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Free community-based protection
Lightweight and stackable with other antivirus
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Internet security can be confusing. Immunet antivirus is very simple.
It works only with Microsoft Windows and helps protect against viruses, Trojans, and malware. There aren’t any real features other than the virus scan, but in our testing, we found it was strong enough to protect against our test viruses.
Immunet is also free and community-based. It was created to be used alone or stacked with your current antivirus. So would you trust something so easy when antivirus has always felt so complicated?
If you’re still in need of device protection, please check out our guide to the best antivirus software for recommendations.
Antivirus software offering reliable security
Simple yet powerful interface tools
Perfect protection score in third-party tests
| Price | Free |
| # of devices protected | 1 |
| Malware scans | Manual and scheduled |
| Firewall | No |
| Phishing protection | No |
| Parental controls | No |
| Learn more | Get Immunet Antivirus |
Immunet is a free antivirus program that markets itself both as an antivirus product and as a stackable solution that can be added as an extra layer of protection to existing antivirus installed on your computer. There aren’t a lot of features, but it does allow you some basic functionality like scheduling scans and choosing scan locations. It doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, so it’s a good choice for someone looking for set-and-forget protection.
If you’re looking for an antivirus that can work with Immunet or has more features, consider these options. The best antivirus doesn’t have to be the most expensive or robust, sometimes all you need is reliable protection.
Avast, McAfee, and Bitdefender have all undergone recent third-party testing and are proven effective against viruses; Trojans; and malware, including spyware, adware, and ransomware.
Antivirus software offering reliable security
Simple yet powerful interface tools
Perfect protection score in third-party tests
Immunet doesn’t have a ton of extra features, but the protection features offered are lightweight and easy to use. It offers community-based protection, which means it analyzes the malicious files encountered by its users and then deploys protection across the entire network to all users. This helps identify new threats early and enables protection quickly to keep you safe.
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For such a lightweight product, Immunet offers the ability to manually scan your computer as well as set scan times. In fact, you have the ability to choose if you want to scan archived or packed files as well. This can come in handy if you think you have a virus, Trojan, or malware hiding somewhere in your system that you haven’t found yet.
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A full scan takes around a minute, which is incredibly fast since some of the more well-known antivirus brands can take upwards of an hour on the initial scan.
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The real-time protection aspect of Immunet is simple. There isn’t much to it as far as configuration, but when we ran our EICAR tests, it was active in the background.
There was no slowdown or issues on our device with the protection running, but there also wasn’t really a way to pause it. Given that Immunet advertises itself as a stackable security option that can complement your current antivirus, it’s interesting that it lacks the ability to temporarily disable the protection.
Immunet notes that its ability to protect you so completely and without leaving a massive footprint on your machine is because of its cloud computing capabilities. This means two things.
One, you’ll need to be online for it to work, which is fine because malware tends to come from online interactions. And two, you’ll need to be connected to Immunet’s cloud. There’s no configuration for this — if you’re using the product, then you’re in the cloud. This allows Immunet to recognize threats from all across the web and protect all users before that same threat attacks them.
There aren’t any bonus features with Immunet. Honestly, we’re not sure we would want it to have bonus features. Part of the increasing cost of antivirus is all the extras provided.
With Immunet, you have the ability to change your settings, but you won’t have a ton of other things to manage.
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The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) provides testing tools so individuals can challenge their own antivirus programs at home. These tests include manually downloaded malware, drive-by malware downloads, compressed malware, potentially unwanted apps (PUAs), potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), and phishing detection.
Phishing is the most difficult to protect against because it can look innocent. Here are some examples of phishing behavior:
Immunet did well in all areas of malware detection and quarantine. We were actually surprised at how much it protected against. The only area it failed was in detecting phishing behavior. Since it doesn’t claim to stop phishing attempts, it’s reasonable that it failed this test.
