Nowadays I get most of my updates from the forum itself because I do not have time to browse around the web to visit the sites that I normally visit. 3 weeks ago LunarWolf posted a thread at the forum about Avira going over to the dark side by pushing ASK toolbar to its free users. Some people say that the Ask.com toolbar is a spyware or adware but Ask.com denies it. As for me, I would say that it is an “unnecessary addon” to web browsers. Avira detection for malware is superior, period. I think it would be a waste to abandon Avira just because of the “optional” toolbar, so I decided to check it out myself since I have a little bit of time today. First I downloaded both the paid version of Avira antivirus (Avira Premium Security Suite & Avira AntiVir Premium) and installed on my test computer. Fortunately both did not ask to install the toolbar.

Then I installed the free version of Avira antivirus which is Avira AntiVir Personal. After restarting Windows, I was prompted for a “free update” which is actually the Avira AntiVir 10 Service Pack 2 (SP2) that claims to provide better detection and protection. After installing the SP2, I still don’t see any new toolbar installed on Internet Explorer or Firefox but after a reboot, I got another popup alert that says “New function! Safe Internet searching. Avira SearchFree Toolbar offers more freedom for searching and surfing the web. Upgrade now for total free on Internet Explorer and Firefox.”

Here is the problem. Avira says that the toolbar is optional but clicking the Install later button only temporarily closes the popup alert. The popup window will continue to show whenever Windows is booted up and will only stop nagging you until the Avira SearchFree Toolbar is installed. After spending a couple of hours analyzing how the toolbar works, I discovered the solution on how to enable the WebGuard on Avira Personal WITHOUT installing the SearchFree (Ask.com) toolbar.


The first (and lame) method which I discovered is you need to disable the WebGuard from Configuration, then only followed by uninstalling the toolbar. If you uninstall the toolbar WITHOUT turning off the WebGuard first, Avira will start asking you to install it again after you restart Windows. This method works but you won’t have the WebGuard protection to keep you away from malicious websites.

From Avira Premium, I can see that the WebGuard still works without the SearchFree toolbar so I decided not to give up and continue analyzing. The logic of it is to somehow let Avira AntiVir Personal know that the SearchFree Toolbar by Ask.com is installed. After sniffing the registry a couple of times, I found the registry key to trick Avira in thinking that the Ask.com toolbar is installed.

Here is what you need to do:
1. Create a registry string value with the name value as tb and the value data as AVR-W1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AskToolbar\Macro. If you don’t see AskToolbar and Macro, you will need to create it by right clicking and select New > Key.

Alternatively, you can just download the registry file below and run it on your computer. Click the Yes button when prompted if you want to continue.
http://www.raymond.cc/images/disable-avira-toolbar.zip

2. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features. Use your mouse to select Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus from the list and click on the Change button.

Make sure that Modify is selected and click the Next button. You should now immediately see the “Install Components” window.

IF you are seeing the window that asks you to install the WebGuard with Avira SearchFree Toolbar like the screenshot below, that means you did something wrong at the first step.

Click Next > Finish > go through the Configuration Wizard and followed by a restart. You will see that the WebGuard is active on your Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus WITHOUT the unnecessary SearchFree/Ask Toolbar.