Free Avira Antivir PE Classic or paid version of Avast?

I'm looking for all comments and suggestions. The AV-Comparatives.org test convinced me to install the free version of Avira's Antivir, but the various shields of Avast always impressed me (although they do slow down page rendering).

 

Avast has another beta version out give it a try. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=161033&highlight=Avast beta

 

I got the free version of aVira about two weeks ago and I love it. I like its simplicity. I had KAV and it is a great scanner but it has too much unnecessary stuff included (and was messing with chkdsk). Most AVs have a lot of bloat. aVira has what is needed and not anything else. I didn't like Avast when I tried it but that was some time ago. I don't think I would like it today though either because I thought it had too much unnecessary stuff. They are all getting that way. So aVira and F-Prot are a breath of fresh air. F-Prot didn't work well on my machine otherwise I'd still have it. I haven't had any problems with aVira other than the Security Center reporting more than one instance of it and that is a known problem and minor also. aVira is set up properly also. F-prot, for instance, is not in that it begins a full scan on reboot after installation and before you can configure it. Most AVs do something that is disrespectful of the user. aVira fully respects the user and I really like that. The GUI for aVira is the best I've seen and I had to change only one thing from default. That is almost unheard of as most AV have lousy defaults.

 

Avira free version don't detect spywares and adwares, Avast! pro or free both detects viruses, spywares, adwares and havn't problems with updates, so I think Avast! pro better than Avira free.
But I think ...Antivir pro is better AV in the world!

 

If you don't need email protection then antivir free would be sufficient imo. If you need more i'd suggest antivir premium edition.

 

If on dial-up, select Avast (Free).

If on a fast connection, go with Avira Classic.

 

Avira classic is very good.
Fast detection rate, free, easy to use.
I like it very much!

 

Have not used Avast.

My AntiVir Classic is more often on Dial-Up, (About 20% of the time, I will be on WiFi or LAN.)

Most Updates are well under 100Kb and it is perhaps once a week or so when there will be one of .5 to 1MB
and that is the only time you will notice any difference on a fast connection.

With Classic Service and the larger Updates (every few months), there would be an advantage with Premium Server Access
as the 'Classic Clog' of free servers (for a multi MB Update) will delay more than a dial-up connection.

(It can be a ten minute 'server-wait' and couple "Update was not successful's" during Prime Time and the 'server-wait' is equal on hi-speed.)

» Announcements »

Servers run on GMT+1 and Prime Time is 07-17 hours GMT.

 

Hi, folks: Accorging to my own hand-on experiences, I can offer you these findings: Antivir PE classic and Avast home/pro can not share a very same pc. Domestic quarrel is inevitable. You need to keep just either one of these two beauties, no possible compromises. Antivir does not have e mail scanner, its virus database updates is pain on the neck(servers take frequent unnecessary breaks), advertising nag follows you like a ghost. While with Avast, there are not many differences between home and pro edition; $$$ disparity, having/not having script blocker, PUSH updates and a command-line scanner. For an average home user, home edition is just what you need. As fas as detection rates between these two Av, it all depends upon whose report do you trust. Both are good enough to perform their jobs, and filfull their job description-a good AV. Just use your common sense to select just one of them, remember not two(all). Good luck.

 

I prefer Avira. Better detection rate, lighter on resources, and better GUI. It has a nag screen in the free version, but that can be disabled.

 

I've had Antivir for about a year now; it's been flawless, even updates. I could care less about the nags screen......................it's FREE!

Avast does detect spyware/adware, but there are much better alternatives for active spyware protection than what Avast will do, and Antivir simply has better detection for what it's supposed to detect.

Heck, with heuristics set to high, Antivir does detect adware/spyware in testing and it sure detects more of the really nasty stuff out there.

 

It is not much of a "nag screen".
It is, after you have got a daily update of AV signatures, a quite large window comes up, maybe there a few words to tell that the Premium Edition offers a bit more, thats it. Just a normal window.
You just press OK and it goes away and does not come back until after next update.

Antivir has been very nice to use and one does not otherwise notice that it is running.

