Tag Archives: Android

AVG

AVG AntiVirus for Android “Marshmallow” update, now easier to use

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At AVG we are constantly improving our products, ensuring you get the best experience and features to help keep your digital world safer and more secure.

We’ve recently updated our popular AVG AntiVirus for Android app. It provides compatibility with the latest version of Android, and it has improved performance and is even easier to use.

 Google’s latest Android operating system update (called ‘Marshmallow’) has been released, so we’ve ensured AVG AntiVirus for Android is compatible and ready to install, so that there’s no disruption to the security and protection of your device and its data.

We’ve also taken the easy-to-use interface and improved it further! The design has been updated in line with Google’s Material Design principles for a more attractive and unified experience on your Android device.

AVG Anti-Theft & App Lock now share the same PIN. That’s one less code you need to remember to access your advanced security features.

If you don’t already use the Anti-Theft feature, you’ll want to consider enabling it to help secure your data in case your device is ever lost or stolen. It allows you to:

  • Sound an alarm on your device
  • Lock your device
  • Locate your device on Google Maps
  • Wipe your personal data

The ability to erase your personal data from a device is very useful these days, if not essential. Once enabled, it will help you avoid a potential data breach which, as we’ve seen, can have serious consequences.

We’ve also introduced some additional fixes and improvements behind-the-scenes to ensure you get the best experience and protection for your mobile device.

If you haven’t already updated AVG AntiVirus for Android, we recommend you update now. If you don’t have security software installed yet, download AVG AntiVirus for Android for free from Google Play to help protect your devices against viruses, malware and spyware.

Avast

Autumn 2015: A season full of Android conferences

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David Vávra is our team’s talented Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Android. Throughout this autumn, he attended a collection of valuable Android conferences. In this post, David walks us through his experiences and outlines his most interesting takeaways from the conferences.

Droidcon Stockholm (September 3-4)

 

Droidcon Stockholm was a two-day event held in Debaser Medis, a classic rock club in Stockholm. As you might imagine, it proved to be an interesting venue for a tech conference! The organization was  a little more “punk” than most other conferences, but the conference was still jam-packed with talks containing strong content and served as a great opportunity to network with fellow industry professionals. Fun fact: Czech beers are quite popular in Stockholm. We visited a place where they served five different Czech beers on tap.

One talk that I found to be especially useful discussed building Android SDKs from Fabric, a platform for mobile developers from Twitter. It was also interesting to take a closer look at Spotify’s automated testing environment in a talk Sustainable test automation. As for me, my presentation at the conference dealt with Android TV development. All the Droidcon talks can be found here.

Droidcon Greece (September 11-12)

 

This year’s Droidcon Greece was the very first Droidcon event in the country. It was organized by the very enthusiastic GDG Thessalonikigroup. Based on the number of attendees present, it was a smaller conference, but I loved it. G(r)eeks (Greek geeks) showed us true Greek hospitality. We had a tour of beautiful Thessaloniki and many parties along the way. Did you know that Greeks usually go to restaurants around 11 p.m. and start eating around midnight? Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much.

All talks were recorded. I suggest watching a talk about Kotlin on Android from Jetbrains — it really shifted my point of view on the language. Java 7 is so outdated now! I also enjoyed a workshop about RxJava from Big Nerd Ranch. You can do the workshop yourself here. It’s an innovative approach to learning a new language — it’s based on tests that all fail in the beginning, and your job is to make them ‘green’. At Droidcon Greece, I delivered a talk about Doze Mode & App Standby in Android M. All talks from the conference can be found here.

Big Android BBQ Amsterdam (November 12-13)

 

Big Android BBQ is a new conference brand with roots in Texas. It’s primarily supported by Google and is known for a less formal environment (and a real BBQ party!). This autumn, the conference came to Europe for the first time, so I gave it a shot. The conference itself was fine, and the content of the talks was strong. However, I had a few reservations about the organization of the event. There wasn’t sufficient care given to speakers, and we had to organize the speaker’s dinner by ourselves. Additionally, talks were not recorded. Nevertheless, we did have a great time in the end, and Amsterdam is a charming city.

I recommend a talk, Testing it & Loving it, from Marks & Spencer; if you don’t have automated tests yet, this talk will make you start. I also enjoyed  Event Buses: The @channel of Android Architecture from Big Nerd Ranch –it showed fitting examples from real life which illustrate when and when not to use event buses. I gave an updated talk about Doze Mode & App Standby in Android M. All of the talks can be found here.

Google Experts Summit (November 19-20)

 

gde-summit

The Google Experts Summit is one of the best perks of being a GDE. Google invites us once a year for the summit in Mountain View, California. It’s two days full of deep technical insights with product teams and lot of networking with other experts. The networking was probably the best — I met many exceptional people from all over the world. This year, GDEs were joined by marketing, design and product experts, making it the biggest summit ever with around 200 attendees present.

