Iolo Antivirus Review 2025: Is It More Than Just Tune-Up Software?

Although iolo seems like your standard antivirus program, it's given us so many issues we think you might be better off without it. In the past, we've had to reinstall Windows because of iolo and another time it was near-impossible to install despite having paid for a subscription. 

We were also confused with its offered products and services. There are countless products with different antivirus capabilities but no clear side-by-side comparisons of what each product does. There are also no third-party antivirus tests to back up if iolo works. 

Check out our iolo System Mechanic review to see our experience with the antivirus and how it compares to the best antivirus software.

At a glance

Price	$23.95–$67.93/first yr
Free plan	Yes
# of devices protected	1 10
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	2/3
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	No
Compatibility	Windows
Extras	VPN, password manager, performance optimization tools
24/7 customer support	Yes
Learn more	Get iolo

We last tested iolo on June 16, 2025.

 

Our experience

We could actually install iolo without a hitch this time around, but we've had enough trouble in the past that we're still wary. We installed iolo System Mechanic Ultimate Defense on our Windows laptop. 

We started by testing the scans. The quick scan was complete in just under a minute, although it didn't find the dummy malware files we had downloaded prior to installing iolo. 

Then, we started a full scan to see if it would catch these files. Over three hours passed and the scan never stopped. The scan appeared stuck at 322,425 files. Although it put all the malware files into quarantine, it would've been nice to get a scan report going over everything. 

Note: When we tried to retest the product in September 2024, our computer became extremely sluggish forcing us to restart. When we tried to boot the system back up, we were hit with continual blue screens of death with the stop code "UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP." After being unable to boot in safe mode, we were forced to reinstall Windows, which did the trick.

Though this was a terrible experience, we couldn't find evidence that other people had run into a similar problem with Iolo before. It could've been an incompatibility with our system (we test a lot of products on this laptop, which could've caused a fatal conflict) or bad timing in our restart that corrupted our system files while Iolo was trying to optimize.

Regardless of the cause, we hesitate to recommend this product. 

Who is iolo best for?

• Recommended for Windows users who want a proven PC tune-up kit that can also be paired with antivirus and other security products.

Iolo provides loads of different products, but one of their most popular products (System Mechanic) is a tool for optimizing your PC performance. This won’t necessarily help you combat a computer virus or avoid malware, but it’s a useful product for keeping your computer in tip-top shape.

We’re not as enthusiastic about the iolo security and antivirus features because they haven’t been independently tested to see how well they work. From our testing, they seem to work fine from an everyday computer user’s perspective. In other words, they provide real-time antivirus protection and can scan your computer for potential threats. 

They’re just not proven compared to other antivirus services, such as TotalAV or Avast. Some antivirus providers don't undergo third-party testing because it's can be expensive to submit them. We're just surprised iolo hasn't submitted itself ever because the company has been around for decades. 

iolo antivirus cost

Iolo offers loads of different products and services that all come with their own price tags, which is about $23.95–$67.93/first yr depending on the product you choose. That’s about in line with what you can expect from other antivirus products, at least for the first year of service.

It’s worth going for the more expensive products if they have the features you’re looking for. This is because buying all the different services separately will typically cost more.

We like that you can pick and choose specific services or select a product that provides multiple features. For example, you might purchase Malware Killer if you specifically want to find and remove existing malware on your computer.

But you might go for System Mechanic Ultimate Defense if you want real-time antivirus protection, file recovery, PC tune-up tools, and more in one package.

	Malware Killer	System Shield AntiVirus & AntiSpyware	System Mechanic Ultimate Defense
Price per year	$23.95/yr	$35.95/yr	$67.93/yr
# devices supported	10	10	10
Manual and auto scan
Real-time protection
File recovery
Password manager
Ad blocker
Performance optimization tools
File shredder
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan

It’s helpful that iolo employs a Whole Home License policy for its products that lets you pay for one product and use it on up to 10 compatible devices as you want within your home. The only guideline is that none of the devices can be used for business purposes.

This can help you save money from having to buy another license for more devices, which is a common pricing strategy for antivirus services. Of course, that doesn’t matter if you only need antivirus protection on a few devices anyway.

iolo System Mechanic features

iolo's user interface was simple to navigate because it was easy for us to figure out how everything worked. This ease of use should be helpful for antivirus beginners getting the hang of the System Mechanic Pro app.

Note that iolo doesn't include the following features:

• Firewall
• Phishing protection
• Anti-fraud protection

We also found a few areas where certain settings and options might be more suited in the hands of an advanced PC user. We'll go into more detail as we review iolo's features.

Malware and antivirus scan

The antivirus option in System Mechanic Pro can be found on the AntiVirus tab. You have options for a full system scan, a quick scan, or individual scans for files and folders.

Network protection

Although iolo doesn't include a firewall, it does include a network scanner. It scans for connected networks on your device thaat could be congesting your network. 

It also checks known, or suspicious, ports on a network that could allow unauthorized access of your network. 

Real-time protection

The primary purpose of System Shield is to provide real-time protection against malware, including viruses, spyware, and more. System Shield scans in the background to provide this protection, which didn’t seem to really affect our PC performance while the program was running.

