In some form or other, Avast, AVG and Avira will still continue to offer it, although one or two of the brands may be 'retired' like old car models. One thing we won't see is the end of free antivirus software. We have to expect similar consolidation and streamlining will take place within the new Avast-AVG-Avira-BullGuard-NortonLifeLock behemoth. Avast's argument has always been that AVG was strong in regions where Avast was weak, and vice versa, so it made sense to combine them as separate brands.Ĭurrent Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek echoed similar themes in the Norton merger announcement, stressing the 'greater geographic diversification' that the 'well-established' brands would deliver.īut under the surface, the Avast and AVG malware-detection engines were combined - for the better, according to third-party lab tests - and back-office redundancies were eliminated. Likewise, Avast has retained AVG's branding and marketing five years after those two companies merged, along with separate product lines. There's almost no indication on the Avira website (opens in new tab) that Norton now owns it, and the companies still use separate malware-detection engines, as indicated by their differing lab-test scores (opens in new tab). Norton seems to have left Avira pretty much alone since its acquisition, with Avira retaining its own software, marketing and even PR team. If Avira's current situation is any guide, the intended merger may not change much for the short term.

Norton 360 with lifelock for mac