On October 17, 2008, a big update to the search engine was released, which increased scanning speed by 20%.[1] Additionally, version 9.0 of all mainstream Avira products were released in March 2009 and sports a faster scanning engine and a refined GUI.

Avira GmbH periodically "cleans out" the virus definition files, by replacing specific signatures with generic ones, which result in a general increase in performance and scanning speed. The last database clean-out was made on October 27, 2008, which caused problems to AntiVir Personal users when updating because of its large size (15 MB) and because of AntiVir Personal's slow servers. For that reason Avira GmbH added an additional 6 GB of bandwidth to the AntiVir Personal Servers.
Avira AntiVir Personal — Free Antivirus

Avira AntiVir Personal — Free Antivirus is a antivirus product for personal use only. Like most antivirus software, it scans disks for viruses and runs as a background process, checking each opened and closed file. It can also detect and possibly remove rootkits.[3] The product performs Internet updates (daily by default) in which it opens a window, with an advertisement suggesting the user to purchase Avira AntiVir Premium. The user can also schedule different types of scans.
[edit] Avira AntiVir Premium

Avira AntiVir Premium provides professional protection against viruses and malware, worms, Trojans, adware[3], spyware[3] and phishing[3].

Additionally, the premium version offers real-time on-access scanning, profile-based on-demand scans and scheduling of full system scanning and updates. It includes a POP3 based MailScanner that scans emails before they are stored on the user's machine.

Avira offers users the option to sign up for a pay offer with an affiliate and receive AntiVir Premium as a reward.[4]
[edit] Avira Premium Security Suite
Complete Security Suite with virus scanner, anti-adware, anti-spyware, anti-dialer, email protection (POP3), a personal firewall, antispam, proactive anti-phishing, anti-bot, RescueCD, functions for Data BackUp, WebGuard and more.

Reviews

AV-Comparatives[5] has awarded Avira AntiVir Premium with the highest score, the "Advanced+" distinction, in February, May, and August 2008, earning it the 2008 "AV Product of the Year" award. This large-scale comparative test saw the German IT security expert achieve an excellent score for its proactive detection performance. In the “Speed” category, Avira managed with its extremely low error rate to get onto the winner’s podium. In the first part of the test in February 2008 Avira AntiVir Premium also achieved excellent results.

In January 2008, Avira AntiVir was given a rating of 6.5 out of 8 in tests for detection and removal of rootkits and 71% for proactive virus detection by Anti-Malware Test Lab; both scores qualified for "gold" status, the highest award. [6] Avira got the highest Malware Detection rate, along with G-DATA Antivirus, 98%, and was one of the 5 products which got a 90% or higher spyware detection rate in the latest Av-Test Test.[7] Avira currently has the highest signature and proactive detection rates in all major independent antivirus tests[citation needed] (application itself claims to know more than 1,300,000 signatures as of March 2009).

In April 2009, PC Pro awarded Avira Premium Security Suite 9 six out of six stars and a place on its A-list for internet security software.[8]

As of August 2009, Avira AntiVir Personal Antivirus was given a rating of 98.9% percent overall malware detection, strong performance in disinfection tests, and also the fastest for both on-demand scans and on-access scans by PC World. Thus, made it the first in rank in their website.[9]