Finally, we are ready to reveal the next generation of Avira security products. No, they are not yet officially released, but they are available for public beta testing. They can be downloaded from our brand new beta portal available at http://betatest.avira.com.

Currently, the following products are available for beta testing:

• Avira Free Antivirus
• Antivirus Premium 2012
• Avira Internet Security 2012
• Avira Professional Security
• Avira Server Security

The upcoming edition of the Avira collection represents many exciting, unprecedented developments. As always, we’ve updated our underlying technology so it can remain the fastest, most effective antivirus in its class. We designed Version 2012 with an even stronger awareness that it takes more than a superior detection engine to provide optimum protection: the product itself must be ideally matched to the customer’s needs.

That’s why Version 2012 includes several updates intended to make it easier than ever for the customer to choose the right product, configure it easily, and stay protected without worries through an active license.
Version 2012 is focused on the known pillars of success: usability, stability, reliability and more added value to the user.

Increased usability, reliability and stability

The new release makes the installation of our products even easier and straight forward. We have kept only the most important things in the Express installation and placed all other features in the Custom installation mode. For example, the Free Antivirus can be installed in just two steps now. Before that, there were seven steps needed for installation.

Everybody knows that running two security solutions in parallel can have serious consequences on the stability of the PC and has a big impact on the overall experience with newly installed software. In order to make the transition to Avira as easy and painless as possible, we have added a new functionality in our installation programs: automatic detection and removal of potentially incompatible software. No worries, it is possible to select what 3^rd party solutions to keep.

All components have been hardened in order to resist against targeted malware attacks which are more and more aggressive these days. This includes, but it is not limited to, ability to function without many registry keys, better protection against process termination and component deletion and many others.

The usability of many actions which require user interaction or are very often used has been improved: installation, configuration and control of the user interface. All the user interfaces of the product have been made faster, lighter and easier to use. We have made the product more secure by default and let the user interfaces reflect this. Our strong belief is that the usage of our security software has to be as easy and as logical as possible.

The Status panel reflects the status of the most critical components of the solution you use. The status of the product is now reflected in the Status panel and also in the umbrella in the tray icon.

Our users have given their trust to Avira by installing one of our security solutions on their computers.

This is why it is possible now to let Avira decide what needs to be done to better protect the computer. And this can be done with only one click. Avira 2012 now has a “Fix Error” button. When there is a problem, Avira gives you the opportunity to fix it by clicking one button.

In order to help the user even more, the sometimes cryptic names of the components have been renamed in such a way that it is easier for everyone to understand their function without reading the documentation or being a computer genius.

More protection

The Firewall included in Avira Internet Security is now able to filter IPv6 addresses on the adapter level and also create rules for applications trying to connect over IPv6. This ensures customers that even if they use the newest IP protocol they remain protected.

Also the Mail and Web protection components are able to work now in a pure IPv6 environment. Note that in order to reduce the impact for the users who have mixed environments of IPv4 and IPv6, we deliver the support of IPv6 for Mail and Web protection deactivated by default. No worries, it can be activated with a few clicks in the Configuration Center.

From now on the hosts file (which is used by some malware to prevent antivirus products to update) will be protected from alteration by unauthorized programs. This feature will be added in all our solutions and will be active by default. Until now, this protection was only available for Internet Security (aka Premium Security Suite).

Ideally, it should never be required to ask for help, but if things don’t work as they should, Avira is here to help. The Premium products will have a new feature which allows our technical support engineers to interact with your computer and fix the problems manually. The feature is implemented using the well-known Team Viewer product, allowing remote access to a PC without installing anything and without creating security leaks in the firewalls. Just go to Help and choose “Live Support” and follow the steps described on the website.

The scanning process of a system is a very intensive operation as the disk activity is concerned. The entire computer might suffer a severe performance loss when a full system scan is triggered. In order to ensure a safe environment by regularly scanning the entire computer while not interrupting the normal activities which are performed with the computer, we have improved the prioritization of the System Scan feature (on demand scanning) for all supported Windows platforms. If the user chooses the Priority Low for the scan priority, the system scan will be performed in such a way that the scanner doesn’t significantly slow down the computer.

More value to the user

Our goal is to communicate more effectively with our users. No matter if it is a new product bundle, information about the latest security updates or a new promotion, we want our users to know that we are there and working for their safety.

Of course, the users of the Premium solutions will be able to customize the content they receive.

We want our software to work for the user and not the other way around. This is why we want to help users by taking another burden from their shoulders: license renewal. Starting with this release, it is possible to configure our payment gateway to automatically renew your license.

The product will automatically detect that a new license has been generated and paid for and will renew its license. The user is notified via email and by product that the license has been renewed and there is no interaction required.

We want you to have fun with our new products!

Please register for the Beta Test by visiting http://betatest.avira.com today.

Sorin Mustaca

Product Manager