Avira Antivirus Pro 2017

Technical Specifications

Avira's Antivirus Pro package, which has some of the best malware-detection capabilities of any antivirus software we've reviewed, offers more features than its better-known sibling, Avira Free Antivirus. Pro adds free tech support and a secure Web browser, scans email attachments, constantly updates its database of malware signatures, and blocks known malicious websites.

Avira's protection starts with a conventional scanning engine that runs locally to match rogue software with a database of malware signatures. The program also continually checks for signs of unusual software behavior.

The company's Protection Cloud network gathers information about new malware from 100 million computers running Avira products. You're automatically signed up to participate in this information sharing, but can opt out. Malware-definition updates are sent out to users every hour or two. Avira Antivirus Pro lacks a whitelisting feature that would limit the computer to running only known, trusted software, but that's arguably unnecessary on a product that doesn't officially support Windows XP.

The program can also scan specific drives, folders or files or only active processes, or can look only for rootkit malware. Antivirus Pro's real-time scanner can be configured to keep an eye on external drives, but not cloud storage. It also lets you adjust how deeply the scanner should burrow into compressed and archived files.

Avira Antivirus Pro offers some features — such as dedicated browser protection, email-attachment screening and continuous malware-signature updates — that the bare-bones Avira Free Antivirus lacks. But it lacks the bells and whistles, such as file encryption and a system optimizer, that the company's pricier programs offer.

Anyone can install Avira's free Browser Safety add-on, which can block tracking cookies and protect against unwanted extensions being added to your browser. It works with Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera and Firefox.

Avira Antivirus Pro doesn't include a performance optimizer; to get one, you can upgrade to the midrange Avira Internet Security offering.

Avira Antivirus Pro's green-and-gray main window, like those of many AV programs, has a prominent checkmark as reassurance that everything is OK. When things aren't, it becomes a red exclamation mark. The window also has on-off buttons for Real-Time Protection, Firewall, Web Protection, Mail Protection and Game Mode, as well as buttons to start a scan or update the program's malware database.