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Best Antivirus For Chromebook in 2024

Protect your Google machine at all costs
Last Updated on February 6, 2024
best antivirus for chromebook

Looking for the best Antivirus for your Chromebook?

Having antivirus software on your PC is very important. It deal with any potentially harmful malware once it is downloaded onto your PC. Furthermore, it can stop viruses from entering your computer in the first place.

You might make the mistake of thinking that a Chromebook is safe from having malicious software due to its unique design – but you’d be wrong. Having each application kept within its own separate zone does lower the risk of getting malware. Also, the fact that .exe files won’t work on a Chromebook severely reduces the risk of it crashing or experiencing flaws.

However, Chromebooks are very susceptible to viruses, and you might have experienced this already. You can have trackers upload themselves onto your computer and very quickly compromise the security of your files. It can be downloaded from third-party sources or operate from websites you’re visiting.

Have you suffered from malware attacks on your Chromebook and are looking for that extra level of protection? We understand how hard it is to find software compatible with your Chromebook and also software that you can trust.

Where can you find the best antivirus software for your Chromebook? What unique features should your antiviral software have to give you complete protection from many harmful online threats? How much should you have to pay for decent antivirus software?

Well, don’t worry, because we’ve got all the answers to your burning antivirus questions. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best antivirus software currently available on the market. We’ve also outlined what they offer in terms of a subscription and in how they’ll help protect your Chromebook.

Our buyer’s guide will help you to identify what you should be looking for in malware protection for a Chromebook. We then have some frequently asked questions that will hopefully answer your concerns when it comes to antivirus software.

Products at a Glance

How We Picked

 When it comes to keeping your personal information and your saved files safe online, we know there’s nothing more important than being able to trust what you’re buying. Here’s a short summary of how we picked the products recommended here. You will know exactly what it was that made us believe that these are some of the best options currently available. 

The biggest deciding factor when choosing between different antivirus is whether it’s a paid or free service. So we have chosen to include a mix of both options to cater to a range of budgets. We also considered the type of scanning system and it’s VPN capabilities.

Things To Consider

Picking out your next antivirus software is a very difficult process, as you don’t want to spend too much money on something that will not be compatible with your computer and might contribute to the slowing down of your device.

You’ll want a few different features from a decent antiviral software: a constant and in-depth scanning of your device, the ability to scan your apps and to block websites that are not deemed secure enough. Here are some of the main things you’ll want to look out for:

Does It Have A Manual Or Automatic Scanning System?

Having an automatic scan will be great if you want that regular skimming over of any apps, websites or software, then this is the software for you. If you are regularly downloading lots of files or items, then having an automated or scheduled scanner will be very important.

Manuel scanning systems will give you that extra control over what you’re planning on scanning and will allow you to scan more things a lot faster than if you were scanning lots of different apps in single lumps.

Is It Paid Or Free?

This will be a deal-breaker for a lot of prospective buyers. Committing to a 12 month paid subscription might not be viable for many people, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t have access to antivirus software.

There are plenty of free antivirus software packages that function just as well and, in some cases, slightly better, than a lot of the paid versions that you can sign up for.

Does It Have VPN Capabilities?

VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’ and it basically means that a log of your connections and activity online won’t be kept on a record of accessible by third parties. Having zero access to your IP address, you can torrent without detection and also stream movies and TV shows from other parts of the world where they otherwise might have been blocked.

VPN is usually found on paid antivirus software, which might be difficult if you are constrained by a budget. This should only be recommended if you are planning on streaming regularly and don’t want to be caught out by the authorities.

Our Recommended

Best Antivirus For Chromebook in 2024

1
PROS
  • This is a great unit to use if you want the app to do a lot of the work for you - perfect if you aren’t technologically literate but you still want first-rate protection.
  • This will notify you straight away if anyone outside of your home wifi is trying to access your computer.
  • This has the potential to run on multiple different devices, which is great if you want to check your Chromebook’s protection from your mobile phone.
  • You can also lock your Chromebook from another source such as your mobile or tablet device, this is great for having that completely hands-free protection.
CONS
  • You have only 200MB of protected data per day, which will be an issue if you are video editing large sizes of files.

Our first antivirus software is certainly amongst some of the best. Hence why Bitdefender Mobile Security comes in at number one on our list. This is a great virus protection app for Chromebook. It comes with a notification window that will alert you if it detects any suspicious activity on your device.

This service has plenty of amazing features. It has the ability to individually protect your apps, through a pin code that won’t allow third parties to access your account. Furthermore, it will automatically recognize your home wifi network. You alone will be able to use your associated apps, which is a great piece of intelligence protection software.  Overall, this is a seriously hardworking piece of software.

2
PROS
  • This is great for isolating certain apps to check whether or not they are generally compromising your overall system. This is very often the source of any crashing or slow speeds on your Chromebook.
  • This software is perfect for entry-level computer users who might not be that intelligent when it comes to coding and other complicated firewall setups.
  • This is a very basic software but it offers you very rounded protection for the Chromebook.
  • There are a lot of free apps online that will give you that total, password-protected coverage that a lot of the more expensive antivirus software provides.
CONS
  • This does not have any VPN software, so the outside world will still have access to your connection and activity history, which is not great for keeping out bad actors.

