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Avira updates AntiVir free anti-virus suite

by Brad Linder on April 15, 2008 at 01:00 PM

Avira has released AntiVir Personal 8.1, a free antivirus appliation. Like popular free antivirus applications from Grisoft and Avast!, Avira offers a free basic security suite in the hopes of convincing some users to spring for a commercial version. The main difference between Avira and the competition, as far as we're concerned, is that Avira AntiVir will occasionally pop up nagware asking you to upgrade.

Pop ups aside, Avira AntiVir is pretty powerful, and the latest update brings a few improvements like increased scan speed and a redesigned visual interface. Another new feature, which isn't available in the free version, is the ability to create a system rescue CD.

Unlike some other antivirus applications, you can install AntiVir without uninstalling or even turning off your current antivirus program, which is always a plus.

[via gHacks]

Tags: antivir, antivirus, avg, avira, freeware, grisoft

Comments

RocketboyApr 15th 2008 3:51PM

Neutral

Is this any better than Trend Micro's free online virus scan? I'm not concerned with 'real time' virus protection, just a scan every week or so.

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justinApr 15th 2008 8:11PM

Neutral

Ive been using AntiVir for a few months now. it works great, updates quietly. the only annoyance would be the single pop up every other day.

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clintApr 15th 2008 8:10PM

Neutral

uh, unless youre stupid, and want your computer to run painfully slow, why would you run two antivirus programs, probably 95% of whose definitions and heuristics overlap and are redundant?
scanning a file twice for the same thing is a waste of your time.

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Brad LinderApr 15th 2008 8:10PM

Neutral

To test out a new application without uninstalling the old one that you trust to keep your computer safe.

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MarkApr 15th 2008 8:09PM

Neutral

Every time you update it there's a giant popup window on your screen nagging you to buy it. Screw that crap.

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EsenteApr 16th 2008 7:26AM

Neutral

I don't know if this is allowed, but you can disable the nag screen fairly easy:

http://esente.info/blog/2008/01/13/disable-antivirs-nag-screen/

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MasBlaManApr 17th 2008 7:51AM

Neutral

Avira is low on resources, unlike avast (centrino 1500Mhz + 512 MB ram) and is a better antivirus then avg.

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gilApr 19th 2008 10:58PM

Neutral

AVG now does pop-ups, too. They are annoying, but the software is free so how can anyone complain? Grisoft will up lose some customers because of the pop-ups, but if they aren't making money from customers using their "free" product, why should they care?

AVG isn't very resource intensive, except for once a day when it updates its definitions. For some reason, this really drags down the computer for 30 to 60 seconds.

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