iMAC restarts cause Avira to quit

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I’ve got a mid 2017 iMAC that came with Sierra and was subsequently updated to High Sierra and then Catalina. It’s now running an up to date Catalina. I have Avira Free for Mac, a free antivirus program, installed. Every time the iMAC restarts, whether a “cold” start or during a restart due to a security update, Avira stops working. It will let me turn on real time scanning, but won’t update virus definitions and won’t do a virus scan, whether it be a quick scan or a complete scan. The only way I’ve found to get Avira running again is to drag the icon to the trash, delete it from the trash and then download and install it again, after which it runs fine – until the next restart. This behavior started after I upgraded to Catalina; when I was running Sierra and High Sierra, it worked fine.

I also have a mid 2017 macBook Air that came with Mojave and is now running an up to date Catalina (same as the iMAC) on which Avira Free runs fine all the time.

Avira has been unresponsive to my inquiries, which I understand given that it’s free, so I’m wondering if anybody has any ideas about how to fix this.

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In System Preferences->Security & Privacy on the Privacy tab:
You will most likely have to give the AV Full Disk Access in Catalina.
I am running TrendMicro on my Macs (including a 2017 iMac Retina 4K) and this setting has been necessary. Makes sense if you expect the AV to be able to scan the whole computer.

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Nathan Parker, DrBonzo

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Giving Avira full disk access is part of the installation procedure. The first time I noticed the non function on restart, I checked to make sure full disk access was still in effect. It was. I then tried a trick that sometimes works in Win 7 (for me, at least): uncheck a box, close a window(s) then reopen the window(s) and recheck the box. That didn’t work.

To elaborate on the no scan after restart, what happens is that the “start scan” buttons are greyed out and are completely unresponsive to a single or double click. Avira also seems to lose its memory of the last time the virus definitions were updated; it tells me that the last update occurred the last time I installed Avira, i. e., it forgets all definition updates since the initial one of the previous installation.

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Nathan Parker

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Does Avira have an uninstaller on its website for the AV? Or maybe an uninstaller within the App itself if you Show Package Contents?
Sometimes the entirety of the installation is not just what’s under Applications. There may be some traces still left in Library and System that you are not getting rid of.
Just a thought.

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Nathan Parker, DrBonzo

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The versions that ran on Sierra and High Sierra had an uninstaller that downloaded and installed with the virus scanning program.

The version that runs on Catalina doesn’t seem to have an uninstaller. At least it’s not in the Apps folder as in the previous versions. But I have to admit I haven’t checked the Show Package Contents, nor have I checked their website. I’ll look at those tomorrow. Well, today, actually, but for me in effect, tomorrow.

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I’ve got a mid 2017 iMAC that came with Sierra and was subsequently updated to High Sierra and then Catalina

so in comparison to the other iMac device that runs fine with avira, has skipping Mojave had an effect on the system?
..just curious

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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DrBonzo

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Skipping a version usually hasn’t been a problem with MacOS through Catalina (other than Catalina no longer supports 32-bit Apps). Otherwise, it is similar to skipping a version in Win10, keeping Apps and data.

But there will be a difference with Big Sur, as it not only has a different file system, but the older Apps may or may not work (yet?).

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Nathan Parker, DrBonzo, Microfix

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Well the other Mac on which Avira runs fine is a macBook Air, not an iMAC. I would say that for the iMAC, Catalina runs a lot slower than High Sierra did. In fact it’s pretty much of a slug, and I would strongly recommend NOT getting an iMAC with a spinner hard drive; get at least a Fusion drive but preferably an SSD. The macBook Air has an SSD and it clips right along even with the same amount of memory (8 GB). The same Catalina security update will take about 20 minutes on the Air and about an hour on the iMAC.

Not sure I’m answering your question.

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Microfix

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Another thing I just thought of…..

System Preferences->Users & Groups->Login Items
Do you need to add Avira to this list under your ID?

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DrBonzo

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If you continue to have issues with Avira, try Intego. Not free but it works great on a Mac and has great support.

Nathan Parker

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DrBonzo

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One good thing has come from the frequent and massive power outages around here over the last few weeks, and that is an apparent resolution/workaround to the problem described above.

After a couple of reboots after power outages, I noticed that Avira on the iMAC was working exactly as it should. After I was satisfied the power would be stable I installed the latest Catalina security update, and sure enough, Avira went into it’s failure to scan behavior. I then shut the iMAC down, let it sit for 10 minutes, started it back up, and found that Avira was working just as it should.

I’m curious to see if this “second boot” solution works after the next security update is installed.

Anyone have any ideas why Avira would fail on the restart required by the security update installation but then work after a subsequent complete shutdown followed by a boot?

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