Theres a generous 60-day money-back guarantee for subscriptions of one or more years.
If price is a priority, look at Norton 360 Deluxe, too.
We found our subscription, clicked Install, chose This machine and the Windows installer downloaded.
Avira Prime is the best value paid product in Avira’s range.
Setup was easy and largely automatic.
The whole process took around five minutes and didnt require any special security or technical knowledge.
Aviras interface looks fairly conventional at first glance.
Avira’s interface is easy to operate.
Its all very straightforward, but there are also lots of usability benefits built in.
We were always clear on which tile did what.
We found it easy to explore, and difficult to get lost.
Click an item on the left-hand sidebar to see all the tools you can explore.
Even some of the menu options stand out from the crowd.
Overall, Aviras interface is a usability success story.
We measure targeted scan speeds by pointing an antivirus at 50GB+ of test executables.
Avira’s Smart Scan checks for all kinds of device issues in a very short time.
But Bitdefender and Norton are better optimized, only scanning new and changed files by default.
Each test has its own scoring system, making it tricky to compare performance.
Looking at the individual scores, Avira lagged a little behind the competition in some areas.
Avira has several scanning types - or you can create your own.
We test antivirusransomwareperformance by pitting each provider against our own custom ransomware sample.
Theres better news in MRG Effitas' 360 Assessment, which tests vendor performance against 37 ransomware variants.
Thats why were particularly interested in a vendors ability to keep you away from phishing and other malicious sites.
Avira is regularly checked by most of the world’s top antivirus testing labs.
AV-Comparatives carries out a small annual antiphishing test, and the results werent great.
Avira did better in our own test, blocking every one of 100 shiny new phishing URLs.
Thats better than many, although there are even more effective solutions around.
There was mixed news from the Avira vs. ransomware tests.
Okay, Avira makes web app Safety free for everyone, so were not expecting new features every week.
AV-Test includes performance as a part of its regular rig tests.
We ran the top benchmark PCMark 10 on a test laptop, both before and after installing Avira.
Avira blocked 100% of phishing URLs in our tests.
On balance, Avira Prime seems unlikely to slow your gear down to any significant degree.
The service is a little basic.
Aviras website talks about 157 servers in 37 countries, for instance (ExpressVPNhas thousands across 105 countries.)
Apps are short on features, too.
Thats a small web connection.
Using the VPN is easy, at least in Windows.
There are some odd interface issues.
Avira scored better at unblocking, getting us into US Netflix immediately.
The service works largely automatically, recognizing trusted apps and allowing them to connect to the outside world.
Thats good news, because most users dont want to be hassled by security prompts.
We first test firewalls by using Visual Studio to create and modify our own custom apps.
Avast takes arguably a better approach by automatically scanning changed files for threats when theyre launched.
Unfortunately, all we could actually enter at the site was a single email address.
And thats where Avira comes in.
Fortunately, Aviras recommended options seem well chosen and unlikely to cause any problems.
If it does break something, though, Privacy prefs can restore the default prefs with a click.
Experts can even inspect Privacy options various options manually, and enable or disable whatever they like.
Thats less than a third of Aviras total.
Aviras success is partly down to its aggressive algorithms.
There are modules to find large files and folders, for instance.
The tool only uses the regular app uninstallers, and doesnt take a stab at remove any leftovers itself.
The system works largely automatically.
We accepted the default prefs and restarted to check the results.
If youre keen on this bang out of feature, Norton Software Updater is one of our favorites.
And its been shown to be effective.
The good news is you dont have to do anything to try the system out.
Game Booster automatically detects and optimizes full-screen games as theyre run.
Overall, Game Booster is another reminder that Avira is serious about its performance-boosting aspirations.
Avira Prime: Support
Aviras support service begins with its web knowledgebase.
Some features arent covered at all.
We searched for Game Booster, for example, and didnt get a single hit.
Paying customers can avoid these hassles and contact support directly.
Live chat is the easiest option, and phone support is available Monday-Friday from 9am-11pm CET.
We contacted support via email with a tricky VPN connection issue.
For contrast, we tried something similar with Nortons live chat.
The agent opened a remote support session with us and spent 30 minutes trying everything he knew.
Support actually got back to us the next day, and this time fixed the problem.
A straightforward interface makes this all very easy to operate.
Malware protection is a little disappointing.
(Bitdefender managed 99.7%, Avast a perfect 100%.)
Results can sometimes vary between testing labs, so we were keen to check AV-Tests latest report.
But that was surprisingly similar, placing Avira last out of eight antivirus apps.
The other app features are acceptable, though not outstanding in any way.
If youre not committed to Avira,.
Bitdefender offers better protection and extras such as webcam protection, while Norton includes cloud backup and a firewall.
Signing up for Prime delivers a much better version, though.
The app got off to a good start.
The app does a fair job of the security basics.
Avira Antivirus Security and VPN doesnt excel in any area, either, but its generally good enough.
Put it all together and Aviras Android offering has plenty to offer everyone.
There are a couple of worthwhile exceptions.
We’ve listed the best cloud antivirus.
