Avira AntiVir is agood anti-virus program, except that it has several built-in anti-consumer behaviors which go against the wish of end-users who want clean and fast-loading user interface. One of which specially targeted to free Avira AntiVir Personal users are continuous pop-up advertisement nag screen.

Another annoyance with Avira AntiVir program is that it always start with large splash screen on its startup, giving false impression to many user that it slowdown the booting up of Windows operating system, which will automatically launch Avira memory-resident agent scanner by default.

It’s possible to disable and turn off the AntiVir splash screen during computer startup, as instructed by Avira Knowledge Base #211, although the trick has changed slightly for latest version of Avira AntiVir 9.

  1. Start the Windows Registry Editor (Start -> Run -> regedit)
  2. Navigate to the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\

    Note: Users running 64-bit (x64) version of operating system should navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run instead.

  3. Double click on avgnt to change its value data.
  4. For Avira AntiVir version 9 or newer:

    Add the parameter /ns or -ns to the end of the existing value entry.

    For Avira AntiVir earlier or older than vesion 9:

    Add the parameter /nosplash or -nosplash to the end of the existing value entry.

    Turn Off Avira Splash Screen

    For example, the value data after change should have the format similar to line below:

    “full/path/to/avgnt.exe” /min /ns

    Tip: Depending on supported operating, Avira may use “/” (Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7) or “-” (Windows Vista) to accept additional switches or parameters.

The splashscreen will no longer appear during startup and AntiVir will start in the background.