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AVG

AVG Technologies Launches 2015 Products

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AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO – November 4, 2014 – AVG® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for 182 million active users, today announced the availability of its 2015 portfolio of protection, performance and privacy products. This includes the new all-in-one AVG Protection and AVG Performance suites for PCs, Android devices and Apple devices, and AVG Ultimate, which includes both protection and performance suites in a single package. These come with the latest version of AVG Zen®, the app for Windows PCs and Android smartphones and tablets that makes it simple for consumers to look after their own and their family’s devices.

 

What’s new in AVG Zen

AVG Zen can be downloaded from the Google Play store or when installing AVG Protection, AVG Performance, or AVG Ultimate. It shows at a glance the full status of the Protection or Performance settings customers have on the PCs, Android devices, and Mac computers they have added to the AVG Zen network.

AVG Zen’s refreshed look and feel for the 2015 products means users can easily:

  • Add an unlimited number of their family’s devices.
  • Run a scan remotely from their mobile device to their PC (and vice versa), other mobile device or Mac computer.
  • Run Automatic Maintenance on Windows PCs and laptops remotely or check up on Android devices and Mac computers.
  • Easily access individual products, such as AVG AntiVirus or AVG PC TuneUp®, directly from AVG Zen.

 

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies said, “AVG Zen is designed to make it easy to manage the necessary maintenance and updating that keeps people’s favorite online devices working at their best simple. In the last few months, we have added some key features to AVG Zen, including being able to scan and fix issues on a device remotely, and offering all-in-one packages for full device protection and performance improvement. The Internet of Things is exploding with smart home revenues expected to reach a global market value of $71 billion by 2018. We see great potential for AVG Zen to become a household fixture that simplifies and makes this online experience more meaningful.”

 

AVG Protection: includes AVG AntiVirus or AVG Internet Security, AVG AntiVirus for Mac®, AVG PrivacyFix™ and more, all-in-one package

AVG Protection delivers the latest versions and full range of AVG’s Protection products for desktop and mobile in a single suite, without the customer having to purchase the individual products. With AVG Zen, all PCs and mobile devices running AVG Protection products can be monitored for security issues. The new Remote Actions feature also helps users fix security problems, such as remotely enabling security features that have been disabled on one from another device, such as a PC or Android smartphone.

AVG Protection includes:

  • AVG Internet Security: now delivers even earlier detection methods with our new outbreak detection and priority updates.
  • AVG AntiVirus for Android: customers get the same great experience on their Android tablets as on their mobile devices. This includes locate, lock and remote wipe a smartphone using the Anti-Theft feature if it has been stolen. It also features app lock and backup, privacy settings for social media, call and message blocker and wipe device for improved online privacy.

Customers purchasing the AVG Protection subscription will receive the PRO products including AVG Internet Security. They can also add the devices of family members to their AVG Zen Network to share all the PRO benefits at no extra cost. The PRO subscription for unlimited PCs and mobile devices is $59.99 for one year, with the individual products also available. AVG Protection is also available as a 30-day trial from www.avg.com/protection.

 

AVG Performance: includes new AVG PC TuneUp®, AVG Cleaner, AVG Cleaner for Mac, AVG Cleaner™ for iOS® and more, all-in-one package

AVG Performance brings together all of AVG’s hero performance products in one single place, AVG Zen, for ease of use. It includes software and mobile apps to keep PCs or laptops running Windows, smartphones and tablets running Android, Mac computers and now even iPhones and iPads in top shape, an all-in-one performance suite that covers all popular platforms on the market. AVG Zen makes it simple to check the status of all the devices in the home and clean PCs remotely from a smartphone or a secondary PC.

