Protecting your privacy is as important as securing your system against malware, and the two are often linked. L’anti-virus Avast One includes several tools to achieve this, including unlimited VPN and tracker protection modules.
An antivirus protects you against malicious software: viruses, Trojan horses or spyware. A few years ago, this protection mainly meant preventing your data or your system from being corrupted or even unusable. The “professionalization” of cybercriminals has shifted the target: sophisticated attacks such as ransomware and phishing attempts that are increasingly difficult to detect seek to monopolize your personal data.
Beyond malware, there are many reasons to protect your web browsing, even on seemingly legitimate sites. If you do not want to see your browsing history used for targeted advertising purposes or if you want to keep control over the confidentiality settings of your accounts on social networks, it is necessary to follow certain best practices and have adequate tools.
Fortunately, with Avast One, which is certainly one of the best free antiviruses, everything is included: VPN, anti-tracking, cleaning of browsing traces or even assistance in securing your accounts and passwords. Here are the best tips to adopt with Avast One to make your browsing truly private.
Enable Avast VPN
A VPN is one of the most effective ways to protect the confidentiality of your web browsing. A VPN creates a virtual private tunnel between your computer and the sites you visit. Instead of connecting directly to the site, you establish a connection to a VPN server which somehow comes between your computer and the destination. The point of a VPN is to encrypt the connection which thus becomes “invisible” from the outside. The site you are visiting cannot see your real IP address or geographic location. This is especially useful for surfing privately on a public Wi-Fi network.
Avast One includes full access to Avast SecureLine VPN. The shortcut to activate it is directly visible on the interface home screen in the Shortcut section. Clicking the switch activates the VPN connection via the default setting which identifies the server closest to you, and therefore potentially the fastest, as a VPN can impact your speed. By clicking on the location, you can choose a particular country, for example to watch streaming programs blocked in France.
Other options that are important include: You can choose to automatically connect the VPN if you’re on a public Wi-Fi network and/or visiting banking sites. Finally, an emergency shutdown option can completely cut off the Internet connection if the VPN is shut down.
Enable Private Mode
All major web browsers today have a private mode, sometimes called incognito. This mode allows you to keep no trace on your computer, and to visit websites without cookies and without a connected profile. However, private mode is intended to erase personal information on your PC, not on the servers you visit where it is still possible to establish a profile of your browsing.
Avast One offers a VPN variant with Private mode. This detects the activation of the incognito mode of your default browser and then activates the VPN on the nearest server and the tracking prevention device. If you don’t want to be constantly connected to Avast VPN, this is an alternative focused solely on preserving privacy and only works in incognito mode.
Clean web browser traces
Whatever web browser you use, it leaves traces of browsing: cache file, history or cookies. These elements, in addition to allowing your identification by tracking devices, take up space which can clutter your disk, which gives you a double reason to clean regularly.
The Avast One Clear Browsing Data tool detects web browsers installed on your computer, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge. For each browser, it indicates the space occupied by the cache, and the number of elements present on the disk. One click gives you the possibility to choose the elements to delete: history, cookies and cache.
Enable anti-tracking prevention
Websites, even legitimate ones, today have advanced ways to track your activity on the web and establish a fairly precise profile of your digital identity using information that can be as mundane as the size of your screen, the agent user of your browser which can indicate that you are on a PC or a smartphone, your browsing history via tracking on several sites… To prevent the collection of this information, the anti-tracking prevention functionality of Avast One somehow blurs takes out your digital footprint to make it more difficult to establish an accurate profile. To do this, simply activate the functionality from the Cyberconfidentiality section.
Secure your social media accounts
Social networks, search engines or e-commerce sites are sites that can represent a gold mine for anyone interested in your personal data. From Facebook to Google via Amazon, LinkedIn or Twitter, these sites generally offer configuration options that allow you to reinforce the confidentiality of your accounts. However, it is not necessarily easy to locate them and know what to check or uncheck.
Avast One includes Privacy Manager, a module that guides you step-by-step through the settings of the following sites and services: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype, Amazon, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit. For each site, a certain number of tips are available. Click on any of them to open a step-by-step tutorial with illustrations and direct links to the features in question.
Protect passwords stored in your browser
The web browser is a data-rich application since it contains the passwords of your accounts to allow you to access them more easily. This is a very nice feature: we wouldn’t want to have to enter our credentials every time we connect to a social network, an online sales site or a streaming service. However, these passwords could be subject to data theft, and Avast One helps remedy this.
To do this, go to the Password Agent and click on the Browser Protection tab. You will be able to check the password protection status of web browsers installed on your computer, and determine the action to take in the event of an access attempt: display of an alert or automatic blocking. You can also specify applications to allow or block permanently.
What alternatives to Avast One?
Bitdefender
-
mood
30 day trial
-
devices
3 to 10 devices
-
phishing
Anti-phishing included
-
local_atm
Anti-ransomware included
-
groups
Parental controls included
9.5
Bitdefender continues the momentum of previous versions with continued efficiency. To detect and block any type of threat coming from the Internet, the suite is flawless. There are no false positives to report, and it has no significant impact on Windows performance. The software protects your computer flawlessly, therefore. Compared to previous versions, we regret some interface choices which lean too much towards the general public, even if we always salute the didactic effort of the publisher. Bitdefender’s suite is undoubtedly one of the best security suites for Windows to protect your files, at an attractive price for purchasing the subscription. It is also available on Apple and Android systems.
Read the full review Try Bitdefender now!
- Excellent feature/subscription price ratio
- Flawless efficiency of the service
- Slight impact on performance
- Very easy to administer from the web console
- An interface that’s a little too mainstream
Norton360
-
mood
14 day trial
-
devices
10 devices
-
phishing
Anti-phishing included
-
local_atm
Anti-ransomware included
-
groups
Parental controls included
9.3
Available on several devices, Norton 360 remains a very good all-in-one security solution for the general public against internet threats. The protection, perhaps a little too aggressive to avoid false positives, is very effective. The impact on Windows performance is always minimal. Unlimited VPN remains an interesting asset, even if others have since followed suit. Expert users will undoubtedly prefer a Kaspersky or a Bitdefender, but Norton 360 currently remains our preferred solution for the family.
Read the full review Try Norton 360 now!
- Robust and lightweight anti-virus protection
- Great ease of use
- VPN included and unlimited (Standard, Deluxe and Advanced)
- Free cloud storage space 200 GB
- Dark web monitoring (Deluxe and Advanced)
- False positives progressing but still present
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