Tag Archives: Zen

AVG

Breathing fresh air into the Internet of Things, to keep you alive

February 22, 2016 007admin Leave a comment

Here at AVG we have an innovation team (AVG Innovation Labs) that looks at future security risks and how technology can be deployed to manage it.

And when it comes to new IoT devices, special consideration is needed to ensure data is kept personal and private. AVG Innovation Labs undertakes research to allow us to understand how best to provide these services going forward.

The AVG team have been innovating their own IoT devices and applications to get a first-hand experience of the challenges that vendors go through when creating a device for the home.

One of those projects has been looking at air quality and how it can be an issue for many people, whether they suffer from allergies or maybe asthma. Breathing clean and acceptable air can improve our day to day experience, and by extension our personal security.

The device starts with measuring the Air Quality Index (AQI) which provides an overall rating of air quality. This is obtained by analyzing multiple sensor readings such as relative humidity, temperature, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and many more.

In conjunction with our vision of the future for AVG Zen and Family Graph, we’re demonstrating the importance of location as an impact on the safety of everyday family life.

Now imagine a scenario where we combine some of that future AVG Zen functionality with Air Quality monitoring and other connected devices in the home.

Through location sharing our devices know if we are home, travelling, or even en route from work or school. As we start our travel toward home, our smart connected device that we all carry could automatically connect with the home network to inspect the status of air quality and temperature remotely.

With that information at hand, and making decisions based on our preferences, the technology could automatically open vents or start de-humidification or air-conditioning units to change the air quality, or switch on the heating so that we have a warm house to welcome us home.

The potential for technology to improve our everyday lives and ensure that our environment is the best it could be is remarkable. There is also the life-saving benefit of avoiding toxic conditions caused when a gas powered heating system malfunctions, for example.

When IoT devices bring real value such as this, it’s important that they are not interfered with by hackers, and that the data analyzed remains private and secure. Imagine getting home to find the air quality has been made worse not better, or that the house is too cold or even too hot and you have a large energy bill coming your way.

Through innovation like this, AVG is able to understand the complex challenges of securing devices and services that will one day provide us all with truly connected homes and lives.

AVG

AVG launches its next generation consumer products

September 28, 2015 007admin Leave a comment

AMSTERDAM – September 30^th, 2015 – AVG^® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for more than 200 million monthly active users, today announced the availability of its next generation consumer product releases for PC and mobile. AVG’s products and suites will now be auto-updated on a continual basis, so users will always have the latest features and capabilities and will no longer need to worry about keeping their products up to date. This is AVG’s first step towards Security as a Service.

As well as including AVG’s latest protection and performance products for Windows, Android, iOS and Mac OSX devices, both suites feature AVG’s flagship AVG Zen^® platform, which makes it easy for users to monitor and manage protection and performance across an unlimited number of their own devices, and those of family members, from a single dashboard on any PC or Android device.

AVG has coordinated these releases with two, industry initiatives: European Cyber Security Month and National Cyber Security Awareness Month, to underscore its leadership in online security and its strong commitment to protecting devices, data and people, at home and at work.

“From the number of devices we own, to the types of apps we use, the digital world is now more intrinsically linked with our lives than ever before; and this dependency shows no sign of stopping,” said Andrew Reid, SVP, Products at AVG Technologies. “However, with the online landscape getting more complicated on a daily basis, we know that consumers and businesses cannot afford to be left unprepared. That is why we are constantly evolving our products – giving our customers peace of mind that their devices will always be protected and performing at their best, no matter how their device use changes.”

New features of the updated AVG Protection and AVG Performance suites include:

AVG Protection

Available in FREE or PRO versions, AVG Protection includes AVG’s leading AVG AntiVirus software for Windows, Android or Mac, and features the following updates:

AVG AntiVirus for Windows

Real-Time Cloud Detection: helps instantly spot new malware outbreaks using up-to-the-minute cloud-based crowd intelligence.
AI Detection: uses advanced artificial intelligence and crowd-sourced data to proactively identify new threats in real-time, before our AVG VirusLab team has catalogued the threats.
Improved Online Shield: in the PRO version includes cloud-based detection to identify dangerous downloads faster than ever.

