Category Archives: AVG

AVG

AVG

What to do with your old smartphone?

Leave a comment

This September, Apple will start shipping the new iPhone 6 devices. There are apparently record numbers of pre-orders, and you may be one of the millions.

If you’re thinking of getting rid of your current smartphone and upgrading— whether it’s for a new iPhone, Android or Amazon Fire Phone—you’re not alone. Every few years, smartphone users turn to newer models for more functions and better features.

Part exchange

If you are ready to upgrade, many carriers offer the opportunity to exchange your old phone for credit. This can help take the sting out of some expensive handset or contract costs. You should contact your service provider to see if they have a scheme and they should be able to tell you up front what rate they can give you on your old device.

Selling online

If you would rather sell your device, there are a number of sites and tools that you can use to ensure you get a fair price and a safe transaction. Here are some tips for those of you looking to sell your old device online:

  • Act quickly. Smartphones depreciate in value with time. For example, Usell.com, one such smartphone vendor, calculates the following: One week after a new iPhone launch, old iPhones lose about 5% in value; two weeks after launch, old iPhones depreciate about 12%. By weeks three and four, old phones are worth about 20% less.
  • Other sites also encourage you to act fast. For example, online behemoth eBay is offering an added incentive for turning your older model around. It’s offering a $100 coupon to you if your smartphone doesn’t sell by Oct. 24.
  • Make sure you price it right. Many sites will use algorithms to advise you on the going price range. It’s very similar to sites that advise you what to pay for a car.  For example, to mention eBay again, it will suggest what price to pick depending on make, model, year, packaging, etc. Glyde compares the amount you can sell it for on its site against prices on Apple and Amazon, among others.

Donating

Consider donating. Your contribution can be deducted from your income tax to the extent allowed by law. One national nonprofit that is worthy of these donations is Cell Phones for Soldiers. It takes your phone, then re-sells it and turns that money into calling cards for the troops.  It’s an impressive organization: Since 2004, Cell Phones for Soldiers has provided more than 210 million minutes of free talk time and currently it mails approximately 3,200 calling cards each week.

There are many other nonprofits that would love your phone too. Even if you’re not upgrading,  you may have an older cell phone lying around. Chances are you do. One survey by ecoATM estimates 60% of American households have an older phone lying around. Nonprofits would love to take these off your hands.

Keep, gift or recycle

Of course, there is no concrete reason why you need to sell or give your phone to charity when keeping it as a backup could be very useful. Parents especially might enjoy giving their device to a child who is nagging for an “upgrade”. If you aren’t thinking of keeping your phone as a backup, use these tips to get the best value in regenerating and recycling your phone. Anything is better than your phone ending up in a landfill…You can read some pretty stunning information about e-waste here.

Clean up your device

Whatever you decide to do, make sure your smartphone is cleaned before you do sell or give it to anyone. I can’t stress this enough! Remember that your mobile device is a vast bank of your personal data, contacts, saved passwords and web history. Handing it over to a stranger or even a friend could result in a loss of your privacy. Check out this blog post by Tony Anscombe for how to safely recycle your old technology.

Enjoy your new phone, and make the most of your older model.

AVG

How to switch to AVG antivirus

Leave a comment

Sometimes changing your security software can seem like a daunting and complicated task, especially if you’re not familiar with removing programs from your computer. There are many things to remember and check. It doesn’t always need to be complicated though, if you want to protect your Windows PC with AVG’s award winning security software, there are just a few steps you need to take to make sure it goes to plan.

Follow these five tips to help you avoid any complications when switching to AVG’s security software and have a hassle free experience:

Check your system specifications:

With any installation, you should check that your PC meets the minimum requirements for the software. This will ensure that it is compatible with your machine and that you have enough space and power to run it properly.

Action: You can find AVG’s requirements here: What are AVG system requirements and supported operating systems.

 

Ensure your system is up to date:

Security software can make alterations to your operating system, so it’s important to check that you are running the most current version of Windows. This will help prevent issues when AVG has to make changes to any system files.

Action:  Visit the Microsoft Windows Update page to make sure that you are running the most up to date version of Windows.

 

Remove other security software:

Before installing AVG security software, it’s important to check that you have removed any existing protection. It’s quite common for multiple installations of security software to conflict as they can both alter you system at the same time and also degrade performance.

Action: If you are having difficulty removing any existing security software, check out this How to remove conflicting anti-virus products article.

