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Avira Antivirus Pro 2018
The starter package Avira Antivirus Pro has interesting bonus features, such as parental supervision and a personal firewall. The software is easy to use, but also very simple. Does Avira Antivirus Pro offer good value for money? You can find out it in the following review.
In short
- Bonus: parental supervision aimed at social networks
- Bonus: personal firewall
- Fast QuickScan, slow full scan
- Mild system load
- Free technical support, either by phone or e-mail
Bonus: personal firewall that works like a guard dog
A firewall usually only comes with expensive and more elaborate Internet security suites. Thus, we think the addition of this feature is surprising and very welcome. Like a guard dog, the Antivirus Pro firewall monitors all the incoming and outgoing data traffic and intervenes if necessary. You can set rules for the Internet access for each application. In addition, you can use it to control the behaviour of the device on less-secure public networks.
Social network security plug-in for the concerned parent
As a parent, it can be difficult to monitor your child’s online behaviour. To make this a bit easier, Avira has developed the ‘social network security’ plug-in. You can connect your child’s account to your own and receive reports about undesirable contacts on social networks such as Facebook. Antivirus Pro will also keep you up to date on the use of words connected to sex, drugs, violence or alcohol in chat conversations.
Browser protection, system- and e-mail scans
Avira scans your browser in real-time and keeps it clear and organised. No green ticks on your browser to inform you which websites can be trusted. Avira only draws your attention to any potential threat if you are about to access a dubious website. This will keep your browser clear and organised.
The Internet security package does not come equipped with the quickest and most complete system scan. In our test, the scan took more than 1 hour, which is longer than the majority of the other manufacturers take. Nevertheless, Avira detected malware that other scans missed.
In contrast, the Quickscan was very fast, although it should be mentioned that it was a bit odd that this frequently used function cannot be activated directly from the home screen. The function is stored away in a few mouse clicks, under the system scanner tab.
Avira Antivirus Pro used quite a large amount of memory space during normal use. Quite a lot more than similar antivirus programs. However, while running several programs at once (multitasking) we never experienced any serious performance issues. This might be the case with some of the outdated PC systems.
In conclusion
Advantages
- Handy bonus features such as a personal firewall and parental supervision
- Fast QuickScan
- Free technological support
Disadvantages
- Uses a lot of memory
- Slow full system scan
The affordable Avira Antivirus Pro is not the quietest antivirus software, but overall it works quite well. With its own firewall and parental supervision for social networks you get extra value for money. The antivirus software is one of the best antivirus packages of 2017.
Netherlands