We have launched Avira Prime, the industry’s first all-in-one subscription service that provides you with convenient, no-obligation coverage for all of your online security, privacy, and performance needs. The Prime range of solutions cover the major operating systems for today’s growing portfolios of online devices, whether they run on Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android. With […]
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Every year before the biggest consumer holidays: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, technology blogs rush to create lists with the hottest gadgets and the best deals to watch for. The end of 2016 was no exception, only this year, everything on those lists seemed to have “Smart” attached to it – thermostats, vacuum cleaners, security cameras, voice control virtual assistants, lights, doorbells, TVs – all “Smart”.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the market for smart home devices is estimated to be $83 billion by the end of this year, rising to $195 billion by 2021. Gartner predicts the average family house will contain more than 500 smart devices by 2022. I think it’s safe to say that the smart home devices are here to stay.
While the advantages of having a connected home are clear: Starting your vacuum from miles away or automatically turning on your lights when you arrive home, many people are not aware of security risks that come from welcoming such connected devices into our homes.
The problem is that many of these devices have serious security flaws. A simple Google search on “IoT hack” or “smart device hacks” reveals an unbelievable amount of vulnerable devices and ways to hack them. Problems range from having no traffic encryption, to hidden back doors into the firmware, to “super secure” default username/password combinations such as admin/admin. All these security flaws make it easy for hackers to take control of these devices.
This could translate into more than just someone turning your lights on in the middle of the night. By compromising one device, hackers could get access to your entire network, and by snooping on your internet activity they could get access to personal info such as your bank account, social media profile, emails, or personal photos. Needless to say that that would be a bit more than a mild inconvenience.
So how can you protect your network?
Meet ALLY, a smart and secure router ready for the growing security needs of the connected home. ALLY is developed by Amped Wireless and secured by AVG.
We believe the best way to protect your family and your smart devices is by securing your connected home right at the internet access point, the router. This is why we worked together with Amped Wireless, the leading manufacturer of high power, long range wireless solutions, to provide a router that is both capable of delivering Wi-Fi in every corner of your home and offering great security for all your IoT devices.
Thanks to AVG’s security solution, ALLY can stop threats in their tracks blocking malware links before they even load on your devices.
Having AVG security embedded on the router, you are adding an extra layer of security for all your connected devices. This is especially important for those vulnerable devices which cannot be protected by an antivirus such as webcams, thermostats, lights, doorbells, …
And there’s even more. Ally also comes with an easy-to-use smartphone app that lets you access useful parental control features such as content blocking, app blocking, scheduled internet curfews, and pausing the internet during family dinners.
Take the first step into protecting your smart home.
ALLY is a product built on Chime
A product which keeps users’ PCs up to date with their critical software for improved experience and protection from vulnerabilities.
AVG PC TuneUp cleans, speeds up, and improves battery life of all Windows®-based PCs and laptops and it’s based on 20 years of solid engineering and experience of getting the best out of PCs. If you are a fan, we’ll show you what’s new for 2017 and give newcomers a rundown of what makes AVG PC TuneUp an essential part of everyone’s PC.
The Big One For 2017: Automatic Software Updater
For this release, we moved beyond speeding and cleaning and looked at some of the core reasons for bugs, crashes and security issues – UPDATES! Since keeping up with updates for all your programs is tedious, it’s no wonder that our research across 116 million users found that 52% of programs are out-of-date on people’s PCs.
That’s why we created our all new Automatic Software Updater, which checks and updates the most popular applications people run on PCs to fix vulnerabilities, solve problems and even add new features to programs like Skype, Chrome or Java.
Here’s what you get with our new Automatic Software Updater
And we’re adding more programs over time, all the time
Which programs do we support?
We’ve made sure that we support the most popular and critical applications, such as:
and more!
Where can I find Automatic Software Updater in TuneUp?
