Tag Archives: avast! Browser Cleanup

Avast

AV-Comparatives report: Avast takes the gold for Overall Performance

Leave a comment
Avast was awarded the title of Top Rated Product for 2015 by AV-Comparatives.

Avast was awarded the title of Top Rated Product for 2015 by AV-Comparatives.

Recently, AV-Comparatives released their 2015 Summary Report, an important resource for anyone who is interested in security solutions and antivirus software. Avast had a few exciting wins in this year’s report, which we plan to build upon as we continue moving forward into 2016.

Firstly, Avast was awarded the title of Top Rated Product for 2015 by AV-Comparatives. In their report, AV-Comparatives writes:

“Avast is a Top Rated Product this year, receiving five Advanced+ awards in the course of the year, including both Real-World Protection Tests. . . We feel its scan-results dialog box is equally well suited to expert and non-expert users.“

In addition to being a Top Rated Product, Avast also won the Gold Award for AV-Comparatives‘ Overall Performance Test, as well as a Silver Award for the Malware Removal Test.

In describing their Overall Performance test, AV-Comparatives adds that Avast demonstrates a significantly lower impact on system performance than that of other products. This means that Avast doesn’t disturb you while you browse, work or play on your PC.

How to make your PC’s performance the best it can be

If you’re experiencing a sluggish computer, there’s several things you can do to improve your system’s performance.

  • Make sure your software is up to date. The most up-to-date software contains fixes and patches that makes it run at its best. Avast 2016 products have enhanced features and the highest detection rates to protect your computer from malicious attacks. Software Updater is a feature in Avast 2016 that helps you ensure that your programs are up to date.
  • Old hardware. If you try to install modern software onto your old computer, it could start running at a snail’s pace, because the hardware simply is not capable of running the software. Ideally, buying a new PC with a multi-core processor is the best solution. However if your budget does not include a new computer, then you could add more RAM.
  • Stick to one security program. It’s not advised to run more than one security program with real-time protection at a time. Please uninstall any trial software that came with your PC before installing different protection. You can find a list and instructions to remove here. We recommend that you follow the vendor’s instructions before proceeding with the uninstallation.

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

Avast

Top 10 most annoying browser toolbars

Leave a comment

It usually happens after you download something free. You go back online and your browser suddenly looks unfamiliar. There’s new buttons and weird icons in the place of what you used to have. A strange search page from a company you have never heard has taken the place of your homepage.

How did I get that annoying toolbar?

 

Avast Browser Cleanup removes annoying toolbars

You have inadvertently downloaded a browser toolbar that came bundled with other software.

Free programs, like Adobe Reader, often include add-ons like toolbars or browser extensions. Most of the time, during the installation of the software, an opt-out option will be presented for the add-on. But, lots of people click through without reading, and when they’re finished they discover they have downloaded something they didn’t intend to.

To keep this from happening in the first place, slow down and read the screens. You could save yourself lots of time and headaches if you do.

What do browser toolbars do to my computer?

  • Change your homepage and your search engine without your permission or awareness
  • Track your browsing activities and searches
  • Display annoying ads and manipulate search results
  • Take up a lot of space inside the browser
  • Slow down your surfing speed
  • Fight against each other and become impossible for the average user to fully uninstall

In some cases, toolbars or add-ons can be quite useful, but Avast users have rated only 4% of toolbars as “good” or “useful”. The rest are “poor” or “very poor”.

The ten most unpopular toolbars are:

TOOLBAR NUMBER OF REMOVALS
Mindspark 18,358,334
Conduit 13,924,453
 Ask.com  11,773,062
 Delta Search  6,136,056
 FastStart  4,862,671
DealPly 4,253,676
 Yontoo Toolbar  4,020,969
SearchTheWeb (Iminent) 3,442,706
 IncrediBar  2,729,797
Sweet 10 packs / SweetIM 1,948,958

How do you get back your normal browser?

Avast Browser Cleanup has identified more than 60 million different browser add-ons and removed more than 650 million from users’ browsers in the past two years. Avast Browser Cleanup can help you remove annoying browser toolbars and regain your normal browser settings.

Avast Browser Cleanup is integrated in all free and premium Avast products. It can also be downloaded by users of other security programs as a standalone version.

Avast

Avast Browser Cleanup removes unwanted browser add-ons

Leave a comment

Most Internet users are familiar with this problem all too well: After downloading a video player, Java, Flash updates or other software, the browser has suddenly changed. New buttons and icons in all colors and sizes along with an URL entry bar take up valuable real estate on your browser. The browser runs noticeably slower – and the results look different. Most annoying is that the advertising becomes more prominent.

Our free utility gets rid of annoying toolbars and restores hijacked searches.

Over the past two years, Avast Browser Cleanup has identified more than 60 million different browser add-ons which are often bundled with other free software, such as video players, Java and Flash updates. These toolbars typically occupy the horizontal space below a user’s browser and can include buttons, icons, and menus. Despite removing and re-installing a browser, toolbars will often remain, which is a behavior similar to malware.

 “We’ve entered the decade of unwanted add-ons — Google is now cracking down and removing ad-injecting toolbars from its Chrome store. Avast detects these toolbars and many more and is focusing on helping users battle browser toolbars that are one of the biggest consumer security outbreaks since spyware,” said Vince Steckler, Chief Executive Officer of Avast.

While not malicious per se, browser add-ons that come as toolbars can hijack and switch a user’s search preferences and can be extremely difficult to remove once installed. Avast Browser Cleanup removes these unwanted toolbars from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer and lets users restore their search engine preference. Previously available as a feature in Avast Free Antivirus, Avast Browser Cleanup has now been made available as a new, free stand-alone product.

The new version of Avast Browser Cleanup includes improved browser compatibility, support of the latest browsers, more homepages to choose from when resetting the browser, and more aggressive detection of toolbar protectors that make removal difficult. Additionally, Avast Browser Cleanup now runs in the background, notifying the user when it detects a potentially unwanted or malicious toolbar.

Are you an Avast user? You already have Avast Browser Cleanup.

Avast Browser Cleanup is integrated in all Avast antivirus security products, including the free version.

Use another antivirus product? You can use stand-alone Avast Browser Cleanup.

If you don’t use Avast as your antivirus protection, Avast Browser Cleanup can be downloaded as a free stand-alone software.