Well actually you can. It's really simple on Windows 10. Start Task Manager > click on Startup > select Avira Connect > then click the disable button. Reboot. No more Avira Connect (Launcher). If you want easy access to the Avira AV program, just drag the icon from the Windows start menu onto the task bar to create a quick launch icon. Life is good again FYI, if you do this and then find you still want to "Connect" temporarily, you can launch Avira Connect on a one-time basis from the Windows start menu at any time ... it will remain disabled for the next reboot.
With above, just you remove the Avira.Systray.exe (Avira.Systray.exe = C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\Launcher) ...... and Avira.ServiceHost.exe is still there, up and running. (Avira.ServiceHost.exe = C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\Launcher) Also: In taskbar, to replace the Avira Connect (Launcher) icon with the Avira Antivirus icon is one thing. Just to remove the Avira Connect (Launcher) icon in another. In the first case you have the Connect (Launcher) / Antivirue icon which is there for a purpose (to monitor via the open/closed umbrella if the AV works or not, to start a manual update, etc). In the second case you have nothing. I prefer the first one.
If you wish to stop Avira.ServiceHost.exe from continually accessing the network, and contacting a server for who knows what, it is a simple matter to add a Windows firewall outbound rule to block it.
You probably kill the cloud feature, when doing this. If you are not satisfied with Avira anymore, like me, just dump it, like me.
To call web protection and mail protection 'bloat' it is a bit over the top as all AVs companies feature these modules. In the past (around 2010-11) I used to disable web protection as it would slow down my browsing speed, but nowadays it really does not affect performance at all on 3 machines including a Vista OS. In any case to each his own, I also believe that the Avira free model should be enough.
Mistake. I'm saying that I can't avoid it anymore. -------------- One more Tinstaafl's "hack"....... As @Hiltihome wrote, do you know what Avira.ServiceHost.exe does?
Readers of popular websites targeted by stealthy Stegano exploit kit hiding in pixels of malicious ads
Nope. This service is only related to the Launcher. Cloud and updater still work fine. I spent some time with a network packet analyzer trying to figure out what it was doing. Looked like some sort of keep-alive, or heartbeat packets to a cloud server. The deal breaker for me was that it was doing so over a non-encrypted port 80 connection. A no-no for me as far as security is concerned I still think Avira is the best AV.
So you don't care for the word "bloat". Just disregard that connotation in English, and substitute "unnecessary" instead. My personal preferences and computer skills make it so. I like Avira enough to buy a 3 year plan, then converted it into the free edition. The developers need to get paid to keep putting out a great product
To provide web protection, the AV has to sniff all of your HTTP traffic. To do so with HTTPS, it has to become man-in-the-middle using security certificates, etc., essentially using a proxy. I'm not really sure I like that no matter how fast it is. Besides anything that your web protection could catch, will be caught by your AV real-time file scanner anyway, right? And as far as web exploit kits go, I am also running HitmanPro.Alert, a real-time exploit mitigation and risk reduction application.
Best reason not to install Flash, Java, Silverlight, Quicktime, etc. plugins in your browser. Also should at least be running some anti-exploit software, to prevent these kits from executing in your browser.
I'm guessing the "Sorry to see you leave link" was getting over-trafficked and needed redesign to handle the demand.
Submit the file to Avira Labs as Suspected False Positive (Not Malware) Don't expect reply during the weekend.
Avira Launcher -> Avira Connect Same ****, different names ....... Avira Launcher Connect version 1.2.77.32054 released today. http://www.avira.com/en/download/product/avira-antivirus-pro Changelog: nothing, nada, not exist....
Just installed Avira free, very pleased with it so far. Are there any settings I could look at to make it as light-weight as possible?
the way they push the connect or whatever they want to call it is really not so attractive. way in the world they dont just let one use the av
I don't like how they're pushing "Avira Phantom" and "Avira System Speedup" by default. It's bandwidth I don't want to waste. Other than that, it's fine. I couldn't care less about Avira Connect.