If a program is out of date you’ll find it under the Fix Problems category or you will get a notification on your desktop. Once clicked, you’ll see an entry for a list of outdated programs that you can update manually – or flip a switch and have it be done fully automatically.
IMPROVED: Sleep Mode Tackles Slow PCs
Is your PC sluggish? Tired of battling it to get things done? The new release of AVG PC TuneUp puts speed, battery and network draining programs to sleep to give you that extra performance boost.
The new version of AVG TuneUp comes with a significantly improved Sleep Mode, previously known as Program Deactivator, which stops inactive programs from draining your PC, giving you back that fresh out-of-the-box performance.
Sleep Mode speeds up your PC by stopping programs that you rarely use from quietly draining processor power, such as instant messaging tools, screen capture utilities or driver control panels. And you don’t need to worry about losing access to the programs you love as the Automatic Start-Stop Mode allows any programs that you have deactivated to be reactivated in a single click. When you have finished using them, they are automatically deactivated again.
In this new version for 2017, we have also combined our Startup Manager feature – which detects items that automatically run when you turn your computer on – with Sleep Mode. Sleep Mode now shows a single list of all the applications that are draining your PC’s performance, giving you smarter detection across even more programs.
IMPROVED: Deeper Than Ever Cleaning
Our new Disk Cleaner include significant new and improved cleaning definitions to help remove the wasteful files of 40 additional programs.
We’re also removing 60 types of browser traces from the latest releases of Chrome, Firefox, IE and now Microsoft Edge.
The Top 10 Features & Benefits from PC TuneUp
In a nutshell, AVG PC TuneUp keeps your computer running at peak performance. Get more speed, less crashing, longer battery life and more disk space, whether you choose automatic maintenance or want to take a more hands on approach.
Live Optimization helps keep your PC at top speed. Live Optimization works silently in the background, constantly prioritizing all the applications that are running to increase loading speed and computer performance. For those who want that extra bit of power, Turbo Mode turns off over 70 processes with just one click. In addition to the existing Economy Mode, there’s Flight Mode: both features significantly prolong battery life, which is invaluable when you’re on the go.
And you can easily free up more disk space, thanks to New Disk, Duplicate, and Browser Cleaners. Out of 40 features, these are our top favorite:
AVG PC TuneUp is available standalone or as part of our AVG TuneUp – Unlimited package for $49,49/year, which can be activated on an unlimited amount of devices. It also includes AVG Cleaner for Android PRO and AVG Cleaner for Mac. You can download the 30 day trial here.
It puts unused programs into a smart sleep mode that reduces their draining impact on PC performance, battery life, network and storage to nearly zero. The update also includes a revamped Disk Cleaner which now detects and removes even more leftover and cache files than before.
Get the latest version right here: Click to Download AVG TuneUp with new Sleep mode
Even in 2016, PCs face one stark reality: the more you use them and the more you install on them, the slower they become. That’s because a lot of programs remain active, even when they’re not being used.
Enhanced Sleep Mode – a quick guide
The new version of AVG TuneUp comes with a significantly improved Sleep Mode, which stops inactive programs from draining your PC, giving you back that fresh out-of-the-box performance.
We have combined our Startup Manager feature – which detects items that automatically run when you turn your computer on – with what we used to call Program Deactivator (now known as Sleep Mode). Sleep Mode now shows a single list of all the applications that are draining your PC’s performance, giving you smarter detection across even more programs.
The list shows which applications are draining the most power and with one click, you can select the ones you want to put to sleep. You also have the option to put apps on an ‘Ignore’ list, which is useful for those programs you really want to keep running in the background, such as remote assistance tools or power management apps for laptops. Turning off all other programs running in the background will reduce performance and battery draining; and whenever you need a certain program, AVG TuneUp will turn it back on again as soon as you access it.
The newly enhanced Sleep Mode isn’t the only improvement we’ve made to AVG TuneUp.