 

Check you are logged in as Administrator:

In order for AVG to install properly, it needs to be done by the system administrator. This will ensure that the AVG installer has access to all the files necessary for it to complete successfully.

Action: Read this How to check if I’m using an administrative account article to sure you are logged into Windows as an Administrator.

 

Install the latest version of AVG:

Whether you are reinstalling AVG or installing it for the first time, it is important to check that you are installing the latest version of our security software.

Action: For instructions on how to install the latest version of AVG, visit the How to download and install AVG article.

Tip: If you happen to experience any issues during installation, please refer to the article What to do when AVG installation is failing for help. 

AVG

Is it time you used two-factor authentication?

Leave a comment

Two-factor authentication is an additional security measure that you can add to your online accounts to help keep them safe from attack and fraud.

“Two-factor” simply means that you need something other than your password in order to access your account. This normally comes in the form of a code generated by an app or sent to you in a text or email. Two-factor-authentication means that should your password be compromised, your accounts are still protected.

You may be familiar with two-factor authentication for online banking, where it has been used for a long time to validate logins and safely setting up transactions. Given its security benefits, many of the leading websites and services have enabled two-factor authentication for users. Google, for example, implemented the extra layer of security in early 2011, but many users still don’t realize that it is available.

While logging into accounts with two-factor authentication does require a little extra effort on behalf of the user, the extra layer of security does make it well worth-while.

How to Setup Two-Factor Authentication

In this example I will be setting up two-factor authentication on a Google account but similar instructions can be found for most popular sites such as Amazon, Dropbox and Facebook.

Before setting up two-factor authentication you need to make sure you have two things available. The first is a secure password, something you should already be using, on whichever services you use (Although you should have different password for each service for greater security). The second would be a device or application that can receive a code, most commonly a smartphone.

  1. Go to: www.google.com/settings/security
  2. Click “Set Up” under 2-step verification menu
  3. Chose how you would to receive your codes: SMS or codes
  4. Download Google’s Authenticator app for Android or iOS.
  5. Link your Authenticator app or device to your Google account using the code provided

Google-Authenticator

Once you are setup for two-factor authentication it’s ready to go in the wild. The next time a new device or browser tries to access your account they will need your username and password like before, but then you will need to enter in an access code pin that is either texted to you or synced to the authenticator app. Once the username, password, and pin number are all entered correctly you are logged in.

Two-factor authentication is one of the settings we believe strongly in to help mitigate password hacking because even if somebody does know your password they still can’t get into your account. It is important to remember however there are other methods to get access to your information so just using this helps secure your password login, but won’t guarantee all information is secure.  This is a great step forward to better security and privacy of your data and we highly recommend all users activate two-factor authentication wherever they can.

AVG

Apple Pay and The New World of Mobile Digital Credit Cards

Leave a comment

Amid the extravaganza of the Apple Watch and iPhone product launch this week, Apple also unveiled Apple Pay – a new mobile digital payment system, which is being touted by some as death for the “plastic” credit card.

By registering your MasterCard, Visa, and American Express cards to your Apple Pay wallet through iTunes, you will be able to use your Apple devices (the newly announced iPhone 6 and forthcoming iWatch) to make easy and secure mobile payments to merchants.

The payment system uses a one-time transaction-specific dynamic security code –meaning your actual credit card number never gets transferred to the merchant and reduces the chance of fraud. You can hear immediate analysis from our Tony Anscombe on Bloomberg TV here.

Lots of information around implementation remains to be seen. However, the Apple pay system does boast early support by major credit card companies and banks.

Apple is using short-range radio waves technology known as NFC (near-field communication), in both its smartwatch and the new iPhones in support of the application. NFC has been a feature in many other smartphones (including by Google) but has failed to take hold to date. Market researcher Gartner estimated NFC was used for just 2% of total mobile payments last year, though expected to nearly double to $8.2 billion this year. Up until now, analysts say banks couldn’t see a business case for NFC instead of simply issuing their own smart cards.

Smart cards aka EMV cards (an acronym for Europay MasterCard and Visa) are revamped credit cards with microchips that store your data on the card. This approach also limits the retailer from holding your data; data resides on your card and the embedded microprocessor chip encrypts transaction data differently for each purchase.

