I'm a computer technician and been using Avira since early 2000. There's no free antivirus like it, lightweight and effective. It even beat some paid antivirus products out there. Intalled it in hundreds computers and never have had problems.

It always nags you when doing updates, and the web protection can slow down internet downloads quite considerably on certain hardware. I had to uninstall it because of the slow downs.

Hi,

I am reading some of reviews here that says that Avira uses ask.com etc. and installs web guard. This type of reviews are only posted by noobs, who just keep on clicking Next button in the setup program and don't read the details.

Avira's setup lets you clearly disable installation of this ask.com toolbar or anytype of webguard etc. I have simple Avira anivirus running and I don't have any registry entry as mentioned by "TechDud". So its a false statement by him and if you follow the Setup then you will be easily disable the installation of useless toolbars etc.

I am usig latest version and its amazing. Even kaspersky etc. fails in front of this antivirus. I am amazed why these Avira is for free.

Thanks.

Hi, I am power user and I have used many antiviruses like Kaspersky, ESET etc. but they were all paid and hence i had to pay them yearly to keep my PC protected. After sometime I decided to use free antiviruses and hence I also downloaded the AVG Free but to my surprise it made my PC slower and was not able to scan / remove viruses properly.

Also as being a power user I checked the AVG's capability of checking / removing the viruses by going to http://www.eicar.org/85-0-Download.html This lets you download a test virus which your antivirus should detect and remove. There are 8 types of downloads there and as soon as you click on the link your antivirus should get active and block / remove it.

But to my surprise AVG failed and similarly AVAST also failed in some of the download like when downloading a virus through HTTPS. But Avira did the job perfectly and its low on resources and works great.

As a power user I would like to recommend that you use Avira Free Antivirus and as it will keep your PC/Laptop protected if you keep the virus database updated. Earlier I thought that Avira did not allow automatic updates in its free edition but then I found scheduler and I set the scheduler to automatically check, download and perform and guess what ? It works like a charm.

Now my PC is faster than ever and I am protected by viruses too for FREE. Though I don't like the "Buy Pro Version" screens that keep on popping up from time to time but they show very rarely.

Anyways I would recommend this antivirus to everyone. I hope my review helps.

Thanks.

After

I like it very much. i think its better than comercial programs! Compared id to NOD32 and F-secure (using my own collection of programs and games cracks that are full of viruses and trojans) and it hs a better detection rate than both of them. And it doesnt use much resources too. Relatively fast scan. Really great.

Version: AntiVir Personal Edition 6.32.00.51

I *always* was an enthusiastic user of Avira Antivir until they introduced version 12.
I think version 12 is terrible: bugs and again bugs
When trying to update Avira locks up my PC. The Ask toolbar is the biggest annoyance. Conclusion: more is not better at all.
I turned to Microsoft Security Essentials. What a relieve!

i liked the lovely program Avira , which i used for many years , nice companion , God bless everyone working to provide an excellent antivirus program

I am using Avira Antivirus Free but have problem with this new Avira WebGuard,it slow down my internet connection,download speed is 125 kbs.
If I disable it download speed is 175 kbs

So far everybody loves bellyaching about the inclusion of the Ask.com toolbar, yet noone specifies why.

I have uncovered evidence that Ask.com collects geo-location data BEFORE the user (of ANY age) has a chance to accept or decline. It is contained in two places on a windows XP machine; twice in a series of registry keys: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ask.com.tmp] in a string value named "location"="Vancouver, Canada"
This is repeated in a pair of log files in the 'system temporary' folder.

This should be enough to seal the definition of MALWARE upon it, once (& for all time) confirmed & officially published online.

Perhaps this would be enough for Softpedia to consider not making the free version of Avira, as this is known to contain the offending toolbar.

I would rather that Avira (and other companies) would reconsider using this toolbar, yet i get the sense that if i were to hold my breath, i would likely suffocate!

I used to love this software when I first installed it. Nonintrusive and stayed on the background.
Now I am disappointed on many levels.
First of all, the application gateway firewall interface is non-intuïitive and lacking important features. I like to plan my way ahead, before I install programs, by filtering ports and so on. The virus database looks impressive at first sight, but a found "virus"/ "trojan" rarely has any description at all, leaving you in the dark what damage it might have caused.
The "healing" of files is an euphemism. Healing does not equal deletion.
The amount of false positives is appalling. Every compressed/ encrypted exe is a Trojan? I don't think so.
The idea that it wants to install thirdparty malware even on the paid edition is a grave error on their part. Hello? Do I trust to install a program that fights malware which also includes malware? NO.
I won't renew my subscription.

I think Avira is one of the best Antivirus,but after installed this new version Avira Free 12 can't run sandboxie.
Anyone has the same problem?
With old version 10 everything works fine.

Avira is simply superb; Free, effective and moreover, cool and magnificient AV software that is a cut above all contemporarieis in the vicinity.

very light to the machine,very effective.i dont want any other !!!!!!ITS IS SIMPLY THE ULTIMATE ANTIVIRUS.

this AV is good at nothing....there are other better alternatives like AVAST and COMODO......

