I use Avira, because of its high detection rates thanks to high heuristic.
As for "missing AS" modul, I use SuperAntispyware Free and PrevxCSI.
There is one "bad thing" in Avira, that it can not delete threat automatic.
A user intervention is needed, that is why I instal AVG Free to my friends.

Related to the adware part, you can disable it like this:
http://www.elitekiller.com/files/disable_antivir_nag.htm

Suggested requirements are really amazing, I've never seen Win XP running on Pentium 133 Mhz with 20 MB of RAM :)

It is the fastest antivirus I have ever used. It does not slow down your PC. When a PC is slow the cause is often your antivirus: don't change PC, change the antivirus! Try Antivir!

THE BEST FREE ANTIVIRUS !!!

High detection rate.
Light.
Daily updates.
Detects not only viruses, but also rootkits, keyloggers, spywares, etc.
High customizable.
Scans e-mails, memory, boot sectors, removable media, compressed files, internet, LAN, etc.
Easy to use.

Avira Antivir is, IMHO, the best free antivirus on the market today. It's very light and scans very quickily. Several antivirus tests in several sites shows a better detection rate than any other free antivirus, and even better than most comercial and famous antivirus. Just test it and see for yourself...

found more than 60 viruses in my system that AVG and avast did not.. this is not a joke.. :)

The best free AV available currently, lot better than some of the paid versions, after trying and comparing with Symantec corporate, AVG, AVAST etc, though Avira premium is still better, (especially the kind of malware, trojan and root kits faced here locally. So one must have, good firewall (like comodo) good antispy etc.

trying to download for a luddite is very tricky. have been at it for half an hour now. firstly there are so many google ads that its easy to click on one of those when your in a hurry. having established that there are ads everywhere, it is still tricky to work out what is actually the webpage and not advertisement! I had to sit and look at it for half a minute. then when I'd worked out I need to click on Softpedia (why cant each step have the same name??)I found my self back at the previous page!!! so I went round and round a few times. Now something is downloading, but I wont know if it is the Avira until later as it is called Antivir-workstation...???
I have already tried downloading Avira from another source, and that kept failing after it got part way through. as I have slow broadband, this means nursing it all the way, so very frustrating when it fails...Just failed at 68% but have had time to read the reviews and some suggest it appears great cos of many false positives and another that it uses a lot of processing power.

maybe I'll try some freeware (rather than adware)?

So I cannot assess the above features but wanted to let the company know how complicated it is to download your free version to try out!!

It fairly satisfies me. However, I could not be shielded by some other stuff recently. Does it exists a more powerful version?

you cant compare free anti-virus to paid. Kaspersky is gonna offer more than Antivir Free because one is free meaning less features. the paid version of Antivir rates higher then all other anti-virus on the market but the paid version is more complete then the free version. if the free version offered as much as the paid, who would pay for the paid version? no one.

It cannot look inside installer files which is bad for any anti virus software. How can it protect the system if we are not forwarned about malicious softwares, the purpose of AV software.

To devs make your AV know ever type of archiver and installer there is. Let the av check in them to scan for virus. Let the AV progess many level deep for rar files such as.

aa.rar/bb.rar/pop/cc.rar/file.ar yes i see these type of packed archives often.

On a scan i do not care if it takes more time. I just need to know the pc is clean of any virus.

I will keep a slow eye on your product. Right now of to look at Kaspersky it is said knows of many archives and installer types, and can scan for viruses in them.

I have used this product for several years and it has never failed me. Updating is easy. Awesome product.

i have come tot know that avira is the best to secure the operating system from any type of virus..so i want to download it

he utilizado varias clases de scanner pero avira es mejor por su manejo y efectividad

- hi! i don`t need write long. This product is the best of all i`ve known. i wish it to be in more lanuages- example in Azerbaijani or in Turkish ;) GOOD LUCKS!

i have been using this for years now.. one of the best... probably the BEST antivirus around... its free and detects the rarest of the rare viruses.. jus load it and forget it...its so simple..gr88 interface...low ram consumption...evrything abt it is awesome..give it atry.. it ROCKS

Excellent software & user friendly program. It runs in the background without any problems & only pops up when it protects you & when it is updating. I have told all my friends about it.

For a free antivirus it is quite good, but there is this annoying ad window which wants to get visible so much that it crashes a lot of games in full window mode.

i use antivir cause antivir is good to protect my computer from virus

I wish it will have the chinese edition and could be more users

I have used Antivir for several years now. It has been very good to me. I have an XP/dial-up and it updates every two weeks. This can be a slow process.

I also have Win95/dial-up and that is really slow. Lately i can\'t get the active guard to work on 95 so it is useless to me there in that way.

From time to time Antivir does have its little glitches which can be frustrating, but up to this time it has done me very well.

This latest not being able to activate the guard on \'95 has caused me to drop it off that machine.

I think it is a very good checker and remover(when it finds something). Support is difficult, but for a free offering ... it gives a lot of protection.

I'm proud to use avira Free edition, the best free antivirus in the world, powerful, very smart, and easy to use.
Always updated, and have capability to delete viruses that others can not heal or even detect !
Thanks.

excelente!! found 2 backdoors
CA did not

Senor Pescado say's Avira Rules and "eat mo' fish"

I love working with the protection of avira antivir because to my own view it is the one that has the pc protection in mind. thanks.

avira anti-virus software is highly effective and i really commend the effort of its developer/ i will rather say that they should keep up the good work

Very nice program. I use all day for my computer security

Generally good but the big miss in it that it does not include an email scanner bcz of that you must be careful when you open your emails
other bad point that it sometimes it does not detect some viruses especially VBS based ones and some trojans so I have to remove some of them manually and use Anti-Maleware to take care of the rest

The FREE version has Excellent protection & is easy to update. I even clean friends HDDs & computers with it & recomend it to all my friends

Avira catches virus b4 it have a chance to infect it, but if it is not able to delete it you'll be constantly be pestered by its pop up warning very two seconds and multiply that by however many virus you have on your pc, and yes, they are acculmulative. You have to manually click on each and every one of them to close them. The virus scan get stuck at 4%. Go figure.

I love this soft

Its very good price, optumum. Thanks!

–kaI consider that Avira antivir classic is adequate
for my personal needs this year Thankyou,

i like this very excellent

It is easy to use I like it

good antivirus

This is very good antivirus software. I use its free trial version. Its really very good antivirus software.

it is free and better than other

Look Softpedia's Definition of Adware

(1) Displays ad banners or other types of advertising material during its runtime
(2) Attempts to change the homepage for web browsers installed on the system
(3) Attempts to change the default search engine for web browsers installed on the system
(4) Offers to download or install software or components (such as browser toolbars) that the program does not require to fully function
(5) At program startup/shutdown , opens web pages featuring advertising or similar income generating content
(6) Creates desktop or start menu shortcuts for items unrelated to the program's functionality

that antivir pop up does none of that stuff. displaying during an update is dif then displaying while a product is running.