We had some really interesting sessions based on our expertise. I was part of a focus group in which Google shared some very confidential early prototypes. We were fortunate enough to be able to play with the prototypes and gave feedback directly to Googlers. I’m grateful that Googlers take the GDE program so seriously.

Android Dev Summit (November 23-24)

 

Android Dev Summit was a blast. I would summarize it as mini Google I/O focused only on Android. The conference was less show, more technical deep dives and direct access to Googlers from Android framework and tools teams. It appropriately took place in the geekiest venue in Silicon Valley — the Computer History Museum.

All the talks from Android Dev Summit are recorded in high quality. The highlight of the event is, of course, the introduction of Android Studio 2.0 with Instant Run, which should drastically speed up the Android development lifecycle. Watch What’s new in Android Studio to get all the details. The best talk for me was probably Android Studio for Experts. It was all live demos of various features in our favorite IDE, which included mostly tips and tricks for underlying IntelliJ IDEA. There are many small frustrations in everyday development, which the IDE elegantly solves. It was great to have direct access to Android celebrities like Chet Haase, Chris Banes, Tor Norbye, Reto Meier, Dianne Hackborn and others. Fireside chats with all of them were both funny and informative,and lots of burning questions were answered. Check out the fireside chat with the framework and tools teams.

I’m grateful that Avast supported me in attending all of these conferences and am looking forward to another conference season!

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

AVG

AVG’s Q3 App Report Out: Latest Top 10 Draining Apps Identified

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In the eight years of smartphone evolution since the original iPhone, we’ve seen 4k displays, 8 core processors, and 4G mobile speeds that give many broadband connections a run for their money.

What hasn’t changed much, is that your phone battery is mostly drained by the end of the day, your data limit gets capped before the end of the month, and your 16 GB of storage fills up after only months of using a new phone.

But it’s not always the device at fault, with apps being largely to blame for the constant use of intense graphics, out-of-control notifications, and never-ending background checks that drain the battery.

This is where our latest AVG App Performance & Trends Report comes in – Gathered from over a million anonymous devices worldwide, our statistics show which apps consume the most battery life, storage and data volume. We also provide a good idea about which apps are trending.

 

What are the top app sinners this month?

  • Ashley Madison
    A sinner in the truest sense of the word, Ashley Madison app usage is back up to almost where it started – despite being the victim of a massive hack which saw millions of its cheating users leaked and potential lives destroyed.Ashley Madison usage
  • Running Out of Space? Facebook & Kindle Could be the Reason
    When your phone is running low on storage, the first thing you usually do is delete photos and music, right? Not so fast! It’s also the data within apps that can amount to Gigabytes of hidden storage. According to our telemetry, Facebook, Kindle and the Japanese NTT Docomo Email Client rank among the top storage-eating apps that store more files for offline use than you might think.
  • Look Who’s Talking Now: KakaoTalk & WhatsApp On the Rise
    Facebook, Instagram and Google Play (the store app) are still in the top 10 resource-drainers, but now they’re joined by WhatsApp and KakaoTalk.
  • Tamagotchi-esque Apps Making a Big Comeback, Draining Your Battery
    Supercell, now coming in strong and only behind the literal King of the mobile gaming market, is now securing another spot in the top 10 most resource-hungry apps, with its Clash of Clans.Talking Tom

Download the entire App Report here.

 

What can you do to keep your apps under control?

First of all, an app that appears on the top of our lists for storage, data or battery drain doesn’t mean they’re ruining the performance of your phone. It is important to weigh the pros and cons of running a good mix of apps that give you the desired results you want.

Do the self-check: To see what’s consuming all of your smartphone’s battery life, storage or mobile data, we’ve developed App Manager, which is a feature within AVG Cleaner for Android. It quietly observes your phone’s performance and gives you an overview of:

  • The largest apps on your phone
  • Apps you haven’t used in a long time
  • Top mobile data-consuming apps
  • Top battery-draining apps

Avast

Avast 2016 protects your private information

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Avast simplifies how you protect your privacy with new products for 2016.

Avast 2016 has got your back

Avast 2016 introduces new products to protect your privacy

Count the number of devices you own. If you are like most modern digital-age people, you have a smartphone, half of you own a tablet, and most all of us have a desktop or laptop computer connected through a home router.

Now think about all the private information that you have on those devices. Bank account numbers, passwords, photos, messages and emails – all of them needing some form of protection to stay out of the wrong hands.

In a survey we did this year, 69% of you told us that your biggest fear is that the wrong person would see your personal information. In fact, Americans are so scared of having their financial information get into a bad guy’s possession, that 74% said they’d rather have nude photos of themselves leaked on the Internet! The problem is that most people are not doing anything to protect their privacy, for example, 40% of Americans don’t even lock their smartphones.