I am using the latest Avira Antivir free version on one of my laptops. I dis agree that Avira forces you to install the web guard. It reminds you to install the tool bar thrice after which it stops posting reminder. Thereafter, everything works as normal. As Avira offers a free software technology, it makes sense if they get some money by installation of the tool bar and integrated web guard. Moreover, their software is no bloatware like AVG/Ad Aware/MSE2.1 etc. The software offers host of extremely reliable security performance not found in free softwares. The GUI is very simple for novices, offers daily updates and is extremely reactive to presence of malware activity. It is light on system and consumes between 30-40mb RAM which is significantly lighter than its peers. Avast may however be an exception but has a very complicated interface for novices with tons of settings.

It's now scumware that tries to install bloatware like Ask toolbar, and during the update process it activated a nasty executable, apnstub.exe, a bit of adware that tried to connect to the Internet. I declined, but the executable has been created in my Avira directory along with ApnToolbarInstaller.exe. I declined to reboot during the update but a popup nag-box keeps reminding me to restart the system every minute or so, despite the fact that I click "later." Seems Avira REALLY wants to have me reboot so it can complete its nasty job of trying to get me to install the complete adware "value added software" package. No dice. I used Avira for years but am sufficiently outraged to wipe it from all my PC's and never go back to this company for anything ever again.

The #1 Free Antivirus Software on this Planet!!!

Pros: 1.Light on system resources 2.Superb virus and malware detection 3.Its FREE and better than any paid Antivirus.Believe me i have tried most of them.

Cons: NONE really except for the AD screen which pops up which can easily be disabled(Google:disable avira antivir popup)

Summary: I have tried so many Antivirus programs in the past few years.Paid and free.Not Torrents for the paid ones but legally purchased ones.But since i have used Avira Antivir i have stuck to it.You will see for yourself the detection rate.KEEP IT UP AVIRA!!!

We currently have a license for Avira AntiVir Premium on all of our computers. On systems that we test with new software, and reformat the drives after the testing is complete, we used the Free personal Ad supported version. Since the release of Service Pack 2, Avira now forces you to install 3rd party revenue generating software, like the required Ask.com toolbar. If you choose not to install it, then the software does not fully protect your system, and will nag you until you do install it.

Since Avira has decided to join forces with other companies who’s software I’d never recommend to begin with, we have decided to not use this once very good company’s products anymore. As our paid premium version subscriptions expire, we will be removing Avira and finding another solutions provider to meet our needs.

Goodbye Avira, it was nice while it lasted.

Started using this back when I lived in Germany in the 90.s. Got back to the stats in 2002 and now Im still using it. It might not catch every thing, but its save my butt more then once over the years.

I used to use AntiVir Free for years however when finding out some weeks back on a forum I visit warned that Ask.com toolbar and Uniblue would be either in AntiVir or affiliated with it I dumped it in a nano-second and won't ever go back to AntiVir! Too bad Avira will most likely lose allot of trust including notoriously awful third-party add-ons.

I hope Avira realize someday it wasn't worth the money to alienate users, if they were hurting that bad for some money they really should've just put a Donate button in AntiVir Free because some of us free users could donate $5, $10, etc., even if we don't have the money for the full premium build.

I'm now using Microsoft Security Essentials which by the way is really the only truly free antivirus with no strings attached that isn't ad-supported to some extent!, i.e.; trying to sell you something you don't need!

Damn shame avira selling out ,To have ask toolbar and even worse uniblu is a total cut your own throat decision avira ... had the premium version 6 months left on it ,dumped in a heart beat ... out of principle .... will never trust this bunch again ... AVAST sends you avira a HUGE thank you ...I now have avAst and comodo fIREWALL... Working great together ......

Avira WAS the best free AV available up until a week ago (late June 2011). But that's when they partnered with two SLEAZEWARE vendors, Uniblue and ASK Toolbar, so I cannot recommend them further. In fact I recommend AVOIDING AVIRA AT ALL COSTS. This partnership is very alarming, and I cannot trust a company that supposedly is a part of the computer security community when they shift gears mid-stream, and turn to the "dark side". Also. I have noticed many application errors from the various Avira modules, causing many crashes and lockups on PCs since this "SP2" update was delivered. Save yourself some grief, and look elsewhere for AV solutions.

Avira is now in bed with ask.com toolbar and the EVIL UniBlue.

They say none of your personal info is transmitted BUT during the installation you find system security certificates get installed...and this can let in more spyware onto your system in the future! So Avira is being deceitful by neglecting to tell you that OTHER software could find it's way now into your system weakend by the crapware installation of Avira.

What good is an AV that weakens your system?

SHAME ON YOU AVIRA!

My top choice for real-time anti-malware.

AntiVir can be relied on to protect a clean system to an exceedingly high degree; long-term use on several different Windows boxes (XP to 7) has resulted in a consistent perfect score (as determined by second, third and fourth opinions from on-demand scanning with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, SUPERAntiSpyware and Hitman Pro; an infected system should be re-scanned with at least one of the aforementioned applications after disinfection by AntiVir to be on the safer side.

Default settings should be changed so that the Heuristics settings for both the Guard and Scanner are set to their highest level: R-click tray icon, L-click "Configure AntiVir," tick "Expert Mode" box; then expand "Scanner," "Scan," highlight "Heuristic" and set to "High detection level;" repeat for "Guard." Click "Apply" in bottom panel, then "Okay."

