Tag Archives: Sandro Villinger

AVG

AVG TuneUp’s New Deep Sleep Mode Tackles Slow PCs

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Are you tired of a sluggish PC? The new release of AVG PC TuneUp puts speed, battery & network draining programs to sleep to give you that extra performance boost.

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.

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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.

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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:

  • Added cleaning for new Microsoft Office versions
  • Cleans wasteful Windows Defender leftover files
  • Clears the Windows 10 settings sync cache
  • Clears the Windows font cache
  • Clears the Windows Search cache
  • Clears the SnagIt thumbnail cache
  • Removes log files from Evernote
  • Removes list of recent files from MPC-HC (Media Player Classic)
  • Removes list of recent files from Notepad++
  • …and much more!

 

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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.

AVG

5 Smartphone & App Trends That Will Blow Your Mind

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Our latest AVG App & Trends Report unearthed surprising trends, about apps’ rise and fall—and their troubling tendency to suck phone life. Here we are pulling back the curtain …

For the full report, check out our AVG App Performance & Trends Report (H1 2016).

I live in my own tech bubble. I work in the performance division of a world class online security firm, so most of my colleagues get the latest apps, phones, and PCs. Many of my friends are also tech enthusiasts, always trying the newest and shiniest devices.

But step outside those spheres, and things change. There is a whole other reality out there. My family and wider circle of friends, people on the streets and trains, and people in other countries often don’t care about owning the latest tech or the newest app. That’s the real world. And I have once again been blown away by our AVG App Report and what people really do on their phones …

Without further ado, here’s the top trends that made me raise an eyebrow and mutter “Fascinating!”

 

Number 1: No, not everyone owns a Samsung Galaxy S7

Sure, I don’t expect everyone on earth to have the most expensive and up-to-date Android on the market. But finding out that phones from 2012 and 2013 are still alive and kicking is startling.

Number one on the list is the Galaxy Note II, a phone that came out in September of 2012 – almost four years ago. Then came the S4 Mini, a still super popular phone from early 2013 that apparently just won’t die off. With limited storage, old Android 4.x versions, and slowly dying batteries, their owners must be feeling the age when going about their daily tasks and using newer apps.

Though Samsung obviously completely dominates the Android smartphone space, it is not alone. Sony nabbed two spots in the top ten (The Xperia Z3 Compact and Z2 LTE A) and more than 10% of the roughly 20 million devices we logged anonymously that quarter.

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Number 2: The Top 50 Most Commonly Used Android Apps are from Google

Google dominates the mobile OS world. No doubt about that. But Google also dominates its own world. The top most used apps on Android are Google Play Store, Google Plus, Google Quick Search Box, YouTube (yup, that’s Google), Google Chrome, Google Maps, and Google Hangouts. Only Facebook and the pre-installed Samsung Push Service made it into the top 10.

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Number 3: Many Apps Are Just Websites-turned-into-apps

The top 50 also includes a lot of websites-turned-into-apps, like Facebook, Tripadvisor, and eBay. The trend is double-edged unfortunately: It’s app makers continuing to push users to their mobile app, sometimes very aggressively in the case of Tripadvisor, as almost every step on their mobile website www.tripadvisor.com leads to a “recommendation” to use their apps.

On the one hand, these apps generally offer a more pleasant experience, with nicer animations, more features, and often a better look and feel. On the other hand, many of them also register themselves as startup applications and constantly check for updates and notifications in the background. This drains power and bandwidth.

If your phone doesn’t make it to the end of the day, try one thing: Uninstall all these apps and try opening up www.facebook.com, ebay.com, tripadvisor.com (and all the other apps that you’ve got that are available online) on your mobile browser. The ‘manual’ approach is likely going to save you a lot of battery life going forward.

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Number 4: Mighty No. 33

Another example of the “real world” bursting my tech bubble: I thought everyone except myself downloads and uses hundreds of apps. It appears both the real world and myself have something in common. I only have a total of 29 apps on my phone that I use more or less regularly, which is slightly less than average. Our anonymized data shows that users have an average of 33 apps installed. (I guess I should up my game as an enthusiast)

 

Number 5: Miitomo predicting Pokémon Go’s future?

Just recently, Nintendo had to announce that it’s massive Pokémon Go success will only have a limited impact on their revenue numbers, as most of the cash flow goes to Niantic, the company behind Pokemon (Nintendo owns only 13% of the Pokémon Go app). So while they don’t get as much as you might think they do get a boost.

But will it last? Is Pokémon just another typical app fad that goes wild and dies off? (Anyone still playing Angry Birds?)

Nintendo was in a similar situation with its first real app, Nintendo Miitomo, which let you chat with friends as Mii characters using a cool, fun environment. After launch, it died off quickly, as we anonymously logged over 127.000 installs in March – to only 17k in May. So Nintendo can’t just rely upon Pokémon Go to secure their future, but might need something that belongs to them and that reinvigorates the gaming market long-term….

AVG

One Hardcore Gamer’s Take on Pokemon Go

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An inside look into how Nintendo’s popular mobile game is bridging generational gaps and keeping you outside through the lens of one avid gamer. This piece originally appeared on GamesBeat.

All technical woes aside, Pokémon Go—which I’ve been playing nonstop since its release now—is a lot of fun. While it may not offer the complex gameplay, storytelling, or character development the past decade of Hollywood-standard video games has delivered, it’s engrossing — and its astronomic growth is a phenomenon.

