Avira has been “Nortonized”

[Anthony Qian]

Avira Unveils Extended Features with Avira Crypto, Game Booster and Breach Monitor.​

See more at Avira Unveils Extended Features with Avira Crypto, Game Booster and Breach Monitor - Avira Blog

 

[Nightwalker]

I will never accept a crypto (mining) feature in a security solution, it is insane.

 

[Shadowra]

I don't see the point of installing BitcoinMiner in antivirus solutions honestly....

 

[amico81]

What noobs want this bloatware?
Why do SECURITY Companies implement this piece of crap. Customers should Not pay or use it...that has to stop.

 

[ForgottenSeer 92963]

Well I agree with Nightwalket but marketingwise it could be brilliant. Money for nothing offered safely by a security company. Interesting to see how this pans out.

 

[Shadowra]

My Eset on the NCrypt file of Norton Crypto... (file recovered during the comparison)

 

[Harputlu]

Game Booster and Breach Monitor : only Avira prime version . Antivirus version does not have these features.​

 

[Vitali Ortzi]

Game booster and crypto in av hmm this is as bad as Android malware

 

[Popolitus]

it is the end of a "era" now we are left with 4/5 av engines, the rest, are just rebrands, with more or less bloatware :O

 

[Shadowra]

it is the end of a "era" now we are left with 4/5 av engines, the rest, are just rebrands, with more or less bloatware :O

For Avira alone there are F-Secure and BullGuard.

Bitdefender engine is Gdata, Trustport etc...

 

[The_King]

Well I agree with Nightwalker but marketingwise it could be brilliant. Money for nothing offered safely by a security company. Interesting to see how this pans out.

I agree, from a marketing point its brilliant move on their part.

 

[Szellem]

I'll hold my head. Some 3rd party AV company is ripe for destruction. This is a wrong way.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

I won't lie, this is quite disheartening....

They are slowly becoming what they are trying to protect us from. Furthermore, they are becoming even more bloated with even less security minded features. It's pretty bad when your major highlight for a new version of a security program is built- in crypto mining. I am sure this will be added to AVG and Avast at some point as well. Sadly the security industry is like a bunch of sheep...once one does it, the majority eventually follows. I won't be surprised if we see this added to other products from other companies outside the Norton umbrella in the future...

 

[ExecutiveOrder]

Honestly, that Game Booster is interesting. Really want to know how effective a security software which resides in Ring 0 implements way to boost gaming experience, unlike other simple program that simply kill unnecessary services (if possible).

By isolating non-essential apps to a single CPU core, it allows the rest of the CPUs to be allocated to your game for better performance.

Especially games that are sensitive to single-core performance but pretty sure performance gain won't really visible except by looking at three digit fps benchmark.

 

[Zartarra]

We are the borg. We will assimilate you.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

We are the borg. We will assimilate you.

 

[oldschool]

@Zartarra @Gandalf_The_Grey et. al. Philosophical question re: The Borg - which came first, the living being or technology that created the first Borg? Did it/they self-create?

 

[plat]

Well, in here seems to be in a little outraged bubble out of the mainstream, it seems. New York City just got has a new mayor and that mayor has stated he will be accepting his first three paychecks in coin. He intends to make NYC a crypto-friendly global hub. So this is sending a strong message to the mainstream.

New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams says his first three paychecks will be in bitcoin

According to my top secret sources, the reaction to the Eric Adams election at Norton HQ:

Spoiler

 

[monkeylove]

I recently tried Avira Free given results in ShadowRa's tests, and I found it very light in terms of feel and benchmark. I also read that the company protects user's privacy.

However, I noticed that only real-time protection is provided for free. Is that good enough for anti-ransomware, and the addon (I use Firefox) for web protection?

Next, does it show popup ads, and if so can they be disabled?

Third, what news have you heard about Nortonization? Will users' privacy stil be protected, and do you think the free version will still be continued?

 

[Anthony Qian]

I recently tried Avira Free given results in ShadowRa's tests, and I found it very light in terms of feel and benchmark. I also read that the company protects user's privacy.

However, I noticed that only real-time protection is provided for free. Is that good enough for anti-ransomware, and the addon (I use Firefox) for web protection?

Next, does it show popup ads, and if so can they be disabled?

Third, what news have you heard about Nortonization? Will users' privacy stil be protected, and do you think the free version will still be continued?

However, I noticed that only real-time protection is provided for free. Is that good enough for anti-ransomware, and the addon (I use Firefox) for web protection?

Actually, Free version is enough. Paid version does have the so-called "ransomware protection" and Web protection. However, I personally don't think Avira's ransomware protection technology works, and Avira heavily relies on APC to detect and block new threats (including ransomware), according to my testing. APC is available in the Free version. If APC fails to detect malware, your PC is very very very likely to be infected. Avira basically does not have off-line behavior blocker.

does it show popup ads, and if so can they be disabled?

For Free version, no. But you will see in-product ads that cannot be disabled.

what news have you heard about Nortonization? Will users' privacy stil be protected, and do you think the free version will still be continued?

Nortonization here means the addition of Cryptomining feature, and it's nothing to do with the privacy protection.
Yes, freemium model will be kept.