 

I hated the Antivir classic nag screen, very large and obtrusive, clearly trying to sell you their other products. I actually considered purchasing it, and the price is supposed to be 20 Euros (I'm in US) but even when I went to check out it directed me to the more expensive suite. Once I declined the suite, the price was not 20 Euros but more like 26. Factor in the currency exchange and it was too expensive. This was a huge turnoff for me and I don't plan on returning. On top of that, the software was difficult to remove and caused Windows XP SP2 security center issues even after it was uninstalled. I would go for Avast Free with these choices.

 

Used Avira when it was called AntiVir, have switched to Avast, loving it. Avira was definitely ok, though.

 

I would take the free Antivir. But this thread says you are willing to shell out dollars for protection. In that case the money would be well spent going with the paid version of Antivir. Dont get me wrong, but the title makes little sense if you are looking for solid protection.

 

i dissagree, of course

if you are going to use Avira, i see no need to pay for it, when its free.

big deal it scans mail, but the free version would pick up on it through the resident shield if it tried anything on your machine.

better update servers maybe, is this the only reason to get the paid version over the free?

surely im missing something, what else does the paid version offer, to be worth the money?

 

Premium has these advantages:

# Integrated detection of ad/spyware
# Extra protection through email scanner (POP3)
# Exclusive download server for faster updates
# User-defined update intervals
# Scan function for selected directories

if the lack of such features does not bother you, then use teh free version.

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as for the topic, id go with avast free. but if youre willing to pay, why not look at NOD32 or Kaspersky?

also AOL Active Virus Shield is another free AV u want to consider.

 

so, reallyyyyyyyyy it would only be the adware/spyware detection why one would use the paid version over the free, ok, its not enough for my liking if i were a antivir user, it would be FREEEEE all the way.

 

Its called detection.

 

I agree that aVira makes it very difficult to find a price for the Premium if you live in the USA. Why is there no USA distributor? The nag screen (which doesn't bother me) promotes the Premium version but nowhere can you find the price for it in USA dollars. The fact that I could find NO distributor, using Google, for the USA is a major turnoff to buying the Premium version. I don't care at all that there is no email scanner as I wouldn't use it if there was one as I use Outlook Express and Microsoft recommends strongly that you NEVER use an AV on OE unless you want corruption of the database.

But if I run into serious problems with updating when there is big update...well, I might want to purchase the premium version then but not if there is no USA distributor. So, I hope I don't have any update problems (other than a minor, fleeting one). Since prime time for the servers is at night for Hawaii, I guess I should switch the update time back to around noon Hawaii time. I was doing it manually each day about noon and then forgot one day. About 1AM aVira popped up and said I needed to update so I did and I then set it to autoupdate at 1AM but that is during prime usage for the aVira servers so I guess I will set it to noon HST.

 

Even better than the NOD32 paid edition? Does anyone know which is lighter on resources?

 

Even if you make sure the services for one are closed using the Administrator console? I think you're referring to running them at the same time.

I had the former in mind. Installing both programs, but never running both at the same time. If you close the services and the exe files aren't running, then I think you can have both installed - just not running simultaneously.

This way, you can have Avast as a main AV program with it's all important e-mail shield.

That being said, this thread is very interesting on the Avira PE Classic forum:

http://forum.antivir-pe.de/thread.php?threadid=16152


The moderator states that mail is still checked by Antivir's guard, but another
states that it only checks single mail files.

However, if using Thunderbird another poster mentioned:

What this all means, I'm not entirely sure.

However, a good firewall like Zone Alarm Pro will quarantine most files with questionable extensions (and can be configured to quarantine anything).
Does anyone know if the free ones like Comodo and Jetico, and Kerio Tiny can be configured this way?

 

comodo does not have any sort for email quarantine feature and im not sure about the others. but i dont think they have it either.

i know outpost firewall does have a attachment quarantine plugin, but its not a free firewall.

 

Hi, folks: hi, quadrophonic, thanks for the important pointers. I did not know that I have to shut one app's service in order to use the other one's performance. That was a while back. I never touched antivir again since. Even I re-entertain that idea of using both again now, I do not think I can endure that sort of inconvenience; shut one and use the other one. I will look for other happy pair.

 

Clam seems to work OK with Avast. (In the SpywareTerminator version, anyway. Don't know about the standalone.)
And as said b4, so does Cureit.