Author Archives: Avast Blog

Avast and AVG: A Future Together

      No Comments on Avast and AVG: A Future Together

 

AVG_logo-912378-edited.png

As many of you know, there are two security companies that often get confused: Avast and AVG. Shortly after I started as CEO almost 8 years ago, I remember giving a presentation to a large audience about Avast. About an hour later, a gentleman walked up to me and complimented me on how good the presentation was and how he enjoyed hearing about AVG. That was my first lesson in how easy the companies are to confuse.

This confusion is because the companies are so very similar. Both company names start with the letters “AV”. Both started in the late 1980s and were amongst the first few companies formed to fight the viruses and malware nearly 30 years ago.  Both are historically Czech: Avast was founded in Prague and is still based there while AVG was historically in Brno, the two largest cities in the Czech Republic. Both pioneered the free distribution of top quality security products (although to be honest, I must admit that AVG was first and we followed). Both make great security products. Both are innovators with world class R&D teams. Both have most of their users outside of their home Czech market. Both have had similar user bases for many years: about 200M each. And most importantly, both treat their users with respect and consequently each has a large and loyal user base. One slight difference though is that while Avast is a private company, AVG is public and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Permission to Punch the Presidential Candidates

The 2016 U.S. presidential primaries are well under way and the candidates are a hot topic in the media, social media and in real life discussions. With all the buzz, I was curious to see how Android app developers are taking advantage of the candidate’s popularity and what permissions the apps request.  So with this mission in mind, I started downloading and testing these apps.

Trump Apps – Permission Heavy

When I searched for “Trump” in Google’s Play Store, I wasn’t really too surprised to see a lot of silly apps. Mr. Trump has a certain reputation and it seems like app developers are taking advantage of his reputation.

Here are the top apps that appear when you search for “Trump” in the Play Store:

Top_Trump_apps_Play_Store.png

Stay free of online threats this Independence Day weekend

blog.4th.jpg

Happy (early) Independence Day! To most Americans, the 4th of July means fireworks, great food and celebrating the country’s birthday alongside family and friends.

To make the most out of this year’s holiday, it’s important to take the necessary measures to stay safe online and free of digital threats.

Updated Home Network Security feature provides users with 360 degrees of protection

Protect your home network with Avast Home Network Security

Avast Home Network Security scans a user’s home network and routers for potential security issues.

Avast is always looking to the future to both predict and solve tomorrow’s biggest cyberthreats. As the world is growing more interconnected than ever before, with phones, TVs, home security and even thermostats being connected to the Internet, we acknowledge the importance of entire networks being properly secured.

CyberCapture: Protection against zero-second attacks

This week we released a new version of our core PC antivirus product, which we refer to as the Avast Antivirus Nitro Update. The update’s name is Nitro, because it is filled with innovative, new ways to increase speed and increase protection. One of the new ways we are increasing protection is with a cool new proprietary technology called CyberCapture. CyberCapture dramatically raises the bar when it comes to protection against zero-second attacks.

IMAGE_nitro_cyber_capture_infographics_600x500px.jpgCyberCapture looks at the smallest bits of a file to determine its safety

Let me explain how it works, and take a look at the infographic below which shows the path of an unknown file.

What is Nitro? Our newest, high-speed version of Avast Antivirus

Avast Antivirus Nitro Update is lightweight, delivers improved performance and includes our latest CyberCapture technology with zero-second threat detection against unrecognized files.

If you own a PC, you know you hate it when your antivirus software slows you down, so we developed our latest release to be strong and lightweight, with lower system impact to keep your PC running smoothly and protect you from the never-ending attacks we all experience.

So how do we keep the Nitro Update to Avast so lightweight? One way is we use new technology that utilizes the cloud to identify and analyze threats, which means Avast Antivirus Nitro Update is light enough that it doesn’t eat up your system’s resources. Our security software is smaller in size and designed to improve speed, boot time, download time, and system performance in Windows 10.

Nitro_Laptop-614736-edited.jpgWindows 10 PCs run faster with the Avast Antivirus Nitro Update than with Windows Defender

Windows 10 users need more protection than basic Defender

Windows 10 users should install Avast antivirus protection for the highest level of security.

wrong tool for the jobThe wrong tool for the job just causes frustration.

Everyone knows that you need the right tool to do a job. When you cut down a tree, you don’t use a butter knife, you use a chainsaw. It you want to win a Formula 1 race, you don’t drive a riding lawnmower.

The same rule applies to your PC’s security.

You can’t go up against today’s online threats with inadequate protection. That’s why Windows 10 users need to install strong antivirus software to run in parallel with Microsoft’s pre-installed antivirus, Defender.

Zuckerberg Twitter hack could have been avoided with better passwords

Avoid having your online accounts hacked like Mark Zuckerberg’s by managing your passwords correctly.

The recent news of celebrity social media accounts, including Mark Zuckerberg’s, being hacked should be seen as an important reminder to how valuable passwords are. Who knows if the cybercriminals that hacked the accounts just tweeted strange things or if they went a step further and read the celebrities’ direct messages or more. 

password_quilt-755842-edited.jpg

Most people create easy passwords like these and never change them