aSymmetrics

I just got the new March issue of C't which finally contained another antivirus software review. For me personally, a virusscanner is unnecessary: there's no better protection than using a third-party browser (Opera) and your brain. However, you can't leave other people's computers completely unprotected, so an on-access scanner, at the least for viruses, in the best case also for spyware/adware, is a prerequisite when configuring one's computer. Since there's absolutely no software that's able to identify almost any virus, and protection rates are highly fluctuating between versions and definition files of the respective products, one of the most important criteria for me is the speed of the on-access scanner.

Performance

Avira configuration panelIn most cases, an antivirus product will be the most demanding software on a home computer. The test in C't clearly points out that both on-demand and on-access scanning of Avira AntiVir is among the fastest scanners (16 were tested). Only the commercial NOD32 has a better on-access scanning performance, whereas it takes Trend Micro only 2 seconds more than Avira to scan the 741MB when copying. Furthermore, although spyware/adware scanning is absent in the free edition and the heuristics and behavioral blocking (BB) are hardly sufficient (as is with nearly every other product, save for NOD32 and BitDefender), its recognition based on definition files was excellent (99.3%), the highest score of all the products, together with Gdata AntiVirus 2008. Furthermore, all 6 rootkits on the test machine(s) were detected. The efficiency of Avira found by the authors of the C't article is supported by the findings of AV Comparatives: its detection rate of 99.45% for on-demand and 81% for on-access are the highest rates registered (sources: August 2007 on-demand comparative, November 2007 Retrospective/ProActive Test). Note that these results are based on the PersonalEdition Premium, not the (free) Classic version, which could lead to some differences.

Avira main screenThe user interface of Avira is nicely set up. In the main screen, one can see in a flash whether the on-access scanner (AntiVir Guard) is activated and whether the definition files are recently updated. The license notion might be a little confusing in the free edition, as it states an expiration date, while in fact, it'll automatically update the licence when updating near that date. All other screens are quite straightforward and provide a lot more options than AVG's free edition. Its Scheduler is easy to set up and allows any type of task you'd be likely to want Avira to perform. Avira also has an extensive reports and events system, without using Windows' built-in event system (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer). The responsiveness of the interface can be a quite slow at times, however, which can lead to clicking on an update or scan task for a second time, while Avira will still respond to the first click, too.

Free edition: no spyware/adware detection, no email blocking

Avira on-demand scanner: with the cute name 'Luke Filewalker'Unfortunately, the free edition doesn't include the spyware scanner, which is unfortunate, as it also had the highest recognition score of all products tested by C't (99.5%). Therefore, if you're willing to pay only €20,- for such protection, that would actually be a good idea. This might also solve the problem with Avira's update servers, as paid versions make use of a 'Premium server' providing faster update downloading.

Another feature that's absent in the free version is a POP3 scanning engine, enabling you to let your email be scanned before passing it to your mail client. As Avast! and AVG both provide this feature in their free versions, this is where Avira falls short to some extent. However, I've had quite some nasty experiences with both the products in this area, leading to the disappearance of some emails. Luckily, most internet providers feature server-side virus protection. Furthermore, setting up your mail client to disallow direct HTML mail viewing will make sure that no virus will become active before you're able to delete the mail.

A phishing filter is the last feature that should convince you to buy the Premium version. Luckily, browsers like Opera, Firefox (optionally) and even Internet Explorer (7+) already include a phishing filter.

The free version has its own website, go have a look: http://www.free-av.com.

Annoyances fixed

However, I'm not paying anything. And there are two things that were bothering me when testing the free version of AntiVir. And fortunately I've found a solution to both, so why not share them with you?

• Splash screen on startup

  On every boot, Avira will start while showing a splash screen. As I find that a virusscanner should do its work without interrupting the user in any way, even the short display of a splash screen is too much in my opinion. Therefore, we'll disable it:
  1. Start the Windows registry editor (Start -> Run -> regedit)
  2. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run doubleclick on avgnt
  3. Add the parameter /nosplash to this entry

     Source: Avira Website

• Advertisement on every update

  This is the main reason for not installing Avira on other's computers. Everytime the program will download new definition files (daily by default), it will show an advertisement for the full version of the product. This window will cover most of your screen, making it one of the most annoying ads I've ever encountered in any type of software. So only when this was to be removable, I was to reconsider the use of Avira. And guess what, it is quite easy to accomplish such. For a simple batch file that adds the necessary registry key and values, check the attached avira-noads.cmd. You need to run this file with administrator privileges. Works for XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit). I found it out the hard way, but afterwards I found a nice description, with some alternatives, on MyDigitalLife.

Conclusion

Avira Scheduler: configured for updates 2x a dayI think I can finally say now that Avira has convinced me. First, it is evident that among the more popular free alternatives (Avast!, AVG, and Avira itself), the detection rate of Avira is by far the best, as it seems to beat almost every other scanner. Without proper update scheduling, however, Avira is more vulnerable to new viruses than some other products that have better behavioral blocking and heuristics built in, such as BitDefender, F-Secure and NOD32. Still, this should easily be overcome by the capabilities of the scheduler. Furthermore, its performance is - for me - its most decisive quality. AVG is probably not far behind on this, but its detection ratio is dubious to say the least. The commercial NOD32 seems to be even a bit faster (although my personal experiences are a bit less positive), and has a heuristics module that's currently among the best. Avast was a lightweight scanner in the beginning, but my personal experiences, backed up a bit by the findings by the C't journalists, are that the newer versions do have a substantial impact on the system's performance, in fact, one that is not acceptable. Its detection rate based on definition files was, to my surprise, quite good according to the C't test, AV Comparatives show differently. The same can be said about AVG's detection ratio. As for the the user interface, regarding Avast!, AVG and Avira, the latter wins with colors. For that, have a look at the screenshots on the right.

May 10th, 2008 - Updated screenshots to reflect Avira AntiVir Personal v8.1
March 8th, 2010 - Added batch file to remove advertisement/nag screen, tested for AntiVir Personal v9 on XP x86 and Windows 7 x64

Attachment	Size
avira-noads.cmd	2.03 KB
avira-noads.exe	36.5 KB