Avira Free Antivirus || File Size : 79.04 MB.
Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG is a German antivirus software company. When founded, the company was called "H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH". Its antivirus applications are based on the AntiVir scan engine also known as "Luke Filewalker" (referring to Luke Skywalker), first launched in 1988. For aesthetic reasons, the name was changed to Avira. Avira's engine has been licensed toAshampoo, Ad-Aware, and Webroot WebWasher.[citation needed] Avira is one of the most widely used antivirus programs in the world, with 100 million users worldwide as of September 2009. The company supports the Auerbach Stiftung, a foundation created by the company's founder and CEO, Tjark Auerbach. It supports charitable, social, cultural, and science projects.[citation needed]
"Avira security software" refers to a range of antivirus and Internet security software for the Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, andSolaris computing platforms by Avira.
On October 17, 2008, a major update to the search engine was released, which increased scanning speed by 20%.
Avira Operations periodically "cleans out" the virus definition files, by replacing specific signatures with generic ones, which results in a general increase in performance and scanning speed. A database clean-out was made on October 27, 2008, which caused problems to AntiVir Personal users when updating because of its large size (15 MB) and because of AntiVir Personal's slow servers. For that reason Avira added an additional 6 GB of bandwidth[clarification needed] to the AntiVir Personal Servers and changed the updating process: Nowadays there are 32 smaller definition files which are updated regularly to avoid peaks in the download of updates.
Products
Avira AntiVir Personal is for personal use only and free of charge. Like much antivirus software, it can run a scan to check disks for malware, and can also run as a background process which checks every file opened or downloaded. It can detect and possibly remove some rootkits. It updates its virus definitions over the Internet, daily by default, also opening a window with an advertisement suggesting that the user purchase Avira AntiVir Premium or Avira Premium Security Suite. Avira updated all its products to version 10.0 in March 2010.
Avira offers a rescue CD image which may be downloaded as an ISO file free of charge and used to write a bootable CD. The CD has its own Linux-based operating system so it does not depend on the host PC's; it can be used to clean an unbootable PC, and may be able to find malware which uses the host's operating system to hide (e.g., some rootkits). The CD image contains the AntiVir program and the virus database current as of the time of download; it boots the machine into the AntiVir program, then scans for and removes malware, possibly also restoring normal boot and operation.
Avira AntiVir Premium has several improvements over the free version, including:
- Email scanning (POP3 and SMTP)
- WebGuard to block access to malicious sites
Avira AntiVir Premium Security Suite has some more improvements over both versions, including:
- Anti Spam for E-mail
- Firewall blocks hackers
- Backup System to protect and secure important data
- AntiBot prevents dangerous botnets from taking over your system
- Parental Controls blocks unsuitable websites for Children and Teens
No antivirus software can detect all malware, particularly new versions; known viruses can be detected by characteristic file or memory content, and programs capable of carrying out suspicious but sometimes legitimate activities such as finding passwords or terminating processes can be flagged for attention.
Product feature summary
| Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus | Avira Antivirus Premium | Avira Internet Security | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AntiVirus | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AntiDialer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AntiRootkit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AntiSpyware + AntiAdware | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WebGuard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AntiPhishing | No | Yes | Yes |
| AntiVirProActiv | No | Yes | Yes |
| AntiDrive-by | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RescueSystem | No | Yes | Yes |
| MailGuard | No | Yes | Yes |
| Fast Premium update server | No | Yes | Yes |
| AntiSpam | No | No | Yes |
| FireWall | No | No | Yes |
| GameMode | No | Yes | Yes |
| Backup-System | No | No | Yes |
| AntiBot | No | No | Yes |
| Parental Control | No | No | Yes |
| Cost |
