Another busy year is coming to a close at Avast Software. We launched game-changing products for Mac and Android which achieved astounding download numbers and won multiple accolades; we made technical strides in detecting dangerous malware to keep our users safer than ever; we grew our social media presence so that our Facebook fan page is in the top 4 of the software category; and we started a unique program providing business-grade security software to U.S. schools and libraries for free. avast! Antivirus is protecting more than 170 million devices – PCs, Macs, and Android phones and tablets – worldwide.

As the year comes to end, we look back on some of our accomplishments. Here’s our favorite moments of 2012:

January

• avast! Mobile Security for Android reached 1 million installations the first week of January – only 10 days after its launch.
• In one month, avast! recorded 1.87 billion incidents of our users encountering malware.

February

• Avast reaches 150 million users worldwide. Three countries -  the USA, Brazil and France -  each have more than 10 million avast! users.
• avast! Mobile Security for Android reached 2.1 million installations at the beginning of February, and we gave away 10 Samsung Galaxy Nexus phones to celebrate the success.

March

• Our CEO makes changes to Avast free phone support service based on feedback from our users.
• Our premium product avast! 7 Internet Security with AutoSandbox and avast! SafeZone becomes available to home users.

April

• The beta of avast! Free Antivirus for Mac begins and protects users from the Flashback Trojan which infected 600,000 Macs.
• avast! Free Antivirus 7 receives the Advanced Plus certification by AV-Comparatives detecting 98% of the 300,000 malware tested, surpassing many paid antivirus.

May

• We celebrate the launch of avast! Free Antivirus for Mac with a Facebook photo contest, and welcome hundreds of thousands of new fans.
• avast! Free Antivirus for Mac is the most popular download on CNET’s download.com after only 3 days.

June

• We treat Brazilian avast! user and family to seven days in paradise with an all-expenses paid trip by Avast.
• Avast welcomes its global business partners to Prague for annual meeting.

July

• avast! Free Antivirus beats competitors in AV-TEST, detecting 100% of malware and reaching the top of the list in performance.
• avast! File Server Security for Windows Servers earns the Virus Bulletin 100% (VB100) award.
• We welcome our 190 millionth registered avast! user and family to Prague.

August

• avast! Mobile Security 2.0 launched with new functions: Portal for remote control of Android devices (my.avast.com), consumption meter network, widget and SiteCorrect ™.
• avast! Antivirus is one of the few products to protect against Microsoft vulnerabilities.

September

• avast! Free Antivirus earns another VB100 award.
• avast! Mobile Security exceeds 10 million installations and maintains 4.7 out of 5 stars rating on Google Play.

October

• Facebook teams up with Avast to protect users from malware shared unknowingly by the social network’s  users.
• The avast! Facebook page has 2 million fans.
•  avast! Free Antivirus 7.0 is the only free antivirus solution to receive the ADVANCED+ Award Certification .
• avast! Mobile Security protects Android devices from USSD  attacks that can block the SIM card and delete data.

November

• Avast announces the Free for EDU program which gives our centrally-managed business product free to U.S. schools and libraries.
• avast! Free Antivirus earns the coveted compatibility certification and the right to display the “Windows 8 Compatible” logo.
• avast! Internet Security provides 100% protection against banking malware.
• avast! Free Antivirus receives AV-TEST certification for 100% detection rates of malware.
• Avast teams up with Socialbakers to monitor and manage its growing presence on social media.
• Avast users predict results of U.S. presidential election.
• Avast has 170 million active users.

December

• avast! Mobile Security detects 100% of mobile malware while Android 4.2 is found to detect only 15.3% of malware.
• Facebook ‘Member Gets Member’ game begins and gains hundreds of thousands of new fans.
• The Avast Research Lab develops new malware-detecting technologies.