Download Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 12.0.0.872

SoftBuz.Com editors' review

Freeware antivirus that provides effective protection against computer viruses
By Administrator

Written by Bogdan Popa on October 10th, 2011

So, you're looking for a free antivirus, huh? Well, it might seem like you've come in the right place. Because Avira AntiVir Personal seems to be the right solution for all those who're searching for a free solution with decent performance and regular updates, just to be sure infections stay away from their precious data.

The folks over at Avira have always offered a pleasant interface, and their latest antivirus solution makes no exception to this rule. Fortunately, although it's supposed to fight against viruses, the application comes with a handy user interface that lets you configure it with ease. Truth is, there aren't too many options given the fact that it's a free software and it's solely addressed to blocking viruses, but still, it's a good thing to see a nice interface greeting you when opening the program, just like you'd see a cute smile and a cup of coffee in the morning.

As said, Avira only offers a bunch of settings, so advanced users should have no problem to deal with them, although beginners should too find the whole application quite easy to use.

The installation process is not that pleasant though. If you have Windows Defender installed, Avira advises you to remove it before continuing the installation. We chose “No”, while scratching our heads because it would make much more sense to use Avira together with Windows Defender, and not as a single solution.

Nevertheless, we continued the setup process and got slapped in our faces once again: Avira wanted to install the so-called “Webguard and the Avira SearchFree Toolbar” for our browsers. In most cases, these add-ons aren't too useful and tend to slow down the browser, so we chose once again to say no. Obviously, we had to swear that we're not planning to use Avira in any other purpose but for personal computers, so we stepped on to finish the installation.

Scanning is that kind of process that requires minimal interaction from the user. Choose the hard-disk you want to scan and let Avira do its magic. Scanning is not too fast though, and you can easily enjoy a doughnut and a cup of coffee (gee! what's with all this coffee appetite?!) while waiting to get rid of the worms. The speed of the scanning process obviously depends on the amount of data stored on your computer, so more files means more times and more doughnuts.

Avira promises to protect your computer against viruses, worms and Trojans AntiDialer protection as well as against dialers and rootkits, spyware and adware, but won't bet that the latest threats will be detected so fast.

In the end, Avira's free antivirus solution seems just right for those who want nothing more than an affordable software capable of blocking viruses and Trojan horses. The interface is more than decent, but a faster scanning process would be great. Still, what you pay is what you get, and Avira is clearly a smart pick.

Version 12.0.0.855 reviewed on: 21 Oct 2011

Publisher's description

Freeware antivirus that provides effective protection against computer viruses

Avira AntiVir Personal FREE Antivirus was
developed to be a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and
rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses,
Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. Monitors every
action executed by the user or the operating system and reacts promptly
when a malicious program is detected.

Avira AntiVir Personal is a
comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer
reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users, for personal use
only, and is not for business or commercial use.

Avira AntiVir Personal gives you the following functions:
· Control Center for monitoring, administering and controlling the entire program
· Central configuration with user-friendly standard and advanced options and context-sensitive help
· Scanner (On-Demand Scan) with profile-controlled and configurable search for all known types of virus and malware
· Integration into the Windows Vista User Account Control allows you to carry out tasks requiring administrator rights
· Guard (On-Access Scan) for continuous monitoring of all file access attempts
· Integrated quarantine management to isolate and process suspicious files
· Rootkit protection for detecting hidden malware installed in your computer system (rootkits) (Only for 32-bit systems)
· Direct access to detailed information on the detected viruses and malware via the Internet
·
Simple and quick updates to the program, virus definitions, and search
engine through Single File Update and incremental VDF updates via a
webserver on the Internet
· Integrated Scheduler to plan one-off or recurring tasks, such as updates or test runs
·
Very high rates of virus and malware detection using innovative search
technologies (search engines) and heuristic search processes
· Detection of all common archive types, including detection of nested archives and smart extensions
· High-performance multithreading function (simultaneous high-speed scanning of multiple files)

NOTE:
Avira AntiVir Personal is free for personal use only. A license key can be downloaded from here.