AVG AntiVirus for Android

Better malware protection: Better protect your phone or tablet, thanks to new smart cloud scanning, shortened scan times, and improved detection.
Improved Anti-Theft: Improved algorithms make remote location faster on FREE and PRO.
More informative: To make scan results easier to understand, we’ve integrated with AVG VirusLab to provide more information about the threats we find.
Improved Battery Save mode: We’ve made it easier to improve your battery life by allowing you to turn on Battery Save mode from directly within the low-battery notifications in your phone’s notification panel.

AVG AntiVirus for Mac

New Quarantine: in AVG AntiVirus for Mac now lets users isolate infected files from the rest of their Mac devices, so they can decide how to handle them at a later time.

AVG Performance

Comprising AVG’s three tuneup products – AVG PC TuneUp, AVG Cleaner for Android and AVG Cleaner for Mac – the upgraded AVG Performance suite includes the following:

AVG PC Tune Up

New Tuning Dashboard: giving users faster access to all tuning features and better visibility of potential performance issues.
Enhanced PC cleaning: now cleans up more games from Steam, the Download folder and additional applications such as VMware.
Enhanced Browser Cleaner: removes 60 types of browser traces from the latest browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox.

AVG Cleaner for Android

New App Manager: gives users an immediate overview of the most draining apps from a single screen and helps to get rid of them once and for all.

AVG Cleaner for Mac

New iPhoto Cache cleaning: to stop iPhoto ‘cache’ folders taking up space and preventing photo deletion over time.

AVG Protection and AVG Performance are available to download now* via the AVG website. PRO versions of both suites, which include features such as AVG Internet Security, are also available for 30-day trials, or to purchase as annual subscriptions for $59.99 (Protection) or $39.99 (Performance). * The upgraded products will be available in Brazil in Q4 2015

To view our Press Kit, which includes product screenshots, video content and further details on this news, please visit http://now.avg.com/avg-new-protection-performance-press-kit/

About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)

AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people. AVG’s award-winning technology is delivered to over 200 million monthly active users worldwide. AVG’s Consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection for mobile devices and desktops. The AVG Business portfolio – delivered by managed service providers, VARs and resellers – offers IT administration, control and reporting, integrated security, and mobile device management that simplify and protect businesses.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

www.avg.com

Contacts:

North America:
Deanna Contreras
Tel: +1 415 371 2001
Email: [email protected]

Rest of World:
Zena Martin
Tel: +44 7496 638 342
Email: [email protected]

Press information: http://now.avg.com

AVG

AVG Technologies Establishes Worldwide Center of Excellence for Mobile in Israel

June 16, 2015 007admin Leave a comment

AMSTERDAM – June 16, 2015 – AVG® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for more than 200 million monthly active users, announced today the establishment of its global Center of Excellence for mobile in Tel Aviv, Israel. The new office comprises a 3,200 square meter facility, supporting more than 120 employees working across state-of-the-art mobile innovation, emerging mobile threats research, and Internet of Things technology development.

“Israel has emerged as a hotbed for mobile innovation, resulting in unparalleled opportunities to partner with innovative start-ups and develop cutting-edge mobile technologies. AVG’s rapidly growing mobile customer base makes this a critical time to build robust, future-proof offerings, supporting the multiple mobile platforms and services that are so popular today,” said Harel Tayeb, AVG Israel Country Manager. “The historical success of our investments in this market have laid a strong foundation for the development of our signature AVG Zen platform, growing our global mobile user base, and delivering on our mobile monetization strategy.”

The development of AVG’s most popular mobile product, AVG AntiVirus for Android™, was driven by the acquisition of Israeli start-up, DroidSecurity, and quickly became the first mobile security product to enter the 100-500 million downloads category on the Google® Play™ store. With over 100 million mobile users worldwide today, and growing, AVG is focused on enhancing and innovating on its mobile portfolio through a dedicated program of industry partnerships, top talent recruitment and discerning investment.

On the back of the new office opening, AVG commenced a roadshow on Monday, June 15, in which fifteen innovative Israeli start-ups were invited to meet with AVG’s global senior management team, including Todd Simpson, AVG’s Chief Strategy Officer, and Judith Bitterli, AVG’s Chief Marketing Officer, to discuss and debate Israel’s hottest innovations in the mobile market.

AVG’s Country Manager, Harel Tayeb, will lead the program of mobile momentum for Israel. An entrepreneur himself, who has founded and run several mobile-oriented start-ups in this market, Tayeb also previously served as Vice-President of Conduit’s Mobile Business Unit, and headed up its spin-off, Como, prior to becoming a start-ups advisor.

