How to: Remove the popups in Avira AntiVir Personal/Free.
March 14, 2009 25
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Avira AntiVir is free, has an amazing detection rate, supports Vista and 64-bit, and has a very low memory usage. While many people put up with the ads, few people know a trick to disable them.
Windows XP Home
- Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 constantly while the computer is rebooting).
- Log into an account with administrator privileges.
- Open [driveinstalledon]:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classic.
- Right click on avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security > Advanced.
- Click on Edit-> Traverse Folder / Execute File-> deny-> OK.
- Repeat for all users.
- Reboot your computer normally.
Windows 2000 / Windows XP Pro
- Go to Start > Run.
- Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
- Navigate through User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
- Double click “Don’t run specified Windows applications”.
- Enable it and click show.
- Add “avnotify.exe”.
- Click OK on all open windows.
- Restart.
Alternative Method:
- Start > Run: secpol.msc (You can also access this program through ‘Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy’ this is useful if it is easier the location of this rather than the file name)
- Right click “Software Restriction Policies,” Choose “New Software Restriction Policies.” (Skip this step if there are subfolders in Software Restriction Policies already.)
- Right Click “Additional Rule” folder > New Path Rule.
- Where it says Path, Type the path of avnotify.exe on your computer, or use the Browse button to find it. (On XP64 using a default install of Avira, the path is: (C:Program Files (x86)AviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classicavnotify.exe)
- Make sure the “Security Level” Dropdown menu is selected as “Disallowed“
- If you would like to make sure it went through correctly, open the Additional Rules folder, and verify the path and security level.
- Enjoy the absence of nag windows.
Windows Vista Home Premium
- Go to C:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classicavnotify.exe.
- Right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security.
- Under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit.
- Put a checkmark under the DENY column for “read and execute”.
Windows Vista Business/Ultimate
- Open the control panel through Start > Control Panel.
- Go to Administrative Tools > Local security policy.
- Click on Software Restriction Policy > Action > Create new restriction policy.
- Right-click, and go to additional rules > new path rule.
- Click Browse and navigate to C:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classic and double-click avnotify.exe.
- Set the security level to Disallowed.
- Click apply and OK.
Note: The legalities of removing the popups with Avira Personal/Free are questioned. Some people say it is okay to do so while others say it is not. Use your own judgment please. :)
Ashraf’s Note: This article was contributed to dotTech by choicefresh (I made a few edits fyi), otherwise known as Liam K. He is also the original author of the article at wikiHow. Liam’s original sources include gHacks and EliteKiller. Thanks Liam!
About the author: Ashraf View all posts by Ashraf
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Good Work, Ashraf
Good Work, Ashraf
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
Worked for me today.
Ashraf,
legal or not?
for me if THEY install a program on your PC that allows the removal of ads, it is legal! If it wasn’t, the software they installed would also be non-legal, which can’t be, right?
mario
Honestly I don’t know if it is legal or not. If I knew for sure if it was illegal I wouldn’t allow it to be posted here; if I knew for sure it was legal I would not have ever brought up the legal aspect. If it helps I don’t see Avira suing what could be future customers.
@ashraf:
would you mind reviewing Microsoft Office 2007 for the Commercial SW reviews category? I’m wondering whether or not to install it over, with, or not install it with MS Office 2003.
I don’t know about legal, ( don’t see why not, really ) but I seem to recall that doing this to stop the popups also broke the automatic updating ability.
Jean,
>.> Are you serious? Heck no that would take days. However I am always ready to guide you youngins’ :P
If you want my personal opinion then yes install Office 07. It is far superior to 03. The reason why 07 has such a bad rep is because it is different and people are just not used to that (I myself was pissed when I first moved to it).
@gmon
Interesting point you bring up. Has anyone that has removed the ads faced that issue? I run Avira Premium so I can’t confirm or deny that.
Regarding the legality, it should be legal. All you are doing is preventing the process from running. From Avira’s EULA:
The licensee is not authorized without the written express permission of Avira, to change, translate, retro-develop, decompile or disassemble the Software, or to create works derived from the Software or the documentation, or to reproduce, translate, change or create works derived from the documentation , insofar as this is not absolutely necessary within the context of contractual use. Understand that Avira has the right to terminate your software without notice in the case of substantial violations of contractual obligations.
It was asked in their forums whether this was legal or not, and an administrator said it would only be decided in court.
gmon: Auto-updating should work.
I tried the above tip in my win XP pro laptop, but I keep getting the pop ups? Any idea why is not working for me?
Thanks
jda2000: Did you try the alternative method?
jda2000,
No idea =(.
I have not tried the alternative method yet, but I am doing it right now. I’ll keep you posted if it works.
Thanks Liam K
Thanks guys, the alternative method worked fine. Adios Pop Ups.
Where’s today’s review?
Yoo Hoo.
Ashraf. Wake up. Finish that review. You can not miss two days in a row!
Sorry but midterms has higher priority than reviews.
not working for me on XP home. I right click on the .exe file and properties does not give me a security menu. Any ideas about this
muhammad: Are you using an account with administrator permissions?
@Liam
Yes I checked with both of my administrator accounts. It does not show a security option in my properties tab (in safe mode or otherwise). Is there a windows option that I need to activate?
Alright, a quick Google search returns some suggestions:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/720007387931
You might have “simple file sharing” turned on.
Works like a charm Ashraf! Thanks so much!!!
As of Fall 2011 (Version 12) users are no longer able to edit the security properties of AVNOTIFY.EXE
I use Privatefirewall. With it, I blocked avnotify.exe ( => and pop-ups during updates).
Now, Avira Free Antivirus works properly and performs the updates more quickly! :)