Here are some key features of "Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus":



· AntiVir protection against viruses, worms and Trojans AntiDialer protection against expensive dialers

· AntiRootkit protection against hidden rootkits

· Faster Scanning up to 20% faster

· AntiPhishing protection against phishing

· AntiSpyware protection against spyware and adware NetbookSupport for laptops with low resolution

· QuickRemoval eliminates viruses at the push of a button

Limitations:



· Not for Commercial or Business use

· Nag screen

What's New in This Release



New Gui:

· Avira AntiVir, version 10 will be released with a new graphical user
interface that features a completely new set of icons as well as a new
3D navigation bar and a continuous background picture.



· The new user interface keeps the proven elements of the old interface
and the customer does not need to get into a new interface. However, the
new icon set and the other new elements make it much easier for the
customer to find his way around the program.



Avira AntiVir ProActiv :

· Avira AntiVir, version 10 is now equipped with a brand new host-based
intrusion prevention system called Avira AntiVir ProActiv. AntiVir
ProActiv constantly monitors the behaviour of the system in real-time
and looks for unusual events.



· An integrated rule-system is able to decide proactively if a certain
event (or a combination of events) indicates that the system is
currently under attack from a new or unknown malware.



· If a rule matches the user is then able to decide what to do with this ...

Reasons why this program is marked as ad-supported:



· Displays ad banners or other types of advertising material during its runtime

· Offers to download or install software or components (such as browser
toolbars) that the program does not require to fully function

· At least 100 MB of free hard disk memory space (more if using Quarantine for temporary storage)
· At least 192 MB RAM under Windows 2000/XP
· At least 512 MB RAM under Windows Vista
· For the installation of Avira AntiVir Personal: Administrator rights
· For all installations: Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher

Available Translations: None

Changes on the new version:
What's new in Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 12.0.0.870:
December 10th, 2011

Increased stability and reliability:
· All components have been made more resilient in order to resist against targeted malware attacks which are more and more aggressive. This includes, but it is not limited to, the ability to function without many registry keys, better protection against process termination, component deletion and many others.
· The repair functionality for various malware families has been improved.

Decreased resource usage and faster initialization time:
· Many optimizations in all modules, re-usage and recycling of components that have already been loaded in memory lead to a lower memory consumption. Because the engine is loaded only once, the overall initialization time of all modules has been improved.

Improved usability:
· The usability of many actions which require user interaction or are used very often has been improved: installation, configuration and control of the user interface.

Some places where an information slide-up had to be shown have been enhanced by adding the possibility to configure the features:
· Protect Windows hosts file from changes
· Block autostart function
· Restart handling

Automatic license renewal:
· We want our software to work for the user and not the other way around. This is why we will come to help the users by taking another burden from their shoulders: license renewal.
· Starting with this release, it is possible to configure our payment gateway to automatically renew your license.
· The product will automatically detect that a new license has been generated and paid for and will then renew its license.
· The user is notified via email and by the product that the license has been renewed and that there is no interaction required.

Clear naming for products and components:
· In order to be easily accepted on international markets, the names of the products, technologies and modules must be easily understandable by everybody. This is why, for the first time in its history, Avira has changed the names of its product and of some of the most important product modules.

IPv6 Support for the FireWall, Web and Mail Protection:
· The FireWall included in the Avira Internet Security is now able to filter Ipv6 addresses on the adapter level and also create rules for applications trying to connect over Ipv6. This completes the FireWall solution and assures the customers that even if they use the newest IP protocol they are still protected. Also, the Mail and Web protection components are able to work now in a pure Ipv6 environment.

User interface improvements:
· Overall, all the user interfaces of the product have been made faster, lighter and easier to use. We made the product more secure by default and this will be reflected by the user interfaces.
· Our strong belief is that the interaction with our security software has to be as easy and logical as possible. The status panel reflects the status of the most critical components you use. The status of the product is now reflected in the status panel and also in the umbrella in the tray icon. Our users have given their trust to Avira by installing one of our security solutions on their computers. This is why it is possible now to let Avira decide what needs to be done to protect the computer better. And this can be done with only one click: Fix problem

The entire status panel has been redesigned in order to allow a fast configuration and control of all options and features:
· Scan your computer
· Backup
· Update
· Renewal
· FireWall, Web and Mail protection
· Child protection
· Game Mode / Presentation mode

· The configuration options have been simplified and only the most important options have been left visible by default. Of course, the technical savvy user can still find all the options to tweak the product in the Expert mode of the configuration.