Which got me thinking … what does account for the appeal? As a way to come up with an answer, I’ve made these four observations, which are as much about human nature as they are about gaming culture.

1. It’s just like that one Star Trek: The Next Generation episode

Pokémon Go has been compared to The Matrix, Ready Player One, and just about every other dystopia where technology controls humans. But while Pokémon Go arguably is an addictive worldwide phenomenon whose ultimate reach is yet to be determined … wait, am I talking myself out of my own conclusion that it’s not actually dangerous to society? OK, it’s not, seriously. It does, however, remind me to an eerie degree of “The Game” episode of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. In “The Game,” the crew of the Enterprise became obsessed with an augmented reality game in which the object is to throw a flat plate (Pokéball, anyone?) into a cone (Do I hear Pokémon?) in order to score and move to the next level.

Apparently I’m in good company, because Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in that episode and later saved the Enterprise, even Tweeted about it.

The verdict: While Pokémon Go doesn’t (yet) seem to psychologically manipulate people, it is, for better or worse, mesmerizing. And people love to be mesmerized.

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2. I want it to keep getting better

Nintendo was once known for stellar gameplay and mechanics, but it’s been struggling to keep up with Sony and Microsoft in the marketplace. Niantic’s Pokémon Go is the first hit associated with the Nintendo brand in quite a while. As someone who grew up with Nintendo games, I hope they can turn this into a comeback and that the excitement around Pokémon Go can catapult them back to their former glory. Nintendo needs to take Niantic’s start and increase the depth, interaction, and engagement. Right now it’s simple—catch, level, feed, fight, train. Lather, rinse, repeat. Even casual gamers need more.

The Verdict: I guarantee I’m not alone in hoping Pokémon Go sticks around and gets more challenging, which just shows that people love a success story, especially when whoever’s being successful is somewhat of an underdog.

3. It bridges generation gaps

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I never expected that playing Pokémon Go would bring me closer to generations I must admit I barely knew—or thought I could know.

Pokémon Go has connected me with people—while grocery shopping, going for my morning run, or just walking down the street. Within the first three days I was stopped by kids less than half my age and a couple more than twice my age.

On day 2, I noticed several tweens in the grocery store pointing at me, whispering, “Look at him. …” I turned to them, held up my phone, and asked, “Pokémon?” Nods, and big smiles. Nearly 30 minutes later, while hanging out at the cheese counter where they’d caught a monster, we’d talked about smartphones, gaming, school, grades, friends, sports … and I got an all-too-rare glimpse into what it’s like to be a kid in 2016.

Day 3 brought me face-to-face with an elderly couple who wondered, as they saw me stop and hold up my phone during a run through the forest, what I was taking a photo of. I told them what I was up to, and they were in awe of today’s technology. This, too, became a conversation about how maybe they needed phones, about where they’d grown up, their family, their work, their life.

All the scary stories about people being injured or lured to harm by strangers while playing Pokémon Go, while true, likely don’t happen nearly as often as the sort of positive experiences I had with people in my own community—people I probably never would have talked to, were it not for Pokémon Go.

The verdict: People want to connect, and it’s amazing how the shared experience of a cultural phenomenon like a game—or a movie, or a book, or a TV show—can forge common ground among people who otherwise couldn’t be more different. And the more we have these experiences, the more open we are to recreating them.

4. It makes you go outside

Truth be told, this aspect of Pokémon Go does make me feel a bit uneasy: while the game’s become mainstream in a very short time and is all over the news, you can’t expect every last person on earth to know what it is or how it’s played. Which could explain the suspicious looks I’ve gotten while wandering around my quiet family neighborhood. While nothing bad came of any neighbors’ quizzical looks, I’m sure there were moments of confused uneasiness, and if you’re going to play, you’re wise to consider your surroundings and be conscious of people’s  privacy. And if you get “those” looks, explain it (or invite them to play, it could turn out well!—see observation 3).

But you can’t discount the really wonderful opportunity to explore areas near your home, work, or school that you may never have seen. I took it on my morning run (which usually follows the same route) and ended up going down beautiful forests paths I’d never seen and through neighborhoods I’d never been to. You’re essentially combining exercise, exploration, and gaming—which until now never really went together that well.

The verdict: While I am a bit torn about the overall benefits of Pokémon Go’s ability to bring you together with new people and new aspects of your everyday world (see: potentially freaking out the neighbors), there’s no doubt that its forcing players to go beyond routine is a big part of its appeal. People love adventure.

My verdict

Pokémon Go promotes exercise and getting outdoors … but it makes you look at your phone even more than you probably already do. And some of the things that account for its appeal—the fact that it’s somewhat mesmerizing—also have a flip side, in this case overly repetitive gameplay. You should play it, too, see for yourself, see if the appeal is well-founded, see if its current cult status is likely to last.

While I’ve noticed my interest waning (I spent hours on end in week 1 catching dozens of Pokémons and now use it only 15-30 minutes a day in week 2), I’m not sure yet if I’m getting tired of it overall, or if there’s going to be a “second wave” of excitement.

What’s your verdict?

AVG

What’s Killing Your Phone’s Performance? Probably 1 (or More) of These 20 Apps

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Have unlimited storage, data, battery? Then resume cat videos. But if you get “storage full” messages just before your kid’s solo or a smartphone that dies before lunch, read on.

