Current Release Information Q1/2008

Avira AntiVir Desktop Solutions for Windows

The Avira release for Q1-2008 centres round the Avira AntiVir desktop solutions for Windows.
The products that belong to this product family (and the corresponding UNIX products as well) will be released with new names. Now the target group for the respective product can be directly read from its product name:

The Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic turns into the Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus, the Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium becomes the Avira AntiVir Premium and the Avira AntiVir Workstation now is the Avira AntiVir Professional. Only the Avira Premium Security Suite keeps its name.

All Avira AntiVir desktop products for Windows have got a new user interface. A new, vertical navigation structure groups the individual modules under a few main categories thus making it even easier to find one’s way around the program. Slight 3D effects let the actual information come forward more clearly and distinctly.

The new version number 8 of the released products signals that a lot of things have been going on not only on the surface but also “beneath the hood”.

All Avira AntiVir Desktop products for Windows are released with a new, modularized search engine that once again speeds up the scan performance about 20 %. The new engine can be updated by a single file update. Thus the updates not only get smaller but we are able to protect your system against new threats much quicker and more pointedly.

All Windows desktop products now allow a separate update of the product. This product update can be performed separately from the engine and VDF update. As soon as a new product update is available the user will be informed through the taskbar slide-up.

Also new is the integrated failsafe-system that makes sure that there is always a working set of engine and VDF available so that the PC is never without a virus and malware detection.
The AntiVir MailGuard now also supports SMTP, i.e. the MailGuard now can not only scan incoming but also outgoing emails for infections.

Avira AntiVir Premium and Avira AntiVir Professional are now delivered with the integrated WebGuard. WebGuard scans HTTP websites and blocks infected sites automatically. Thus it provides an excellent protection against so called drive-by downloads. It also automatically blocks known phishing and malware websites.

The Avira Premium Security Suite’s new version is even more comprehensive and rounded: a new backup module allows an easy and quick backup of data using predefined backup profiles. The size and destination of the backup can be individually configured and backups can be performed using the scheduler. The integrated firewall now is even more easy to use and optionally allows permitting signed applications.

All AV 8 products that require a fee now support to download and burn a Rescue CD directly from the product. The Rescue CD is based on the Avira AntiVir Rescue System that is updated several times a day and that allows to boot a computer after a crash. 

Of course the version 8 supports the Microsoft Windows Vista SP 1 that has just been released.


Avira Security Management Centre

With the Q1-2008 release Avira continues to optimize the SMC for use in bigger security infrastructures.
The structure of the event database has been unified and enhanced. The SMC event database now defines in which situation the products send which events and how these events are structured. The structure of the event database has been published to allow the creation of individual reports using external reporting tools.

In the new version events are generated language independent, so that the SMC now fulfils the qualifications to be used in mixed language networks.

Managing bigger security environments can lead to considerable network traffic. Therefore it is now possible to configure the SMC agent to only transmit certain types of events to the SMC server. Thus the network traffic can be considerably reduced.

The new “search computer” feature will also simplify the administration because it allows finding single PCs or whole groups of PCs. Thus it is possible to get a quick and targeted view over the security situation in certain sections of the net.


Avira Internet Update Manager

The Internet Update Manager is a free-of-charge Avira tool that allows mirroring the updates for all Avira security products locally. A new version of the Avira Internet Update Manager will be released a couple of weeks after the Q1 release. The new version is based on the Internet Update Manager that’s a part of the SMC and offers among other things a powerful webserver to distribute updates. Please note that an update from the old version o the IUM to the new one is not possible.


All release information at a glance

Release Information Q1/2008