


Finally, you can click a button to run the all-in-one Smart Scan. A simple menu down the left lets you dig into these three feature areas or return to the Status home page. The product’s main Status screen just displays oversized icons for Security, Privacy, and Performance. The company has stated it intends to retain the Avira brand, and there’s no sign yet of the Avira by Norton branding that’s been bruited about. Note, too, that Norton acquired Avira at the end of 2020. Even with its limitations, it’s more of a full security suite than Avira. Kaspersky’s free suite is a feature-limited version of the company’s commercial Kaspersky Security Cloud. The closest comparable product to this suite is Kaspersky Security Cloud Free. It’s a lot more friendly to the non-techie user now, though the upsell screens are still around. The current product is significantly more integrated, which is a big improvement. The previous suite at times resembled a loose confederation of separate Avira products, along with plenty of nag screens suggesting an upgrade to paid editions. The current product, Avira Free Security, replaces both. In years past, Avira offered both a free standalone antivirus and a free suite. Its wealth of components will delight the right user, but its scores, both in our own tests and independent lab tests, are down since our last review. You won’t find firewall protection, backup, spam filtering, or other common suite components. It’s not a typical security suite, though. Avira Free Security takes free protection to the next level, offering VPN, password management, ad blocking, and more. If ready cash is a problem, you can choose one of the many effective free antivirus tools on the market. You need antivirus protection on all your devices, whether you’ve budgeted for it or not.