Removal of potentially incompatible software:
· Everybody knows that running two security solutions in parallel can have serious consequences on the stability of the PC and the overall experience with a newly installed software. In order to make the transition to Avira as easy and the least painful as possible, we have added a new functionality in our installation programs: detection and removal of potentially incompatible software. No worries, it is possible to select which 3rd party solution you want to keep.

Express Installation:
· The new release makes the installation of our products even more easier and straight forward. We have kept only the most important things in the Express installation and left the others in the Custom installation mode.

Better security by default:
· From now on the hosts file (which is used by some malware to prevent antivirus products to update) will be protected from alteration by unauthorized programs. This feature will be added in all our solutions and will be active by default.

User configurable Game Mode:
· From now on it is possible to force the product to not display any information or show popups.
· We unified the Game Mode functionality which was available in several components (Real-Time scanner, Updater, FireWall) and allow our premium users to control it manually. It doesn't need to be configured and no action is required meaning that it will work completely automatically.

Live Support:
· Ideally, it should be never required to ask for help, but if things don’t work the way they are supposed to, we are here to assist you. The Premium products will have a new feature which allows our technical support engineers to interact with your computer and fix the problems manually on your system.
· The feature is implemented using the well-known TeamViewer product, allowing remote access to a PC without installing anything and without creating security leaks in the firewalls. Just go to Help and choose “Live Support”.

Improved prioritization for the System Scan:
· The scanning process of a system is a very intensive operation as the disk activity is concerned. The entire computer might suffer a severe performance loss when a full system scan is triggered. In order to still ensure a safe environment by regularly scanning the entire computer without the interruption of normal activities that are performed on the computer, we have improved the prioritization of the System Scan feature (on demand scanning) for all supported platforms. If the user chooses the priority Low for the scan priority, the system scan will be performed in such a way that the scanner doesn’t significantly slow down the computer.



What's new in Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 10.0.0.561:
March 23rd, 2010

New Gui:
· Avira AntiVir, version 10 will be released with a new graphical user interface that features a completely new set of icons as well as a new 3D navigation bar and a continuous background picture.

· The new user interface keeps the proven elements of the old interface and the customer does not need to get into a new interface. However, the new icon set and the other new elements make it much easier for the customer to find his way around the program.

Avira AntiVir ProActiv :
· Avira AntiVir, version 10 is now equipped with a brand new host-based intrusion prevention system called Avira AntiVir ProActiv. AntiVir ProActiv constantly monitors the behaviour of the system in real-time and looks for unusual events.

· An integrated rule-system is able to decide proactively if a certain event (or a combination of events) indicates that the system is currently under attack from a new or unknown malware.

· If a rule matches the user is then able to decide what to do with this suspicious file, i.e. to trust it, to block it once, to block it always or to ignore it.

· Part of this new technology is the Avira AntiVir ProActiv community that allows every Professional customer to take an active role in Avira´s world-wide battle against viruses and malware by automatically sending unknown malware samples to Avira. Those samples are then analysed and the results are fed back into the ProActiv module.

· Avira AntiVir ProActiv is only installed with a custom installation. If a user upgrades from an AV 9 Professional to the AV 10 he will get a slide up informing him that the new AntiVir ProActiv module is available. He can then install it by doing a change installation.

· Joining the Avira AntiVir ProActiv community must be separately enabled. If the AV 10 Professsional is managed by the SMC then AntiVir ProActiv and joining the ProActive community can be separately activated either by using the GUI or doing a silent setup.

Please note:
· Avira AntiVir ProActiv is not available for the Avira AntiVir Personal in Q1-2010.

On-Access Scanner with one-click removal, repair and slide-up information:
· ThAvira AntiVir Guard (On-Access scanner) offers an automatic and an interactive mode.

· This interactive mode has been enhanced and now offers a much easier way of dealing with detected malware. In case a malware was found the access to the corresponding file is now blocked by default. This prevents the customer from accidentally opening the file and infecting his system.