The catch with the chip cards, until now, is that most retailers don’t have the technology for them yet…But that is also expected to change quickly. Walmart is already there.  Major retailers like Target and Home Depot have announced plans to roll out the EMV payment systems. I just received replacement Amex card with the EMV technology.

(BTW, in other related news, Home Depot revealed this week that its payment systems had been hacked, possibly compromising customer data over its 2,000+ outlets in the U.S and Canada. This is potentially a bigger data breach than the one that unfortunately befell Target last December.)

There is also added incentive for EMV adoption: in October 2015, new standards will go into effect, changing how liability falls between credit-card issuers and retailers. While EMV compliance won’t be mandatory, liability for fraud will fall on the party that hasn’t upgraded their systems. You can read more about EMV and the upcoming so-called “liability shift” here.

In the meantime, what can you as a consumer do to keep your credit data safe?

Here are a few recommendations:

  • Report lost cards or discrepancies immediately.
  • Review your account often.
  • Keep your receipts, and match them against your credit card statement.
  • Shred your statements.

 

And what if you are a business owner? You should familiarize yourself with EMV, and the upcoming standards, and if possible, look to upgrading to a credit-card machine that is EMV capable.  (You can also take AVG’s data security Health Check to make sure you are on top of your responsibilities in the case of any data compromises.)

We in the industry are working to evolve data security and make it better.  In the meantime, as a consumer, an owner or an operator, stay alert and protect yourself.

One thing is for certain, we are on the verge of a whole new era of credit card security risks.

 

****

On a separate note: Congratulations to Megan Smith on her appointment as the US  CTO. Bravo!

AVG

AVG makes privacy crystal clear with Short Privacy Notice

Leave a comment

In our connected world, mobile technology is an integral part of daily living. Apps help us find the stores we are looking for, meet our friends at the right time and place, and keep us safe online. We trust these apps with our personal information in exchange for these services, which are often free. Sometimes we share sensitive information with the app in order to optimize that service. But do we ever think about what these apps do with the data they collect, and do we really know why they collect it?

At AVG, we believe that building trust in relationships is important. Transparency is a key element to build that trust which means you have to know what’s going with the data behind the app. The mobile environment is even more challenging because of the limited space and form factor. We’ve been innovating in this area to better show users what data is collected and how it is used. We’ve done this with initially with a Short Data Privacy Notice that tells our customers in a clear, straightforward, and transparent way what our apps collect and share in an easy to read form. Today I am delighted to tell you that the AVG Short Data Privacy Notice has been launched on our following apps:  AVG AntiVirus FREE for Android, AVG Privacy Fix and AVG Cleaner for Android. Overtime we expect this approach will become the standard in mobile and desktop environments.

This simple-to-use feature is accessed from the corner menu of the app main screen. To ensure full transparency for all our customers, we still give quick and easy access to our full privacy policy notice at the bottom of each page of the AVG Short Data Privacy Notice.

spn1

In the video below, AVG’s Chief Legal Officer Harvey Anderson explains how to use the AVG Short Data Privacy Notice and what we disclose to you through it.

AVG

The Net Neutrality Battle Is Like Gangs .. It Never Dies

Leave a comment

Today companies and public interest organizations across the country are protesting to urge the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to maintain the principle of net neutrality on the Internet. This battle has been going on for many years as different interests try to create public policies that best serve their own business goals. This isn’t inherently bad except when if it’s at the expense of users and broader public interests. ISPs and cable providers are proposing a scheme that would allow web sites and services providers to pay more so their sites could be accessed faster by users online, effectively creating a “fast lane” and a “slow lane” on the Internet. This is a fine idea if you can pay and you’re in the fast lane, but unfortunately for those that can’t pay, their users (perhaps you and me) will likely get a degraded and slower Internet experience. It will also make the web sites and services for those that can’t pay less competitive and further accelerate the digital divide.

Net neutrality is a core principle that’s made the Internet work for a long time. It ensures that all content is treated equally and without discrimination by those that pass the bits along. For example, imagine if Comcast, the largest ISP, concludes the proposed merger with Time Warner, the second largest ISP (and which also owns HBO), could make online access to their own HBO content faster than other video content provided by their competitors like Apple, Netflix, Roku. Suppose they didn’t like editorials that were critical of their organization, and they made it harder for people to access it by making it slow. The Internet wouldn’t work and we wouldn’t have the robust market of ideas that the Internet affords us. Of course there are reasonable network management requirements that may impinge on the ideological goal, but net neutrality as a principle enables the Internet to fulfill its potential as an information medium that provides a rich, uncensored, although sometimes messy, diverse set of ideas and information.