AVG Performance includes:

  • AVG PC TuneUp: AVG’s award-winning version includes 39 tools to speed up, fix up, clean up, and enhance battery life of all Windows® PCs and laptops with features like Automatic Maintenance, Program Deactivator and Economy Mode. The all-new AVG Cleaner for iOS feature safely removes leftover files from iPhone and iPads once plugged into any Windows PC and laptop. It also removes redundant files, such as corrupt downloads, temporary files, or invisible crash reports, helping free up space for their personal data or to install the new iOS updates. The Disk Cleaner feature has also been significantly enhanced support has been added to clean up leftover files from popular gaming platforms Steam and Origin, Skype, nVidia/Intel/AMD drivers as well as iTunes and Quicktime.
  • AVG Cleaner for Android: with the new ‘large file scanner’, users can scan their Android phones for storage hogs, such as old downloads or videos in addition to enhancing battery life with ‘Battery Profiles’ and thorough cache cleaning. AVG Cleaner for Mac scans disks and looks for leftover files from Mac OS X and programs as well as duplicates that users may have forgotten about.

 

AVG Performance is available as a 30-day trial from www.avg.com/performance. The PRO subscription for unlimited PCs and mobile devices is $39.99 for one year, with the individual products also available.

AVG Ultimate is available as a 30-day trial from www.avg.com/ultimate. The PRO subscription for unlimited PCs and mobile devices comes in at $89.99 for one year. The individual products are also available.

AVG Zen with AVG Protection, AVG Performance and AVG Ultimate are available to customers in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Spain, UK, US.

 

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About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)

AVG is the online security company providing leading software and services to secure devices, data and people.  AVG has over 182 million active users, as of June 30, 2014, using AVG’s products and services including Internet security, performance optimization, and personal privacy and identity protection. By choosing AVG’s products, users become part of a trusted global community that engages directly with AVG to provide feedback and offer mutual support to other customers.

All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. AVG does not claim any affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement by such third parties of AVG products.

www.avg.com

 

Yuval Ben-Itzhak

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CTO, AVG Technologies

 

Contacts:

US

Katie Han

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 1 (212) 551 4807

UK

Samantha Woodman

Waggener Edstrom for AVG

[email protected]

+ 44 (0)20 7632 3840

 

Keep in touch with AVG

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The Ultimate ‘Alien Isolation’ Performance Guide

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Once Alien Isolation got announced a few months ago, I immediately went back and rewatched the 1970s Ridley Scott classic movie “Alien”. No AlienS, no Alien 3, no Alien 4. The plain old Alien! And it still holds up as one of the scariest sci-fi movies ever, dealing with the struggle of one women versus one alien.

With the blockbuster game, Alien Isolation, by Sega and The Creative Assembly, that very spirit of one versus one is back big time. Set 15 years after the events of Alien you play Amanda Ripley, the daughter of famous alien hunter Ellen Ripler from the movie. And while it’s set in probably the most beautiful graphics out there right now, it mimics the 1970s wonderfully:

Alien Isolation

It’s all about cassette decks, monochrome monitors, and wonderful sci-fi furniture art of that decade.

However, you need a fairly powerful system to run Alien Isolation but – lucky you – we’ve played the game over the course of the past couple of days and found ways to improve the performance of the game and even unlock some hidden features to make it run significantly faster on slower PCs. Here’s how:

 

#1 – Basic PCs and Laptops

Before you start tweaking performance settings for Alien: Isolation, I recommend that you follow the 9 essential steps to boost your PC or laptop speed that I published a while ago. This covers the basic steps to get your machine in top shape, including how to:

  • Upgrade your graphics drivers and even use beta drivers
  • Overclock your graphics card (safely!)
  • Use our AVG Zen Performance to turn off all performance-sapping background activity
  • Defrag your hard disk
  • …and more!

As Alien Isoluation takes its toll on your hardware, you got to be sure that it’s tweaked to its absolute limit before you jump into the game-specific settings.

 

 

#2 – Enhanced 2k/4k/8k and Level of Detail

Gamers have immediately found a way to increase the visual quality of the game greatly by increasing both the level of detail level beyond what’s possible in the “in game” settings menu as well increase the resolution of the shadows. Now instead of using shadows with a 1k resolution, they managed to crank that up to 2k, 4k or even 8k resolution.