· The information that a malware has been found is now shown in a slide-up and not in a separate window anymore. The slide-up also offers a one-click removal of the malware. Furthermore, the malware is not only removed from the system but the system itself is also repaired and the damage that might have been done by the malware is also fixed.

Generic disinfection :
· Detecting and deleting a malware is one thing, repairing the damage that might have been done by the malware is another. Avira now offers a new way of repairing the system and put it back into its former state. What you normally do is you use repair scripts to repair the system. This is what Avira also does.

· But in addition to this script-based repair routines Avira now also offers a so called generic repair. The generic repair is able to repair a system even when there is no repair script available.

Multi-Select in Quarantine :
· The quarantine now allows selecting multiple files at once and e.g. scan them or restore them.

SMTP Footer :
· Customers can now add a footer to any unencrypted email that is sent via SMTP (outgoing) and that has been scanned by MailGuard.

· It is possible to add the default MailGuard footer with basically says that this email was scanned by AntiVir MailGuard and that also includes the engine and VDF version with which it was scanned and/or the user can also add a self-defined text. If both options are activated, the self-defined footer is place in front of the MailGuard footer in plain text.

Please note:
· This feature is not available for the Avira AntiVir Personal.

Update now a separate configuration entry :
· Updating the product as well as the engine and the virus definition files regularly is the most important thing a user has to do to make sure that the system maintains a very high level of security.

· The Update therefore is now a separate entry in the configuration panel and the hitherto available default update job in the scheduler was removed.

· As a default the product now downloads and automatically installs product updates, reminds the user every 120 seconds when a restart of the system is necessary and uses a present network connection for connection to the webserver. These settings, however, can be changed by the user, e.g. for doing an intranet update.

Guard process exclusion: use wildcards and name with more than 15 characters:
· The Guard allows excluding processes and file object from scanning. With version 10 it is now possible to add process/file object with more than 15 characters. It is also possible now to use wildcards and have process/file names with full file path.

Rootkit detection now available for 64 bit systems:
· The detection of rootkit which was up to now only available for 32 bit systems is now also available for 64 bit systems.

More configuration options in standard mode :
· In version 10 quite a number of configuration options have been moved from the expert configuration to the standard configuration.

· Thus it is now possible to configure the product to a very large extent within the standard configuration, leaving the expert configuration for those situations where a very specific configuration of the product is needed

Express installation :
· The Avira AntiVir now offers a new express installation allowing installing the products very quickly. Once “express installation” has been chosen it is only 3 further clicks to completely install the product.

Recommend a product :
· Customers who want friends, relatives or other people to become a member of the Avira family and benefit from one of the best security products can now do so very easily and even profit from it. Avira AntiVir now allows recommending the product. Just click on the “recommend the product” entry in the menu and login to your Avira customer account.

Improved slide-up system :
· The slide-ups that the product produces at times have been enhanced and now show a close and a minimize button in the upper right corner thus preventing that important information may be overlayed by the slide-up. When minimized there is now an additional icon in the task bar allowing to maximize the slide-up again.



What's new in Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 9.0.0.386:
March 17th, 2009

· Quarantine manager: the number of columns has been reduced
· Quarantine manager: send files using HTTP
· System tray tool: display the status of modules on mouse-over
· Last system scan: individual configuration of the alert message
· Renaming "Win32 Heuristic" to "AHeAD" in the configuration panel
· Support for netbooks (screen resolution)
· Configuration panel: new button "Default Values". This button allows you to restore the configuration to the predefined default values
· New installation folder and registry keys for all products: "C:Program FilesAviraAntiVir Desktop" and "HKLMSoftwareAviraAntiVir Desktop".Now there are no differences between the products AntiVir Personal, AntiVir Premium and Premium Security Suite any longer
· Configuration wizard after setup
· Process protection for GUI processes
· File and folder protection for AntiVir files and folders
· Registry protection for AntiVir keys
· Scanning of locked files
· Scanner: combined display of malware detections and one-click removal after an on demand scan. This option can be set in the scanner configuration
· Scanner: improved system disinfection
· Scanner: optimized scan on multi-processor machines
· Guard: less overhead in memory
· Scheduler: scheduling on multiple days of the week
· Scheduler: manual starting and stopping of jobs
· Ad-/Spyware detection