If you feel like your phone poops out every time you really need it, don’t worry—it’s not you.

We hate to break it to you, but … It’s your apps.

We know, you love them. But it might be time to … take a break, from at least a few.

How can you know, though, which ones are sucking your battery life at the speed of light, devouring your bandwidth, and hogging every inch of space on your Android? AVG’s latest Android App Performance & Trend Report lines up the worst of the worst … and points out who’s cleaned up their act.

By analyzing anonymized data from 3 million AVG AntiVirus for Android users, we’ve done the hard work for you, and now all you need to do to get the most from your phone’s resources is compare your app roster to the lists below (Get the full report).

Top 10 user-run performance-draining apps

This rogues’ gallery highlights those which overall have the highest impact, meaning a combination of all 3 factors: battery life, data use, and storage.

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Notice anything? Spotify, Snapchat, and Outlook, apps that millions of people likely use every day, are in top spots. If you’re nowhere near a power outlet, our advice is simple: avoid using these apps for long periods of time. I myself notice that if I’m using Spotify, in particular, while browsing the web and checking email, that my Android barely makes it though a half-day before shutting down.

Snapchat’s top position was also no surprise. What was surprising was our discovery, during testing, that though the app appears to remove images and videos from conversations, Snapchat actually cached quite a few files. YouTube was also guilty of this, reaching 270 MB just after a couple of days.

Top 10 performance-draining apps that run at start-up

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Tops spots are held by Facebook and Facebook Messenger, because they continuously check for updates and send notifications. Our advice: Uninstall Facebook apps and use your browser and the web version (www.facebook.com), instead. You may notice that manually checking your feed only when you need to can make all the difference … and not leave you with a useless phone.

The last word … for now

It’s almost funny how the performance of our pocket-sized smartphones has exceeded that of PCs considered high-end just 5 years ago. Yet we’re still bound by 16 and 32 GB built-in storage, data caps, and battery technology that hasn’t improved in ages. Until the smartphone world resolves these issues, we’ll keep on keeping you informed about how you can get the most from your devices, without missing out on what’s so vital (and fun!) about them in the first place.

 

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AVG

The Top 5 Pokémon Go Woes … and How to Defeat Them

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Are you in danger of not reaching your full monster-snaring potential because of technical glitches? Never fear, fair gamer. I’ve battled the worst problems for you and bring you solutions.

 

While Pokémon Go is clearly a huge (and well deserved) success for Nintendo (and app maker Niantic), with well-thought-out gameplay mechanics, the experience isn’t as smooth as it is with many other Nintendo titles. Users have been complaining of outages, crashes, and frozen screens.

But never fear—you’re not alone. I, too, have encountered Pokémon Woes, and here’s how I fixed them.

1 – “No internet connectivity.”

 

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You can’t play if you’re not connected. Simple as that. So what’s happening when you get this message? Chances are, Niantic’s servers are at that moment literally being overrun by the millions of users worldwide. With the game’s daily use starting to exceed Tinder’s and Twitter’s (in the US … so far!), no wonder Niantic’s struggling to meet these monstrous traffic demands.

Usually when you get the above message, you just have to wait it out. But you may also have luck with closing and reopening the app. It worked for me many times (I’m not known for my patience). Easy as that.

And if you’re having connection problems while catching a Pokémon, try turning WiFi (or 3G/4G/LTE) off and on again—also worked for me, more than once.

 

2 – “Lost GPS connectivity.”

I literally see this message every hour I play. Again, closing and reopening the app or turning GPS off and on again works wonders. In some cases, a little waiting helps, too, as the GPS problem may disappear on its own.

 

3 – FREEZE!

The game has frozen on me several times, in particular right after I’ve caught a monster. This is especially troubling, since my first thought was, “Wait, did I not actually catch that Pokémon???” But not to worry. Simply restart the app and check your journal. In every case where the game froze on me, once I restarted, I found that the game’s state was successfully saved. Whew!

4 – “Server unavailable. Please try again later.”

If you get this message when your connection is 100% working, then turn off your phone’s GPS, and then try logging in to Pokémon Go. After the game has loaded, turn GPS back on, which should fix the issue.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. Android: Swipe down from the top to get quick actions and notification bar. Tap on Location to turn it off (and later on again).
  2. iOS: Go to Settings, Privacy, Location Services and switch to Off.

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5 – Missing or incorrect map data

If your avatar is constantly in the middle of nowhere, or streets are displaying as … streets, then you should either delete the app or its cache.

HOW TO DO IT (FOR ANDROID)

  1. Open AVG Cleaner for Android (no worries, it’s free!) and go to Cache.
  2. Tap the CLEAR ALL CACHE
  3. Restart the app!

If that doesn’t work, or if you’re on iOS, uninstall the app, then download it again from Google Play or the App Store to get rid of all leftover (and potentially corrupt) data.

What’s your worst app issue? How’d you fix it? Let us know in the comments!

AVG

Want to More than Double Your Battery Life for Playing Pokémon Go?

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Pokémon GO is killing smartphones in less than 3 hours. Check out our in-depth app analysis of the phenomenon and 7 battery-boosting secrets to keep on hunting on the go.

