If you’re looking for an internet security suite that will protect you from all known threats, the TotalAV antivirus will be a good investment. Ransomware, phishing scams, spyware, and adware – it will protect you from all those threats. Total AV began its work back in 2017 but is already a leading product with a strong customer base.

Thanks to the affordable prices, 30-day money-back guarantee, low impact, and user-friendly interface, the software quickly became a trendy choice among regular users. Plus, while it may not be the most feature-packed program out there, the list of available security features and extras is quite impressive. With it, you’ll get a powerful VPN for safe browsing, a password manager, and useful optimization tools, among other things.

Real-time antivirus protection is also decent. In this Total AV review, we’ll take a look at all the available packages and prices. This is a rather flexible product, meaning there’s enough to choose from, which is another reason to consider it over the competition. In the Pros and Cons sections, our experts will reveal its strong and weak sides in more detail. And if you want to learn more about the installation procedure, check out our comprehensive guides.

TotalAV Plans and Prices

With the Total AV antivirus, you’ve got three different plans/packages to choose from. As always, the entry-level package is cheaper but has a limited set of features. The ultimate plan, in turn, is quite expensive, but offers a wide range of additional features and services. And then we have the trials, free editions, and the money-back guarantees. Take a look at what the company has to offer within the initial term price:

Antivirus Pro ($29/year; $19/year – special deal)
Internet Security ($39/year)
Total Security ($59/year)

Antivirus Pro. Users in the market for basic (but still reliable) antivirus protection will probably pick Antivirus Pro over the competition. It’s low-budget and provides real-time antivirus protection for up to three devices simultaneously. It’s fully compatible with Win, macOS, iOS, and Android. Here’s what you can expect to get with Total AV’s entry-level package:

Real-time antivirus protection (checks downloaded and installed files for viruses)
Protection against zero-day attacks (cloud scanning)
Anti-virus, Trojan, and malware modules
Ransomware protection (keeps your files/apps secure against encrypting software)
Anti-phishing protection (blocks phishing URLs, links, emails, and other scams)
Protection against spyware (blocks software stealing your passwords-logins and credit cards)
OS optimization tools (system startup boost, performance optimization, and more)
Disk Cleaner (gets rid of unwanted files on the hard drives, frees up space)
Web Shield (an extra layer of anti-phishing protection)
Browser boost (makes the browser work faster)

Internet Security. According to the Total AV antivirus team, Internet Security is the most popular package. It includes every single tool, feature, and module from Antivirus Pro and adds one important extra. We’re talking about the company’s standalone VPN (Safe Browsing). On its own, it’s quite expensive, but as a part of IS, it will be money well spent. On top of that, this package fully covers up to five devices instead of three.

Total Security. Last but not least, there’s the Total Security plan. Along with real-time protection, optimization tools, and the VPN, it includes additional features. First of all, you’ll get a dedicated Ad-Blocker that keeps annoying ad pop-ups at bay. While most ads are usually harmless, some of them can be malicious and pose a threat to your OS and personal data.

The Secure Password Vault is – yes, you’re right – a password manager. It can sync all your password-logins together, keep them in a secure space, and help you come up with hard-to-crack combinations. As for coverage, Total Security can protect six devices (both desktop and mobile) at the same time. Compared to Antivirus Pro, it’s twice as expensive, but the list of extras adds to the package. Use the 30-day money-back refund if you don’t like it.

TotalAV Antivirus Pros

To familiarize ourselves with what TotalAV is all about, it’s important to take a good look at all of its pros. Real-time protection is, of course, at the core of this antivirus product, but all the extra modules and security features also deserve our attention. Here’s a list of all the benefits that you’ll get with Total AV, making it a good purchase for the regular users.

The Pros:

Decent performance in real-world tests
An affordable purchase with good value
Includes an excellent set of extra features and tools
Very easy to use; intuitive navigation
Compatible with older hardware and software; low system impact
Leading customer support

Decent performance in real-world tests

While TotalAV is slightly behind Norton, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender, it still holds its own in real-world tests. For this review, we ran a series of tough tests, and Total AV proved to be reliable. In the malware protection test, it achieved an above-average result (more than 95% of the planted samples were detected and eliminated).