AVG

Our journey to over 100 million mobile downloads

March 4, 2015 007admin Leave a comment

Every company, big, small or start-up faces the question of what will be big four years from now. While there is no way of knowing for sure, we can learn a lot from what happened four years back.

The smartphone platform was coming to life but was fragmented across a number of platforms. How could we find out which of the platforms would grow to be the biggest?

At the end of 2009, beginning of 2010, we identified Android as the platform of the future despite a market share of only 4%. Needless to say, it was hard to explain to our finance and marketing departments.

It’s no secret that the market can give you signals about what the future may hold, you just need to know where to look.

When we watched vendors like HP, BlackBerry and Nokia dip in 2010, we noticed that Android and iOS were heading in the opposite direction. In Nov 2010, we knew we had to take action. We decided to step into the mobile market and announced acquisition of a small team of five people providing Android security. This is where our journey started.

But a bigger company acquiring a start-up does not mean the problem solved. We knew that Google ranked apps in the store via keywords so we knew that we needed to get to the top of the list. If you search for antivirus on Google, we are at the top.

A year later, we to noticed another important method to improve rankings – user ratings. If you want to achieve a number of downloads to really affect your business, you need a user rating of at least 4.4. So we invested in a team to ensure we could maintain this rating.

Today 137 apps have passed the 50 and 100m download milestones. Keywords and review ratings are no longer enough. We are a consumer company but we know our consumers needed to engage with our products.

Understanding user behaviour helps extend the lifetime of an app so we researched what functionality people wanted from an app. The result was a new app – Cleaner. Although the functionality was already in the antivirus app, downloads started to increase. We did the same for privacy and it also grew.

My advice would be “don’t stick to one app”. Add additional services and functionality to maintain growth.

We looked at adding value – could users register when they download? Terrible idea – we had a 40% drop when we introduced this because we failed to understand the consumer.

Before you ask for value from the user, make sure you can deliver value.

Of course, we removed this and returned to the original format.

These tactics helped us reach 100m downloads but that’s only half the story. Revenue is also crucial. In December 2014, we were ranked among the top 10 developers for generating app revenue (excluding games). In February, we reached number 5.

On our last earnings call, we announced 101m downloads. Keeping them is the next challenge. Now our whole roadmap of our company is around mobile.

Picture a connected home where each device has its own app. It would be impossible to manage such a large number of individual applications. That’s why we introduced AVG Zen.

In conclusion, if you want to know what is going to be the big thing, don’t look just at the newspapers but look at stock. Search for big shifts. They don’t happen very often but they are there.

Also, don’t just stick to data. It can help you to optimize, but really, the “next big thing” can be only be found in one place your imagination. You won’t find that in the data.

AVG

Mobile World Congress In Pictures

March 2, 2015 007admin Leave a comment

Sunday

AVG revealed a pair of concept “Invisibility Glasses” at Pepcom the night before Mobile World Congress.

Monday

HTC announced the release of the HTC M9 on the first day of the conference

Smartwatches are present in all shapes and sizes this year

AVG is showcasing how AVG Zen can work across wearable devices

AVG experts are on hand to give visitors details on AVG products.

More to follow!

AVG

AVG Puts People First for Mobile Security

March 2, 2015 007admin Leave a comment

AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – March, 2, 2015 – AVG® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for 197 million active users, today previewed the next version of the AVG Zen™ platform to mobile operators and original equipment manufacturers (OEM). With the consumer launch currently planned for later this year, AVG Zen delivers a new family-first approach to security, including support for industry partner apps and wearables on customers’ devices, all in one place.

With digital lives becoming more complex in an Internet of Things world, security is now about protecting people as well as their devices and personal data. The next version of AVG Zen delivers three core pillars:

A subscription security service for families that includes AVG AntiVirus and AVG Cleaner across their devices to give them confidence in their digital lifestyle. AVG AntiVirus for Android™ was the first mobile security product to enter the 100-500 million downloads category on the Google® Play™ store.

A dedicated set of family products from Location Labs by AVG including phone controls and location services. Already offered by the top four US mobile operators, extending the availability of these products through AVG Zen makes it even easier for families to communicate and share location. Phone controls gives parents peace of mind when giving their children their first mobile device, allowing them to monitor and set limits.

A platform for mobile operators to deliver context-aware solutions for core services. This could be, for example, notifying a user if they are running low on storage or approaching their data limit. AVG Zen is open to partners looking to expand their offerings directly to AVG’s 197 million end users.