While phishing attempts can be extremely detrimental to your identity and finances as well as your account safety, it’s easier to stop them when you know what you’re looking for. Even if your antivirus doesn’t protect you from phishing, you can learn to recognize and ignore phishing attempts. Norton 360 and Bitdefender offer phishing protection, and you can learn more about phishing in our guide.
| Test | Immunet score |
| Malware detection | Pass |
| Potentially unwanted apps (PUAs) detection | Pass |
| Phishing detection | Fail |
Third-party testing is the best way to make sure an antivirus works the way it claims. Our EICAR tests showed Immunet is an effective antivirus, but since EICAR doesn’t go as deep as independent testers, we can’t know if Immunet would protect you from everything.
Since Immunet is only available on Windows machines, we tested it on our old Windows 10 laptop from 2017. Installation was a breeze, and there was no setup required.
Once Immunet was installed, the dashboard appeared, and we could instantly scan our computer. It took about a minute to scan, which was impressive, and came back with no issues. We changed some of the configurations in the settings, turning on the scan archive files and scan packed files settings.
After scheduling a custom scan for Sunday mornings, we didn’t have much else to do. The EICAR testing was easy and informative. Since there aren’t any additional features with Immunet, we mostly just looked around at everything we could click.
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There’s a gaming mode in settings, but all that does is stop the notifications you’ve enabled. If you don’t enable any notifications, you don’t need this feature. Overall it’s a nice, simple, effective antivirus.
Immunet is compatible only with Windows PCs and Windows servers. The company clearly states this information on the front page of the website.
Often you’ll pay for an antivirus for Mac only to find out you get protection and little to no features for the same price Windows users are paying for a feature-rich product. Immunet doesn’t waste your time.
Support isn’t robust. You’re offered an FAQ, the forums to connect with other Immunet users, or Immunet’s X, formerly known as Twitter, page. The FAQ is organized and informative, as is the forum section.
Since the product is simple, we expected simple support. Since Immunet is so easy to use, we don’t anticipate you’d need a lot of support, but if you do, the forums are likely your best bet.
Yes, Immunet Antivirus is a free antivirus with no upsells, additional commitments, or time limits. You can use the product by itself or with other cybersecurity products. It’s stackable and community-based for comprehensive protection.
Unlike other free antivirus solutions like Avast, Immunet doesn’t have tiers for additional features. The biggest downside is that Immunet only operates on Windows.
If you’re looking for a free antivirus that works on macOS or Linux, ClamAV is an open-source free antivirus that works on multiple platforms.
The biggest difference between ClamAV and Immunet is that ClamAV is compatible with multiple operating systems. ClamAV is open-source, which means its code is available for anyone to use. ClamAV also offers email scanning whereas Immunet protects your base device.
The fundamental principles of how Immunet works are its cloud-based model and its community-based protection.
Cloud-based computing means you’ll have less memory used up on your computer and it won’t slow you down. The community-based protection aspect casts a web over all its users, allowing the program to recognize a malicious entity on one computer and then spread protection out to everyone else using Immunet.
Installing Immunet is simple. Visit the Immunet website, make sure your Windows computer or server is compatible by scrolling down the main page to the compatibility section, then download and follow the instructions. Everything sets up smoothly. Once it’s installed, open, scan, and enjoy.
No, you cannot install Immunet Antivirus on a Mac, as it’s only available on Windows systems. The system requirements cover most Windows 7 through Windows 11 PCs and most Windows servers 2008 R2 and later. The specific system requirements are on the front page of the website.
Yes, Immunet Antivirus is good — unfortunately, it's being discontinued in January 2024. It passed our EICAR tests and was easy to install. We also appreciate that it’s made to be a part of your security stack both as a standalone antivirus or as a complementary service to another antivirus program.
However, Immunet is lightweight and doesn’t offer a lot, so you may be hesitant that it’s effective. But rest assured it works the same as how other antivirus programs work. We’d feel comfortable adding this to our security stack and recommending it to you.
Remember, there’s a lot on the internet that can infect your computer with long-term repercussions. Make sure you’re always using the best antivirus software and performing regular scans.
Free community-based protection
Lightweight and stackable with other antivirus
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