I recently downloaded Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus as my primary antivirus program. I had been using version 8.2.
Recently my favorite security tech guru – Bill Mullins, advised me that version 9 is now ready for download. I couldn’t immediately find an update to version 8.2 so I used my trusty Revo Uninstaller to uninstall version 8.2 and made a clean install with version 9.
For those of you who don’t use Avira, I’m the poster child, card carrying member for their product. I have tried several antivirus programs and Avira works the best in my opinion.
That being said, Avira has one drawback – A nagging notifier to upgrade to the premium version pops up every time you update the Avira database.
Well, you don’t think g would put up with a popup do ya? Heck no!
To disable this pesky notifier, simply follow these directions:
For XP and Vista Users:
1. Start-> Control Panel
2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy
3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies
4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule
5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe
6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> ok
If you had Avira previously installed and have already disallowed this, you need to change the thread to match (which for me meant changing AntiVir Personal Classic to AntiVir Desktop).
It’s a beautiful thing my friends!
You can download Avira AntiVir Personal at Download.com.
Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.
Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.
Bill Mullins' Weblog - Tech Thoughts 
G–
Dangit! You stole my topic idea!
Great tip, nicely written. Thanks!
Thanks Bill you saved me a while ago from this. Avira really has a great lightweight program here, the only negative was the advert. they put up every time you reboot.
Hey Mark,
A major pain in the butt!
Bill
paul: i only thought of it because after downloading v9, i had to go back in to the admin and change the setting. like last time, i had to google it because i couldn’t remember how i did it. yes, what a pain!
Yet to try version 9 .. impressions, guys?
(Gotta admit, am worried that adding the anti-spyware will have bloated it and slowed it down, like so many others …)
paul: v9 scans a bit faster – v8 took about two hours to do a full scan and v9 takes about 90 minutes. haven’t noticed anything negative. haven’t noticed anything slowing my system down. i give it two thumbs up.
Hello,
Is it likely that the new anti-malware aspect of Avira will conflict with concurrent anti-malware? If it does conflict, does it seem Avira’s anti-malware could stand alone? Are three questions in one post too many? Does that last one count as a question?
Thanks
Maybe I’m assuming Avira’s anti-malware is real time as opposed to being a scanning function…….
Thank you, G.
I’ve got testing it on my schedule. Your report makes me even more eager to put it through its paces.. adding anti-spyware and faster scantime???
Unheard of!
(Maybe AVG can take a look at how Avira did that..)
Pingback: Geek Squeaks’ of the Week (#4) « What’s On My PC
Pingback: Free Avira AntiVir Personal - A Real Virus Killer! « Bill Mullins’ Weblog - Tech Thoughts
to get rid of the splash screen at startup add a
/nosplash in the registry at
hkey_loca_machine/software/microsoft/windows/current version/run/avgnt
avgnt should then have the two modifiers /min /nosplash
Thanks for this Andy.
Bill
I could not find anything about a Security Policy in my Administrative Tools which was difficult to find in the Control Panel. I’m using XP. Is there another way to do this that I might be able to understand or find the options as directed on how to stop the Notifier? I am ready to unistall Avira because I hate that Notifier . If I wanted to upgrade I would do so without the daily reminder.
Windows XP home edition does not have any Local security policy editor (aka gpedit.msc). You only have this option if you are using XP Pro. Any idea how to disable this for XP Home?
Hey Phil,
Although I haven’t tried this personally since I don’t run XP Home, geeky friends tell me the following works.
1. Boot into Safe Mode. 2. Log into an account with administrator privileges. 3. Open Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic. 4. Right click on avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security > Advanced. 5. Click on Edit-> Traverse Folder / Execute File-> deny-> OK.
Bill
You’re the man.
Seems to work fine on Windows 7.