This next antivirus software for your Chromebook has great user-friendly capabilities, with an easy-to-understand user interface. You can also schedule malware scans on your device. Such a function is perfect if you want to regularly make sure that there are no unwanted visitors. Introducing Malwarebytes!

One of this software’s most useful features is running scans on apps to see if they are leaking data. Sometimes these apps can take on spyware without you knowing, which can then feed data into the wider world. This is a big issue if you are downloading various freeware.

3
PROS
  • This has a very hands-on approach to virus scanning, allows you to manually instigate scans as and when you need to.
  • This will scan the entirety of your device, including individual apps that might contain malware that might be leaking data to the outside world.
  • This will give you a comprehensive list of apps that are displaying suspicious activity, so you can delete them if you feel that they are draining too much power or causing you repeating glitches.
  • You can use this antivirus will any type of browser, all you have to do is fire up Chrome and it will pre-upload all your websites first before allowing you to access them, virus-free.
CONS
  • You cannot schedule any virus scans with this software, which might not be that useful for the particularly forgetful Chromebook user.

This next antivirus software is probably very well known to a lot of people. Nortron Mobile Security have established themselves as being one of the best on the market. This has a very powerful virus scanner that works to protect you from some of the more malicious adware.

This will go above and beyond protecting your Chromebook. For example, it will protect your browsing experience by first putting your websites behind a firewall. It will then scan them thoroughly for viruses before you browse them. This will pre-download every app, scanning it for viruses before putting it on your Chromebook properly.

4
PROS
  • This gives you protection as you browse, which is perfect if you like the freedom to wander the web without having to worry about malware attacking your computer. This will notify you of any suspicious activity.
  • There are a few tools that this antivirus software has that will give you everything that you need to scan for vicious code that might be trying to attack your computer.
  • This comes a VPN, so you can be sure of no connection or activity logging, which will be great if you are wanting that completely secure browsing experience with your Chromebook.
  • It’s free! - This is probably the main selling point of this software, you can have all the luxury protection of the paid subscriptions for absolutely nothing at all.
CONS
  • The level of VPN data that you can protect is limited to around 200MB a day, which will certainly be an issue for anyone who is streaming large video files.

This next piece of antivirus software is completely free to use. This is perfect for anyone that does not have the cash to spend on a subscription service. But is it any good? As you will see, this software has a lot of the features to rival its paid competitors. We reckon it functions just as efficiently – introducing the Avira Free Security.

This is a reactive rather than proactive type of software. It means that it will give you a high level of privacy to stop people from getting into your Chrome. However, it won’t necessarily check any apps that you’ve downloaded. You can scan a new wifi network for viruses before you start using it. This is useful if you are frequently using public networks.

5
PROS
  • This will scan most apps and websites before and after accessing, which is great if you want to keep track of everything that goes onto your operating system.
  • This has a very in-depth virus scanner, giving you the ability to be able to translate any malicious coding or software with a quick notification system.
  • This will stop malware from getting through the gate at Google Play, which is where you can often find malware trying to enter your computer.
  • It’s free again! - This is another major reason that you’ll want to pick up this software. It is very basic, but it’ll give your Chromebook decent coverage.
CONS
  • This is very basic antivirus software, so if you want scheduled scanning and VPN protection, then we would recommend that you opt for a paid service.

This next antivirus software has been rated as one of the best scanners that you can get. It will be able to find any number of malicious codes and malware, completely scanning apps in the Google play store before you download them onto your Chromebook. This will automatically stop you from accessing any potentially dangerous sites – introducing TotalAV Antivirus & VPN.

This is another free software that functions just as thoroughly as some of the paid subscriptions. This will scan both websites and apps, making it a more active than passive style of antivirus software. This will prevent any malicious software from getting into your system.

Why Do You Need Antivirus For A Chromebook?

A Chromebook limits the number of files you can download and does not run .exe files. However, you are still at risk of attack by viruses, spyware, malware and codes that will slow your computer.

You might not need the extensive range of coverage that some antivirus software offers you. Nonetheless, the ability to be able to screen and scan viruses will be very important for your Chromebook. This will prevent your computer from running at super slow speeds.

What Is Better: Paid Or Free Antivirus Software?

When it comes to the basic features, they are more or less the same. For scanning programs and filtering out bad actors, both paid and free antivirus software does a pretty good job.

However, for features like scheduled scans and automatic notifications of suspicious activity, we recommend that you pay for a subscription. If you are paying, that also means that you are eligible for upgrades that might occur monthly.

Does Chrome have built in virus protection?

Google’s Chrome browser comes with an inbuilt malware scanner which works to detect viruses and stop any potential threats. It has the ability to detect and report any malicious applications or downloads on your browser. You can also use it to look over your entire computer for similar material.

Our Verdict

We hope that our list of the best antivirus for Chromebook has helped you narrow it down to a few options, depending on what you need. Our top tip for starting is that you get free antivirus software, so you can get to grips with the basics before graduating to a paid subscription if you feel like you need it.