Enhanced Disk Cleaner – a quick guide
Most of us will have experienced an issue with disk space. This is often due to applications piling up their leftover cache data, log files, crash reports etc. on your disk. We’ve catered to the latest applications and Windows features to help you to get rid of even more digital junk files on your machine. Here’s what we added to our Enhanced Disk Cleaner:
Our Browser Cleaner also removes even more browsing caches, database leftover files, user caches and traces from Windows 10 Edge, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
…plus a ton of fixes and improvements!
So, what else is new? We’ve looked hard at all your feedback and polished things up. For example, our Live Optimization now smoothly handles whitelisting an application you don’t want de-prioritized. In addition, we’ve revamped our notification system to show you more meaningful messages about our features (such as Program Optimizer, Economy Mode) when you need them.
To check out your new features, launch your AVG TuneUp (it should auto-update) or download AVG TuneUp here.
Avira was the absolute chart-topper in AV Comparatives most recent test on security software and its impact on computer performance.
The post Performance matters: Avira tops AV Comparatives test of performance appeared first on Avira Blog.
A new release of the AVG Cleaner for Android 3 is now out just in time for spring. (Get it or update to the newest version here, if you haven’t already.) Our engineers have been hard at work finding new ways to clean up even more long-forgotten or useless stuff from your phone. Our latest release (3.1.0.1. to be exact) also cleans out WhatsApp photos, screenshots, and huge videos.
We’ll walk you through the three new additions:
Number 1: WhatsApp cleaning
You think that your apps, music, or photos consume all your phone’s storage? Think again. A big hidden memory eater are your messaging apps. All the photos you send and receive in WhatsApp are stored on your phone. Depending on how active you and your friends are, this can quickly get out of hand.
When using WhatApp, you see associated files when you tap on the name of your friend:
In this example, it is just two photos. Now multiply that by every conversation you have had and every photo you have sent or received. AVG Cleaner reveals how quickly it adds up, and lets you just as quickly clean out files replicated from your photo library.
Number 2: screenshots
I don’t think one day of my life goes by without me taking a screenshot of an app or desktop software. Screenshots are now used by almost everyone to create quick reminders, share a message, show someone a snapshot of Facebook, provide guidance on an app – and for lots of other quick and dirty uses.
Unfortunately, these shots don’t delete themselves. They also have a tendency to consume a lot of free space. On my Galaxy S6, the average screenshot of an app (e.g., Facebook or Google Maps) or a game is 1-2 Megabytes. That’s because Android stores these shots in uncompressed PNG format, which sports decent quality but can eat up quite a lot of storage.
Our AVG Cleaner for Android shows you leftover screenshots and – with a tap – helps you get rid of them.
Number 3: huge video
Being more of a tech guy than most, I knew that WhatsApp and screenshots could weigh heavily on my phone. But I completely overlooked large videos that I either took myself or downloaded from the web. I forgot I had almost a gig of these files hidden away when I could’ve used that space for apps or photos that I actually needed.
Our Cleaner takes care of it. It detects and helps you get rid of these huge videos once and for all!
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.
Follow Avast on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ where we keep you updated on cybersecurity news every day.
It’s the start of a New Year, and it’s time to Detox! Try this now: Pick up your phone, open up your photos app, swipe through your gallery and look at how many bad or duplicated photos of your daily lunches, sunsets or the cat sticking its tongue out, you’ve been hoarding over the months, or even years. Surprised by how many there are?
Well, you’ll likely be as shocked at my results: 27 poor selfies; 230 nearly identical shots; 81 blurry images. That’s a total of 3 GB wasted in just 6 months of using my Galaxy S6. And if you’re as lazy as I am about sorting out a messy photo collection on a weekly basis, here’s something for you.
Our own AVG Cleaner for Android has helped millions of users clean up browser traces, hidden temporary app files, forgotten downloads, among other performance tools. But today, we’ve taken a massive leap to focus on one of – if not the – single most storage-hungry type of data: your photos.
