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Avira Free Antivirus

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Avira Free Antivirus User Reviews

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5 stars		17
4 stars		14
3 stars		7
2 stars		4
1 star		4
Based on 46 reviews

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Based on 46 user reviews
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As good as any paid antivirus...

by melen1717 Mar 11, 2016 (Read all my 12 reviews)

I've used a few antivirus. Bitdefender, Avast, Norton and Panda and now using Avira Free latest version 15.0.16.282. I have been using Avira for the last year and haven't had any issues. Installation is quite fast, easy and simple. You can just install and forget it or you can configure at your own liking. Automatic updates, real-time protection, scheduled quick-scan, rescue CD download, uses your wins firewall and Android mobile protection if needed. It does have a few pop-up adds but you can easily remove it by uninstalling, from windows programs, the software that is labeled only AVIRA. The other will be AVIRA ANTIVIRUS and you should not touch it. After removal you are done with pop-ups. Take into consideration that all free or paid antivirus have pros and cons, they aren't perfect. In my opinion, Avira provides effective protection and it's FREE.....

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Conditionally very good

by drfung Dec 04, 2013 (Read all my 18 reviews)

I say conditionally because there is some concern regarding Avira's collaboration with UniBlue and Ask. A web search will yield the concerns. However, if you do not install the Ask Toolbar feature, the product works well for a freebie. It's EULA is nowhere near as intrusive as some of the other free av out there, assuming of course, that you do not install the Ask feature. A nag screen reminder will state that you do not have full web protection, but realtime protection will be there.

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Good free antivirus

by ianmacm Apr 18, 2013 (Read all my 174 reviews)

This is my first review of Avira AntiVir Personal since 2010, and it has changed considerably since then. The main strength of Avira AntiVir Personal is that it is light on system resources and unlikely to slow down the computer. It has some nag screens for the paid version, but the interface has improved since 2010. The program is still somewhat prone to producing false positives, flagging innocent processes as a threat. Avira has never become as well known as some of its rivals, but it is worth considering when a simple and lightweight antivirus program is required.

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Too many ads?

by rjsl55362 Sep 30, 2012 (Read all my 6 reviews)

It's a good anti virus but too many ads and big one's too (that slow your system while loading). Also, I tried to use the manual updates but it didn't work, it kept it on auto. That was the last straw for me, hopefully they'll go back to light small ads and have a manual update that works.

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Solid antivirus but nags for you to upgrade

by Scorps1 Jan 14, 2012

Solid antivirus and I can tolerate the little popups to upgrade but when big ones appear asking me to pick a third party deal that is where I draw the line. After all, I run an antivirus to avoid this type of activity in the first place.

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Works ok but note!!

by Philip1 Sep 10, 2011 (Read all my 3 reviews)

Having used this program for a number of years and found it keeps computer clean there are a few annoying features in recent version releases. these are, 1. The safe internet surfing feature that wants to install without giving the user proper control over the decision to. You have to deny installation 3 times to stop the message popping up, logging off windows each time you make the choice to deny installation. How about giving the user proper choice! 2. When your license expires and you need to renew it again you have to go through the above stupid safe internet internet installation all over again. 3. The annoying popup ad at the end of update, as another reviewer has stated, has never been taken out. As this may be a small thing it does add to user frustration when using the product. Now I realize that this is a freeware program and you have the choice if you want to buy the program or not but how about freeware from the excessive advertising campaign. I would be more likely to buy it if people like avira stopped annoying people with consistent ads and program modules that give user no installation choice. I will still use it because I still find it effective, but there will come a time when I will get annoyed enough and just switch to something else.

