![]() Most malware attacks come via the Internet, but there are a few malware families that spread via USB devices instead of, or in addition to, Web-based avenues. You can optionally set it to scan outgoing SMTP messages, though I can't picture how a malicious file could escape the real-time antivirus and then get caught by Mail Protection. ![]() Rather, it scans incoming POP3 and IMAP email for malware. Other Pro Features The Pro edition adds Mail Protection, which I thought might be a spam filter. And a trial version of Avira System Speedup lets you view the product's features and perform exactly one system optimization. Avira Software Updater checks for missing security updates, though its scope is seriously limited. Avira Scout is a hardened browser with several security enhancements built in. Phantom VPN protects your privacy on unsecure networks, for up to 1GB of traffic per month on a single device (for $9.99 per month you get unlimited traffic on unlimited devices). Avira Connect serves as a launch pad for all the other Avira products, and it helps you connect to the online Avira portal. On the plus side, both products outperformed the phishing protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.īoth free and Pro editions come with a large entourage of associated Avira programs. The Pro version's detection rate lagged 27 percentage points behind Norton's, while the free edition came in 28 points behind. I tested the free and Pro editions of Avira side by side and found that the added help from Web Protection caught precisely one phishing site that Browser Safety didn't. It's not clear to me why Avira doesn't use the same technology in Web Protection that serves so admirably in Browser Safety.īrowser Safety also serves to fend off phishing sites, fraudulent sites that attempt to steal your passwords. These multiple mini-scans frequently caused Avira's use of CPU resources to spike at 95 percent or higher. In most cases, the antivirus launched a mini-scan to make sure the download was entirely wiped out. Web Protection accounted for just half of those, with real-time antivirus wiping out the rest during the download. Altogether, Avira blocked 91 percent of the malware downloads. I ran my malicious URL blocking test again, using Internet Explorer, so Browser Safety was not involved. With 95 percent total detection, Avira beat out all others except Symantec Norton AntiVirus Basic A$39.99 (First Year) at Norton Australia, which exhibited 98 percent detection.Īvira Pro does include a Web Protection component that's not present in the free edition. ![]() Avira's Browser Safety component, which installs in Chrome and Firefox but not Internet Explorer, completely blocked access to 93 percent of the samples another 2 percent were eliminated at the download stage. Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus rules this test, with 100 percent detection and a perfect 10 points.įor a different view of protection, I challenge each product with 100 recent malware-hosting URLs, noting whether it keeps the browser from accessing the URL, eliminates the malware payload during download, or totally whiffs detection. Thorough blocking by Norton and Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security earned them each 9.7 of 10 possible points, but incomplete blocking of detected threats pulled Avira's score down to 8.9 points. In my hands-on malware blocking test, Avira detected 97 percent of the samples, the same as Emsisoft Anti-Malware 11.0, Norton, and Trend Micro. My calculation yielded 9.7 points for Norton and a perfect 10 out of 10 for Kaspersky Anti-Virus A$54.99 for 1 Year 1 Device at Kaspersky Lab North America. Four of the five labs I follow include Avira, and its aggregate lab score of 9.3 points ties Bitdefender and beats almost all the competition. Click the link and read my review of that product, or keep reading for a summary of my findings.Īvira's scores with the independent labs are quite good. Shared With the Free Edition Every bit of malware-fighting capability that comes in the free Avira Antivirus is also present in the Pro edition. The button that urges you to Upgrade Now in the free edition changes to Renew. The Pro-only components are enabled, of course, and the window title says Pro. This app's main window is nearly identical to that of Avira's free antivirus.
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