“While people are rightfully concerned about privacy, there is a disconnect between that concern and the steps they take to protect themselves,” said Vince Steckler, chief executive officer of Avast. “Users have a multitude of devices and passwords to keep track of, which can be overwhelming. When users feel overwhelmed, they tend to default to unsafe practices that put their privacy at risk.”

The new Avast 2016 for PC and Mac, the redesigned Avast Mobile Security, and the new kid on the block, Avast SecureMe, will all help reduce the complex task of protecting your private, personal information.

So time to face your fear and take steps to protect yourself. Here’s some tools that Avast is launching today to help you:

Avast Mobile Security

Protect personal information on your mobile devices

You probably use your Android mobile phone more than your laptop these days. Much of your life is on your mobile devices – banking information, private messages and photos. Protect all your data with the completely redesigned Avast Mobile Security – for free!

Here’s Avast Mobile Security features I want you to know about today:

Leading Mobile Malware Protection — Yes, malware is a threat but it works differently than classic PC viruses and Trojans. We’re on top of it, with the most advanced mobile malware protections available, now even faster with Avast’s cloud-scanning engine.

Privacy Advisor – Your apps, from mobile messengers to your bank, contain information that you want to protect. Privacy Advisor informs you about what data apps have access to and the ad networks that are included in the apps.

Wi-Fi Security – It’s not called mobile for nothing. You are out-and-about all the time, connecting to who-knows-what free Wi-Fi hotspot. We notify you when you connect to an unsecure router, so you can avoid bad guy’s eavesdropping and snooping on you.

Unlimited App Locking — Nosy kids, friends, and family members can be kept out of your business because we can password protect any apps on your device, providing another line of defense against prying eyes.

Protect personal information on your computer

The designers and engineers of the world’s most trusted antivirus got together with the mission to make your life easier. Avast 2016 sports a new simplified user interface with fewer buttons. It’s compatible with Windows 10, and it notifies you of Windows updates so you can easily keep software up-to-date and patched.

But it’s these two new features that we’re most excited about today:

Avast Passwords (for PC, iOS, Android) automatically generates extremely strong passwords that you don’t have to struggle to remember! All you do is set and remember one master password to access all your passwords. One password to rule them all!

SafeZone Browser (available with all premium versions of Avast) keeps all your banking and payment sites isolated in a protected space called Pay Mode, and if you run into suspicious sites, an isolated, virtual environment called Safe Mode will automatically open, so you don’t risk the safety of your machine and data. 

Free_2016_main_dashboard
Free-SmartScan
Free-SoftwareUpdater

Protect personal information on your iPhone and iPad

Wi-Fi Security – This is the same great feature that’s available in Avast Mobile Security. When you connect to an unsecure router you will be notified.

VPN – Avast SecureMe establishes a secure connection when you’re connected to open Wi-Fi.

Where do I get the new Avast security products?

  • Avast 2016 for PC and Mac is now available for download at www.avast.com.
  • Avast 2016’s Avast Passwords feature is now available for PC, Android and iOS, and will soon be available for Mac.
  • The new Avast Mobile Security app can be found in the Google Play Store.
  • Avast SecureMe will soon be available on the Apple App Store.

 

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

Avast

“Good Samaritans” return lost phones from Avast experiment

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Twenty Android mobile phones were intentionally lost in The Lost Phones social experiment that Avast security analysts ran for 5 months.

The story is about how Avast Anti-Theft was able to track the phones and follow the journey that some of them took after being found. But four of those phones were returned to Avast because of good Samaritans who didn’t feel it was right to keep them.

Quiana W. returned a lost phone to Avast

Quiana W. returned a lost phone to Avast

We spoke to two of them; Quiana W., who found a phone on a park bench in Harlem, New York City and to Michael D. who found one in a public restroom in San Francisco. We asked what they thought when they first spotted the phones.

Quiana: I wanted to check it to see if it was on and see if I would be able to contact someone to return their phone. I know what it feels like to lose things, wallet or a phone, so I was just trying to pay it forward. It doesn’t necessarily have to happen back to me in this way, but it was just something that kind of took my heart.

Michael: My initial reaction was to leave the phone where it was. It seemed a little suspicious – how could someone not hear the phone drop onto the floor? I also thought that someone might mistake me for a thief if I walked out with the phone. But then, partially out of boredom and partially out of honesty, I decided to play detective and find the phone’s owner.

Lost_Phones

Michael D. found a lost phone in a public restroom

Why is your phone so important?

Quiana: Everything revolves around technology. The most valuable piece of information on my phone is probably my contacts, because I try not to keep too much private stuff, or stuff that is sensitive, but I guess my contacts or things I may discuss with people via text messages are most important to me.