By default, AntiVir Personal updates once per day, but can be programmed to update as often as one chooses: Main Panel --> Administration --> Scheduler --> Insert new job; add as many updates (or scans) as desired, at any interval (or update manually at any time: R-click on the Tool Tray icon, L-click on "Start update"). As an update may require a system restart, under "Update" --> "Product update" select "Download updates. If a restart is necessary..." (Under "Update" --> "Restart settings," select "Show reminder message for 'Restart' every" - and define an interval; 120 sec. is default); click "Apply" in bottom panel, then "Okay".

I like Avira AntiVir Personal very much. This is the best free antivirus. It’s very effective, fast & light on computer. The company should remove its nag screen. After its installation the only thing we all have to do is just set the daily update schedule, in the “Scheduler” option for auto update function. It gives strong protection & works like an umbrella. So there is no need to spend money for basic protection.

Work's OK, for two months as I using it. You shouldn't use it without additional antimalware software like Malwarebytes or SuperAntiMalware.

strongest and fatest software for your machine

I've been using AntiVir Free off and on for about ten years now, and it's a very good freeware antivirus with high detection rates.

The improvements I wish it had were:
* It would be better to just have a static upgrade button/image or text in the main program GUI rather than a big super annoying pop-up window when updating, and hey there is plenty of room in the main GUI to implement my great ideal. I don't mind Avira wanting us to buy the premium, but please make it less annoying and in our face!

* Faster downloading of updates: I realize bandwidth is expensive, especially to us free-loaders that use the free version however I think Avira could even use a small amount of all its users bandwidth for downloading updates to completely alleviate the very slow updates when there's a big update. Of course this could be an opt-in/opt-out choice for the user.

It is very powerful Antivirus very light on system resources very easy to use and it is Free

avira es el mejor antivirus del momento

es un antivirus mui bueno y que siempre sea mejorado para la proteccion de los pc

been using for years and years ..top of the line in all tests done ...brilliant ... bought the premium version hard to believe even better ... so damn good!!!!!

This is just ‘Garbage’ in a plastic bag coloured in rainbow paint with little flowers drawn on top of it. The updates are not often enough. It has so many options and words that only a geek will understand in some cases. But in reality it does little to nothing on all these. You can be easily fooled into thinking that as this has more scanning options than other Antivurs softwares out there that it does a better job. The reality is, that almost all Antivirus softwares scan the same files, folders, and places i.e. the reason scanning takes so long. This one only puts it in your face in a way that makes you believe it is better. Worst of all these options are presented to you as extra features and allowing you to omit these places from your scanning, the result is that while looking for a faster scan you’re also putting your PC at risk by not scanning important places. Much of the ‘Optional’ features that are deactivated by default should be activated and come as a standard feature.
In certain cases, just updating this software takes a lot of RAM and CPU usage. On top of all that, how can you trust this software? If you take a look at Avira in itself, the company has more than ten different security products all of which have none or little of what you get in the free software. Now take a look at other Antivirus software companies and you will have that they have a minimum two and a maximum of maybe three to five different softwares all of which includes and upgrades from the free software. If this company sells more than ten different security softwares which few to none are found in the free Antivirus package, then exactly how secure are you with this? Do not let ratings and numbers fool you.

My duaghter has been using Avira since last two years and she has recommended to use this protection.

its very good n execellent support for us

MUY EXCELENTE
SE HA ACTUALIZADO, EN FORMA UNICA, LA EXPERIENCIA A SIDO UNICA

Avira is a very good antiVirus

i'm use windows 7 starter. have any avira product to run windows 7 starter? isn't same with windows 7?

The avira is very good in detection rates. I have couple of suggestions to improve avira.
*Display the pop-up advertisement during updation. It is very annoying when u r doin an urgent job.
*Display of avira as old even if the updation is one day behind.
*Absence of e-mail scanner and web-notification.
I think Avira will consider these suggestions during next release.

It's a nice software to prevent from attact of PC virus.

If you downloaded the TR/CryptXPACK.Gen and the TR/Dropper.Gen you would be doing some good I have Spyware Terminator and that help quite a bit.

I love this antivirus because its a killer of all viruses. As good as soldiers!

hi, i have a problem:
the Alvira antivir on my computer is in German.
My BIG mistake.
Is it possible to define an English interface instead?
tks

avira v.10 is bad but the previous version is exellent

Very good Anti virus

very good antivirus
very help full
very fast
very attractive
very good featers

it's great anti virus

I also agree with Giz of Oz. If avira has an email scanner it would be the most popular anti virus among the world. I am requesting avira to add an email scanner in their next version. Hopefully, you all will request them

it's awonderfull pack and protects completly

Simply the best...Tried other freebies on Win 7, but they crashed. Detection rate fast and effective. Had no problems with system resources - the program runs smoothly and does not hog my machine. Would have be an even better A/V if an email scanner was provided as part of the package, as well as a Web Browser guard. But I feel pretty safe with add-ons such as WOT, and have Malwarebytes and Windows Defender and Windows MRT as additional defenses. Hope to see additional features included in newer releases, but I'm pretty pleased with this offering from a trustworthy company.

its performance is amazing...will suggest you to try this product once

this is very nice antivirus softwere

i tried many antiviruses but was always anxious to look for such an antivirus that i can trust but one day a friend of mine told me about AVIRA.SInce then i was looking for it and one day i downloaded it.It is truly the most prefered antivirus.Since then iam using it .it is truly an incredible antivirus

user-friendly standard and advanced options and context-sensitive help

it is very good

I like it very much

Thanks very much Avira

I decided to try this program on a fresh install of Compaq's version of Windows XP Home edition. Installation and set up went very smooth but then I noticed a very noticable drop in my computers response time. It was even slower than my "emegency standby 233mhz machine." After some serious and frustrating looks into what was going on I concluded that AntiVir is a very serious memory hog.