Next, we checked its performance against ransomware, phishing, spyware, and adware. The Total AV antivirus found every single destructive ransomware sample and blocked 95% of our phishing URLs. It also passed the spyware-adware tests with flying colors. We cross-checked our results with credible third-party testing labs, and they matched.

In March-April 2020, AV-Test (one of the most respected testers) evaluated Total AV’s performance in the zero-day and widespread malware tests. The results were quite impressive. In the 0-day malware attacks test, it blocked 97.9% of the planted threats. In the widespread/prevalent malware assessment, it detected and eliminated 100% of the malicious samples.

An affordable purchase with a good value (and a 30 day money-back guarantee)

Compared to most rivaling antivirus solutions, Total AV is a low-budget purchase. On top of that, you’ll get attractive year-one discounts for all three packages. The additional features that you get with the more expensive tiers are well worth the price. The basic plan is quite generous as well and includes many features that you won’t see in many top-10 antiviruses.

The company offers a 30-day Money-Back Guarantee, which means you can get a full refund within those 30 days. Our experts requested refunds from three separate accounts, and everything was handled quickly and without any problems. There’s also a 30-day free trial that allows you to test-run the software and see whether you like it enough to subscribe or not.

Includes an excellent set of extra features and tools

Like all the leading antivirus products, Total AV comes with a long list of useful security features.

First of all, the VPN is provided by Windscribe: the experts are calling it one of the best standalone Virtual Private Networks. It is fast, reliable, has a decent set of servers, and will protect your privacy from prying eyes.
Secondly, the Password Manager comes as a browser extension and does a decent job of storing your password-logins. Thanks to the TDES encryption, your credentials are always secured from outside attacks.
The Web Shield is another useful extension. It blocks phishing URLs and can start a secure search. In contrast to the previous two extras, the Web Shield is available with the entry-level Antivirus Pro package.
The Optimization Tools deserve our attention as well. They can get rid of unnecessary files on the hard drive, optimize the browser, and make the OS work faster. The tune-up tools also get rid of PUPs.

Very easy to use; intuitive navigation

Thanks to the friendly dashboard, fast, responsive UI (User Interface), and clever design, Total AV is very easy to use. From the main menu, you can launch a quick scan, check the system status, and access all the important sections. There are a lot of menus and features, but the program doesn’t look overcrowded. The six big buttons in the center and the sidebar are self-explanatory and can be accessed in one single click.

The same is true for the mobile apps. Swipe from the left side of the screen, and you’ll get instant access to what Total AV offers. The scans can be launched just as easily as on the desktop apps, and they don’t affect performance in any negative way. Overall, the team working on the software did an excellent job. The UI is one of Total AV’s standout features in 2020, even though it used to be a bit confusing back when it first came out.

Compatible with older hardware and software; low system impact

Yes, the TotalAV antivirus is fully compatible with older operating systems. For example, you can launch it on Windows XP, an OS that came out in 2001. The Apple fans can run it on Mac OSX 10.9 or higher. Oreo 8.1 is the minimum Android requirement, while the iPhone/iPad users with iOS 11.3 also make the cut. As for the official hardware requirements, they are quite low.

To run it, you’ll need 2GB of RAM and up to 1.5GB of hard-drive space. TotalAV isn’t at all CPU-demanding: anything like Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 will suffice. The software runs quietly in the background, without any frustrating pop-up messages. Even during a full scan, it doesn’t need more than 200MB of RAM and won’t slow down the system, which is a huge pro.

Leading customer support

One of the best things about TotalAV’s customer support – the agents don’t take forever to respond. Plus, there are a lot of ways to get in contact with them. The list includes phone, email, and ticket support. Sadly, there’s no live chat that allows you to get a hold of the technicians immediately. On the bright side, the fans of taking care of everything on their own will appreciate the FAQ section and the how-to videos.