Even compared to social or streaming apps like Facebook and Spotify, games are the real phone battery vampires (see our latest “AVG App Performance and Trends Report” for the top 10 ‘resource hogs’). And an augmented reality (AR) game like Pokémon Go makes even other game apps seem downright generous, as it constantly and simultaneously requires your phone to

  • Share location via GPS
  • Keep the screen fully lit
  • Operate the camera
  • Play sounds through the speakers, and
  • Render 3D graphics.

Whew. The result? When I played Pokémon Go on my morning run, my battery went from 100% to 50% in less than 90 minutes.

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“This has got to be the single most battery-hungry app I’ve ever used,” I thought. Being a data-driven guy, as well as a hardcore gamer (PC and console gaming more than mobile, though—more about that in a future post!), I immediately tested my theory and discovered that, if you’re nonstop seeking, catching, and levelling Pokémon, then your …

  • iPhone 6S Plus battery will go from from 100% to 0% in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 will survive Pokémon Go fever only an additional half-hour, lasting 2 hours and 40 Minutes before the screen goes dark.

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Enough! I refused to let battery issues get in the way of my mastering the game (full disclosure, I’m so far only at level 15 with about 200 Pokémons collected, but I am full-on obsessed). I proceeded to systematically try every battery-saving technique I know (plus a battery-saving Android app), and turns out the effort was worth it.

AND THE RESULT? The following tweaks made my phone battery last more than 5 hours during gameplay. That’s a 123% increase. Which could mean … 123% more Pokémons. 

(And so you know my outcomes weren’t a fluke, I repeated each test 3 times and averaged the results, for accurate data. I’m nothing if not thorough.)

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1 – Use built-in Pokémon Go battery saver instead of reducing screen brightness (Android + iOS)

There’s no lack of quick online tips for boosting battery life when playing Pokémon Go, and most involve reducing screen brightness. Sure, it allows you to play longer, do you really think this is an enjoyable way to play?

 

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Reducing brightness increases reflections, particularly in direct sunlight (and, um, a whole lot of the fun of Pokémon Go involves running around outside—notice they didn’t release the game in the middle of winter). Sure, this might be tolerable at night or indoors, but to really enjoy such a fun, colorful game, you’ll want to keep the brightness above 75%.

So instead of dimming, activate Pokémon Go’s built-in battery saver and keep the brightness near maximum. When you put your phone in your pocket or hold it upside down, the built-in battery saver will automatically make the screen go dark.

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HOW TO DO IT

  1. Tap on the Pokéball icon
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Tap on Battery Saver

In battery saver mode, you remain logged in to the game and can hear sounds or feel vibration when Pokémons are nearby, without the massive power drain. While you’re at it, you can also turn off music or sound effects, which also has a slight effect on battery life. Just don’t turn off vibration, otherwise you won’t know when one of the pocket monsters is nearby, wanting to be caught!

2 – Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi (or 3G/4G)

The game requires a nonstop data connection and a GPS signal. So if you’re at home, don’t use your 4G/LTE connection, which is one of the heaviest resource drainers you’ve got.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. iOS: Go to Settings, Cellular and switch off Cellular Data
  2. Android: Swipe down to bring up the quick actions and notifications center, turn off Mobile Data

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If you absolutely need your mobile data connection (if you’re out and about), use a 3G connection, which often uses less battery than does 4G/LTE. The rule here is … there is no rule yet, you’ll need to test this a bit for yourself.

While 4G/LTE chips have become more efficient, in some rural areas with spotty connections you might end up draining the battery more quickly than when you’re using a solid 3G connection—or vice versa! Fortunately, Pokémon Go doesn’t drain a ton of data. During my 24 hours of nonstop testing, playing used only 4.2 MB on my iPhone and 5.9 MB on my Galaxy S6.

However, while this isn’t a lot of data, the game does transfer a lot of small data packets back and forth, preventing your 3G/4G/LTE chip from going to sleep, meaning it consumes more than it should.  If you’re on the go, you should also make sure that WiFi and Bluetooth are turned off, to give a little more edge to your battery life.

 

3 – Use iOS and Android’s battery saver

Both iOS and Android offer built-in battery savers that, for example, throttle your phone’s performance a bit, use a more energy-efficient display color temperature, and reduce background app activities to a bare minimum.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. iOS: Settings, Battery and Low Power Mode
  2. Android: Settings, Battery and Power saving mode (flip the switch)

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4 – Don’t use any unnecessary resource-eating apps

As our regular AVG App Performance and Trends  report has shown, background apps can kill your smartphone’s battery even if you’re not using them actively.

To prevent that from raining on your Pokémon Go parade, turn off background activities and notifications for all apps you don’t need (in addition to the power savers, which limit most, but not all background activities). By doing so, your phone will spend less battery life checking for and displaying app notifications.

HOW TO DO IT

  1. On both Android and iOS, you’ll find the notification settings under Settings and Notifications
  2. Flip the switch for all apps whose alerts you can do without

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5 – Use a dedicated battery booster (Android only)

To save even more battery life for Pokémon Go, I’ve also used our own AVG Cleaner for Android 3.3, which comes with dedicated battery profiles and even more settings to save battery life when you really need it (for example, when you’re trying to level up Pidgeotto).

