifications, it reported the number of found items in a single popup decorated with animated orbiting stars.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
TotalAV eliminated 72% of the samples on sight, which is a little low. At this stage, UltraAV wiped out 96%, Malwarebytes got 97%, and ZoneAlarm PRO Antivirus + Firewall detected and destroyed 100% of these same samples on sight.
The next step in this test involves launching any samples that didn’t get culled in the initial massacre. TotalAV caught quite a few more at this stage. One way or another, it detected 97% of the samples and earned 9.7 points. That’s good, but when tested with the same set of samples, Avast, AVG AntiVirus Free, Norton, and UltraAV all reached 9.9 of 10 possible points.
The malware sample sets used in this test are real-world malicious programs that I collect and painstakingly analyze, a process that takes quite a while. As a result, I use the same samples for months. To get a feel for how each antivirus handles the very newest malware, I use a feed of recently discovered malware-hosting URLs supplied by testing lab MRG-Effitas. The defending app gets equal credit for blocking access to the URL and for eliminating the malware download.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
TotalAV’s WebShield replaced 82% of the verified malware-hosting URLs with a warning page. Its real-time protection module caught another 6% at download, for a total of 88%. That’s below the median for this test, which is 92%. Four competitors (Avira, Guardio, Sophos Home Premium, and Trend Micro) reached 100% in their latest instances of this test.
Rare Files
My testing uses several unique hand-coded utilities that handle tasks such as launching suspected phishing websites and recording how the antivirus under test reacted. The first time I used each utility, it didn’t launch right away. In fact, I waited a full minute before the utility appeared. Subsequent launches exhibited no such delay.
Looking at notes from my previous review, I saw that TotalAV used to pop up a notification stating “TotalAV detected a rare file, please wait while we send this file for further analysis.” My company contact explained that the current version notifies you when the analysis is complete, and the file is sorted as innocuous or dangerous. If the analysis takes too long, as it did in my sample cases, TotalAV lets the program run without a notification. I prefer the previous behavior.
Paying special attention to uncommon files is smart. Norton does something similar. The benefit of possibly catching a zero-day attack is well worth the few seconds of waiting before TotalAV releases legitimate uncommon files.
Very Good Detection of Phishing Sites
A malware coder needs to work hard to create a Trojan that can steal your login credentials while dodging detection by Windows and your antivirus. Think how much easier they’d have it if you simply handed over your password on a silver platter. That’s how phishing works. The fraudster creates a convincing replica of a bank or some other sensitive site and disseminates it via spam or other techniques. Unsuspecting web surfers who log in to the fake site cede control of their accounts to the phish-meister. Whoops, your bank account is empty!
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
It’s true that almost every phishing fake leaves some trace of its illegitimacy. Sharp-eyed netizens can learn to spot those traces, but most antivirus utilities add their own protection for those days when you’re not at your sharpest. In TotalAV’s case, the WebShield component that fends off malicious websites protects against phishing frauds. Its messaging is slightly different, but it replaces phishing pages with the same big red warning in the browser.
As always, I test phishing protection using real-world fraudulent URLs gathered from websites that track such things. I always include some that haven’t yet been analyzed, and all the samples are no more than a few days old. I launch each sample in four browsers, one protected by the antivirus under examination and the other three relying on protection built into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Any sample URL that doesn’t load correctly in all four browsers goes on the trash heap, as does any that doesn’t match the definition of phishing.
When last tested, TotalAV’s detection score was unimpressive: 73%. This time, it managed 96%, a big improvement. It performed significantly better than the three browsers, beating them by an average of 24 percentage points. That means the free TotalAV, which relies on Edge and Microsoft’s SmartScreen for phishing detection, scored quite a bit lower.
TotalAV’s 96% detection rate is good, but four competitors managed 99% detection. At the very top, with 100% detection, are Avira, Guardio, and McAfee AntiVirus Plus . The phishing-specific Norton Genie also reached 100%, as did two VPN-focused security tools, Surfshark One and NordVPN Plus.
Scans and Scheduling
As noted, TotalAV’s left-side menu is divided into Protection, Privacy, and Optimisation sections. The Protection group includes Status (the main window), Antivirus Scan, and Quarantine.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
Selecting an Antivirus scan gets you the expected choice of quick, full, or custom scan. Running a full scan on a clean test system took 53 minutes, almost an hour faster than the current average. A subsequent scan ran in 37 minutes, a little faster. Repeat scans with Bitdefender, ESET, and K7 Antivirus Premium finished in less than 10% of the initial time. On the other hand, the initial scan with these three took more than twice as long as TotalAV.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
Out of the box, TotalAV schedules a full scan and a clean-up scan every week. I’ll discuss the clean-up scan below. You can disable either of these scheduled scans or change its interval to daily or to two, three, or four weeks. There’s no option to schedule a quick or custom scan.
Most Privacy Features Require an Upgrade
The menu’s Privacy section includes five items: Total VPN, Total Password, Total Adblock, Breach Scan, and Total Identity. Total VPN and Total Password are clearly marked as premium add-ons. Clicking to add Total Identity (provided by partner Aura) reveals that it also requires an update. Upgrading to Total Internet Security adds the VPN, and another upgrade to TotalAV Total Security also gets you password protection. Total Identity remains a separate purchase.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
In addition to its appearance in the menu, Breach Scan gets its own dedicated Check Now button on the Status page. The breach scan uses data from the popular HaveIBeenPwned.com website, organizing it nicely by year. You can dig in for details and advice, though the advice is almost always “change your password.” Unlike similar scans, you can’t hide alerts you’ve handled. Be sure to turn on Breach Alerts to get notification of any new breaches.
