Windows based computers may be more at risk of viruses, but Macs are not completely immune, so the need for protection software is increasing. avast! is a well-known name in the antivirus field, and the company has released a beats version of its antivirus software, designed specifically with Macs in mind.

avast! Free Antivirus for Mac beta includes three different protection shields. There is the Mail Shield that will check incoming mail for POP3 and IMAP accounts to ensure that messages are free from infection, and the Filesystem Shield constantly monitors your computer, scanning individual files for signs of viruses. The Web Shield ensures that you do not inadvertently download infected files from the internet and the is also the option of scanning your system manually.

Mac owners with large hard drive may find that full system scans take a while to complete. To help speed things up you have the option of scanning only your Home Folder or performing a custom scan of different locations. If you do not want to scan your entire system, there is a special drop zone within the application interface that can be used to scan individual files. You can also use the application to scan network locations and removable media.

Note: should you decide that you would like to remove avast! from your hard drive, you will need to the Uninstall option from within the application rather than just deleting it from your Applications folder.

What's new in 13 (see changelog for more)?

- Introducing Premium features: Ransomware Shield and Wi-Fi Inspector
- Dropped support for macOS 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. Virus definitions and scanning engine is still provided for these OSes.
- Fixed iCloud issues on High Sierra.
- Improved File Shield performance.
- Other bugfixes.