HOW TO DO IT

  1. Download the free app, open it and tap on Battery.
  2. Now you have multiple choices …
    1. Go to Choose Manual Settings and turn off battery-draining functionality like WiFi, Bluetooth, Brightness, Screen rotation and Auto sync data.
    2. Select Home profile when you’re playing at home and Car profile when you’re out and about. Quickly switching between them helps squeeze even more juice from your phone’s battery.
  3. Bonus tip: After you’ve used it for a day or two, AVG Cleaner for Android will automatically show you your phone’s top battery-drainers, so you know which apps to avoid, stop, or even uninstall when playing Pokémon Go.
    1. Open the app and tap on Analyze. Scroll down to the Battery-Hungry apps section and Force Stop or Uninstall what you don’t need. For a full list, go back to the main menu of AVG Cleaner and tap on Battery.

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6 – Don’t zoom, don’t rotate, use less AR

One of the biggest drains on your phone’s battery is the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), which is responsible for all the nifty 3D rendering in games, websites, videos and, well, everything you see on your display. Since 3D animations cost a lot of cycles, keep the rotation and zooming on the Pokémon Go map to an absolute minimum.

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Also, when catching a Pokémon, turn off the AR (camera) feature if you’re running low on battery, by flipping the switch in the lower right corner. Instead of the camera picture (which drains more battery), you’ll see a static landscape that’s a bit more power-saving.

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7 – Or … give up and get a battery pack!

For my longer trips overseas I usually bring an external battery to keep my phones and laptops charged (not all airlines have gotten the message that people might appreciate a power plug on every seat). And while you don’t necessarily need a brick like this …

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… any battery pack that’ll charge up your phone at least twice should be good to satisfy your daily monster-catching needs.

Did it Work?

Let’s turn it over to you: Did our tips help you get through the day when playing Pokémon Go? Got more tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

AVG

7 Secrets in the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition

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In this blog, we’ll guide you through seven new and hidden things in the upcoming Windows 10 release so you’re fully prepared for what’s about to come to your PC.

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update comes out in July 2016.  This is both good and bad news for you.

Let’s do the bad news first: On July 29th, Windows 10 will no longer be available as a free upgrade. You will only be able to purchase it as a standalone item (or via the purchase of a new PC or laptop). So if you haven’t got it already, you better act quick and make sure you’ve reserved your free upgrade for all your Windows 7 and 8.1 devices.

The good news: Windows 10 Anniversary Update is more than your traditional Service Pack. Its slightly updated look combines more performance tools, bug fixes, and features than any other update that has come before. Free of charge.

In this blog, we’ll guide you through seven new and hidden things in the upcoming Windows 10 release so you’re prepared for what’s coming to your PC. Note that most of this is already visible if you’re running Windows 10 Insider Build.

  1. Restarting The Start Button…again?

I can still hear the outcries when Microsoft introduced the Start screen in Windows 8, a full-screen cluster of tiles and that infamously removed the classic Start button and menu combination. Sure enough, they backpedaled with their “Big 10” last year and reintroduced the start menu, much to everyone’s satisfaction. But apparently Microsoft still isn’t quite happy with the Start menu, so they’ve been tweaking things.

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The three entries All Apps, Power, and Settings have now been reduced to icons – that will make it a bit tougher for beginners to find these. But it leaves more space for the list of apps and your tiles. Also new are interactive tiles. For example, the map tile will not just show you information but also let you interact with it. This is nothing revolutionary, but nice tweaks going forward.

  1. Information Overload: The New Notification Center

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Clicking on the little speech bubble in the lower right corner will reveal a drastically updated notification center, which you can use to pin sticky notes, quickly sketch something, get access to apps you most recently used, and customize quick-action buttons, also in the lower right corner:

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Going forward, this area will also link to your phone to display notifications such as incoming text messages that you can reply to from your PC. Microsoft’s new browser (“Edge”) will show notifications, so you can stay up-to-date on news from your favorite websites. Upcoming calendar appointments will also make an appearance to give you a quick-glance look at what’s happening.

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  1. Dark Mode

For those dark souls among us: Microsoft has gone “cool”, with a Windows 10 Dark Mode, which “paints” all third-party apps and certain parts of the Windows user interface black. This won’t just look a bit sleeker (to some), but it will also match the color schemes used by many applications (such as our own AVG products or Adobe’s Creative Suite) quite nicely. At the same time, it draws attention to the center of the screen and not Windows itself:

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Once you have Windows 10 installed, simply head over to the Personalization category in your Windows Settings app and click on Dark!

  1. Linux + Windows = Bash!

For all those (super) tech geeks among you, the new Bash shell integrates a complete Linux command line into Windows. However, it’s not a full blown Linux virtual machine. Rather, it is simply a developer toolset that integrates some useful Linux commands and environments into Windows. All you coders out there using both Windows and Linux developing tools, head on over to Microsoft’s Scott Hanselmann for more information.

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(Credit: Microsoft)

  1. On the bleeding Edge

Windows 10’s default browser, Edge, is also getting some welcome improvements that might just make me switch from Chrome or IE. First of all, Edge is being opened to long-awaited plug-ins (extensions), with some software makers getting an (invitation only) head start. Once the Windows 10 Anniversary Update rolls out, we will see what these add-ins are capable of. Many of you can’t live without plug-ins like LastPass in your browser – so it’ll be exciting to see if such plug-ins boost Edge adoption.

Plus, here’s another benefit close to my heart: Edge will pause Adobe Flash content that’s not critical to a website you’re looking at, putting a stop to nonsense advertising or animation that’s slows down your PC’s performance and shortens battery life.

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Also new in Edge are Tab previews that give you a peek at websites loaded in the background without you having to look away from your current page.

