The free edition of Avira Antivirus seems to be the right choice for
many users who are searching for an anti-malware solution with very good
performance results and regular software and virus definition updates,
just to be sure infections stay away from their precious data
Swift setup and clear-cut interface
Unlike
many av products, Avira Free Antivirus is easy to install, as user
assistance is minimal. However, since the program comes with its own
real-time protection module against malware, it will most likely
conflict with any already existing antivirus tool. Therefore, users
should either disable or uninstall the other av utility, in order to
prevent any Windows stability issues.
As for the interface, the
developers have always opted for a clean look and intuitive options, and
their latest Avira version makes no exception. While beginners can
apply the app's default configuration and enable/disable any major
component with one click, experts are free to tinker with each part of
the system scanner, real-time guard, quarantine, scheduler, reports and
events.
Different scan modes for fast or thorough investigation
Avira
promises to protect computers against viruses, worms, Trojans,
rootkits, spyware, adware, backdoors, dialers, PUPs, phishing, and other
threat types. Its scanner can cover the entire hard disk or only
removable drives, the Windows system directory, personal documents,
active processes, rootkit and active malware infections, or any
custom-defined locations. Moreover, scan tasks can be scheduled.
In-depth scanner configuration
The scanner's
configuration is quite extensive. Advanced users may toy with settings
regarding cloud protection, file extensions, boot and master boot
sectors, archives, exceptions, heuristic analysis, offline files,
integrity checkups, the registry and scanner priority, to name but a
few.
When encountering suspicious or infected files, Avira can
prompt the user for action or execute commands automatically by taking
into account a primary and secondary action (in case the first one is
not possible) between repairing, renaming, quarantining, deleting or
ignoring the files in question. The quarantine allows users to further
examine files and decide whether to keep or delete them
Additional tools and settings
Avira
integrates extra functions to provide Internet protection by modifying
Windows Firewall options regarding the private and public network,
application rules, and advanced settings. Other customization properties
focus on the different types of threats to look for, app password
protection and permissions, autorun security, notifications and acoustic
alerts. Events and reports may be configured and consulted.
The
antivirus program's functionality can be enhanced via its child safety
feature designed for social networks, and by monitoring Android
smartphones in case of loss or theft.
Evaluation and conclusion
Thanks to the fact
that notifications can be hidden and scans may run silently in the
background, Avira is capable of becoming non-intrusive. It leaves a
small footprint on system resources and has demonstrated very good scan
speeds and virus detection ratio in our and others' tests. First-time
and experienced users alike may resort to Avira Free Antivirus if
they're not looking to make any purchases to successfully block security
breaches
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