With global smartphone subscribers reaching 3.5 billion by 2019, industry figures calculate suppliers of Internet of Things product and service providers will generate incremental revenue exceeding $300 billion by 2020. Research into data management and security services estimates these alone will drive revenues in excess of $1.8 billion in the same timeframe.

AVG Zen enables mobile operators to provide context-aware alerts, updates and information direct to the customer to give them control and transparency of their security across their family, data, and devices.

“People not only want their online rights to be recognized, they want more control and responsibility over their online actions and those of family members. But today, their online experience is still disconnected. In the 2015 consumer trust survey we carried out with MEF, 72 percent were not happy sharing personal data with apps, 40 percent named privacy and security as important when choosing a mobile device, and another 34 percent relied on dedicated security apps to protect them,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies. “Mobile operators and online security companies hold a trusted position in consumers’ lives and we have the opportunity to transform their connected experience by bringing everything together all in one central place.”

About AVG Technologies

AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people. Over 197 million active users, as of December 31, 2014, use AVG´s products and services. AVG’s Consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection for mobile devices and desktops. The AVG Business portfolio – delivered by managed service providers, VARs and resellers – offers IT administration, control and reporting, integrated security, and mobile device management that simplify and protect businesses.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

www.avg.com

Contacts:

Katie Han

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 1 (212) 551 4807

Samantha Woodman

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 44 (0)20 7632 3840

AVG

Whatâ€™s New in AVG PC TuneUp?

November 19, 2014 007admin Leave a comment

In our last blog post, weâ€™ve shown you our new killer feature for cleaner for AVG PC TuneUp, which is part of our all-new AVG Performance 2015 package. But thatâ€™s not all. AVG PC TuneUp also got an all-new Disk Cleaner which removes even more clutter from your Windows PC, laptop, and ultrabook:

Improved AVG Disk Cleaner

Our new â€œAVG Disk Cleanerâ€ includes significant new and improved cleaning definitions to help remove the wasteful files of 39 additional programs.

This year weâ€™re cleaning out unneeded files from:

Origin & Steam
Wasteful log files & telemetry data hidden within the two gaming platforms.
WindowsÂ®
Weâ€™re now cleaning even more temporary files, caches, log files, and leftover 8.1 Apps cookies from all built-in Windows 8 apps.
Skypeâ„¢
Cache files, temp files and backup installation files from Skype.
All CyberlinkÂ® products
Leftover log files, temp files, trace files and also backup installer files from more than 25 Cyberlink products, such as CyberlinkÂ® PowerDVD.
AppleÂ® software
Unfinished and broken downloads, such as videos or music, from iTunes (on Windows) and many locations in which Apple products, such as QuickTime or the iCloud client store backup installation files and updates, which are no longer necessary once they were installed.
nVidia, ATI and Intel
Leftover data that gets created by installing and running Intel, AMD and nVidia software drivers, such as cache files for nVidia Shadowplay.
Windows UAC
In order to protect Windows and users data from harm, the User Account Control (UAC) redirects files from programs which require administration rights, such as older Windows XP programs. AVG Disk Cleaner remove wasteful files that were created by these older applications.
Windows Upgrade Files
All leftover files from when a user has upgraded to a newer version, such as Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 right within the new category:

Screenshots
This new Disk Cleaner category shows screenshots that an application or the user has takenwithin applications such as BS Player or VLC

Flash and Java
In addition to cleaning Flash and Java cookies, AVG Disk Cleaner now cleans temp files leftover temporary data, too.

In addition to that, we now clean up leftover data and improved existing cleaning algorithms from the following applications: Multiple Ashampoo programs, Avira, Amsn, Ad-aware, Auslogic programs, Audials tunebite, AIMP, Avast software, BS player, CleanMyPC, Comodo programs (CertSentry, PaintShop, VideoStudio), Cyberlink programs (PowerCinema, YouCam, Downloader), CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner, Drivermax, Google Talk, IMVU, Java, Jukebox, Jdownloader, Microsoft Office, Nero Programs, Norton antivirus, Picasa, Roxio, Starmoney, Skype, Spybot search and destroy, Ultraedit, WPFFont, Yahoo! Messenger, ACDSee, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Corel AfterShot Pro, Corel PaintShop Pro, GIMP, Google Nik Collection, Paint.NET, PhotoPad, Photomatix, Snagit, Zoner Photo Studio

Step by Step: Hereâ€™s How You Clean Up

Download and install AVG PC TuneUp trial version here. Finished? Then move on to the â€œCleaningâ€ category. AVG PC TuneUp now scans your entire hard disk for invisible data crud:

Example: On this 6 year old desktop PC, we found 68 GByte of worthless data!

