Against widespread malware, Avira scored a low of 98.7 percent in January but rebounded with 100 percent in February. It snagged 100 percent of zero-day threats in the first month, but only 99 percent in February, matching the category averages. MORE: Antivirus Software - Reviews of Free and Paid VersionsĪvira's malware detection was also a bit meh in AV-Test's January and February 2018 Windows 7 tests. But while Avira also stopped all zero-day malware in May, it snagged only 99.2 percent in June, the same as Avast Free Antivirus but ahead of AVG Internet Security.

In Windows 10 evaluations in May and June 2018, Avira stopped 100 percent and 99.9 percent of widespread malware, respectively, which is very good. The score was below the 98 percent average detection rate among 14 products tested. Our own tests, Avira Free Security Suite stopped 96 percent of malware.

Those rates would have been above average just a few years ago, but antivirus protections have improved a lot, and most products we review do better. It provided only adequate protection from attack in our in-house tests and in third-party lab tests.Īvira's scanner was put back a little, however, by widespread known malware, scoring only 99.7 percent detection in March and 99.8 percent in April. Antivirus PerformanceĪvira's malware scanner, shared by all of Avira's Windows antivirus software, is occasionally brilliant but mediocre at other times. MORE: Best Antivirus - Top Software for PC, Mac and AndroidĪvira Free Antivirus lets you schedule scans for when you're asleep or away, or set them up to run automatically once every day or week. The custom-scan option lets you home in one specific files or folders, but you can also right-click on anything in Windows Explorer to scan it. You can start a quick scan with a single click from the program's main window, but it takes three clicks to start a full scan. Avira's Browser Safety extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera warn of known malicious websites and block ads and tracking cookies.

Avira Free Antivirus 2018 scans compressed files and blocks unwanted software, but email attachments are examined when they are opened rather than when they arrive.

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