FROM MY GENERAL ANTIVIRUS EXPERIENCE,AVIRA IS BEST AND SIMPLE TO USE AND UNDERSTAND.

It's a very good program. I just HATE the high detection rate of FALSE POSITIVES.

Very good antivirus software.

excellent Antivirus! faster than the other. but it\'s too noisy when finding viruses. I\'ve used many anti virus and they destroyed everything. not only virus but the OS too. but not for avira! thx a lot for avira.

This antivir program is the only one I will ever use. The team that puts this all together are some people with very good hearts in the right place, I wish them all the best.

Still the best ,been using for 4 years a few times tried others such as nod32,kaspersky ,avast,....but have stuck with avira just for the fact that it just is the best ,,,,, i have no pop up or nag screens this is easily done seems to be a big deal with users ,,, takes absolutely no system resources ,,, set updates TWICE A DAY ,has worked perfectly ,,,,, along with good firewall and firefox with a few addons such as no script ,wot ,etc .... haven't had a virus for years ,,,that is unless i go with some other program ,,such as the ones i mentioned ,,,, bottom line ...THE BEST ....

been using for years ,,tried a lot pd and free ,but have always stayed with avira as for pop ups simple solution to disable this!! if that is the biggest problems i see in reviews then go with a lesser quality program ... just a great anti/virus ,

the alarms is very annoying. It won't stop detect the systems as a virus!
worst anti-v ever.

Avira Antivir, the trusted antivirus.
I love it

Don\'t know u people but i was fan of AVIRA for 5 or 6 years don\'t remember, but on V.10 they change a lot for worse,
*the new GUI pfff thos black thing,V.9 was coolest ever
*why the heck they change scan engine, the new 1 looks like NORTON
it make a system scan after finding a virus eaven from web , and after a few second it say need restart Oo?????
why whyyy.......?

I loved you man! why u did this?

Avira Antivir Personal-a true champion!
Avira is one of the best players on this market today.It's free version has the antivirus/anti spy-adware engine, auto updates and, since version 10, a brand new top-interface.The antivirus/spy-adware engine is very good, on the top of the quality tests (almost 99%).The scans became very fast, one of the faster avaible,but very performant too.Since the new version, Avira put the accent on the lightness with PC's resources.The updates are very complete, up-to-the-minute,but sometimes, they may become slow or even unavaible for a few days, whic may be unacceptable.However, you can download updates(.zip file)from Avira's website and install them manually (see the instructions on the official webpage).Another update ,,problem" is that when you update, first time in a day, the free version (it has auto-updates setting too)will show a pop-up, offering a complete version, will appear.This can be very annoying, but it is considerated ,,a price" for the free version.However, we must consider that it is free and it offers an antivirus of top quality, maybe the best around, and light too.By the way, this free version has antirootkit complete functions, which is a developed function for free antivirus programs.I am pretty sure that the new interface is the most attractive and very simple, even for begginers...but the email-scanner is just a dream:Antivir Personal doesn't come with email security functions.Some gamers should find it a bit nasty:the game mode is a luxury, only for buyers of the bigger versions.
PROS:-free of charge
-top quality:extremly high detection rates
-complete antirootkit
-wonderful interface
CONS:-updates can be sometimes annoying
-not email-scanner
-not game/full screen mode
CONCLUSION:Avira should remain a top-option for simple PC and Internet users and the newest version is the best ever.Maybe a top-reccomandation!Why not?

As stated in the note included in the software description you'll have to check back a bit later to get the final version of Avira 10.

Due to Avira internal issues, Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 10.0.0.561 download links were temporary removed until March 25, 2010 ...so this version Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 10.0.0.561 downloaded March 22nd, 2010, 19:12 GMT was final release or RC ?

Pretty much the only "free" antivirus (its not free actually, because its supported by an AD that pops up everytime you startup the computer, but yeah it is freeware, but its AD-Supported) that has demolished the worst of the worst of any malware I have thrown at it.

It's so good I don't even use its real-time protection, because I don't believe in real-time scanning, I just manually update it and scan my whole computer every few days or so, even though I know I won't get infected, this provides me the self-assurance that I am not infected.

That's how good its definitions are, to the point where if it doesn't find anything, you have about a 92% chance of not having one piece of malware on your computer. Lol, a rather opioniated percentage, but that percent seems about right. Because no antivirus can detect 100% of anything, thats why I don't use real-time protection, because I think its extremely redundant.

Anywho, use this Antivirus for all your Malware needs. It says Antivirus but its actually Antimalware, both Antivirus and Antispyware. Kinda makes me mad when they keep calling everything out there that controls both just an Antivirus. Whatever.