Today, AVG joined many others in the “Internet Slowdown” campaign to encourage the FCC to take a stand and reject policies that would undermine net neutrality. And just like in the movie “Colors” unless you take action, this issue will never die. You can learn more in this nifty infographic called A Guide to the Open Internet or find out how to let your voice be heard at Fight for the Future.

AVG

Entrepreneurs set high standard at The Pitch, UK

Leave a comment

Thursday September 4th , 50 budding small businesses and entrepreneurs from around the UK gathered in London to attend Southern leg of The Pitch boot-camp.

The UK’s largest small businesses competition has reached the midway stage and contestants gathered to receive further mentoring and training from industry experts, including AVG at the 15 Hatfields events venue in London.

Click here for our full gallery

The boot camp was broken down into four separate sessions:

Marketing:

This session was led by Jeffrey Ferrazzo from Constant Contact and focussed on some of the most effective strategies that emerging businesses can use to maximise their limited marketing budget. As you might expect, there was a heavy focus on winning social media strategies and how to define a brand and drive engagement in what is a very crowded environment.

Pitch (24)

 

Overcoming objections:

At some stage in its development, every business will encounter roadblocks and objections from potential clients. This lively workshop session, led by Mike Byrne from AVG, prepared each contestant with techniques for mitigating and overcoming common objections to their product or service during the sales process.

Pitch (36)

 

Financial Planning:

You can have the best product in the world but without the proper financial planning, your business may still struggle to turn a profit. A group of helpful tutors from the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW), also sponsors, were on hand in this session to help the contestants set up clear and sustainable financial numbers to back up their business plans.

Pitch (40)

 

Pitching and Presentation:

Pitching and being able to sell your business idea in as short a time as possible can often make the difference between getting investment or sales and falling short. Contestants at this year’s The Pitch were given mentoring and individual feedback from one of the leading pitch experts in the UK, Annette Kramer.

Pitch (47)

 

 

The Pitching:

After a busy day of thorough training and preparation, all 50 competitors had only 90 seconds to pitch their business, on camera, to the rest of the attendees. The business ideas were as varied as the competitors themselves and there were excellent pitches for everything from lifesaving medical equipment to artisan marshmallows to workplace pension brokers.

Click here for our full gallery

The next phase:

The next step of The Pitch will be the Northern leg of the boot-camp to be held in Manchester later in September. After both boot camps have taken place, the video pitches will be narrowed down from 100 to 30 applicants to proceed to the final where a winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including AVG’s own Judith Bitterli.

The overall winner of The Pitch will win a priceless prize package that includes expert mentoring from business leaders and free access to world leading products and services including free AVG CloudCare services for two years.

 

AVG

Hackers in Hollywood, and Beyond

Leave a comment

Many celebrities got an unpleasant shock this past weekend. You may have heard that up to 100 celebrities – film stars, etc. – had nude photos hacked and leaked on renegade Web site 4chan.org. Many of the photos were apparently genuine.

Now that the FBI is investigating how these photos were hacked and posted, it’s an unfortunate reminder of the difficulties of maintaining our privacy in this digital age.

I won’t name the celebrities involved, but it’s safe to say it’s a huge invasion of privacy. Some experts are theorizing that the hacker or hackers exploited weaknesses in Apple’s iCloud platform. Apple is now investigating, according to reports and released this statement. Here’s an excerpt: “After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.”

As a major player in the data security business, we think that this is just a reminder to everyone that when data goes digital, there are security risks involved. It’s a hard lesson.

As British actress Emma Watson (who was not targeted in the hacking) wrote on Twitter: “Even worse than seeing women’s privacy violated on social media is reading the accompanying comments that show such a lack of empathy.â€

Protecting yourself

How to protect yourself, even when you’re not a celebrity? Here are some tips, which we’ve stressed before but can’t stress enough:

  • Create difficult passwords. Besides the speculation that iCloud was the victim, it has been suggested the hacker or hackers exploited each of the 100+ accounts’ passwords. As I’ve mentioned before, don’t use your birthday, and create multiple passwords for multiple accounts!
  • Consider switching off automatic Cloud photo sharing and backups/Photo Stream. This is a convenience tradeoff. To turn off automatic iCloud sharing, go into your Settings, then iCloud, then scroll down to photos and slide the option to Off.
  • Use encryption. Here I will proudly put in a plug for our own mobile phone encryption software, which protects your data against intrusion by encrypting your documents. This is a must for anyone storing private personal or important business intelligence on their phones.
  • Think about using a USB drive. If you want to share personal information or photos with a specific person, just use a USB.

