4. Avira Antivir Personal Free Edition v9.0.0386: The Best of the Freebies

This software was the absolute best of the free anti-virus wares in our evaluation in 2008, and after testing it again this year, Antivir’s supremacy has become incontrovertible.

An Interface that is Both Clear and Functional

Simplified almost to the extreme, Antivir can't match the fancy designs that some commercial-grade anti-virus software offers. However, the choice of sober colors makes for very easy readability, and although there aren’t very many functions available, the essentials are all there. This minimalist approach allows for simple and intuitive navigation of this software.

The default settings suffer from two major problems that are, fortunately for Antivir, fairly easy to remedy. First, you have to activate the scan files in the Configuration/Scan menu and then check “all files” in the Configuration/Guard menu to begun a scan. Secondly, it is a pity that Antivir's developers chose quickness over security as a default, and that they didn’t decide to give the user the option of protecting his or her settings with a password. On the other hand, the possibilities that are available to personalize your settings are interesting and easily allow for various technical settings to be configured with only a little technical knowledge.

High-End Protection

When scanning the hard drive, the detection engine finds viruses easily, as long as it doesn’t mistake some of your normal files for threats (for Excel files containing macros, you need to study the Help menu options). We strongly advise that you do NOT automatically delete all the files that Antivir picks out because, occasionally, the files are not in fact infected (again, this mostly has to do with Excel files).

We should also tell you that although this was a problem when we tested this anti-virus software, subsequent versions might not act this way.

If you decided not to follow our advice and have instead continued to use the default settings, the resident protection of Antivir will give you adequate protection. However, if you do activate the “all files” option in the Configuration/Guard menu, you’ll get protection that rivals that of the best paid-for anti-virus software offerings.

In fact, Antivir's protection features act very efficiently in a proactive manner and, despite the absence of an email scan, it directly gets rid of infected messages on the hard drive. It’s true that you can no longer read the message in question, but at least the threat has been taken care of.

A Light Load on Resources 

While using Antivir, the extra time it takes for Windows to start up is negligible, making it about 6% slower. The duration of the scan is only 21 minutes and, despite its efficiency, it only mobilizes a small part of the processor’s and memory's resources. The uninstall process is also something other developers should copy, as it leaves not even the slightest trace on your PC.

Conclusion

Antivir offers amazing performance, especially considering that it's free. While some small adjustments to its features–such as the addition of a firewall–would have been welcome, its really impressive protection features and the simplicity of its interface have sold us.