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

1. Boot into Safe Mode (hit F8 constantly while the computer is rebooting).
2. Log into an account with administrator privileges.
3. Open [driveinstalledon]:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classic.
4. Right click on avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security > Advanced.
5. Click on Edit-> Traverse Folder / Execute File-> deny-> OK.
6. Repeat for all users.
7. Reboot your computer normally.

Windows 2000 / Windows XP Pro

1. Go to Start > Run.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
3. Navigate through User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
4. Double click “Don’t run specified Windows applications”.
5. Enable it and click show.
6. Add “avnotify.exe”.
7. Click OK on all open windows.
8. Restart.

Alternative Method:

1. 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)
2. Right click “Software Restriction Policies,” Choose “New Software Restriction Policies.” (Skip this step if there are subfolders in Software Restriction Policies already.)
3. Right Click “Additional Rule” folder > New Path Rule.
4. 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)
5. Make sure the “Security Level” Dropdown menu is selected as “Disallowed“
6. If you would like to make sure it went through correctly, open the Additional Rules folder, and verify the path and security level.
7. Enjoy the absence of nag windows.

Windows Vista Home Premium

1. Go to C:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classicavnotify.exe.
2. Right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security.
3. Under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit.
4. Put a checkmark under the DENY column for “read and execute”.

Windows Vista Business/Ultimate

1. Open the control panel through Start > Control Panel.
2. Go to Administrative Tools > Local security policy.
3. Click on Software Restriction Policy > Action > Create new restriction policy.
4. Right-click, and go to additional rules > new path rule.
5. Click Browse and navigate to C:Program FilesAviraAntiVir PersonalEdition Classic and double-click avnotify.exe.
6. Set the security level to Disallowed.
7. 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!