Avira 2014 now available, 'My Avira' coming soon

Avira Operations has released the final editions of Avira Free Antivirus 2014, Avira Antivirus Suite 2014 (the new name for Antivirus Premium) and Avira Internet Security 2014.

If you’ve tried a beta then you’ll already know that the packages look and feel much as they always did. The best news is probably reserved for Avira Free users, who’ll find that the "notifier", the pop-up nag screen which appeared daily if you didn’t install the Avira toolbar, has been dropped.

The other notable change is that Avira’s firewall has been removed. This is no great loss, in our view -- it was far less intelligent than the rest of the competition -- and Windows 7 and 8 users at least will get to keep some control with a new interface for the standard Windows firewall.

As previously, there are options to extend the core applications with other Avira services and products, including Secure Backup (a simple online backup tool offering 5GB of free storage space) and Avira’s Android security app (antivirus, antitheft, tracking and more).

While none of this is exactly exciting, Avira has also today announced My Avira, a Windows client and web dashboard which will make it easier to view, access and manage Avira products and services across multiple devices. We’ve not yet tried it for ourselves, but if you use several Avira products then it may be useful. My Avira is only available by invitation at the moment, but sign up with the company and who knows, you might get lucky.

Downloads of Avira Free Antivirus 2014, Avira Antivirus Suite 2014 and Avira Internet Security 2014 are available now.