According to the Avast Q3 2017 PC Trends Report, the worldwide average age of PCs is over 5 years old.  As PCs age, they suffer from increasingly more slow-downs, crashes, and non-essential files crowding their disks. Even Windows 10 does little to handle this degradation, as it occurs in brand-new machines as regularly as in the older ones. The good news is that now we’ve got an app for that...

Introducing the next generation of Avast Cleanup Premium

A while ago, we developed a tool called Avast Cleanup, which offered basic PC cleaning capabilities. When Avast and AVG merged, however, we combined our best engineers combined with our best technologies and took Avast Cleanup to the next level. We propelled the software from a simple cleanup utility to a full optimization suite with over ten features to improve reliability and speed, free up disk space and, of course, fix your PC.  

Avast Cleanup Premium includes the following features:

• Automatic Maintenance. Tracks and optimizes six key areas of your PC, including broken shortcuts, browser cache, disk junk, and tracking cookies.
• Sleep Mode. Breakthrough patented technology speeds up your PC by safely putting programs to sleep when not required.
• Disk Cleaner. Removes junk from over 200 applications and Windows features.
  
  
  
  
• Browser Cleaner: Removes browsing traces such as cookies and cache files from top browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, and more.
• Software Cleanup: Powered by a cloud-based reputation system, this all-new technology detects and removes bloatware such as toolbars, preinstalled trials, and more.
• Problem Fixing: Detects and corrects common causes of PC problems, like unsafe user accounts, control settings, and outdated file lists.
• Rescue Center: Not happy with a setting? Restore it using Rescue Center.
• Action Center: A notification system automatically reports problems as they occur, and lets you fix them with just a few clicks.

And that’s not all. We already have plans to enhance Avast Cleanup Premium with more dynamic functionality ... but that’s another blog post for another day.

Why is PC performance still an issue?

So why is PC performance still an issue when PCs and laptops have made huge strides in terms of performance, resources, and disk space? Along with the pros come a few cons: applications, web browsing, and especially games, have become increasingly demanding. Additionally, each day you use your PC, its performance, reliability and lifespan deteriorate. It’s simple wear-and-tear, the result of typical activities like using new software, browsing the web, and updating drivers.

What to look for:

• Reduced performance. Lack of responsiveness when doing the simplest tasks, like opening Internet Explorer windows or working in Microsoft Office. More demanding applications like games or multimedia editing tools can also experience noticeable slowdown and overall sluggishness in performance.
• Lack of disk space. With average hard disk sizes ranging from 256 GB (SSDs) to 512 GB (for mechanical HDDs), disk space is still an issue.
• “Bloatware.” Some PC and software makers install trials, ads, toolbars, and other programs you never asked for, impacting performance.
• Crashes and freezes: Lack of maintenance also brings reliability issues, including error messages and unexplained crashes.

If you notice any of the above, it might be time to take advantage of Avast Cleanup Premium. Please share your feedback.