10/10 for incredible definitions almost as good as commercialized software.
Isn't the paid version the same definition database, but just way better protection?

The New Gui Is Better Den D Old One...And Its One Of D Best free Av Out Dere...Better Den Many Paid Av's

i just change my AV from ESET NOD Antivirus 4 to this Antivir 10, n guess what? in initial scanning, Avira still find 1 virus (Trojan spyware) that NOD don't.....

AviraPE Classic is the best antivirus free

The first product I tried was of the expensive kind, well as you can see it did not do what it claimed it could...

I have been using this product for some time now, with no problems or hickups...

This is something that I highly recommend...
Especially for the inexperienced...
Easy to operate and understand...

The best antivirus on Earth!!!!My PC is virusproof for 2 years with Avira Personal....Moreover ...it is ''Free''!!!!!!

In all my days computing i had serious trouble trying to find an antivirus that:
a) its free, since all my money goes to hardware
b) extra light, since i m a gamer
c) and efficient when surfing the net.
Started with AVG but slowed the graffics. Changed to Avast but conflicted a coupled of times with other programs and had to take it off. Tried Panda but got malware. So i gave AntiVir a try. And what a try! I went intentionally to the worst sites you can imagine for three consecutive nights for hours each. Left the viruses -if any- to infest for a couple of days more and run close to 20 different antiviral, removal, scanning and detecting tools. Results: nothing to be found. And the pc still works as it should. Of course with these issues (viruses etc) you never really know whats "inside". But as far as what i see scanning and performancewise three months now, its the best i ve found by far. Thanx Avira.

THE BEST FREE ANTI-VIRUS . GOD BLESS THE WHOLE TEAM.................................

Very good, very fast, is free. But the problem with it is the updating. Sometimes doesn't update at all. Maybe because many users use it.

the antivirus is very good.

i downlowd the "avira personal free", but the " license wizard, NOT RESPONDING"

Simply Excellent, thank you for the excellent offer !
God bless you !

The best ever real shield,a real moral service to Humanity!

i like it been using this for 2 yrs now.. and i can detect the most worst virus that i cant trace from other anti virus..use avira ..it does protect ur pc overall

Hi,
Really this is very good than all.
I am using this antivirus.this good..

good. i think have a anti-spam and webguard more better!!!!!!!!!
this anti-v is do not eating my pc memory lot.
this anti-v make my pc lot faster , that i use just 256mb of ram only. thanks for the avira gmbh for help me to protect my pc.

que ele é muito bom,interessante,sempre funciona,nunca dá problema,e é facil de adicionar...

The best free antivirus! light-fast-outstanding!
thanks

thanks for your help

Avira is the best free antivirus product out there. I have been using it for 2 years and have tested many others in between and no other compares to this one. I run scans once a week and in the past it has found threats that other programs have failed to find. I cant recommend this program enough. I use an old machine with 1 gig ram and 1.8 processor and it runs like new with no problems. I also use iobit 360 which can run at the same time as avira.
I strongly urge you to get Avira for your computer. It is brilliant.

I've used just about every anti-virus out there at one time or another on various systems (Kaspersky,Eset NOD 32, BitDefender, Trend Micro, Panda, McAfee, Norton, CA, AVG, Avast, Comodo, Clam, etc., etc.) and Avira is one of the best.

Avira is better than and/or just as good as the best of the above programs at detecting viruses (Kaspersky, NOD32) and better than most at removing viruses (don't take my word for it - check test results at AV-comparatives and other reliable sites for last 2 years and see for yourself), with the added benefit that Avira is (a) easy to use and configure (unlike NOD32 and Kaspersky) and (b) is relatively light on the use of system resources (unlike ALL of the above programs except Clam and BitDefender) - what this means is that Avira runs just as well on my netbook as it does on my high-end desktop WITHOUT bogging down my system - awesome!

And it is free for personal use - a big heart-felt thank you to Avira for that.


***PRICELESS ADVICE for newbies - in this day and age of rootkits and bots, where malware is created and dispersed faster than the Good Guys can keep up with it, NO antivirus is going to protect you 100%, so here is the best possible advice -
(1) REGULARLY BACKUP YOUR DATA TO CD OR DVD (i.e., burn copies to disk of your music, videos, documents, contacts, any information you would hate to lose) - do NOT rely on a hard drive or USB drive backup alone because if your system gets infected, those drives are likely to get infected too. I usually backup manually every day or so, but there are several excellent free programs available to help automate this task and make it easier - I can recommend GFI Backup and hear that FBackup is also good.

(2) If you have not done so already, CREATE A SYSTEM RESTORE IMAGE so you can restore back to factory default (or your prefered setup) if anything goes horribly wrong (i.e. your system is trashed by a particularly nasty virus). Most pc sellers (HP, Asus, even Averatec) have caught on to the value of having a system restore partition and are incorporating this feature in the pcs they sell. If your computer does not have this feature (or if you want to be extra cautious and burn a system restore disk) there is a great free software available right here on Softpedia to do this called Macrium Reflect Free (Acronis True Image is even better if you have the money to spend or can find it cheap) - basically these programs makes an exact copy of your system setup and registry and if the worst happens you can use it to overwrite and restore your computer to exactly how it was at the time that exact copy was made.

