Avira has released Avira Free Security Suite 2017, a comprehensive bundle of its antivirus, antiphishing, VPN and speedup products.

The package includes four products. Avira Free Antivirus keeps malware at bay, Avira Browser Safety blocks dangerous links, Avira Phantom VPN encrypts web traffic and masks your IP address, and Avira System Speedup optimises your PC’s performance.

Avira fans will know these packages already, but the 2017 editions deliver improved anti-ransomware protection, and they’re all managed and controlled from a revamped Avira Connect launcher.

The suite has some notable issues. Avira Phantom VPN’s free build works well, but a very tight 500MB/ month data limit (1GB if you register) means it’s only suitable for occasional light use.

Avira System Speedup’s free edition similarly offers a reasonable set of core features – speed, memory and privacy tweaks, as well as online history management – but for boot optimisation, encryption, secure deletion and thorough drive cleaning, you’ll still need the commercial version.

Suite tools can be opened and managed from Avira’s Connect console

On the plus side, Avira’s core antivirus engine offers better protection than most commercial products, and Browser Safety is a welcome addition which reduces the chance of encountering malware in the first place.

Ease of use is another advantage. Setup is faster and more straightforward than many stand-alone antivirus products, and individual tools can be managed from Avira Connect, a simple console which lives in your system tray.

And although the new release is called a “suite”, it’s really still just a bundle of individual products, so fully customisable. If you decide you don’t want one of the tools, you can uninstall it in the usual way and keep everything else.

Avira Free Security Suite 2017 is available now for Windows 7 and later.