Freshly released for users running Windows XP through 10, Kaspersky Free is a free antivirus application that contains all the bare essentials found in Kaspersky Antivirus and Internet Security.

Besides several scanning modes and a real-time guard against incoming malware, it comes equipped with automatic updates, quarantine manager, self-defense mode, and more. There's even a VPN tool shipped with this app, called Kaspersky Secure Connection. Most importantly, unlike many free av we've come across during our software expeditions, this one doesn't have third-party offers during setup or banners within the interface.

Free email registration is necessary, though. Also, there are several modules greyed out in the UI, which are dedicated to users ready to switch to a premium version of Kaspersky. However, making the switch isn't mandatory.

Because this is basically a lesser version of Kaspersky Internet Security, it has the same appearance and standard options. You can get started by downloading the latest virus definitions and running a full scan to see what's going on. It's actually recommended to run full scans on a weekly basis.

There's also a quick scanning mode that looks only into critical parts of the hard drive where malware agents like to hide, and it's advisable to run it as often as possible. The selective scan mode applies to custom drives, directories or files you find suspicious, while the external device scan is available for any foreign devices that get plugged into your PC, such as external hard disks or USB flash drives.

Full and quick scans can be scheduled to run automatically by Kaspersky Free. You can send suspicious or infected files to the quarantine, examine reports, temporarily disable the real-time guard, allow auto scans when the PC is idle, disable scheduled tasks when running on low battery, and allow the tool to check the PC for rootkits.

Furthermore, you can choose the file types to scan, determine the action on thread detection (notify, disinfect, delete, delete only of disinfect isn't possible, autoselect), control the security level (low, recommended, high).

Kaspersky Free worked smoothly on Windows 10 in our tests and had minimal impact on PC performance. It's definitely worth looking into if you can't afford a premium antimalware application just yet.