The malware landscape is evolving on a very rapid pace and these days, the technologies released 2 or 3 years ago are becoming slowly obsolete. That’s why providing security only through engine and signature updates is no longer considered enough.
In order to ensure that our customers are using the best protection available, we released in October 2012 the version 2013 of all products, integrating for the first time the Avira Protection Cloud. Further updates of the version 2013 products will bring even more features related to the Protection Cloud.
Avira is maintaining any products three years after the publishing of the End-of-Life date in the Product Lifecycle page. Avira version 2010 is currently supported until 31.01.2015 and version 2012 is supported until 27.09.2015. Support for a product means in this context that engine and signature updates will be provided and severe bugs will be potentially fixed. These products will not receive any functionality updates (see below).
In order to ensure that our customers receive the best protection, we will start a migration process of the products in version 2010 and 2012 to version 2013. The migrating process will assist the user to upgrade his product from the older version to the latest version of the same product. So, for example, if the user has an Antivirus Premium 2010 or 2012 he will be upgraded to the Antivirus Premium 2013. The migration means also that most of the settings and the license (for the paid products) will be automatically transferred to the new product.
Why should you upgrade?
There are multiple reasons why a user should switch to the newest version:
- Improved security through the usage of the Avira Protection Cloud
- Many speed and resource consumption improvements
- Improved malware repair
- Enhanced security of the product through the usage of the UAC (User Account Control).
- Improved user interface
- Additional functionalities like:
- Social Network Protection
- Android Security
- Network folder scanning
- No advertising popups for the Free AV users that install the toolbar
- More frequent updates for the Free AV users
- Together with the Search Free Toolbar features like: Browser Tracking Blocker, Website Safety Advisor and others
Rollout steps
The first step of this migration addresses the consumer products version 2010. This process starts on July 9th,2013 and should end no later than July 17th,2013 for all supported languages and products.
The second step of this migration addresses the consumer products version 2012. This process starts on July 22, 2013 and should end no later than August 7th, for all supported languages and products.
For the upgrade from 2010 to 2013 we will have to use a special tool which determines if the system supports version 2013.Version 2010 supports Windows XP SP2 and all versions after Version 2010 support Windows XP SP3 and above.
Step by Step migration
– The user receives via an automatic update a special program created for his product. This is completely transparent for the user.
– The first window (the migration assistant) informs the user that an upgrade to the latest version of his product will take place.
The language of the product will be automatically chosen. This means that the above text will be displayed in the language of the installed product.
It is allowed to cancel this wizard by clicking on the X in the top right corner. This will restart the wizard between 12-24h from the last startup time. It is not possible to cancel this process.
– The next step is to download the files of the new product
– After the download is finished, the setup of the downloaded product will start and will first uninstall the existing product.
– A reboot is required
From this point on, the process is identical with a new installation of our products. The only difference is, that most of the settings are transferred to the new product and, most important, the license of the product (for the paid products only).
– The new setup starts automatically after the reboot.
For Internet Security only there is another reboot required.
For Free Antivirus and Premium Antivirus there is no reboot required.
In case of problems it might happen that after the uninstallation of the old product, the new product doesn’t start or it starts and immediately ends with some strange error. The solution in this case it is required to start the setup of the version 2013 manually.
Q & A
What should I do if my system doesn’t fulfill the minimum system requirements for the version 2013?
Our upgrade process checks if the operating system requirements are met and it doesn’t even show the migration dialog in case that the OS is not supported (e.g.: Windows XP SP2 and earlier are not supported). However, in case that the hardware requirements are not met, we still show the migration dialog. The price of RAM and HDD are so low, that we consider that it is worth upgrading them in order to have a decent computing experience.
What can I do if I don’t want to or can’t upgrade?
The migration assistant can be canceled by clicking on the “X” in top right corner. The dialog will be displayed once every 24h and it is not possible to prevent it from being displayed.
What if I want to go back to my old product?
Avira doesn’t offer anymore the kits for the old products and it also doesn’t sell licenses for them. Avira also doesn’t encourage purchasing licenses for the new products and using the licenses in the old products. If you think that you have a good reason for which you want to remain a customer of an old product, please contact the Technical Support and explain your problem.
I don’t want to buy a new computer just because of version 2013.
Avira does not force anyone to purchase a new computer just for running the latest version of its software. We see that the digital threats these days are becoming more and more complex and the older software can’t fight them anymore. Also, for Avira it is not economically feasible to actively develop more than one version of the software because it would not longer be possible to constantly improve the latest version.
Sorin Mustaca
Product Manager
via Avira – TechBlog http://techblog.avira.com/2013/07/05/upgrade-of-older-consumer-products-to-version-2013/en/
© Copyright 2013 Sorin Mustaca, All rights Reserved. Written For: Sorin Mustaca on Cybersecurity
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