- Avira Free Antivirus Windows Vista
- Avira Free Antivirus For Windows Vista 32 Bit
- Avira Free Antivirus Vista Download
The latest in my series of reviews of free 2012 antivirus programs is for the 2012 version of Avira Free Antivirus which can be downloaded from Cnet.com.
Avira Free Antivirus 2012 released By Jim Hillier / October 4, 2011 November 12, 2015 / 2 Comments / Freeware, Security Longtime Avira fans will immediately notice their favorite anti-virus software has undergone a minor name change; “AntiVir” has been dropped from the title and Avira AntiVir Personal now becomes Avira Free Antivirus.
- Avira free antivirus 2012 free download - Avira Free Antivirus, Avira Free Security with Antivirus, Avira Antivirus Pro, and many more programs.
- Avira Free Antivirus offers you award-winning protection against malware. Easy to install and even easier to use, our 2020 edition includes a new user interface and next-gen AI technology, which.
- The minimum spec machine required to run Avira Free Antivirus 2012 is as follows: Windows XP (SP2 for 64 bit / SP3 for 32 bit) / Vista SP1 (32 bit and 64 bit) / Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit) 512 MB of RAM for XP / 1 GB of RAM for Vista and 7.
The Good:
- 1. Good detection and removal of malware
- 2. Low system resource usage
- 3. Quick scans
The Bad:
- 1. Incorrectly identified 3 legitimate files as malware
- 2. Not much else!
For a free antivirus program I thought this was really rather good. Read on to find out why.
Installation and first impression
After downloading the program from Cnet you will, obviously, need to double click on the file in order to get started. As part of the installation process Avira Free Antivirus will search for any potentially conflicting programs, i.e. any other security software you may not have uninstalled yet, and will then launch into a quick first scan, as seen as above.
As you can see from the image below, this isn’t a huge scan, but it will check for obvious signs of malware on your computer immediately rather than relying upon you, the user, to conduct your first scan.
For anyone who notices the top of the dialogue box which references “Luke Filewalker” there is a Help link at the top of the scan screen which gives more detail:
Why exactly its called Luke Filewalker I don’t really know but I’m guessing there may be some Star Wars fanboys at Avira? If so, users of this free antivirus program will have to hope its more Obi Wan than Jar Jar!
Features
After installation and that quick first scan you can open the program proper and look at the interface. As you can see in the image below its a reasonably simple affair which is always good for the less computer savvy users out there.
You may notice that some of the options on the left and sliders on the right are greyed out. This is because they are not available in this free version of the software; you’ll have to hand your cash over to get to play with those features.
The options you do get to use in Avira Free Antivirus 2012 are as follows
- System Scanner
- Realtime Protection
- Quarantine
- Scheduler
- Reports
- Events
For most users the ones you’ll be most interested in are the scanner which allows you to choose what exactly is included in any given scan.
and the scheduler which obviously allows you to choose when exactly a scan will take place.
System Requirements
The minimum spec machine required to run Avira Free Antivirus 2012 is as follows:
- Windows XP (SP2 for 64 bit / SP3 for 32 bit) / Vista SP1 (32 bit and 64 bit) / Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)
- 512 MB of RAM for XP / 1 GB of RAM for Vista and 7
- 150 MB or more of free hard drive space
- Processor speed {awaiting reply from Avira on this but would guess not too high}
Everyone has different expectations from whichever antivirus program they use. It goes without saying that you want it to protect you from malware but another important factor may be the impact it has on your system whilst running a scan.
On my machine a full scan was not only quick but, as I hope you can see from the image above, very easy on the CPU in addition to using a relatively small amount of memory.
+ Plus Points
- 1. Good detection and removal of malware
- 2. Low system resource usage
- 3. Quick scans
- 4. Prevents USB sticks autorunning
– Minus Points
I only have one grumble about this program and thats it’s detection ability. When it comes to detecting malware it is excellent both in my own tests and those conducted by the independent labs. But it falsely detected a few bonus items too!
In the screenshot below you’ll see it flagged up 3 objects but I know they are not an issue at all – they’re all related to my Blue Snowball microphone. Luckily, thats not a huge problem for someone like myself who knew straight away what was being highlighted in the report but I could envisage some users removing important files by mistake if they experience a similar situation so watch out for that if you choose this program.
Conclusion
There really isn’t very much not to like about Avira Antivirus Free. Sure, some of the paid competition is better and has more features but this program is free and, for once, you get more than you pay for! False positives aside, its an effective program that won’t tax your system too much.