The support agents are very friendly and helpful. For the sake of this TotalAV review, we used all the available means of communication on several occasions to check their professionalism. Particularly, while it took them more than ten hours to respond to our email, the answer was, indeed, helpful, and thought-through.

TotalAV Antivirus Cons

No matter how good Total AV is, it still has several weak points that we need to discuss. Those include a limited free version and steep renewal rates. With that said, it’s a worthy product, and the pros strongly outweigh the cons. Take a look and see whether these cons are big “turn-offs” for you or not:

The Cons:

The free edition is decent but quite limited
The renewal rates are unreasonably high

The free edition is decent but quite limited

Along with a 30-day money-back (refund) guarantee and the 30-day free trial (mentioned in the Pros), TotalAV also has a 100% free version. Sadly, it isn’t very feature-packed and will only serve as a starting point before you upgrade to a paid antivirus. It can scan the system for malware and get rid of it, but you won’t get a real-time antivirus with it. Obviously, it won’t protect you against zero-day attacks either.

The renewal rates are unreasonably high

The entry-level (first year) rates are very attractive. However, the renewal rates for the second year are three or more times higher. You can clearly see that when purchasing a package (the “Regular” price). But, since most potential clients don’t pay attention to that, most of them get confused and frustrated by the renewal prices. And, compared to what the competition has to offer, these rates are, indeed, quite high.

And the 30-day money back guarantee won’t help here. You’ll have to log into your TotalAV account and cancel subscription renewal from there. Or, better yet, get in contact with the support, and let them handle everything.

How to Install and Setup TotalAV

As a leading real-time antivirus product, TotalAV is quite user-oriented. Even if you’re not a big fan of computers and mobile devices, it won’t be very hard for you to download and install the apps. All things considered, there are some differences between the installation process of Win, Mac, and Android. Let’s go through every step for each platform so that you get everything right.

Windows 10

Of all the operating systems, Win 10 is the most popular one. Compared to Win 7, 8, and 8.1, it’s significantly more secure. Still, the built-in Defender isn’t enough to protect you against modern threats. So, if you want to install TotalAV on a Win-run computer and get reliable security for a fair price, here’s what you should do:

First of all, go to the official website (TotalAV.com)
There, you’ll find a big green button that says “Get Protected Now” – click on it to visit the Pricing menu
Can you see the three packages that we discussed earlier? They are all available for Windows 10 and can be bought by hitting the “Buy Now” button
Any package/extra tool you buy will be added to your account. So, yes, you’ll have to create a user account on TotalAV’s website
Once you go ahead with the purchase, the installation file (.exe in the case of the Windows OS) will download automatically
Alternatively, you can click on “Download Free Trial” in the Applications menu and download the free edition.

Installation won’t take more than five minutes. Just follow the on-screen instructions, and you’ll finish it in no time. This is important: the installation wizard will ask you to install a package called V9 Network Adapters – make sure to hit “install.” To access all the security features, you’ll need to sign in to your account.

Upon the first launch, Total AV will update its database. And, we highly recommend starting a full system scan to ensure there are no hidden viruses on your computer. As was already mentioned in the pros, the Total AV antivirus software is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and has a low impact on system resources.

Mac

The installation procedure on the macOS is almost 100% identical to the Win system. The only difference – the downloaded installer will have a .DMG extension instead of .exe. Again, you’ll have to go through the registration-download procedure before you install the package of your choosing. Total AV has been fully compatible with Macs since the very first day, and it works flawlessly on this OS.

The prices, discounts, and everything else are the same as on Windows, including the extra features that come with the higher tiers. One of the best things about this antivirus is that even the entry-level Antivirus Pro package fully supports all four major platforms, which is different with many rivaling products.

Android

On mobile devices, Total AV takes even less time to install. Android users should go to the Google Play store to get their hands on the dedicated app for this platform. Or, you can just load up the Play Store on your mobile device, as most phones and tablets come with it pre-installed. There’s also a third option:

If you already went through the registration process, log into your account on the official website
Go to the Download App menu, and select Smartphone – Android
There’s an “Email to my device” option – click on it
TotalAV will send you a download link to a specified address
The link will include the latest edition of the Android app.