The antivirus provides malware protection by checking against constantly updated virus and spyware definitions to make sure your device is protected against known threats. There’s a recommended option in the System Mechanic Pro settings to keep these definitions automatically updated so your protection is up to date.

System Shield also employs artificial intelligence to combat threats that might not yet be included in the anti-malware definitions, which could include mutated programs and other threats. 

Ransomware protection

Iolo doesn’t specifically advertise ransomware protection on any of its products, unlike other antivirus products such as AVG’s Ransomware Shield.

But even without this explicit mention, certain iolo features could help protect you against ransomware threats. 

Take the Search and Recover service, for example.Search and Recover can help you recover data, including accidentally deleted files or personal data from damaged drives. 

So if a cybercriminal used ransomware to hold your files hostage or to delete them if you didn’t pay them money, you could theoretically use Search and Recover to recover your files.

Recovering deleted files is also a feature that’s available with the System Mechanic Pro and System Mechanic Ultimate Defense products. These products also provide real-time antivirus protection, which would hopefully prevent you from ever downloading a ransomware-related file in the first place.

Bonus features

System Mechanic is iolo’s popular PC tune-up utility kit, which can help give your computer a performance boost. The end result is hopefully a computer that runs fast without any noticeable delays or hiccups.

You can find all the features in the Performance tab of System Mechanic Pro. We especially liked the Deepclean feature, which acts like a general PC cleaner and optimizes a variety of different spots on your PC that could use some attention every once in a while.

There's also DriveScrubber, which is designed to completely wipe hard disks, permanently erasing all files on the drive. You might want to use DriveScrubber if you plan to sell or donate a hard drive, USB, or flash drive, or if you simply want to clear a drive and start using it again.

You can purchase the standalone product for $23.95 for the first year or you can get DriveScrubber included on System Mechanic Pro, as well as the Ultimate Defense version.

iolo antivirus test results

Once we finally downloaded iolo, we could test the program with ease. Iolo provided fast scans and blocked malware files. However, it failed the phishing test and has no third-party test results we could review. 

Learn more about how iolo performed in our tests below.  

Scan speed

• Result: Slow

Iolo has full system scans, quick scans, and custom scans for one folder or file.

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	45 seconds
Full scan	Inconclusive

We tested the quick scan and it was complete in under a minute. But when we tried the full system scan, it never stopped. Over three hours had passed and the files scanned stayed stuck at 322,425 files.

It did find the malicious test files we left on our device and placed them in quarantine but we never received a completed scan report. 

EICAR test results

• Result: 2/3

We threw malware and phishing tests at iolo's antivirus to see how well its protection works. The two EICAR malware files were blocked with ease, either never downloading or being thrown into quarantine.

Iolo did fail the phishing detection test, but it doesn't have a browser extension to help block against those types of threats. 

Test	iolo score
Malware detection	Pass
Drive-by malware downloads	Pass
Phishing pages detection	Fail

Third-party test results

We get antivirus test results by checking trusted third-party companies, including AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives. Unfortunately, iolo’s antivirus hasn't been tested by any of these reputable companies.

This is a bit of a red flag because AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives generally test all major antivirus software, so you might immediately think something is wrong with the iolo antivirus features if they haven’t been tested.

At least, that’s how we felt. So we continued digging further into available test results and found that a few independent sites, including VPN Overview and Comparitech, had done some testing. Only one adware file (out of seven possible malware and virus files) was found during the Comparitech tests.^[1]

Going off these limited test results, iolo doesn’t appear to provide the best antivirus protection. But more thorough testing is needed to get more conclusive results.

iolo compatibility

We tested iolo System Mechanic Pro, which is available on these Windows versions:

• Windows 11
• Windows 10
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 8
• Windows 7

You can also find a few iolo products on mobile apps. This includes iolo ByePass, a password management app that’s available for iOS devices (Mac, iPhone, and iPad) on the App Store and Android devices on Google Play. 

The iolo VPN app is available for Android devices on Google Play.

iolo customer support

Iolo has a support page where you can research solutions to different problems involving iolo products. You can also visit one of iolo’s social media channels for updates and general information. Its Facebook channel seems to be used most often.

Phone support is available 24/7 at 801-523-6763. Live chat is also available 24/7 and can be accessed from the main iolo site by clicking the chat option in the corner of any page. 

Top alternatives

Iolo stands out for its device optimization tools and tune-up features, but may be lacking as an antivirus. That's why we've collected the following antivirus alternatives, which have clear antivirus features, third-party test results, affordable pricing, and more:

FAQs

Bottom line: Is iolo a good antivirus?

Iolo seems to be more trouble than it's worth, plus it should undergo third-party testing to see whether it can compete with other antivirus services. During our latest round of testing, we had inconclusive scans and were still wary due to our previous install issues. 

Iolo is also massively confusing from the perspective of a potential buyer. There were simply too many products to choose from on the iolo website, and it wasn’t super clear what the differentiating features between products actually did.

If you’re looking for a PC tune-up kit that can also provide some security features, iolo could be a good fit for you. System Mechanic’s PC optimization features work well enough and the antivirus features seem fine, but more extensive testing is required. 

For more antivirus options, check out our list of the best antivirus software.