New version of Avira released

A new version of Avira's free antivirus has been released recently, it's called "Avira 2012". Link: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Avira_AntiVir_Personal_-_FREE_Antivirus_d955.html

They have changed the permissions settings so now it is impossible to block the Ask toolbar installer and the "buy the Pro version" nag screen by using the right-click-Security-tab method. Well, it may not be impossible, but on this particular PC it is (Windows XP Pro). I was going to try Control Panel > Admin Tools > Local Security Policy, but I had already applied the policy changes to the previous version of Avira, so I'm assuming these policies will remain active and in-place. I'm going to install this new Avira on a different PC that does not have any permissions or policies set just to see what's up.... I'll post any info I come up with....

 

If that's the case then I'll have to re-evaluate the other still free offerings. Still, I can't blame them but installing Ask.com is a deal breaker for me. It had to happen I think as the economy sucks and the programmers need their Red Bull!:-D Oh, besides putting food on the table. It's worked well for me these last couple of years, I wonder if they take Paypal?:confused Edit: Yes they do.

 

I installed this new Avira on a freshly formatted PC with a clean virginal install of XP Pro with drivers and updates. It appears that Control Panel > Admin Tools > Local Security Policy will work with XP Pro to block the toolbar installer and the nag screen. However, not all versions of Windows have the Local Security Policy feature in Admin Tools (Windows 7 Home Premium for example). So, I'm next going to install Avira on a PC with a clean Win7 Home Premium install and we'll see how it behaves.....

 

OK- I installed Avira on a clean Win7 Home Premium system: there was NO nag screen for "Buy the Pro version", and NO prompt to install the toolbar other than a single instance during installation and it was unchecked by default (which is unusual; most programs that "bundle" Ask toolbar usually have it checked by default). I think that once you opt out of the toolbar during the install, Avira realized that it was lame to bombard people with the prompt; and as to the "Pro version" nag screen, maybe Avira realized that we're using the FREE version for a reason! If we wanted the full version, we would have purchased it!

:dood

Nice work Avira! Now lets hope that these nags don't pop up in a day or two! LOL

 

Sounds good dlb. I'll check it out. Thanks.