Best antivirus for PC games
The best antivirus software will quietly protect your gaming PC from the evils of the Internet. Like a silent bodyguard, it will protect you without having to remind you that you are still alive. Because getting a popup in the middle of the game telling you that your device is virus-free is totally unwelcome. We don't tolerate nonsense like this and we think you shouldn't either.
The good news is that today's great antivirus suites are built with silent protection, and most of them offer some kind of game mode where you won't be notified of anything unless something catastrophic happens. These vital tools are also much easier on system resources than the older ones; Anyway, the good guys.
As cyber attacks are developing at an alarming rate, with untrustworthy pop-up ads, injections, phishing emails, and malware waiting to attack all kinds of websites, it is definitely worth getting serious about protecting your system.
We've taken a look at all the major antivirus programs out there, and these are the ones we think live up to the task of keeping your gaming PC protected. You'll be glad to know that any of them are pricey, and we've even included a free offer, which means they should be covered all.
1. Bitdefender Total Security 2021
The best antivirus for most PC gamers
+ Autopilot mode protects without disturbing + Strong protection against all malware + Good anti-ransomware
Relatively heavy system load
Although there are many capable antivirus apps in the market, the best antivirus for gaming should get the job done without hampering your performance or interfering excessively with your daily use. What makes Bitdefender so great is that once you install it, it instantly goes into autopilot mode. Autopilot makes all the security related decisions for you based on your usage patterns, so you won't be bombarded with alerts and notifications. However, don't worry; You still have a lot of control if you want to, too.
One of our favorite things about Bitdefender is that it can scan for active vulnerabilities — whether it's outdated software, missing Windows updates, or even unfortunate passwords — and present them in easy-to-read reports. It has its own VPN and improved parental controls if you have a child using your computer. Rarely do we see antivirus software progress as Bitdefender does.
Like most antivirus software, Bitdefender's pricing structure depends on how many years of coverage you want for five or ten devices.
2. Kaspersky Anti-Virus
Best heavyweight antivirus of the year
+ Comes with useful utilities + Additional subscription options for multiple computers
Reasons to avoid
Scans don't contain many details
As much as we love Bitdefender, there are other capable security suites out there. Kaspersky Internet Security is one of them. In this case, we recommend paying an extra $10 for Kaspersky Total Security, which is a more complete package with some useful utilities instead of simple things.
Among the bag of extra goodies is a file shredder that overwrites deleted files. Therefore, the ability to create encrypted folders to keep confidential files away from prying eyes, sync passwords between multiple devices, and computer cleaning tools, to name a few, are almost impossible to recover. You can find free alternatives to all of these, but having them all in one place is convenient.
We like Kaspersky because it always works well, both in identifying and blocking malware and with minimal impact on system performance. This does not mean that it is perfect. We remember a particularly alarming incident in which Kaspersky allowed a potentially unwanted program (PUP) to lock the mouse pointer into a box. It took some persistence (and safe mode) to fix the problem. However, for the most part, Kaspersky is excellent at protecting computers. Even on the rare occasions we had problems, they were relatively minor.
Currently, there's also half-price savings for new Kaspersky customers, so you can get three PCs covered for a year for $29.99.
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3. McAfee Gamer Security
Best antivirus for gamers
+ Game Boost works fine + Automatically prioritizes games
More expensive than basic protection
McAfee has always been a big name in the antivirus world. Chances are, if you bought a computer in the early 2000s, it came preloaded with McAfee antivirus. Fast forward to today, and McAfee has created an antivirus specifically for gaming. It simplifies the process so you can rest easy, knowing that you can still play Apex Legends without bogging down your performance with security related popup notifications.
McAfee Gamer Security knows when you're in a game and will stop anything running in the background while you're playing. It makes gameplay a priority for system resources, mutes notifications and anything else that interrupts your fun. It's great for someone who wants to know they are protected from all the usual bad actors on the internet, but doesn't want to mess with any settings. McAfee Gamer Security does it all for you.
+ Barely uses storage or RAM + Doesn't interrupt the game + Amazingly well
Reasons to avoid
- Android support is limited
SecureAnywhere has been and remains an exceptional case in AV. It only takes up a few megabytes of disk space and uses about 5 megabytes of RAM when idle. The SecureAnywhere task manager shows with around 50MB of RAM and less than 15 percent of CPU usage during an active scan, yet it only takes two minutes to scan 150GB of data spread across two SSDs.
Webroot also creates a special version of SecureAnywhere for gamers. It differs from the regular version in that it provides a system optimization tool to "scan your hardware and operating systems for system problems, clear all traces of online activity, and make deleted files unrecoverable." In practice, we've seen that you only delete temporary files to free up some disk space. SecureAnywhere also stays politely in the background, so updates or extra delays don't bother you while you play.
Since it is cloud-based, SecureAnywhere works best when there is an internet connection. In the age of ubiquitous broadband, this won't be a problem for many people, especially gamers. And while it's lightweight and short on local storage requirements, SecureAnywhere is surprisingly high on adjustable settings. There are more than 100 of them, and you can export your settings to make setting up on another computer quick and easy. In terms of pricing, Webroot is currently $19.99 for one device for a year (ignore the countdown, it's always that price).
4. Avira Free Antivirus for Windows
Best Free Antivirus
+ It's free! + Customizable firewall + Reliable protection
Reasons to avoid
- The best features behind the paywall system
We chose Avira as our free option due to the level of customization available. Whether you want to put your head into program menus and start fiddling with knobs and numbers is up to you, but if you decide to tweak Avira's behavior, you'll find a modest toolkit of options. One of the settings we highly recommend enabling is to check for rootkits before scanning. This will increase scan times, but rootkits are particularly bad at the way they dig their hooks deep into the operating system, so you're better off erring on the security side.
You can also configure how aggressively Avira scans for zero-day threats with heuristic analysis, set to a medium detection level by default. Raising it to a high level puts Avira in an extra cautious state, but it risks reporting false positives. Setting it low has the opposite effect, or it can disable test scanning altogether, which is an option we don't recommend.
What you don't get with the free version of Avira is a game mode. However, Avira does not cost money, it pays for it with annoying ads. This is where the free version of BitDefender has the advantage. On the contrary, it does not use ads, does not annoy users with pop-ups, and pauses system checks when playing games. It's a straightforward solution, although the downside is that there aren't many options, just a couple of on/off switches.
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