  1. Battery Saver 2.0

If you’re out and about, the new battery saver in Windows 10 will give you a sneak peek into which apps or traditional Windows programs are draining your battery.

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To help boost battery life, you can put Windows Apps to sleep using Windows’ own Battery Saver. You’ll find that in the new Windows Settings app under Devices and Battery.  (To get even more life from your battery, we suggest using our own AVG Performance in Economy Mode.)

  1. Smarter Cortana

Voice assistant Cortana is getting a major overhaul in Windows 10 Anniversary Update. What was once very limited to local files and online (Bing) search results will now be tied deeply to your default Windows, email, calendar, and Office applications. This will give you more contextual voice commands, such as “Send Joe the Word file I worked on an hour ago”. It will also give software developers the ability to integrate Cortana into their own apps. That would, for example, give you the opportunity to order a pizza via a simple voice command on your PC. Neat. Even in the currently available Windows Insider preview, Cortana works quite well on the desktop. A simple voice command (“Give me directions to Monaco!”) showed me this:

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In less than a second.

These are my seven highlights for Windows 10. Again, make sure you’re making good use of the free Windows 10 upgrade offer while it’s still available, and have fun checking out the new stuff as it’s rolled out in July or August.

AVG

5 Great Ways To Reduce Mobile Data Usage

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Most mobile data plans aren’t unlimited: If you’re constantly hitting your provider’s data limit, these insights & tips will help you greatly reduce your 3G/4G traffic usage on the go.
If you’re not on an unlimited 4G data plan, hitting those 500 MB, 1 GB, or 5 GB limits isn’t hard. I did a test with some typical on-the-go tasks to see how much traffic went through the airwaves:
–    60-minute music streaming while driving (high quality, Spotify): 101.2 MB
–    45 Minutes of Netflix at night (HD): 471 MB
–    30 minutes of YouTube during lunch breaks (480p, medium quality): 113 MB
–    15 content heavy websites throughout the day: 27 MB
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All of these seemingly trivial activities amounted to 712 MB. Sure, Netflix isn’t something most people stream every day through their mobile service. But it’s not uncommon to watch a TV show on the train or the bus once in a while. Nor is browsing the web or listening to Spotify.
That’s why hitting the data limit of 1 GB, 2 GB, or 5 GB (depending on your plan) is relatively easy if you’re not on Wi-Fi at work or at home. Once that happens, your provider will likely throttle you back to 1997 web speeds (mostly 64kb/s or a limited EDGE rate).
Here are some things you can do to limit your mobile traffic and understand why you hit that mobile limit.
#1 – Pick the right plan!
As the tech guy among friends and family, one of the most common questions I get is “What plan do I pick? The more expensive Unlimited option at $70? Or the 1 GB for $19 or the 5 GB for $39?”
Well, it’s not an easy answer, as it depends on how much you want to do online. My advice is to spend half an hour using a data estimator tool. One example is Wirefly’s Data Plan Estimator: http://www.wirefly.com/content/phone-data-plan-information. There are others out there, but this one does a decent job and is accurate.

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Pick your plan based on the estimated monthly usage, add another 1-2 GB as a buffer, and you’ll be worry-free.

#2 – Limit your mobile usage and set yourself a warning
Android devices give you a built-in mechanism that allows you to automatically turn off mobile data when you reach a certain limit. It also gives you a warning once you hit a certain threshold. This is easy to set up. Go into Settings, tap on Data Usage, and move the sliders to your personal limit:

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Flip the switch under Set mobile data limit.

#3 – Identify & stop the top traffic hogs
If you’re hitting your plan’s limit all too often, it’s high time you check which apps are actually responsible for this unnecessary drain. Some may be obvious and caused by your usage (e.g., if you stream Netflix all night, you will eventually hit the limit); others you may not be aware of.
Here’s where our free AVG Cleaner for Android comes in. Download it and let it analyze your apps behavior for a couple of days or a week. The APPS category shows the top Apps by usage; I was very surprised by which apps used up traffic over just two days.

 

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Oddly enough, I didn’t play Crossy Roads and I certainly did not download anything from TubeMate. These are the cases where you need to open the app and try to figure out how to stop this secret consumption – or delete the app if you don’t need it anymore!

#4 – Navigate offline
Google Maps is probably my go-to tool to navigate when I’m on the road. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s not surprising to see it consume a couple of hundred megs if you’re using it heavily, as map data can be quite large (see below). Luckily, Google Maps allows you to store map data completely offline, which is not just brilliant for reducing data traffic but also for situations when data navigation is unavailable.
Here’s how easy it works. Launch Google Maps and tap on the little three lines in the top left corner:

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Tap on Offline Areas, hit the PLUS button and then select the area you’d like to use offline. This includes all POIs, all streets, everything.

#5 – Prevent auto-download of messenger photos & MMS
Using WhatsApp or other instant messaging apps? Well, if you’re like me, you’ll likely get auto-dragged into the oddest group chats and be the victim of countless of animated GIFs, photos, and videos. If you’re on 3G or 4G, turn them off to save some bandwidth.
In fact, we recommend turning off the auto-download feature completely, even on Wi-Fi, as a security measure. If you’re running older versions of Android that haven’t been patched for the Stagefright vulnerability, this auto-downloading feature can put you at risk.
But don’t worry, you won’t miss any messages. Turning these settings off just puts you in charge of deciding what gets downloaded onto your device. Look in the Settings of any messaging app to disable the auto-downloading feature. If your messaging app doesn’t have that control, we suggest getting a new one.