 

As celebrities, Apple, and the FBI come to grips with this specific hacking instance, it’s important to realize everyone’s information is at stake these days – celebrity or not –

And an excellent reminder that we need to actively protect ours.

Image courtesy of ITV.com

AVG

AVG Technologies Announces Intention to Acquire Location Labs

Leave a comment

Today, we announced our intention to acquire Location Labs, which is best known for its “mobile security for humansâ€.

AVG has been talking for some time about the need for a more holistic approach to security; one that protects not only devices, but also data and, ultimately, the people using those devices and data. Products that encompass all these elements must be easy to understand and easy to use.

AVG’s security for Android smartphones is one the top security apps on the Google Play store. Location Labs products, sold by major mobile operators and running on both the Android and iOS platforms, provide exceptional security and safety for people – you and those you care for.

Additionally, Location Labs’ mobile products and services draw on the value of the mobile operator network to provide features and functionality that are not possible otherwise. Having multiple distribution channels delivers good choices for customers. They may want to download our apps directly from App stores, or they may prefer to choose a service that has been validated and integrated with their network provider, including their billing and customer support services. Currently, AVG’s mobile offerings use the first method; Location Labs’, the second.

At AVG and Location Labs, we understand that for our customers, safety and security for connected devices is first and foremost about ensuring that their families, or those they care deeply about, are protected. This is where the combination of AVG Zen and the Location Labs’ products will really shine. With AVG Zen, customers can connect to, and manage the device and data security of their own, and others’, phones, laptops, and PCs.

With Location Labs offerings, they can also manage the content, applications, and permissions available on each of those devices, and see the location and status of the users. As massive numbers of mobile devices are adopted worldwide, and as we all connect more and more items to our own personal networks, this promises to be an important and growing market.

We are particularly pleased that the leadership and the team at Location Labs will be joining AVG. They have built a compelling business within the mobile industry – not an easy thing to do – and helped grow the company to over 1.3 million paying subscribers. We are looking forward to working with them to grow the business further to improve safety and security for all mobile users.

Today’s announcement is the first step in a longer journey and we believe it marks the start of a new approach to mobile security for consumers. We understand that to really enjoy the rich experience of today’s connected world, we all need to feel comfortable and safe, and to have confidence and trust in the smart devices that enable us to monitor and secure the people we care about. As we move forward, we’ll be working hard to make this vision a reality for our customers.

AVG

AVG to lead innovation sessions at The Pitch, London

Leave a comment

This Thursday 4th September in London, AVG will be attending the first of two small business boot-camps as part of The Pitch, UK. Now in its seventh year The Pitch is one of the UK’s longest running small business competitions and awards thousands of pounds worth of prizes to innovative startups.

The boot camps will be attended by 100 small businesses that made it through the first stage of the competition. These are split into two regional groups, North and South, who will attend boot camps in Manchester (on 18th September) and this week in London where after an intense day of mentoring their pitching prowess will be assessed.

As a main sponsor for The Pitch, AVG is delighted to attend these boot camp sessions and will be working directly with the competitors in one of the hands-on sessions. The boot camps will focus on the four key pillars of pitching:

  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Business model innovation
  • Pitching

AVG’s Director of Partner Enablement Mike Byrne will be leading the Business Model Innovation session aimed to provide candidates with some useful ideas about how to optimise their business models and sharpen their sales techniques using technology. Whether it’s managing relationships, assessing the competition, reducing sales cycle time/costs or simply making life easier, technology has a lot offer business sales activities.

AVG’s philosophy is all about empowering small businesses to manage their technology simply and reliably so they can stop worrying about their data and concentrate on growth in today’s fast changing, increasingly mobile workplace.

After the boot camps, the competitors will be narrowed down from 100 to 30 applicants to proceed to the final where a winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including AVG’s own Judith Bitterli.

 

The overall winner of The Pitch will win a priceless prize package that includes expert mentoring from business leaders and free access to world leading products and services including free AVG CloudCare services for two years.