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Avira has taken a dive

by gimpguy Jul 21, 2011 (Read all my 1159 reviews)

What can I say, after years of being loyal to Avira, it's gone down hill horribly. I know about the toolbar and partnering with a very shady "uniblue". While this disturbed me and perhaps put the final nail in the Avira coffin of usage, that's not the only reason I dropped it. 1. The detection rates were high, but many were false positives. At one time, I kept emailing Avira, helping out a bit on FPs or such, but eventually, they didn't care any more. 2. Avira lied. They promised to take the huge ad away, they didn't. (And I had every version newly downloaded until current so I know) 3. Was getting sloppy, blocking needed things, hiding auto run feature confusing people, letting baddies through and taking more resources. 4. Was NOT playing nice with my internet connection or software on my PC. After I uninstalled it, all my (long story) issues just suddenly went away. So yes, I stuck with Avira as far as I could, they have forgotten the little guy and standing on that podium of theirs, they can no longer see us, what the users want. It's all about the green now. Sad, a great AV down the tubes.

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A good antivirus

by Mike132 Jun 05, 2011 (Read all my 18 reviews)

I've used this for sometime now on my netbook. It's pretty lite on resources..I've found it to work very well and it helps keep every secure. Per reviews I've found on this software it has very good ratings. It shows little in the way of false-positive results. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good antivirus.

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Just get it!

by inthetrenches Mar 18, 2011

As a person who depends on their PC'c to run smoothly and efficiently I highly recommend Avira. Those post you read above that are negative is probably due to enduser frustration with a "cure all" app that doesn't exist andor their inability to upgrade and maintain systems that keep up with emerging technology. If you are still running a P4 or an old Celeron on 256 or 512 ram ...this AV is probably not for you. UPGRADE! PC's are cheap these days!

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Great antivirus

by Jeff__ Nov 03, 2010

I've been using this Antivirus for years. I've not had any problems with any virus on my computer since I started using this Antivirus. It's easy to setup and it automatically checks for signature updates each day.

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I can't recommend this

by nick49 Apr 25, 2010 (Read all my 2 reviews)

I have just uninstalled Avira Antivirus as it took over 5 hours to scan my system and external drives and after eventually completing the scan all I could see were false positives. My system also became very slow during the time Avira was installed, hence the decision to uninstall. I read several reviews here which appeared to be favourable towards this software which was the reason I tried it, but no, I cannot recommend this at all.

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The best

by mcompsec Apr 04, 2010

AntiVir has been on my computers for 5 years and I have never been infected. It has stopped and cleaned everything that has tried.

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Highest detection

by catmaster Dec 15, 2009 (Read all my 18 reviews)

I've tried Avast, BitDefender, AVG, Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro's PC-Cillin and others. They each have their strong points but I keep coming back to Avira because of its detection rate is near the best of the best. The updates are released sometimes twice a day. Scanning is VERY thorough and in the "expert mode" there are quite a few options to choose from. In the rare case of a notable false positive, a correction is made by Avira within hours with an updated definition. The only cost for this free version is a nag screen when you update. Clicking a button to clear the nag screen is no big deal to me in exchange for this fine product. When I do a full scan every week I feel I've got some of the best protection there is...and really, that's the bottom line.

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Very good

by boofby Oct 25, 2009 (Read all my 14 reviews)

Nice, quiet anti-virus that doesn't constantly announce itself. You do get an advertisement pop-up when it updates, but its not too annoying (no animations, flash, etc). Good.

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Nice with minor flaws

by Manifly Aug 04, 2008 (Read all my 2 reviews)

It is a decent antivirus program. The only flaw is that it does not display infected files completely but shortens the name. A minor but annoying quirk.

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Very good, if a little annoying

by Rustyboy Jun 25, 2008 (Read all my 33 reviews)

Good: It's free, it has effective virus recognition, it is not a memory hog, the database is updated frequently. Not so good: It nags every time the database updates, sometimes the update servers are borked and updates will not run for a day or so.

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Lightweight and effective

by hreeus Jun 17, 2008 (Read all my 3 reviews)

I started using Avira AntiVir since 2 months ago and really like it. My desktop has Avast on it for a couple of years and it's been fine, but i replaced AVG on my laptop with Avira AntiVir, because this antivirus software uses less memory and is just as effective. Updates are automatic and frequent and i haven't experienced any problems or false alarms. I recommended this antivirus software.