Over the last few years I have lost count of the times that regularly backing up my data and having a system restore image has saved my bacon - if you do nothing else to protect yourself, it is well worth the time and effort to install Avira free and do (1) and (2) above.

it is exellent.thank's for it.

Awesome, great & number 1 free Antivirus in the entire world.

awsome

good antivirus for free.......

works great but in paid versions the KASPERSKY INTERNET SECURITY 2010 is the best......

i bought it for just only RS 1880 (INR) for 3 computer license and the best out there for protection against any threat (even the newest) and best removal............

just a bit harse on cpu and in this version this issue is also solved very light as the avira and very much effective far better than avira.........

try it if u wanna be safe and secure and tension free for 1 year..........

is a good pogram because it keep my computer clean

i find this job of downloading is a late process ,but later i think it is better compared to other web sites.i am satisfied

I like it very much.
I think it is a very good checker.

I already use it is very user friendly and protect my computer very well

Very good program. Participates in tests and is among the five leaders. In the end, it will be translated into Russian. So Respect program.

Avira's Antivir is the best free security sofware ever seen, if we listen world's top experts and a lot of happy customers.It had a big problem with the update servers, but now it solved and the updates are extremly fast.Avast! is also good, AVG,Comodo, PC Tools and others too, but they can't compare with Avira.I use it and I can tell you it is the best!Use it!You will be safe and fast!

This is the best of free antiviruses!
(It's a pity, that is no Russian language in it ...).
Nevertheless, many thanks to the developers for this excellent program!
Avira GmbH - forever! :)

Very GOOD features UNTIL it completely stopped updating! So... I removed it and tried reinstalling exactly 23 times, updtaes frozen solid. I can't rely on a product that fails to update. This needs to be addressed by them or unless they do warnings and no so good reviews are in order from downloading sites such as SOFTPEDIA and CNET. Get s "F" for failure until this is resolved, Sorry fellas.

I used AntiVir 2 years.I haven't any problem until...their update servers were blocked.I don't know why.All I can tell you is AntiVir is a very good antivirus, but he have huge problems with the updates.Now I use AVG Free 9.0 and I think it is better.

No AV programs are perfect, free or otherwise. If there was one, we'd probably all buy it and that would be that.

AV programs have to be used in conjunction with a bunch of other stuff, such as Malware AntiBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spyware Doctor, Dr Web Cure-It, ThreatFire, etc.

It's a pity that there isn't a single piece of software that does "everything" from one interface.

Relying on one AV program, so far, is not really enough.

One additional option is to install and run a program called Sandboxie. This sandboxes your browser, (whichever one you use). Everything you do using your browser is "contained" in a sandbox. If you really want to put those files you've just downloaded onto your hard-drive, you tell it to do so. After you're done, any other stuff still in your sandboxed browser is deleted forever. Or you can keep it, too, if you want.

Avira is a great piece of software. I've used it for many years without any problems. It's probably the "best" freeware one around. (I've tried all the others.)

But, it's silly to rely on just one product for all your security needs. Unfortunately.

Maybe one of these days, some company will put all the excellent anti-spyware, anti-crapware, anti-malware, anti-scareware, root-kit detectors, etc, that are available in the one place!

Hopefully on top of a good AV program, like Avira.

TOP nr 1 antivir but slow updates

I've use it on different types of machines and OS. Unfortunatelly it skips some viruses or trojans and has sometime difficulties with updating.

for new users it is the best

doing good job

Excellent performance, low footprint. I've been using it for years without any problem. Best freeware AV out there imho.

it is very useful

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.

my computer is infected with virus and spyware called trojan so i download the avira antivir antivirus, after i've install the antivirus,,the virus is still in my computer and the system of my computer is low.what will i do..?and the windows defender still pop-up on my desktop..

good this anti virus.thanks

This is the top-rated free anti-virus program, and a slick little honey it is. However, the rocket-scientist reviewers fail to mention a few ugly habits it has...
1] periodically update servers die, for anywhere from a day to a week, 2] when it doesn't work its icon changes to that of a closed umbrella [cute huh?]. And every now and then it decides to die, and there's nothing you can do, besides uninstall and reinstall it [groan!]. And if you get impatient with all this, and uninstall it you may well find it won't. [Google "can't uninstall Avira" for a chorus of the damned.]
This happened to me. Here's Avira's solution: http://www.avira.com/en/support/kbdetails.php?id=135. How's that for a fun way to spend an afternoon!? [Welcome to Avira hell].
This can be more than inconvenient. Other antivirus programs, like AVG, sense the corpse of AVITR on your hard drive, and will refuse to install until you remove it. But you can't. So YOU'RE STUCK WITHOUT A WORKING ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM!!
Desperate- i found a workaround: redownload Avira and choose the repair option.
I was lucky- it worked at just the same time the update servers came back to life.
For now.
My point: be VERY sure you want this program because it's the Iraq of anti-virus programs [no easy exit strategy!].

Avira GmbH you need also to make this software a lot lighter and faster for scanning viruses. hope you take our comment onboard for the next free edition or update

very good piece of software but needs a fix on detecting many false positives. Had a couple of files that it detected as trojans but are actually false positives (I did cross check with other AV scanners and researched about the files).

I'd give it a medium score as months had already passed and still no fix for the false positives it detected.