We’ve done the tests and the visuals are noticeably better. Click on the before and after images:

Before:

Alien Isolation

After:

Alien Isolation

It’s relatelively easy to see the difference between the shots: the shadows appear much crisper and clearer. However, while it’s easy to see in bright spots, it’s relatively tough to differentiate in other more darker scenes. We noticed a drop of 20% in performance, though that was on a relatively “weak” mobile GeForce 650M. If you feel it’s worth the drop, it should be enabled.

All you have to do is download the tweaked “ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML” from this page. Put the XML file right in your Alien Isolations “Alien IsolationDATA” folder and overwrite the existing file with it. For example, if you purchased the game on steam, the file sits under: C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonAlien IsolationDATA

To enable the setting, launch the game and go to “OptionsVideo”. Make sure to set the “Shadow Map Resolution” to “8K”.

 

Alien Isolation

 

#3 – Enhance Reflections

Another great addition that comes with the enhanced engine file (see #2) are enhanced reflections that the developers turned off. Now while these may look significantly “nicer”, they also have a shiny look to them which some gamers feel disturb the overall atmosphere of the game:

Before

Alien Isolation

After

Alien Isolation


Source: Steam Community

To enable it, you set the “Planar Reflections” to “Alternative” – see how you like it. If you want to go back, you can always set it to “On” (which is the game’s default setting). In my tests I noticed no drop in performance whatsoever with the reflections enabled or disabled.

 

#4 – Increase the Level of Details for Distant Objects

Some objects tend to pop up out of nowhere. In order to prevent this rather annoying (and tension breaking) effect, you should increase the level of detail for distant objects. This, too, can be done by applying the hacked file (#2) and enabling it under the “Level of Details” – simple go for the “Ultra” setting once you’ve enabled the tweak!

 

#5 – Skip the Videos

The introduction videos are somewhat annoying and they can’t be skipped at a push of a button. Here’s how to get rid of them. Simple solution: Delete them! Here’s how: Navigate to your Alien Isolations “DATAUIMOVIES” and delete or rename the files “AMD_IDENT.USM”, “FOX_IDENT.USM” and “CA_IDENT.USM”.

Alien Isolation

 

 

#6 – Get Smoother Mouse Movements

We’ve talked about VSync in the past and it still holds true, especially with Alien Isolation. With the vertical synchronization turned on you may get some delays. That’s why we recommend turning it off either completely using the in-game setting or via the NVIDIA or ATI control panel:

NVIDIA: To get to the NVIDIA Control Panel, right-click on your desktop, select “NVIDIA Control Panel” and head over to the “Manage 3D Settings” category on the left. Go to Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames first: This controls the number of frames that the processor prepares before transferring them to the graphics card. Increasing this value results in smoother game play, but you may notice a lag when using the mouse and keyboard. To eliminate the lag, try the “1″ setting. Next, move over to VSync: It synchronizes the frames that your graphics card renders with the refresh rate of your monitor. If you disable it, you will notice that Alien Isolation may not lag as much or not at all anymore.

ATI/AMD: You’ll find the Wait for Vertical Refresh feature in your 3D settings control panel. Disable Vsync for Alien Isolation and you may find it to run smoother.

Alien Isolation

 

 

 

#7 – Fix Your SLI RIG (Nvidia)

Got yourself a gaming rig with two (or more) graphics cards? Then you may in for a negative surprise as Alien: Isolation could completely crash on you at any moment or run even slower than with a single GPU. Here’s how to solve the problem: Download nVidia Inspector from this place and run the tool. Go to the SLI Compatibility form and change it to x080912F5. Done.

 

#8 – Enjoy!

As I’ve been super-busy as of late I couldn’t really play more than a few hours but I can tell you that the enhanced graphics tweaks really made the game more immersive and enjoyable. Now I can’t wait for the weekend to hit so I can crawl under a blanket, light up a candle and get hunted down by an Alien.

 

Zen Performance

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