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Not as good as it should be!

by pantherman Apr 14, 2008 (Read all my 14 reviews)

Does what it should but vastly annoying very slow updates. Also a pain that it stops scanning if you are not at the computer to tell it what to do. It would be far better to finish the scan first. I could not see a way to set up auto updates or scans. Unless I missed something this is another area for improvement.

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Over-senstive

by mistshadow Sep 25, 2007 (Read all my 2 reviews)

I used this for a week at the recommendation of a friend and I found that it tended to return false positives frequently. I think it creates the illusion of greater security that way; most users don't think to google results like I do, instead just immediately deleting or quarantining any file detected as malware. I went back to Avast, which I've used for three years now with very good results (Avast doesn't nag you to upgrade like AntiVir does either).

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Safe and sound!...

by Vortex Jun 21, 2007 (Read all my 4 reviews)

Antivir PE has kept me protected for a couple of years now (lost my job and didn't have access to the big guns) and I see no reason why they shouldn't be considered top of the line! All home Antivirus programs should be free and I applaud Avira for providing this service...

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Great av

by canapi May 22, 2007

Complete package with top performances, better than others commercial AV.

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Unable to do updates

by Sandra30 Apr 25, 2007

I used to use AntiVir Premium but since moving back to the US, I recently downloaded the free version. I do not recommend this antivirus tool because due to the lack of more servers, you simply can't update your virus definitions. I have tried for 2 weeks now without success and when reading the support forum, numerous amount of people are having the same issue. What good is an antivirus program if it's outdated? I DO recommend the premium version though - with the premium version the updates were no problem and the software was very effective with blocking viruses.

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Good product

by hydrowisp Jan 19, 2007 (Read all my 3 reviews)

Its a very good Virus scanner I have been using it for 3 years now switched from Norton cause i couldn't bother with the bills and i found that i works better than AVG so try it

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Terrible- freezes and is slow.

by Justine Jan 06, 2007 (Read all my 2 reviews)

Having good results from two other programs I downloaded, I decided to give Antivir a shot. It was fast to download, but it was less then desirable once it was installed. It slowed down my computer considering I have high speed internet. Then it would freeze my computer and was slow when trying to surf. I could not update anything, tried 5 times. Reading the ratings, I am assuming that there are some programs that are just not compatible with some computers. Antivir was not compatible for mine. When I finally had enough and tried to uninstall the program, a message box came up that it must of been uninstalled? Fortunatley we have system restore and I simply restored my computer, to get AntiVir out. Once I got rid of Antivir off the computer, my programs loaded faster and my high speed came back. Not a good experience.

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Version 7 is fine

by skim1124 Aug 30, 2006

I've been using version 7 for several months and have never had a problem. I'm using it because it caught several problems that other free antivirus programs didn't. No, it doesn't scan for email viruses, and yes, you do have to click OK to get rid of the request to upgrade when you do a definitions update, but it's not a problem for me. Is it nagware by definition? Maybe. Does it bother me? No. It's a price I'm willing to pay for a great, free antivirus program.

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Is the best free antivirus

by noxyus Jun 28, 2006 (Read all my 2 reviews)

Is the best free free antivirus. Work in real time and easily make updates.

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I can't recommend nagware

by daedae Jun 06, 2006

It works fine, but the daily nagware screens have driven me away. I am going over to Avast. (Let me know if they kill off the nagware screens, and I might come back...)