#6 – Use compression in your browser
Most mobile browsers, such as Chrome or Opera, now sport compression features. Data will get rerouted through servers (e.g., Google’s), compressed, and then sent to you. You will notice that, for example, photos may look slightly fuzzier as JPGs as they will be compressed just a tad more. To turn it on, open your browser (Chrome in our example), and tap on Settings. Go to Data Saver and switch it on. The graph below shows that a single visit to The Verge that includes browsing a few pages resulted in a 10% data savings. Not bad!

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There is a dark side to compression you need to be aware of. It also transfers your browsing history to whatever server is doing the compression and also disables any ad blocking.

AVG

5 Smartphone Battery Myths Put to The Test

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Battery life and proper charging is a science in and of itself, with lots of misinformation out there:  This myth buster helps you treat your smartphone’s battery the right way.

It’s still the number one woe of smartphone users: battery life. Even high-end phones (or laptops for that matter) are still based on technology that hasn’t seen much improvement in decades. That’s why hundreds of articles on “Great Ways To Make Your Battery Live Longer” pepper every corner of the interwebs. But which of the most commonly reported tips are true and which are snake oil?

Let’s find out!

#1 – Completely drain your battery to extend its life

Probably one of the worst battery myths out there applies only if you’re using an 80s or 90s nickel-cadmium battery in your … uhm … 1993 Sony camcorder or Sega GameGear. The ancient rule states that you have to completely drain your battery to 0% before recharging, otherwise the “memory effect” will settle in and reduce your battery life. Well, let’s turn to the truth. Today’s Li-Ion batteries aren’t affected by this rule and don’t “forget” their full capacity just because you plug in your phone at 30%, 50%, or even 97%. If that myth was still true today, both my one-year-old Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6S would probably die in minutes, as I pick them up from their charging cradles about 50 times per day to browse the web, take calls (which can last hours), or watch clips on YouTube.

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Li-ion batteries do have a fixed set of discharge cycles, usually several thousand, which takes years to hit. Moreover, the cycles work like this: If you discharge your phone to 75% (and charge it back up by 75%) one day and to 25% on the next day, you have completed ONE discharge cycle – not two.

Final verdict: FALSE

#2 – Drain your battery to 0% to calibrate the meter

The myth goes like this: your phone is poor at recognizing the actual charge. So giving it two clear benchmarks of 0% and 100% will ensure your meter is accurate. This is because Li-Ion batteries in your phone and other mobile devices lose a teeny tiny bit of their original charge over time, meaning your operating system isn’t communicating the proper battery charge to you. To make sure it does, you should completely drain your battery and then fully charge it every 2-3 months. The operating system logs this drain and can continue to display the current battery level correctly from 0-100%, even though the actual physical capacity may be reduced to 98%.

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Hint: our free AVG Cleaner for Android also shows the current battery health, as it compares the original charge capacity to the current capacity.

Final verdict: TRUE

#3 – Only use chargers and cables from your phone’s manufacturer…

…or else your phone will melt down!
…or else your phone won’t charge as quickly!
…or else your phone will become sentient and enslave you first and then all humanity next!

Sigh. I’ve been reading these myths for ages. Some of them were probably started by your handset makers, as they’d rather sell you their (more expensive) cables, chargers, docks, and wireless charging pads. In general, 3rd party chargers are as capable of charging your phone as manufacturer originals. However, don’t be a penny pincher. I can’t count how many $3.99 chargers I’ve bought at airports or random electronic shops in Asia that stopped working after a few weeks. If you want something reliable, go with the original cable that came with your phone or look at Amazon reviews. If a charging cable is made by reputable brand and has hundreds of five-star reviews, it’s probably a safe bet.

One thing to note, though: The new USB-C cables are an odd exception to this rule. There are now multiple implementations between USB-C by OnePlus and the official USB-C specifications. If you use one with the other, you might actually end up damaging your phone’s battery. Have a look at https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung for reviews and more on the matter.

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Final verdict: FALSE (unless you’re buying a USB_C cable or a no name one-star review cable from a flea market)

#4 – Unplug your phone at 100% …

…or it might overcharge! Or burn up!

A good friend of mine actually unplugged my phone at 100%, claiming it would damage the battery. Even some more reputable tech publications claim this is true. Well, it’s not. Any modern device stops or drastically limits the power flow to your battery once it hits its full capacity and simply powers the device itself. Having said that, I notice that my phone(s) heat up slightly when plugged in, which in turn and over loooong periods of time could arguably have an adverse effect on the hardware. But still, we’re probably talking years until any device fails just because it got a little warmer than usual.

Final verdict: FALSE

#5 – Avoid extreme heat and cold

Speaking of heat, this brings me to another typical battery tip: If you’re using your phone in extreme heat or extreme cold temperatures, it might damage the battery. This one is actually true, as ion flow and chemical stability are affected by severe temperature fluctuations and extremes. Moreover, the speed of the chemical reaction in your Li-ion increases with temperature, creating heat that then further degrades the battery or even damages the phone (luckily, phones have built-in mechanism to prevent this from happening: they shut off).

While excessive cold temperatures usually don’t damage the battery, they can severely reduce your battery life. You might have noticed that your phone dies a lot faster if you’re using it outside in winter time.

