Search Results for: avast

Updates to stand-alone antivirus tools generally aren't anything to get excited about. The interface might have changed color, or maybe relocated a few buttons, and of course you'll get the standard promises about improved accuracy, or better performance, but otherwise it's often business as usual.

Avast! Free Antivirus 6.0 is an exception, though, thanks to a host of interesting and highly visible new features: automatic sandboxing, website reputation reporting, improved real-time protection, and many more. And so the end result is a package that looks rather more like a security suite than a simple antivirus engine. But is the new functionality really as effective as it looks? We put the program through some real-life tests in an effort to find out.

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Leading Czech antivirus vendor Avast! has updated its free antivirus tool to version 6. Avast! Free AntiVirus 6 claims to deliver even better protection against malware thanks to two new features previously only found in paid-for antivirus programs.

The first feature is AutoSandbox, which automatically identifies suspicious applications and prompts the user to run them in an isolated environment, preventing them from interacting with, and potentially infecting, the computer. Second, WebRep provides reputation-based ratings for websites and search engine results, although this functionality is already available for free in standalone browser add-ons like MyWOT, it's the first time it's been made available as part of a free antivirus product.

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Free antivirus tools can occasionally be short on features, a little lacking in comparison to their commercial brothers. Avast! has always been an exception, though, and the first public beta of avast! Free 6 extends the program even further with a host of useful capabilities.

The new AutoSandbox, for instance, can automatically detect a suspicious program as it's launched, and execute it in the avast! sandbox, an isolated environment where there's little chance that it can infect or damage your PC.

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Adware doubled globally from July through September 2023 compared to the previous quarter, according to the Q3 Threat Report from Avast.

A new strain of mobile adware dubbed 'Invisible Adware' has already gathered over two million downloads in the Google Play Store. These applications display advertisements while the device screen is off, gaining revenue through fake clicks and views. This is not only contributing to ad fraud but can also impact battery life and potentially install dangerous software without the user’s knowledge.

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The first quarter of 2023 has seen a significant increase in cyberattacks looking to exploit trust in established tech brands like Microsoft and Adobe.

A new report from Avast also finds a 40 percent rise in the share of phishing and smishing attacks over the previous year. Overall, two out of three threats people encounter online now seek to use social engineering techniques, taking advantage of human weaknesses.

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Five-hundred-and-twenty-six in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft released a new Windows 11 Insider build this week with a tabbed Notepad interface and Windows Spotlight improvements. Windows 11 users may run into "this app can't open" error messages on Windows 11 version 22H2 after system restore operations.

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One of the frequent complaints people make about security software is that it slows the performance of your system.

But how much difference does it really make? Independent testing organization AV-Comparatives has been carrying out some research to find out.

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CCleaner has had a few issues over the years since Avast acquired the popular system cleaning program from Piriform back in 2017.

Issues we’ve reported on in the past here include buggy bundled software, malware, pop-up ads, and unwelcome privacy changes. Today a user on Reddit reports that the tool uninstalled most of his software without his knowledge.

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If you’re looking for an all-in-one image viewer, editor and batch converter for your Windows PC, then FastStone is the tool for you. And with the release of FastStone Image Viewer 7.6, this powerful freeware app just got a whole lot better.

Forget the point release -- 7.6 arrives more than two years after version 7.5 and could easily have been version 8.0 given the number of new and improved features. Highlights include a new database engine, rating system and pre-scan folders option.

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While most endpoint security products are capable of handling public email and web-based threats, many are unable to provide complete protection against targeted attacks, according to a new report.

Security testing firm SE Labs tested a variety of endpoint security products from different vendors in order to gauge their effectiveness.

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Although it’s had a number of problems in the past, most following Piriform’s takeover by Avast in 2017, CCleaner remains a great program for removing junk from your computer.

Except that’s not true of the latest version of the program which users report is unable to clear cookies from Chrome and other browsers.

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As the importance of cybersecurity has increased, so has our awareness of it. Poor cybersecurity has been identified as the most pressing threat to businesses today. Issues with cybersecurity often stem from a lack of cybersecurity awareness. In fact, according to the 2020 Cyberthreat Defense Report, a lack of cybersecurity awareness was identified as the biggest detriment to an organization's cyber-defences.

The reasons for this lack of awareness include no training on cybersecurity and persistent misinformation. Despite more media attention than ever, there are still some common misconceptions about cybersecurity that put businesses at risk. Here, we bust the top myths around cybersecurity and how you can address them.

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Microsoft is set to begin rolling out Windows 11 next week. For the most part, any programs you run on Windows 10 should run just fine on the new OS, although there will be exceptions.

Antivirus and security solutions are not all certified yet and installing security software that hasn't been fully tested with the new operating system could prove disastrous. Don't worry though, as antivirus testing service AV-Comparatives has done the hard work for you and today releases a list of "approved" security software. Is yours on the list?

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If you have tried to install the Windows cleanup utility CCleaner recently, you may have noticed that Microsoft Defender springs into action warning you that it is a potentially unwanted application (PUA).

This is not the first time Piriform CCleaner has got on the wrong side of Microsoft -- it was previously blocked from being mentioned in the Microsoft Community forums. The Avast-owned software has been popular with people seeking to tidy up and optimize Windows 10 for a number of years, so what's going on and why does Microsoft flag it up as a PUA?

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During 'shelter at home' many have had to resort to working outside the office. If your employer didn’t have the time or finances to provide new equipment, you may be forced to use your own computer(s) for a prolonged period on sensitive material.

Ask yourself: is your network safe? In the absence of your IT department, you’ll need to rely on your own know-how. Better still, install commercial-grade security software -- and there’s few better than Avast’s AVG Internet Security 2020.

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