Tag Archives: Avira Antivir Premium

Disabling Avira Antivir’s Nag Screens

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If you’re using Avira Antivir Personal, you’ll no doubt know what I’m referring to—that incessant pop-up or nag screen that appears every time an update is done, urging you to upgrade to a paid version. I stumbled on this Techspot guide and thought I’d share it with you if you’re bent on getting rid of that nag screen. What’s great about this article is that it covers Windows XP Home and Professional, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Of course you could avoid those annoying nag screens by buying AntiVir Premium like what I did, but oh well…we have to make up our own minds. Have a good day!

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All the news that’s fit to print

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It has been a most unusual week. I installed two apps on my computer, namely:

  • Avira’s AntiVir Premium ($13 USD) a great antivirus app, only spoilt by its ugly scanning interface (yes, I know—I should get a life, thank you, Miss Miller) It has saved my skin more than once though.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials—Final version (free) is just the opposite of the above app. It has a simple interface (and also a nice-looking scanning bar—take that, Avira!!) However, after installing and uninstalling and reinstalling this for 2 or 3 times, I said goodbye to it, deleted the installer and booted it completely out of my system. Reasons below.

So why did I ditch Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)? Because it’s buggy, that’s why (and shame on the big M since this is touted as a Final version). After installing it, my floppy disk drive would activate periodically, even though I excluded it from the MSE scanner settings. Uninstalled MSE, and no more phantom access in my floppy drive. I change my mind and said oh what the heck, let’s give it another try. The same weirdness happens again—now this is definitely MSE’s fault.

Not only that, when I tried to update MSE’s definition files, the update would stall halfway through. And now my Internet was acting up! Windows Update also stalled—mein gott, what’s happening? Called my ISP and they said no, there were no anomalies in the cosmos, no breaks or tears in the Internet zone. I decide to give it a day or two and see whether it’d clear up by itself. Of course it’s like asking cancer to go find another body.

Day 3 and I am definitely getting very annoyed. MSE and Windows Update both stall, some Internet websites have to be reloaded two or three times, including Google’s homepage. Now there is the likelihood I have a Klingon Bird of Prey in my system, invisibly cloaked. And that dang MSE is still accessing my floppy drive every now and then—UGH UGH! OK, I am blasting it out of orbit. I go to Vista’s Programs and Features, locate MSE and then say an eloquent farewell to it (well actually I told it to get lost and gave it one swift kick in the tush). Rebooted my computer for good measure, Windows Update activated itself and—it went straight through without stalling! Not only that, all my favorite websites load, and all sections report that things are back to normal.

So how ironic is this, eh? Microsoft’s own MSE screwing up Windows Update—and I thought I had a mean trojan or something in my ship (oops, sorry—system) I scoured some sites for MSE and found that I wasn’t alone; many other users were having trouble with it but I was the only one with the phantom activation of my floppy drive. It was also interesting to hear many people saying that the beta version of MSE was better than the Final one.

My advice—don’t install MSE for now, until they clear up all the bugs.

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Avira AntiVir Premium 9.0.0.447

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Avira AntiVir PremiumI’ve written about Avira’s free AntiVir Personal here and its Premium Security Suite 9 here. Since my subscription to the latter was ending, I decided to revert back to the free Personal antivirus. For some reason or other, it kept flagging my blog with having a flashframe trojan, which seems more like an FP (False Positive). So out of frustration, I decided to download and install the big brother, AntiVir Premium. The neat thing about this is that Avira gives you 30 days to try it out. And guess what? No more false positives!

Here are the main features of Avira AntiVir Premium, as detailed in their website:

  • AntiVir: stops all types of viruses
  • Anti Adware/AntiSpyware: eliminates ad/spyware
  • Anti Rootkit: protects against hidden rootkit threats
  • Quick Removal: eliminate viruses per mouse click 
  • Netbook Support: for laptops with low resolution
  • Anti Phishing: proactive protection against phishing
  • Enhanced AntiSpyware NEW!
  • Anti Drive-by: prevents against downloading viruses
  • Rescue System: create a bootable rescue CD
  • Email Scanner: enhanced email protection
  • Web Guard: protection against malicious websites Optimized

Avira have set up shop here in Malaysia, so I went and bought it from one of the local computer stores. A 13-month license cost me around $13 USD which is quite reasonable. All I had to do when I got home was to enter in the activation code and voila, my 30-day trial became a full version.

Aside from its great detection rate and good scanning speeds, I have only one gripe about this product and it’s the progress bar in the scanning window. In my opinion this is probably the ugliest progress bar I have ever seen in a 2009 product, bar none:

Avira AntiVir Premium scanning screen

Yes, Miss Miller, I am nitpicking, but I do wish they could implement a more up-to-date progress bar instead of that blue ghastly thing. Even the free Microsoft Security Essentials has a nicer-looking progress bar (and some of us geeks just love to stare while it’s scanning)

Microsoft Security Essentials scanning window

I joined the Avira Forums and wrote about it in this thread. One of the moderators replied, and I quote:

This is an aesthetic issue, not even a functional one. Also, please take in account that the more prettier a GUI is, the more resources it consumes. This could lead to a speed penalty and this is a much more important aspect.

Well hello, an updated progress bar consumes more system resources? How much more? And how come other programs can do it? The same moderator later on says, and I quote:

Taking in account that you are the only one that requested such a change, I don’t think this will be made.

I’m the “only one?” Hmmm—I’m no programmer, but I have a feeling that implementing a nicer and more modern-looking progress bar wouldn’t be difficult and the amount of system resources taken by this would be negligible. And to know that this fine product comes from Germany (the home of BMW, Mercedes Benz, Steinway, etc.) jeez, they could at least spruce it up!

Ok, rant over. I’ll still use Avira AntiVir Premium for now, since it’s a great antivirus. I’ll also try not to look at the scanning window (but no promises there).

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