Michael: My own phone is important to me because it keeps me in contact with family and friends. The most valuable data on my phone is the contact list. Then the old messages saved to memory.

Why did you return the phone?

Quiana: I lost my phone a couple of months ago and I didn’t even know I lost it. I was in a car and my cousin kept asking me why I was calling her? So, I’m like, Wait a minute, I don’t have my phone! Where is my phone?

I dropped my phone in a parking lot of the grocery store that we were just at, so I went back to get it. So, I kinda would feel lost (without my phone), I would feel definitely lost.

Michael: I returned the phone because I don’t take things that aren’t mine.

What would you fear about losing your phone?

Quiana: The amount of money I would have to pay to get it back.

Michael also thought about what would happen if he lost his own phone. If that happened, he would be more concerned about losing the device itself rather than the data on his device.

Protect your data and the device it’s on

Even though four honest people returned a lost phone to Avast, 15 stolen phones are still out there. We were able to track 11 phones immediately because they stayed online for more than 24 hours after losing them, we were able to track 7 phones for several months, and 4 phones are still online and being used.

“More than 3 million phones are lost each year,” said Gagan Singh, president of mobile at Avast. “Fortunately with Avast Anti-Theft, users have the means to track and recover a lost phone – or remotely wipe the data on it if it’s not recoverable.

You have a better chance of getting your phone back if you install  Avast Anti-Theft. Get it for free from the Google Play Store.

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

 

Avast

How the Avast ‘Lost Phone’ experiment worked

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We trust our free app Avast Anti-Theft to track down lost phones, but we wanted to put it to the test in a real-world situation. So five months ago, we bought 20 Android smartphones and installed three security apps on all the phones: Our free Avast Anti-Theft app, Lookout Mobile Security, and Clean Master. Each phone was marked with contact information on where to return the device if found. After all was prepared, Avast security analysts traveled to New York City and San Francisco to randomly “lose” them in public places.

Here’s a video that shows what happened.

Over the months, the analysts used the Avast Anti-Theft app to track the lost devices and observed the following:

  • 15 phones were wiped clean using the factory reset feature
  • 11 phones stayed online for more than 24 hours after losing them
  • 7 phones we were able to track for several months
  • 4 phones were returned
  • 4 phones are currently online and used
  • 2 phones ended up abroad
  • 1 phone was never factory data reset

The majority of lost devices were wiped clean using the factory reset feature, but only the Avast Anti-Theft app survived the factory reset.

You can track your missing mobile phones and tablets with Avast Anti-Theft. Get it for free from the Google Play Store.

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.

Avast

Avast Wi-Fi Finder helps you stay connected wherever you are

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Many of us have found ourselves in situations in which we need Wi-Fi connection and are unable to find it easily. Since we’ve become used to being connected to safe and steady Wi-Fi networks at home or in the office, it can become frustrating and inconvenient when we’re unable to establish a quick connection and gain secure online access.

For those seeking a fast, reliable and secure Wi-Fi connection, we’re happy to introduce you to Avast Wi-Fi Finder. Our new app gives you the opportunity to have a fast connection regardless of your location while continuously providing you with privacy and security. Whether you’re at the gym, a hotel, cafe, bus station or library, Avast Wi-Fi Finder has got you covered.

With Avast Wi-Fi Finder, you’re not limited by your data plan – instead, the app allows you to save on funds that would otherwise be spent on establishing a mobile Internet connection. No longer will you be stuck having to purchase a refreshment at the nearest cafe or register for a service in order to connect to fast, reliable Wi-Fi networks – the passwords of our recorded Wi-Fi networks are stored and provided to you.

Getting to know the app

Using Avast Wi-Fi Finder, the following features are at your fingertips:

  • Connect to the fastest, most secure hotspots around. Avast Wi-Fi Finder helps you automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks nearest to your location, helping you save on monthly bills and roaming fees.
  • Get speed and privacy. There’s no need to compromise on your security. Avast Wi-Fi Finder checks the security ratings of each network and keeps you protected while you browse, chat, or email away.
  • Follow your map and you’re set to go. The app’s user-friendly map allows you to navigate to a widespread collection of fast, reliable hotspots recommended and crowdsourced by people just like you from all around the world.

In just a few simple steps, you can become one of the beta testers who help us make Avast Wi-Fi Finder (and other Avast mobile apps) the best that they can be. Read through our guide to get started in the Avast Android beta program.

Since the beta version of Avast Wi-Fi Finder has only recently been launched, we’d like to ask our users to be patient, as certain locations may not yet be filled with available Wi-Fi networks. As our community of beta testers continues to grow, the size and quality of our network database will do the same. To speed up this process, we encourage our beta testers to add available Wi-Fi networks to locations as they find them. Get started by becoming a tester for Avast Wi-Fi Finder on Google Play!

Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.