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One of the best and it is free!

by MikelGraham May 24, 2006 (Read all my 2 reviews)

I have tried others like avast and avg, but was SADLY disappointed, especially with avast, which did not recognized some trojans that really DECREASE the productivity of my computer. After removing avast and installing AntiVir my computer ran like it should and Antivir found three trojans that avast let on my computer and refuse to get rid of. I do not need to change the skin of my programs or any other little toys that some people find interesting. All I need is a good program that does what I it is suppose to do and do it well. So don't believe the HYPE (avast, avg and co.), go with German know how! You will not be sorry. "Auf Wiedersehen"

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Antivir is nagware

by MarkBowman May 01, 2006 (Read all my 3 reviews)

Annoyingly you are nagged every single time it updates to "check out" the Premium version. You must manually click "OK" with every single update. It gets old VERY quickly. All of the Free antivirus programs I've used this is the most annoying. We already know about premium version and choose the Free one. Don't remind us 5 times a day. This software works pretty well, but it is Nagware. There should be a warning on the Snapfiles download page about this software.

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Antivir very nice.

by Schalke Mar 18, 2006

Small footprint, I have used the freeware and have like it enough to take a trip to Germany and buy it over there for 20 bucks. Course you can order it by mail I'm sure. Works nicely and updates frequently. Catches a lot of internet virus junk. Nice new interface too.

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A great software

by Clobrun Feb 18, 2006 (Read all my 2 reviews)

I have been using AntiVir PE for a long time. I tried several other similar antivirus softwares, however for my needs, this is the best. I have no problems recommending it.

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Better wait a while before using version 7

by latelounge123 Feb 17, 2006

I used Version 6 for quite a long time and liked it very much. Updating is now faster since it has been changed to incremental updates. But beware, there have been reported several problems with the new release (Version 7). Google for "antivir 7 problem" - there seem to be some bugs left, which can freeze your machine or clog your cpu. I did not want to update to version 7, but i didn't find a way just to update the signatures without switching to Version 7.

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Excellent freeware

by xenestis Jan 23, 2006 (Read all my 5 reviews)

I use this antivirus from ver.1,this is one of the first antivirus,that was released as freeware.Realtime antivir guard work very excellent,no know viruses have chance to infect you pc.In this time AV PE detect and can remove 200000 know viruses.trojans,keyloggers and dialers.On first installation,leave the creation of unique ID key,when not ,you must download and reinstall the program any time ,when you will upgrade new definition files.With ID key,only new definition files/400-800kB/ are downloaded and this is very fast.

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The germans can engineer.

by Sawyer Jan 14, 2006 (Read all my 3 reviews)

Anti-Vir has all the features a commercial ant-virus program has and updates are always being kept up with-ON TIME. It's the first thing I goto when I'm even a little bit suspicious of Trojans are a virus. The work that goes into this product is above the call.

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Whadda ya want fer free?

by estople Nov 22, 2005 (Read all my 8 reviews)

Occasional false positives (the Java SDK is one of its favorite targets), rather slow scanning, misses every once in a while, updates can take a looooonnnnggggg time, the resident guard gets deactivated sometimes (though an update usually fixes it), and it consumes some system resources. Still, for free, AntiVir ROCKS! Easy to install, frequently updated, better detection than most other freebies, VERY configurable, and its positively anal about security. One of the best (if not THE best) free anti-virus tools out there.

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Better than ever

by alnjk01 Nov 06, 2005 (Read all my 124 reviews)

Have been using antivir for about a year now. It has been the only free anti virus program that really has protected my pc. I have from time to time tried the others. Most were very bloated, took up loads of system resources, didnot protect as well but had attractive interfaces (big deal). Antivir does take the smallest amount of system resources, is not bloated, protects and is fairly fast at scanning. The newest version of antivir NOW offers quick,small update downloads versus the 2,3 and 4mb updates it used to have. I can say that antivir isn't the best for wiping out a virus already on your pc however it keeps them out in the first place!

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Great! but needs some improvement....

by b-jonk Oct 14, 2005

This is a great virus detection software. I used to use [..], but my pc was infected by the trojan when i enter a website named [..] It never alert me. So, i decide to uninstall [..] and try to use AntiVir. I try to visit same website, AntiVir blocking me to enter this site...so smart!! but the fault of AntiVir is don't have mail scanner. Don't mind it, coz i love AntiVir....

