Who will it be?

When Martin Zima of the Avast Marketing team established the avast! Facebook page on December 2nd, 2008, he could not imagine, that nearly four years later this page would have two million fans! That’s a 2 with six zeros – 2,000,000. None of us could imagine it. And now, we are waiting in anticipation to welcome our 2 millionth Facebook fan.

Who will it be?

Let me give you the bigger picture: avast! antivirus is a Czech product; AVAST Software has it’s HQ in Prague; Prague has less than 1.3 million inhabitants, and the entire Czech Republic struggles to reach 11,000,000 people. Having a Facebook page with 2,000,000 fans is an outstanding result, and we can say that we are likely the biggest Czech-founded page in the world.

This however is not our success alone, but YOURS too. Without your LIKES, we wouldn’t be getting ready for this celebration. Therefore we are preparing some nice surprises for you. Every celebration however requires some preparation.   This “for play” can sometimes be even more enjoyable than the actual party. 

What you can expect in the upcoming days?

We estimate that we will reach 2,000,000 fans around  October 27^th. Maybe the 2 millionth fan will be one of your friends. YOU can help us speed this process up, so we can celebrate sooner. How? Every day we will have a little quiz, poll, or question for you. Every day you will get a chance to win a license for avast! Internet Security or avast! Pro for Mac. Every day you will get a chance to have your picture on our cover image along with your “FREEky Security Tip of the Day.”

Invite your friends to become avast! fans and participate as well, as the most active fans (check your position as avast! TOP FREEk here) will be awarded with… No, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. We will keep you posted.

Follow our Facebook page, answer our quizzes, invite your friends. Simply have fun celebrating 2,000,000 fans with avast!

AVAST Software received the highest ADVANCED+ Award Certification in the latest published independent tests by Anti-Virus Comparatives. The awarded avast! Free Antivirus 7.0 was the only free antivirus solution to achieve this result, competing among traditional paid-for antivirus tools.

AV Comparatives awards the certification based on a combination of high detection score and avoidance of so-called False Positives. “We did very well in both categories,” said Vincent Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software.  “I’m pleased to say that since 2010, when we decided to submit our free version to compete against the paid solutions, we have achieved the highest award every time but once.”

A Google alert just popped up this review from Android Authority titled:  “The best just got better“. And I just love the writeup from the author Simon Hill…

“After trying a number of Android security apps and comparing their performance in independent tests it is easy to recommend Avast Mobile Security as your best option. The sheer variety of features is more in keeping with a premium app, but it is still completely free.”

So if you have an Android phone – and according to the latest data by Gartner there should be about 450 million of you out there – go to Google Play and get the best rated security app.  For free.

I’m still having my old Nokia but I guess time has come to get the shiny Galaxy S3 and install as well 

Question of the Week: How do I know my avast! Antivirus is protecting me against the latest viruses?

With avast! Antivirus 7, you get each virus signature sent to you in real-time via a connection to the AVAST Virus Lab cloud, rather than needing to wait for a traditional database update. Your database will be continuously updated with the latest definitions.

To ensure this works efficiently, the auto update should be turned ON so that your virus definitions are updated automatically whenever you are connected to the internet. When you open the program’s main window, it will tell you the current security status of your computer. By clicking on “Show details” you can see the current status of the virus definitions.

If you have reason to believe that your virus definitions have not updated, you can access various features of the program by clicking on the orange avast! icon located in your computer’s system tray instead of going through the main user interface. When you right click on the avast! icon, a short menu will appear. Click Update > Engine and virus definitions to see if your virus definitions are up-to-date.

Tell your friends on Facebook about how great avast! Antivirus protection is by clicking here. You could win an iPod Touch!

Those of you who manage Windows servers and endpoints for SMBs or enterprise will be interested to read the latest review of avast! Endpoint Protection Suite from eSecurity Planet. Technology journalist Paul Rubens looked into the nuts n’ bolts of our business product and found the same award-winning multi-layered protection approach as the consumer products  –with the addition of server protection and a choice of two central management consoles, Small Office Administration or Enterprise Administration.

The web-based Small Office Administration console is designed for companies with up to 200 end users. Unskilled administrators have a user-friendly central window which controls all functions of endpoint and server security. Despite its simplicity, it offers remote installation and updates of endpoint software, scanning and remote running of scan jobs, and virus activity reporting. There’s also an auto-discovery of new/unprotected or “rogue” machines connected to your company network.

The Enterprise Administration console is accessed as a Windows application and offers sophisticated functionality for skilled IT staff. Admins manage devices organized in a hierarchical tree structure based for example, on the geographical or organizational structure of their network, which makes it possible for them to assign administration access rights and policies. It also includes customizable alerting so they can receive a warning by email regarding activity on your network that warrants their attention.

How many times have you seen a prompt to update software on your computer? How many times have you ignored it, and then got worried or annoyed because it kept reminding you? You are not alone in your procrastination. A full 40% of adults surveyed by Skype say they don’t always update software on their computers when prompted to do so. More than half said they needed to see a prompt between two and five times before they download and install an update.

