102 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019
WORKINGMAC REVIEW: AVIRA FREE ANTIVIRUSa similar finding with Avira Pro for Mac,
giving it a 99.8 percent detection rate
in June 2019 from 557 samples for
widespread and prevalent malware (the
industry average is 99.9 percent). AV-Test
didn’t see how well Avira for Mac did
against Windows malware, but over on the
Windows side Avira also did well (go.
macworld.com/wnwl), with similarly high
detection ratings from AV-Test.
Our own malware spot
tests using the Objective See
archive and Wicar.org were
pretty good. It detected a
Trojan with no trouble as soon
as we tried to unzip the folder,
and the same went for
Macransom ransomware.
Over on Wicar there were
about 11 “no results” from
these tests, which means we
tried to open a malicious
web-based attack and we
ended up with a blank page.
Interestingly, when we
installed Avira’s free browser
add-on Avira Browser Safety
there were four additional
detections. We’d advise
users to install the add-on
since the web is a primary
vector for attacks.INTERFACE AND
FEATURES
Avira’s interface is plain but
effective. It uses the common
left-rail and primary pane
design. The first section isAvira for Mac’s Scanner section.
The Activity Log for Avira for Mac Free.