The Rating Scale Breakdown:
- 0 – 0.5 – Abysmal
- 1.0 – 1.5 – Terrible
- 2.0 – 2.5 – Poor
- 3.0 – 3.5 – Average
- 4.0 – 4.5 – Great
- 5.0 – Excellent
- Undetermined – Too soon to tell or lacking evidence to provide a solid answer
- Not Tested – Has yet to be requested or there is some limitations to prevent accurate test results
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Price: Free
A. Installation AVIRA – 5.0 “Excellent“ – A very easy 2-3 click install.
B. Un-installing AVIRA – 4.5 “Great“ – Very easy to un-install. But you will require a reboot. To completely remove AVIRA from your system.
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C. Stability Of Program – 3.5 “Average“ – There still are some very annoying UI (User Interface) glitches and stalling along with the AVIRA pop-up ad / nag screen.
It appears that some computers will encounter varying degree of lag (due to AVIRA’s lower right side pop-up ads). Not to mention that often users can’t even close the ad at all.
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D. Has AVIRA Free Been Compromised By Hackers Or Virus – 4.0 “Great” – No issues with hackers. But there has been a truck load of false positives. Sorry, guys but if you are flagging Steam as a threat you haev some serious issues.
E. Speed of Scan – 3.5 “Average“ – Pretty slow when you compare it to most other freeware anti-virus software out there.
F. Does AVIRA Free Do Automatic Updates By Itself Without Any Issue – 4.0 “Great“ – Yes. But often it seems that doing a manual product update will yield newer versions earlier then. You are normally prompted.
G. Internet Browser Cookie Detection Rate And Removal Test – 1.5 “Terrible“ – You are way better off with something like SUPERAntiSpyware or CCleaner that is more dedicated to the removal of Internet cookies. AVIRA’s Internet cookie detection rate is terrible even with the option active and checked off.
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1. Anti-Virus Detection Rate Test:
1A. Windows XP – 4.0 “Great“
1B. Windows Vista – 4.0 “Great“
1C. Windows 7 – 4.0 “Great“
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2. Anti-Spyware – 1.5 “Terrible” – AVIRA still seems to miss very common and not so common spyware/adware. You are much better off with SUPERAntiSpyware or Spybot as your adware, spyware, malware protection.
3. AVIRA WebGurad – 3.0 “Average” – Not a fan. But it can be very very useful to some.
4. AVIRA Security ToolBar – 2.0 “Poor” – This toolbar can cause crashes on a number of Internet browsers. We also noticed it caused some strange behavior. When dealing with certain websites.
5. Root Kit Detection Rate – 4.0 “Great“ – Even thou AVIRA does not have a dedicated Root Kit scanner like AVG 2012 does. It still has a rather good detection rate overall.
6. AVIRA Support – Not Tested –
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My Overall Score: 48/75
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64 % = C
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My Final Verdict –PART 1– Avira Free lacks many of the features of it’s direct competition. For me just having 3 features (Main residential shield, web guard and a link scanner AKA toolbar) is no longer good enough for an Anti-Virus program in 2012. Regardless of the fact it is free.
My Final Verdict –PART 2– Normally I would highly recommend AVIRA Free. And don’t get me wrong, I still do for people that want a less complicated anti-virus program or just want a really simple overall user interface experience.
But for me to recommend this over AVG 2012 or even AVAST Free. Is hard for me to do. For one thing AVG 2012 has way more features and no ad/nag screens to deal with.
Then there is AVAST. Where if you don’t mind some lag on older systems. AVAST Free comes packed with something like 12 or so different shields / filters. To cover your whole PC with more protection then you can shake a stick at (And it is free as well).
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Here are 2 links to download AVIRA Free Anti-Virus:
1. http://www.avira.com/en/for-home (AVIRA’s Main Site)
2. http://download.cnet.com/Avira-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html (Via Download.com/Cnet)
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Till The Next Review,
Kirbe
Posted by William 
The Computer Savvy Weblog 