Final verdict: True

And here are two bonus myths tested

While not directly tied to the battery itself, many outlets claim that closing apps and turning off features (such as Wi-Fi) prolong battery life. Well, one is true, the other not so much. Closing apps barely has an impact on battery life, as your operating system simply “freezes” apps that aren’t running. Moreover, if you close them, it requires more resources (and thus power) to restart them. However, turning off some hardware features (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 4G) and reducing brightness can noticeably improve battery life.

Final verdict: False (for apps) and True (for hardware feature)

AVG

How to Speed Up Boot Time on Your PC or Laptop

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No one likes a computer that takes forever to start up. Don’t settle for less when it comes to performance – find out how to improve your boot speed now.

Do you wait ages for your PC or laptop to boot? Then there’s clearly something wrong. We’ll show you the most likely causes and the steps you can take to fix them easily!

Why is your PC slow at startup?
First of all, out of the box, Windows should boot blazingly fast, no matter whether you’re using Windows 7, 8, or 10. It’s what you do with your PC that actually causes it to slow to a crawl over time. The top causes of long boot times include:

  • New drivers. Drivers control devices inside your computer. For example, they’re responsible for making sure that your sound chip plays back your favorite MP3 and that your YouTube clips aren’t just silent movies. If drivers aren’t working properly, they could introduce some serious delays in your PC’s boot time.
  • Software. The more applications (such as PhotoShop or iTunes) you install, the slower your computer becomes over time. This is caused by 3rd party start-up items or background services that silently launch every time you turn on your computer. Some of these items you can find in your task bar (see below); others are invisible.

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  • New updates. Many applications check for product updates when you start your PC. Even Microsoft sometimes delivers cumulative updates or even new (Windows 10) builds that can drastically decrease boot time.
  • Malware: Viruses, Trojans, spyware, and other malicious software can make your PC boot up much slower than when you first got it, so make sure you’re running the latest antivirus software.

To figure out what’s causing your PC to boot up slowly, use a Windows tool called Event Viewer. It documents all apps that drastically add to your computer’s boot time. You can then turn off the worst offenders using the Windows startup manager or Task Manager.

All these tools are built in. But using them can be a bit complicated, as you’ll need to jump between them to get what you want. It can be far easier to use a more integrated start-up manager, like the one in AVG PC TuneUp , that shows the impact of all automatically running startup apps and allows you to turn off these resource hogs with a simple click. (Yes, this is a shameless product plug; but our engineers put blood and sweat into this – and we want you to know about it and check out the trial version.)

We’ll cover both methods below.
The do-it-yourself approach

For those who want to get their hands dirty with systems admin tools, figuring out how to speed up boot time can be a great way to better know your PC. Basically, you need to:

Identify slow-boot up times
Hold down the WINDOWS key on your keyboard and press R. This will bring up the Run menu:

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Type in Eventvwr.msc and click OK. Expand the following folders: Applications and Services Logs, Microsoft, Windows, Diagnostics-Performance and Operational.

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Watch for an event ID called 100. This one shows how long your computer takes to start up. In our example, it is 35 seconds. The 101 IDs then show you which applications slow down your computer. For example:

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Here we can see that NVIDIA software took 6.5 seconds to load. This is 1.5 seconds longer than on the last boot, so there’s clearly something wrong. NVIDIA drivers just give you access to some advanced graphics options which can be useful for intensive tasks like gaming. In most cases, you won’t need it at startup, so you can safely turn it off by using the built-in startup manager.

To do that, hold down the WINDOWS key and press R again. This time, type in msconfig, hit ENTER, and go to the Startup tab. Now you can uncheck items or, if you’re running Windows 8 or 10, go to Task Manager and right-click on an item to disable it.

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As you can see here, there may be dozens of entries that you’d have to manually research to determine if they’re important or not.

The automated (and easier) approach

Using Event Viewer and the old-school “msconfig” tool may work, but it’s far from convenient and user friendly. So it takes time. That’s why we built an easier way to turn off slow moving applications when you boot your PC. It is a core part of our AVG PC TuneUp suite (try the trial version and see for yourself).

1. Once you’re running AVG PC TuneUp, head over to the Speed Up section and look at the total optimization progress bar.

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You should see a slice of the bar that says Disable startup programs. Clicking on Show will give you an overview of all startup applications that slow down your computer, including whether they’re actually necessary or optional. Moreover, instead of complicated file names, it shows you full product names, such as Microsoft Office or Skype. It also highlights new applications you may have recently installed.

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2. Flip off the switches. Easy.

And now some bonus tips

Upgrade to Windows 10

If you’re still running Windows Vista, 7, or 8, we recommend moving to Windows 10. In the new OS has managed to reduce boot times by a few seconds when compared to its predecessors.

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Install an SSD or move to a laptop with flash storage

If you’re in the market for a new computer, just make sure that it’s got flash-based storage (SSD, solid state drive), and not a traditional mechanical hard disk drive (HDD). Computers with SSD start dramatically faster and retrieve information that is in regular use almost instantly. The difference in boot times between SSDs and traditional hard disks can be night and day; so this is perhaps the biggest thing you can do to reduce your boot time.

These days, price declines mean even some low-end laptops come with an SSD. If you are bold (and tech-savvy), you can also grab an SSD and install it in your PC or laptop yourself. (But that is another post.)