Avira Antivirus Pro

£29.99/year; £2.99/month FROM avira.com

Avira already offers free antivirus protection, so what benefits come from upgrading to its paid-for product? The answer is: not many. The primary reason to upgrade is to gain protection against ransomware and web browser-based attacks, but the results are mixed.

After setting up, you’ll be shown a somewhat basic screen with three large buttons: Security, Privacy, and Performance. Don’t get too excited though – most of the options behind the latter two merely point you towards another subscription tier: Avira Prime.

What features do exist perform adequately enough, with the exception of its web protection tool, designed to block malicious URLs at the network level rather than relying on a browser plug-in. Here it’s less effective than even its own plug-ins, and far worse than others on test. If you need basic protection, Avira Free Security has you covered, but the paid-for Pro version falls short.

> VERDICT

Simple to navigate and use Decent real-time protection Poor web protection Not worth the money ★★★★★