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What's up?

by wyzmet Sep 26, 2005 (Read all my 3 reviews)

This is truly still the best protection out there,however this definitions update is for the birds. Downloading the entire file is great if you have roadrunner but the server hardly works at all lately. Makes you want to switch....

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What is the fuss about?

by diecompnut Sep 23, 2005 (Read all my 3 reviews)

This program is nowhere near ... or ... The latter being my favorite. It is simply put a very crude program with poor to understand features.

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Great, but...

by rusty60 Sep 19, 2005

A superb piece of software which has saved me on more than one occasion. However, downloading updates is truly abysmal. You have to download the entire vdf (virus definition file) but the server is always overloaded and your download (if it starts) takes forever, even on broadband. There is a beta version of AntiVir that can download incremental updates to the vdf, meaning a few hundred k to download an update instead of a few mbs, but (surprise surprise) getting this beta version to download is a real pain. I gave up. I don't know why they don't just have a list of mirrors to take some of the pressure off their servers. Having said that, I continue to use AntiVir simply because it does what it is supposed to do and does it well. And you sure can't beat that price. ;-)

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Good product, but...

by Mike98 Sep 12, 2005 (Read all my 10 reviews)

Excellent detection, removing and blocking of viruses. I downloaded AntiVir from their website, because that is with uninstaller. AntiVir makes the internet connection window come up slower and sometimes slows down internet browsing. The updates are often, but takes a lot of time downloading even with the new Beta version.

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Needs a better interface !

by bringshu Sep 08, 2005

This needs a better interface badly. The Guard also gets deactivated sometimes...

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Easy and effectives antivirus...

by Eason47 Aug 31, 2005 (Read all my 2 reviews)

Hey...why would we care about how the interface(for me, i never care how the interface of a program as long as it looks simple)...this is an antivirus program, what important is the virus detection capability... this program is also quite easy to use(what you have to do are just update often and scan your pc) this program can detect many virus that other famous antivirus program can't! and...my last point is...this program is free!

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Excellent free product!

by ElGonzi Aug 22, 2005

First of all: thank you for this wonderful piece of software! In the past I've been using Norton and lately eSCAN which is an EXCELLENT product too (but it's not free and now is very expensive). But AntiVir is now my choice as it doesn't slows down my system and it's detection rate is excellent too. Have tried AVG in the past and I agree with the people who says that it is unable to clean Trojans and the annoying pop up windows keeps on appearing in the middle of your screen. The interface is clean and free of fancy stupid little icons and colors that only clogs your system. The only thing I could complain is the ssslooowwww update process. At midday is almost imposible to update the software as the servers are too busy, that's why I prefer to to it very early at morning or at night. I cannot see the point of some people complaining that AntiVir doesn't scan email... AntiVir WILL DENY ACCESS to any infected file it can catch be it an attachment or not!

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Very dependable. superior to overrated avg

by Bobb999 Aug 12, 2005 (Read all my 8 reviews)

I dumped my AVG when it let through some Trojans, and then was unable to heal them! I experimented with AntiVir which was able to detect the same Trojans in a scan AND REMOVE THEM. AVG is way overrated. The above scenario with AVG happened more than once. Avast! was another program I discovered could remove some trojans AVG could not. Although AntiVir is very effective, don't push your luck and feel "immune". If you land on a site trying to install viruses,deny access,then close the window and get out! Don't linger. I lingered once, despite a barrage of trojan attempts. AntiVir kept allowing me to "Deny Access". I foolishly clicked on something else on the bad site page. Finally a Trojan got through. I blame myself, not AntiVir. I wasn't using common sense, pushed my luck, and paid a price.

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Antivir guard pe

by Eldertree Jun 10, 2005

Easy to use, does not consume valuable resources and by far the best anti-virus program around. Forget ... and all the others - This is fast reliable and works well - I'd recommend it it anyone!

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