To open AVG Disk Cleaner, click on â€œClean up Windows and programsâ€. You should find a list of things you may not need:

Note that AVG PC TuneUp doesnâ€™t delete any files that are actively used by any of your programs â€“ so Â your precious files should not go missing. However, it may be worth going through the list and looking at the help pane on the right to confirm that you really donâ€™t need any of these files.
Ok thatâ€™s it for now: Have you tried it out? Let us know how much you were able to clean up on your PC with the new AVG PC TuneUp.

AVG

Video: How to Install AVG Protection

November 14, 2014 007admin Leave a comment

In this video, Tony Anscombe explains how to install AVG Protection and AVG Zen

AVG

Protection for your family, plain and simple

November 4, 2014 007admin Leave a comment

Sadly, the hassle of managing the family technology is only going to get greater. The number of connected devices in our homes is growing rapidly. In 2013, the average home already had more than five connected devices. Homes like mine, with more than 20 devices, are driving this average up with every passing day.

As we start to realize that our families are spending so much time online, it is our responsibility as parents to ensure that they are doing so safely. Then the long to-do list of Internet safety comes into focus.

Our tablet has run out of space? Has my son set his privacy setting correctly on social media accounts? Is the security software on my own phone updated? What can I do to speed up my wifeâ€™s laptop?

As our list of devices continues to grow, so too does the to-do list of the family tech wiz.

There must be a simpler way to manage my familyâ€™s devices without having to actually track down each device every time I want to do something.

Thatâ€™s why for 2015, AVG is launching AVG Protection: the one-stop solution to help me keep my family protected across all our devicesâ€”no matter how manyâ€”wherever we are.

Video

Welcome To AVG Protection

AVG Protection brings together our best security products for all platforms: AVG Internet Security for Windows desktop, laptops and tablets; AVG AntiVirus for Android smartphones and tablets; and AVG AntiVirus for Mac under a single subscription. Add to this AVG PrivacyFix and AVG Cleaner for Mac and Android, which are free, to complete my protection, performance and privacy needs — the solution is a compelling one.

But most importantly, AVG Protection has AVG Zen to tie them all together. AVG Zen allows me to manage all of our devices from one screen, fix issues, scan machines, and enable protection remotely from my PC or my Android device when mobile. And the alerting system lets me know when something needs my attention so I can rest assured my family is safe online. The days of checking up on each of my direct family or my extended family devices one by one are over.

It couldnâ€™t be easier to start protecting your family using AVG Protection, click here to get started.

AVG

How many devices do you have in your home?

November 4, 2014 007admin Leave a comment

Itâ€™s probably more than you think.Â There are the obvious ones such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. But did you think of your smart TV, games console or even your refrigerator? Our homes are very quickly becoming digital environments with dozens of connected devices making up what is known as The Internet of Things.

You may have already heard of devices such as Nest that offer smart solutions to everyday functions like heating your home, but while it may sound futuristic, it is very much part of reality.Â As an industry, the Internet of Things was already worth well over $30 billion in 2013 and is set to surpass $70 billion by 2018.

The transition to a digitally connected world has well and truly begun. Whether you track your daily activity using a fitness wearable, have your home alarm system linked to your phone or simply stream movies to your television, thatâ€™s all part of living in an increasingly connected world.

In an ideal world, this connectivity would be seamless and integrated. In reality though, each of these connected devices are being developed in isolation across dozens of different verticals. The end result is a fractured market that can make it confusing and difficult for you to keep track of all your devices.

There must be an easier way. A simple product that can help you control your personal Internet of Things without the hassle of managing each one individually.

And thatâ€™s the idea behind AVG Zenâ„¢. We want to make managing your digital world as simple as possible. We want to avoid the culture of countless notifications, constantly prompting you and pulling you back to manage your devices. The idea behind AVG Zen is to offer peace of mind.

The vision is that someday, AVG Zen will help you track all of the devices on your personal Internet of Things.Â Today, AVG Zen is already a powerful tool that can take much of the hassle out of managing your many devices (and those of your family).