Avira AntiVir Personal
Version: 8.1.0.326.
Downloads Count: 25,418
License Type: Free
Price: Free
Date Added: May 16, 2008
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Requirements: At least 133 MHz; at least 196 MB RAM; 30 MB of HDD; 25 MB of free main memory; IE 5 or higher
File Size: 24462 KB
Author: AVIRA Webmaster
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Editor's Review of Avira AntiVir Personal
If you have good e-mail habits--don't open unknown messages, don't run mystery attachments without scanning them, etc.--then the free version of Avira's AntiVir is probably all you need to keep your computer free of viruses. Consistently rated in the top five for effectiveness, AntiVir is also low-profile. By that I mean it spawns only two background services and if there weren't a system tray applet to access the program, you probably wouldn't even know it was running. Despite this, it offers just about every basic AV feature you'll find in the major competition.
AntiVir's interface is easy on the eye and easy to use for beginners. Unlike some of its competitors which make it difficult to access advanced settings, it also gives you all these with a simple switch to expert mode. Probably AntiVir's neatest trick is auto-scanning directories as you navigate though them. After I've done a complete system scan, I turn this feature off, but I often turn it on before attaching untested external drives to my test PC.
Obviously, you're not going to get every neat feature with the free version of a pay program. Most notably missing in action is an e-mail scanner, though there is rootkit scanning. Rival AVG provides one of the former in its free version but last time I looked, lacked the latter. The 20-Euro premium version of AntiVir adds the e-mail scanner as well as faster updates, anti-spyware features, and a browser add-in that helps guard against malicious Web sites and downloads. It also kills the nag screen you see when you download updates.
Although its major free competitor, AVG Anti-Virus Free, may offer one or two more features, Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Free has been consistently rated as better at detecting viruses by AV-Test.org. If you're good about not opening strange attachments, AntiVir probably a slightly better choice
--Jon L. Jacobi
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