I have been a user of Avira AntiVir software for at least 4 years and I highly recommend using their program. This program has saved me many hours of
reformatting system drive, due to malicious programming code.

avira version 9.0.0.407...yes, i love this antivirus! thanks,avira! you are the best!

Is dificult to acess and install

It will not INSTALL! Says it needs more files.

I use their FREE edition....and it is the best I've ever used...something was attacking my PC just today and it blocked it...and shut my system down! It is amazing! I booted up into Safe Mode....used Anti-Malware Bytes and removed the bugs!! Those 2 together offer the BEST protection without emptying your pocketbook....

very good: thank you

Thanks to the creators for solving my virus probs

My avira FREE with LATEST definition update had totally failed from protecting my pc from high risk Trojan, backdoor attacked.

sorry, bye to avira !

now using others AV company. hope it won;t happen again.

HOW TO REMOVE POP-UP IN AVIRA

1.Open the control panel through Start > Control Panel.
2.Go to Administrative Tools > Local security policy.
3.Click on Software Restriction Policy > Action > Create new restriction policy.
4.Right-click, and go to additional rules > new path rule.
5.Click Browse and navigate to C:\\Program Files\\Avira\\AntiVir Desktop\\ and double-click avnotify.exe.
6.Set the security level to Disallowed.
7.Click apply and OK.


proffesionals.org@gmailcom

enjoy

Excellent software, can't wait for the free 2010 avira antivirus personal update

Dear Avira

I've tried twice downloading your free antivirus, but haven't succeeded in making it work.Perhaps I'm not doing it right, but....

Thanks

Bill

The best free Anti Virus out there by far. And i have tried them all (Mcafae Paid version, Avast Home free, AVG 8 free, Norton Paid version and others found on free download sites.
Avira give you an easy to use interface and scanner and gives you real time protection against more threats than any of the aforementioned programs. It simply does what it says on the box.
The only snag is the pop-up after every definitions update which is simply advertising the paid version. but hey, they have to pay bills too.
You just click the red cross in the top right corner and its gone until next update.
Also there is a virus definition update pack available for free on this site which you can do a manual update with to give you further protection against ever growing threats.
A fantastic product that works well on Vista as well as XP.
A must have for the everyday home user.

The best antivirus i tried.Simple and fast.

This freeware av scanner has one of the highest antivirus detection rates out there. Easy to use, works very well without bogging down computer. Only slight complaint, there is a popup for upselling you paid version at every definition update. But, hey, they have to pay bills too, still an excellent program, a must have for Windows.

the best antivirus around :)

Fairly good and easy to use.

The Avira Antivir 9.0 Is a Very fine version and solveing the virus problem

The Avira Antivir Personal-Free Antivirus is very good software. It has been helping me to protect my computure from virus.

This has to bee the best free Anti virus program on the planet.
Easy to use for a novice and offers rock solid protection for the average user, plus if you check the internet there is an easy way to prevent the nag screen appearing when it updates. Set up and forget, free protection for life.

AV-COMPARATIVES = 99.7% DETECTION RATING = EXCELLENT.

Unable to complete download. The message: "unknown publisher"
"digital signature not valid"
Please advise.

Hi!Everyone i like Avira alot i'm so disapointed that my pc is too slow it's amd semprom le 1150 at 2000 and he blocks himself and i can't do any of my things what i like at Avira it has some kin of detection like the Kaspersky 2006 and he really knows what to do with it. the good thing this isn't an antivirus hogg program that wastes precious memory and resources . About the Avira Premium Security i would like to say that after all even the product is german,i've been thinking how it would that avira uses some interesting grea tproducts like zone alarm ,agnitum or trend micro.Why because even the gdata has two engines Bitdefender and avast.So it would not be an bad iddea who uses powerfull pc 's too use s agrea t security product with two or three engines.Once Again Thak You Avira for protecting my pc.

I would highly recommend this software especially as a free download its on of the best out there..

JR Kavanagh

Doesn't bog down your system. Nor does it leave a ton of crap behind when uninstalled as i experienced when i removed the old version using Revo uninstaller before i installed this version.

Only ever got a couple of detections when checking a few less then trustworthy files and one website warning in my time using it.
Updates often and never had a problem with it.

For some reason my country having many idiots who making virus that majors anti virus couldn't detects. Avira could detects many new virus as suspicious, quarantined and send to Avira. in the next update virus already detected perfectly. free hourly update, full deep scan, active system guard, low system resources what more do you expect from this great free AV ?

I use BitDefender on my other hard drive. I like BitDefender. I copied that hard drive to another and scanned it with Avir. It found a lot of stuff. Avir is said to hae high rate detection. What's the possibility that it can ruin my other programs? So far, I like it. It it easy to use and I never had problem with the updates. I hope it becomes a freeby for a looooong time. Keep it up

i find this software quite good as compare to other but it should be maintain for a longer time ,
best wishes from me

i instaled this software very exlent perfomance

Dear Sir or Madam,
I use your avira antivir personal-free 900394, but it can't get updateed. Every time I try to, I am told that an internal error occurs. I wonder what the internal error means and how can it be removed in order to update the antivir. Thank you.
Sincerely yours

thank you avira,you are the best!