Upgrade now to get Smart Photo Cleaner, which scans your entire photo gallery and allows you to identify & clean:
Best of all, Smart Photo Cleaner gets smarter about your choices and will give you more personalized suggestions on which photos to keep or clean up. Keep an eye out for an upcoming post soon, explaining how Smart Photo Cleaner works and how to use it. And that’s not all…
AVG Cleaner has received a major redesign, a term which probably doesn’t do it justice. Let me explain:
See the big fat ANALYZE button in the middle? Hard to miss. One tap on it, and AVG Cleaner will identify all the top resource-draining apps, bad photos, wasteful junk files and battery-draining settings, on one, simple screen – and helps you instantly fix it all. Basically, you get all of AVG Cleaner’s key features on one screen; and as you scroll down, you see all the issues with your device, such as Cache files, history leftovers, low-battery warnings, bad photos or battery-hungry apps:
Tap on one tile to fix these issues. Here’s what’s behind them:
If you’re looking for a quick clean-up of all of your unwanted photos, check out our newly re-launched Cleaner today for free!
We all know that excited feeling when you take your new Android phone out of the box for the first time. The possibilities seem infinite – the battery will last forever, your phone will operate at lightning speed and you’ve never had more space for all your photos and music. But, how long until that hopeful feeling fades? Well, just wait until you’ve installed all your favorite apps. You may see your smartphone or tablet slow down to a virtual crawl in no time at all.
Keen to prevent this? In our global AVG Android App Report (Q2 2015), we’ve again, identified the top 10 apps that drain your battery, clog your storage and use up most of your mobile data. 
What are the top app sinners?
These were just some of the highlights that stood out to us. Our top 10 resource-draining apps should give you even more insight into what apps make your phone or tablet slow to a crawl. We’ve divided our top list into apps that you run by yourself, and those that run quietly in the background, which you may not even know about:
Read the entire App Report here.
So what can you do about it?
Now that you know about the top apps, what’s left for you to do? Stay tuned for our next blog on the top tips to optimize your smartphone and tablet.
I am delighted that that we have released our updated Protection and Performance products and suites – consciously timed with the inauguration of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Introduced in the US by President Obama, National Cyber Security Awareness Month was conceived to raise awareness and education about cybersecurity, and help citizens protect the nation in the event of a cyber-incident. Throughout October, companies and organizations will be holding conversations, hosting events and taking part in Summits as they look to educate us to “Stop. Think. Connect”.
AVG fully supports this initiative, and is involved in a number of similar, designated days and months throughout the year, such as European Cyber Security Month, which aim to further security education. As we increasingly live our lives online, and the everyday devices in our homes become connected, cybersecurity has rapidly become a personal issue as well as a one of global importance. Most of us now own multiple devices and use apps for everything we do; but our growing dependency on technology, while simple to use, they bring high levels of complexity; and all too often, security and privacy become an afterthought. One of AVG’s goals is to take the complexity of your everyday, online environment and simplify it, making it as easy as possible for you to secure and manage you and your families’ digital lives and keep them protected.
The digital landscape is always evolving, and so too, must the products you use to protect yourself. The latest release of AVG’s protection products and suites are now auto-updated on a continual basis, so users will always have the latest features and capabilities without any required action on their part, removing the need for you to accept or search for an upgrades.
The new release adds significant protection capabilities, including Real-Time Cloud Detection, AI Detection and Improved Malware Detection, are also focused on real-time protection – ensuring customers are always secured against the latest threats.
These product releases continue to underscore our leadership in online security and commitment to protecting devices, data and people, at home and at work – in the August test results from AV-Test, AVG Internet Security scored 100% for both real-time and wide spread malware detection. Make sure to check back here on our blog, AVG Now, throughout the month, to hear more product and service news, and to read some of our top cybersecurity tips.
You can find out more about the latest AVG Performance and Protection products here: http://now.avg.com/avg-new-protection-performance-press-kit/
