Best Black Friday antivirus deals: stellar savings on PC protection

Now through December 4, you can get Norton's antivirus software bundled with identity theft protection for 63% off your first year. Norton 360 includes malware, ransomware and hacking protection along with useful extras like a VPN, password manager, parental controls, dark web monitoring and more. With LifeLock Select Plus, you get Social Security and credit alerts, one bureau credit monitoring and up to $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement if you have your identity stolen. This deal is a great way to protect your entire digital life at a very affordable price.

McAfee offers an easy to use interface, and sets itself apart by providing a security suite that doesn't require a lot of effort or extra thought. In addition to the antivirus protection, McAfee provides a password manager, parental controls, 24/7 phone support, a VPN, a firewall, credit bureau monitoring and a file shredder. However, it does lack a hardened browser and a ransomware rollback.

We've called Norton "almost everything you could want" in a security suite - and from malware protection, a VPN, a firewall, parental controls, password manager, hardened browser, and ransomware rollback this package includes almost everything you can shake a malicious stick at (except a file shredder or file encryption). When we reviewed it, our only drawbacks were the false positives and the price - which given the current Black Friday sale, is not an issue for the time being.

Malwarebytes puts a focus on, of course, malware as well as online identity security but leaves out some of the other features like password manager, parental controls, a hardened browser and a firewall. It does include a VPN however. During testing we found it to be very fast while scanning for malicious files, we also found that it was quick because it really only worked at the folder, not file, level. Overall, we found the defenses here were a more rudimentary approach.

Like the others on this list, Webroot will protect your system from malware, provide identity theft protection and anti-phishing measures, and has secure password management from LastPass. This version is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS and Android but has security measures specifically designed for Chromebooks, as well as a system maintenance tool that improves performance and clears hard drive space by deleting cookies and clearing the cache. However, as we have not yet tested it we cannot vouch for its efficacy.

Bitdefender has earned our best overall antivirus software spot for its excellent antivirus protection paired with its fantastic feature set. Not only does it include as complete security as you could expect from both existing and new threats, but it also throws in all the extras you can list off: VPN, firewall, parental controls, password manager, ransomware rollback, a Wi-Fi scanner and a hardened browser. During testing, we found it could bog down a system a bit and the only other drawback was the price - which you can sidestep right now during the Black Friday sale.