Even the free edition gets Total Adblock, an extension for Chrome and Edge. Clicking its menu selection takes you to a page inviting you to install the extension or congratulating you for already doing so.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
While this extension names itself Adblock, it can optionally block other trackers, including social network tracking. By default, ad blocking, tracking, and “website annoyance” blocking are turned on. You can enter configuration to enable additional blocking types, making it more like the general-purpose tracker blocker supplied with Bitdefender Antivirus Plus.
There’s an option to “Hide Cookie Prompts” on the configuration page. This refers to those endless cookie popups that ask you whether to permit all cookies, a subset of cookie types, or just necessary cookies. Ghostery Privacy Suite and Surfshark One actively respond to these prompts, so you get only the necessary cookies. TotalAV simply dismisses the cookie prompt, getting it out of your face.
Clean-Up Scan and Uninstaller
Many years ago, security programs got a well-deserved reputation for hogging system resources and putting a drag on system performance. Security companies got smart and switched to designing security apps to minimize performance impact. Some, including TotalAV, take a step beyond, adding components designed to boost performance actively. The Clean-up Scan, found in the menu’s Optimisation section, cleans up junk files, deletes tracking cookies, manages programs launched at startup, and clears junk and traces from your browsers.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
On completion, the speedy scan displays a summary of its findings. The list falls into four categories: Junk Files, Tracking Cookies, Startup Programs, and items from your browsing activity.
TotalAV divides junk files into cached Windows updates, recycle bin contents, temp files, and Windows error reports. You can click for a list of just what falls into each category. However, each is strictly a list of file names and locations with no date, size, or other details. Most users will just click to clean away the junk files.
Tracking cookies help advertisers and other trackers profile you, observing what you do and where you go on the web. These are distinct from the beneficial cookies that store things like your website preferences, so don’t hesitate to clear them. In testing, TotalAV found tracking cookies for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera on my test system.
The startup program manager in Norton AntiVirus Plus gives you information about all the programs launching at startup. It lets you reversibly disable any of them or set them to launch after a delay. G Data Antivirus offers something similar. TotalAV simply lists the startup programs and lets you reversibly disable them. It’s no different from what you can do using Task Manager.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
Browser history entries could let a snoop learn what you’ve been doing online; the same is true of browser cookies to a lesser degree. TotalAV checks history and cookies in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. You can view a detailed list for each, but it’s the same awkward format as the list of junk files. There’s no option to exempt individual items. Note that pressing Ctrl+Shift+Delete in any modern browser brings up a window that lets you accomplish the same thing with a finer degree of control.
While some of its actions replicate things you could perform in Windows or your browsers, Clean-up Scan pulls together a useful collection of system tweaks. Be sure to run it occasionally.
A separate item called Application Uninstaller quite reasonably doesn’t launch as part of Clean-up Scan. It scans the system for installed apps and lets you check off any you want uninstalled.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
The benefit this feature offers over the Control Panel is that you can check off multiple apps and have it uninstall them all. In addition, it does its best to automate the process, minimizing user intervention. For testing, I checked off Cortana, Opera, Skype, and a handful of Xbox-related apps. I had to respond to a query from Opera, but otherwise, the task finished without my intervention, stating that it uninstalled all the programs.
That statement proved incorrect, though. Further experimentation revealed that while this feature lists Windows components such as Cortana and Skype, it cannot uninstall them. My contact at the company confirmed this observation.
The Total Security Page
Earlier, I mentioned the three icons at the far left: Home, Total Security, and Settings. Clicking Total Security gives you a page showing the features available and a list of add-ons, most of which require an upgrade.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
Under My Suite, you find TotalAV, Total Adblock, Total WebShield, and Total Coupon entries. The first three contain QR codes that let you extend the corresponding feature to a mobile device. Total Coupon is a bonus browser extension that automatically applies discount coupons when shopping on over 30,000 websites. Avast, AVG, and Avira are competitors that offer a similar shopping helper.
The rest of the list falls under the subhead Addons. Of these, Total Password, Total Cleaner, Total VPN, and Total Identity require you to purchase an upgrade. The Licences [sic] entry lets you add one, two, or five licenses to your antivirus subscription or push it to the unlimited tier.
That leaves Total Drive, an online backup and sync tool. You get 2GB of online storage for your most important files, but only if you find and install this feature. Enter your account password to activate it, which also becomes the Total Drive password. Then, you install the separate Total Drive app and reboot.
(Credit: TotalAV/PCMag)
This isn’t a full-on backup system. Rather, it creates a shared sync folder on each of your devices. You can install Total Drive on other devices without using your TotalAV licenses. Any additions or changes on one device propagate to all the others. And you can log in to the shared data from any browser. Viewed from the browser, Total Drive handles pictures in their gallery for easy viewing. Music files likewise get special treatment.
If you like and use this feature, you might consider upgrading to unlimited storage for $78 per year. Unlimited is uncommon. The closest you get with Google Drive is 2TB for $99.99 per year. With IDrive, you pay $99.50 per year for 5TB. To be fair, these two Editors’ Choice apps offer more flexibility than Total Drive’s simple sync folder.
Verdict: A Definite Improvement
It’s been several years since we reviewed TotalAV Antivirus Pro, and the current edition shows progress, so we’ve increased our rating by half a point. Scores from the labs and in our own tests are all at least good, whereas previously, some lagged behind. And it offers a selection of useful security bonuses well beyond antivirus basics. Even so, you should consider our Editors’ Choice winners, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Norton AntiVirus Plus. Both earn top scores from the labs and in at least some of our hands-on tests, and both come with significant collections of security bonuses.
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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.
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About Neil J. Rubenking
Lead Analyst for Security