I want to know that why should we need the update of any antivirus?

very bad, very stupid anti virus . please don"t use this anti virus. my name is ashish . from dehradun. this anti virus is very rough, poor , belive me. i don't have word to say any more. idiotic anti virus. poor,poor,poor,poor,poor,poor,poor. my nick name is chotu, when i used this anti virus my compouter get disturbed, so plz i request u to plz don't use this poor , rascel, bloody, non sense anti virus. THANK U. It's my pleasure.

when i tried to run it, window pops up keeps saying some files corrupt and to download fresh copy- cnet site had same problem - any suggestions?

Have used norton, AVG, kaspersky, NOD32, mcafee, and avast.
avira in my opinion is by far the best yet. has found and removed all threats so far it has found threats that the others including NOD32 did not. it auto updates itself. nice feature is you can set for auto qarantine or to ask you what to do. i do not notice any system slow down when using it or running it. suggest you use "expert" mode when configuring. i recommend that you try, you won't be disappointed.

I am using avira antivirus in my Nokia N70 Mobile & it is very good in use & trusted antivirus.

I've been using Avira for about 5 years now. Thay are quicker to update their databases than even Norton! I cannot for the life of me figure out why people actually PAY for this kind of software. Money wasted if you ask me. I think in the 5 years I have gotten 2 false positives maybe? Real-time monitoring, scanner that goes as deep as you want it to, easy configuration and scheduling - what more can you ask? Completely recommend!

Alvira works on Windows 7 RC, which is still a work in progress. Others, like Norton insist on charging for a product that I may not be able to use very long or at all.
Installation went easily and the size, resource usage and intrusiveness are all kept to a refreshing small footprint. I do not know if Alvira captures enough threats to keep me safe, but only time will tell. I would recommend it.

finally its waste and i dont feel it to be better than kaspersky

2009.05.08 Fri 5:04a [PHT]

I've suffered for so many years with Symantec's overly-bloated & 'heavy' NAV and other products by this Company, knowing full well they were not the best, but too afraid to use other Antivirus software--except for Avast & Nod32. The former--which I truly loved--began showing too many false positives once too often. The latter, truly compatible on my machine, is not free as most everyone knows, and here in Manila, much too expensive to purchase for just a year's use.

AntiVir has through those many years of 'NAV torture' been on my "watch list." Unfortunately, I read a lot of reviews on various sites/users which said this program was a MemHog and quite slow albeit less 'heavy' than Norton, they said.

It came to the point I dreaded calling on NAV to scan anything. It took a full 45-50secs just to see the App appear. A complete OS scan, took over 3 hours. Ridiculous, considering I've just about 52,000 files!! Avast took a little over an hour--if it didn't hang before it reached 45mins :(

A few hours ago I finally decided to take action and boldly proceeded to download and install Avira's latest free v 9.0.0.394.

NO REGRETS!!! :D

This is a GREAT and STABLE PROGRAM .. so very light, relatively fast on my 2002 XP Pro, SP2, IntelPent3, 725MHz, 120Mb RAM, and easy to configure ... the one-time Ad popup after an update? No problem..I can live with that. It's worth it just to know (and feel) my machine is no longer weighed-down--literaly, with NAV ;)

Thanks ever so much to the people at Avira and Softpedia for providing this nifty FREE Antivirus for all of us who need good, free, software like this one to keep our machines safe from all those 'baddies' out there!

Having second thoughts about using this product? Think no more my friend. Install now .. You'll be awfully glad you did!!
...............

NAV2008, who's Lic to expire is still in August this year, remains on my PC yet. The poor fellow doesn't know he's scheduled for uninstall in a wee, short while .. Good-Bye forever my sluggish friend .. I only wish I could say I'm gonna miss you :)

well not only taking 2 hours to scan but it only found 2 problemsand didnt even fix them so dont buy the premium or any other it might work to protect but not too destroy

First off only a fool would use Internet Explorer by choice. You know it's funny it's always Internet Explorer and AVG users who get the most malware on their PC. Well maybe that is because Internet Explorer and AVG have the lowest security out there? Internet Explorer is the highest security risk (Proven), AVG the lowest detection rate (Also Proven) with the highest false positives. Now logic and common sense would dictate if Internet Explorer and AVG users have the most problems then just maybe it's AVG and Internet Explorer that are the problems. I guarantee you that if you leave Internet Explorer for Firefox and leave AVG for Antivir, these current problems will go away.

Has high detection rate, better than AVG and Avast, for the price cannot beat value. Only drawback is the popup when updating, but a small price to pay for the best virus scanner that is freeware!

(Please ignore above pre-filled ratings). I can't seem to download and install this program and I've tried all three or four sources. I get it, (hopefully, since no way to confirm file size anticipated). Then I run what I get and a DOS window opens and closes for a second and that's IT! Several times! :(

The best free antivirus! light-fast-outstanding!

Downloaded the setup program from Avira's site. Did not install it as after leaving their site I noticed that my Yahoo tabs in Internet Explorer were changed without my knowledge or cosent. Specifically Avira hijacked Yahoo's logo and replaced it with their own umbrella. Avira has not been any help at all in helping me restore my browser to its original configuration. I contacted Yahoo to let them know their logo is being hijacked. I will not use any software that makes changes to my system without any warning or option not to make those changes.