Skype conducted the survey in preparation of International Technology Upgrade Week. We support them in spreading the word about why it’s important to keep software in top condition – having the latest security updates being the most important reason.

One of the ways cybercrooks get malware into your system is through exploiting programs that are old or not up-to-date. Most programs, like avast!, send out regular patches and updates, but a quarter of those surveyed said they don’t clearly understand what software updates do, and an equal percentage don’t understand the benefits so updates don’t get done and vulnerabilities persist. Read more…

avast! Free Antivirus outperformed multiple free and paid-for antivirus products in AV-TEST’s analysis of thirty-one consumer and business internet security products. The test, which concluded in June, included familiar names in the antivirus sector. Even a well-known paid-for ‘Internet Security 2012’ product which sells for $79.99 a year, was bested by AVAST Software’s free antivirus product.

Both home-user and corporate products analyzed by AV-Test.org cover a range of metrics, including protection against ‘real-world’ zero-day malware attacks, detection of a representative set of malware discovered in the last 2-3 months, false positive rates, and scanning speed. avast! Free Antivirus detected 100% of widespread and prevalent malware (such as viruses, worms or Trojan Horses), and its cumulative score earned it the top spot for overall performance among competitors.

AV-TEST uses specially developed processes to examine products in accordance with the high standards of the IT security field. The aim of the research work carried out by AV-TEST is to directly detect the latest malware, to analyze it using state-of-the-art methods and to inform consumers of the results obtained.

Early Monday morning in the quiet AVAST Software headquarters office in Prague, we walked bleary-eyed to the coffee machine for our morning jolt. To our surprise, the peacefulness of the morning was broken by delighted laughter coming down the hallway. Curious that someone could be so cheery this early, we followed the sound and discovered our colleague reading this extraordinary email from a student in New Zealand. It made our day, so we decided to share it with you. Here it is:

“I’m going to set the scene, I’m a 20 yr. old student from New Zealand and as with many fellow students the purse string are quite tight. Day by day I watch my Norton antivirus warn me, “1 week until subscription ends,”  “4 days until subscription end,” 3, 2, 1…. 0. I’m vulnerable from all sides; my platoon has abandoned me deep in enemy territory. Norton Scum! I trusted them, but it turns out they’re only concern was the slim funds in my bank account. I can’t be forking out cash willy nilly, I eat rolled oats 4 meals out of 5. You’re not getting my money Norton, you have to pry it from my cold dead hands!

Deserted. Alone. The Viruses and malware creeping ever closer by the second… what can I do? Stop the aimless wandering through the internet that my generation has taken to so well? I think not. Determined to press on I continue, ever aware of the knot in my throat and the diminishing speed of my laptop. Then, as if a World Wide Web guardian angel had heard my prayers – AVAST! –  Clouds part, sunbeams shine down like golden pillars supporting the heavens themselves. A 1-year antivirus free for the little man, for the struggling student, the single mother, the small business owner. You sir/madam have restored my faith in humanity, you’re not like the rest of them -  those bloody beaked vultures, owned by greasy handed suits getting their daily warm fuzzies from the sight of their bank digits, you know (Norton!).

So, I commend your charity, if avast! antivirus was a person, we would get along (even more so if avast! was a slender twenty something of the female variety), I would possibly buy you a drink in a bar, invite you back to my dingy flat and enjoy your refreshing character with nothing but the upmost respect that you deserve.

Avast!, you little minx, keep on keeping on. Thanks for the protection, I think I might even upgrade to the full version when my free time is up.

Kind regards and thanks,

B. W.

P.S.) If by any chance you are a “twenty something of the female variety” user of avast! in New Zealand, and would like to meet the author, please write us. Who knows, this could be the start of an avast! matchmaking service! Little minx, indeed…

avast! File Server Security for Windows Servers has earned a “Virus Bulletin 100%” (VB100) award from the latest Virus Bulletin comparative review conducted on the Windows 2008 Server R2 platform.

Avast! File Server Security performed extremely well in the test. The program scored high detection rates with zero false positives and demonstrated 100% efficiency when tested against viruses “in-the-wild” and on clean sets. Avast! File Server Security also had excellent scores in the Reactive and Proactive (RAP) test, reflecting its ability to detect and accurately identify newly emerging malware and previously unknown malware samples. Based on the fine performance of Avast! File Server Security, the editor’s concluded that, “a VB100 award is earned without difficulty.” This award follows an April VB100 award for avast! Free Antivirus.

VB100 certification is widely recognized within the industry, with its focus on virus detection rates and scanning speeds, as well as a range of additional tests included in comparative test reports.  Virus Bulletin has carried out independent comparative testing of antivirus products for many years. The testing platform was Windows Server 2008 R2, the server platform from Microsoft released in 2009. Thirty-seven submissions were tested in this round.