Related posts:
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- My Review Of AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 Its quick, it uses less system resources than many other such programs and its free. What is there not to like?...
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The latest in my series of reviews of free 2012 antivirus programs is for the 2012 version of Avira Free Antivirus which can be downloaded from Cnet.com.
The Good:
- 1. Good detection and removal of malware
- 2. Low system resource usage
- 3. Quick scans
The Bad:
- 1. Incorrectly identified 3 legitimate files as malware
- 2. Not much else!
For a free antivirus program I thought this was really rather good. Read on to find out why.
Installation and first impression
After downloading the program from Cnet you will, obviously, need to double click on the file in order to get started. As part of the installation process Avira Free Antivirus will search for any potentially conflicting programs, i.e. any other security software you may not have uninstalled yet, and will then launch into a quick first scan, as seen as above.
As you can see from the image below, this isn’t a huge scan, but it will check for obvious signs of malware on your computer immediately rather than relying upon you, the user, to conduct your first scan.
For anyone who notices the top of the dialogue box which references “Luke Filewalker” there is a Help link at the top of the scan screen which gives more detail:
Why exactly its called Luke Filewalker I don’t really know but I’m guessing there may be some Star Wars fanboys at Avira? If so, users of this free antivirus program will have to hope its more Obi Wan than Jar Jar!
Features
Avira Free Antivirus Windows Vista
After installation and that quick first scan you can open the program proper and look at the interface. As you can see in the image below its a reasonably simple affair which is always good for the less computer savvy users out there.
You may notice that some of the options on the left and sliders on the right are greyed out. This is because they are not available in this free version of the software; you’ll have to hand your cash over to get to play with those features.
The options you do get to use in Avira Free Antivirus 2012 are as follows
- System Scanner
- Realtime Protection
- Quarantine
- Scheduler
- Reports
- Events
For most users the ones you’ll be most interested in are the scanner which allows you to choose what exactly is included in any given scan.
and the scheduler which obviously allows you to choose when exactly a scan will take place.
Avira Free Antivirus For Windows Vista 32 Bit
System Requirements
The minimum spec machine required to run Avira Free Antivirus 2012 is as follows:
- Windows XP (SP2 for 64 bit / SP3 for 32 bit) / Vista SP1 (32 bit and 64 bit) / Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)
- 512 MB of RAM for XP / 1 GB of RAM for Vista and 7
- 150 MB or more of free hard drive space
- Processor speed {awaiting reply from Avira on this but would guess not too high}
Everyone has different expectations from whichever antivirus program they use. It goes without saying that you want it to protect you from malware but another important factor may be the impact it has on your system whilst running a scan.
On my machine a full scan was not only quick but, as I hope you can see from the image above, very easy on the CPU in addition to using a relatively small amount of memory.
+ Plus Points
- 1. Good detection and removal of malware
- 2. Low system resource usage
- 3. Quick scans
- 4. Prevents USB sticks autorunning
– Minus Points
Avira Free Antivirus Vista Download
I only have one grumble about this program and thats it’s detection ability. When it comes to detecting malware it is excellent both in my own tests and those conducted by the independent labs. But it falsely detected a few bonus items too!
In the screenshot below you’ll see it flagged up 3 objects but I know they are not an issue at all – they’re all related to my Blue Snowball microphone. Luckily, thats not a huge problem for someone like myself who knew straight away what was being highlighted in the report but I could envisage some users removing important files by mistake if they experience a similar situation so watch out for that if you choose this program.
Conclusion
There really isn’t very much not to like about Avira Antivirus Free. Sure, some of the paid competition is better and has more features but this program is free and, for once, you get more than you pay for! False positives aside, its an effective program that won’t tax your system too much.
Related posts:
- The Top 10 Free Antivirus 2010 – Avira Antivir Personal Multitasking whilst running a full scan with Avira was smooth and, from a subjective point of view, the best I have experienced thus far during this recent testing of free...
- My Review Of AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 Its quick, it uses less system resources than many other such programs and its free. What is there not to like?...
- The Top 10 Free Antivirus 2010 – PC Tools Antivirus Free PC TOOLS Antivirus Free Edition offers the typical level of protection that you would expect from a free security program....
- My Review Of Panda Antivirus Pro 2012 Traditionally, an antivirus program is just that - an antivirus program. If you wanted more security features than that then you would buy an internet security suite. Panda Antivirus Pro...