Major avast! version 17 released!

AVAST Software launched their brand new, major release of their flagship product avast!, this time with version number 17 (skipping 5 versions because of AVG acquisition). It’s probably one of the greatest and most complex releases of them all in a very long avast! history.

avast! v17 (example of Premier Edition)

New branding with trademark orange amoeba, new grey, white, green and purple color scheme. This is the new face of avast! 🙂

What’s new in version 17

• Improved user interface – simplified navigation, new brand colors, notification center
• Behavior Shield – better protects you against ransomware by monitoring running programs for suspicious behavior
• Game mode – helps reduce distractions and lag times by automatically prioritizing your game’s performance and suspending all unnecessary background notifications and processes while you play
• Free version no longer requires email registration
• Performance improvements – faster webpage loading and app launching thanks to optimized hashing algorithms
• Wi-Fi Inspector – previously called Home Network Security, this feature now detects even more problems and vulnerabilities on both home and public networks
• Passwords – faster UI and improved browser integration
• Real Site – our new name for SecureDNS, which prevents DNS hijacking to help you avoid visiting fake websites
• SafeZone browser – common settings for all modes, faster startup of bank mode, currency converter

Under the hood changes and features

I’m not going to bore you with really technical details, all I can say is this new version will provide SIGNIFICANTLY enhanced protection. DeepScreen has been moved to CyberCapture system, removing (for some) annoying “DeepScreen scanning…” popup, scan engine gained many cool features from AVG creating a hybrid engine of best features from both scan engines and lastly, the biggest addition, Behavior Shield. A feature I’ve been waiting for since version 5 and now it has finally made a debut in v17 in all its full glory. It’s a behavior based analysis system which continuously monitors execution process of each and every program on the system. Malware writers can use most sophisticated packers and crypters, but Behavior Shield doesn’t care about any of it. All it cares about is how program behaves on a higher level. If it’s doing suspicious or malicious things to your files or system, it’ll terminate the offensive program and reverse the changes. I’ve made an early test during BETA testing phase and it detected pretty much everything I’ve thrown at it. I’ve also seen internal operation of Behavior Shield during my visit of avast! HQ and it constantly feeds detection and sensors data back into their cloud, processing all the data in near real-time and feeding it back to users and into other avast! systems, progressively increasing protection with every sample processed. It’s already outstanding against ransomware, as well as all sorts of other malware types like file infectors (viruses), trojans, backdoors and worms. It’s gonna catch ’em all! 😉

Plans for the future

I can’t go into exact details due to NDA, but I can tell you avast! team is already working on additional anti-ransomware measures that will proactively protect whole system and personal user files from ransomware. One involves proactive measures and another one generic whitelist based protection where only programs on extensive avast! whitelist are allowed to modify user documents. This gives outstanding generic protection with nearly perfect user experience since users will still be able to edit their personal files using safe tools like image and text editors.

Phishing protection will also be moved from browser extension into Web Shield module, providing extended protection against phishing websites without the need to use browser extensions.

There are also extensive plans on interface upgrade. First stage is the main interface which you can already see in screenshot above. Next stages through March, April and later will evolve certain deeper menus even further, making them look nicer, more consistent with the new design theme and also more user friendly.

There are also many other smaller changes that I’m not covering here which will be included in upcoming monthly releases.

It’s a bright future ahead for avast! and I can’t wait to see how it will do in AV-Comparatives and AV-Test with the new Behavior Shield as well as all the other protection goodies. 🙂

DOWNLOADS:

Home page:
https://www.avast.com

My referral link (you get a download, I get a referral point):
https://www.avast.com/get/PylIx3WC

Online installers (recommended, always up to date install):

http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup.exe

Offline installers (only use if no connection on destination PC during installation):

http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup_offline.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup_offline.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup_offline.exe

AVAST Software is buying AVG Technologies

Wow, I just received info about AVAST Software (makers of avast! Antivirus) buying AVG Technologies (makers of AVG Antivirus). This news was a bit of a shock for me since I wasn’t expecting it at all. avast! bought few smaller developers in the past, but nothing this big. These are two largest Czech software companies and if the whole thing goes through well, we are going to be looking at European security powerhouse. Both companies have well over 200 million active users, assuming all AVG users will stick with avast!, their userbase will extend to massive 400-500 million users. That’s almost half a billion users. Mind blowing numbers. It’s hard to say how things will change for the future, but there are certainly technological benefits from this purchase, from protection features as well as knowledge. Not really expecting large changes within software till 2017, maybe even 2018, but they might surprise us.

Official statement from AVAST Software CEO, Vince Steckler:

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.

In spite of this one difference, these companies are so similar that it is only natural that they be combined and that is what we are now planning on doing. Under an agreement signed with AVG, Avast will be making an offer ($25 per share or about $1.3 billion in total) to buy all shares of AVG’s stock which AVG’s board is recommending their shareholders accept. If the AVG shareholders do accept, following the various governmental regulators approvals, AVG will become part of Avast and we will jointly work on a great future together. We expect this to take a few months. Now this process is much more complex than this simple description and there are a lot of rules and regulations about the process and what we can say, etc. As a result, at the bottom of this blog entry you will find a page of important disclosures that you should read if you are a shareholder, contemplating being a shareholder, or are just curious.

The process does not allow us to talk a lot about how we would operate after combining, etc. so I can just say a little. I do think this combination is great for our users. We will have over 250 million PC/Mac users enabling us to gather even more threat data to improve the protection to our users. In mobile, our combined 160 million mobile users will be used to improve protection as well as to provide an important stepping stone into the Internet of things. Additionally, we will be gaining some exciting mobile technology designed to protect families on line. In SMB, we will be better able to support our business users with a larger geographic footprint, better technical support, and the best technologies from our two companies.

Our website (and AVG’s) contains a lot more information about this transaction—the press release, FAQs, etc. As we are allowed during the process, we will convey to you, our users and customers, all the information that we are allowed. Most importantly though, I assure you that we value every single Avast and AVG user and will do our best in the future to keep you protected and to keep your trust.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking information that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.  These risks and uncertainties include those related to, among other things:  general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which Parent, Buyer and the Company operate; and the parties’ ability to satisfy the conditions to the contemplated tender offer and consummate the transactions described in this communication; and the Company’s performance and maintenance of important business relationships. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and neither Parent, Buyer nor the Company assumes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

The tender offer referenced in this communication has not yet commenced.  This communication is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any ordinary shares of the Company or any other securities.  The solicitation and offer to purchase ordinary shares of the Company will only be made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and certain other tender offer documents.  At the time the tender offer is commenced, Parent and Buyer will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, including an Offer to Purchase, a related letter of transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, and the Company will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9, with the SEC, each with respect to the tender offer.  The Company’s shareholders are urged to read the tender offer statement and Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, as they may be amended from time to time, as well as any other relevant documents filed with the SEC, when they become available, carefully and in their entirety because they will contain important information that holders of the Company’s securities should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their securities.  The Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other tender offer documents, as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will be made available to all holders of ordinary shares of the Company at no expense to them from the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.

 

New big avast! v12.1 update released!

avast! has just released a big update. Maybe not big on the outside, but under the hood, it has undergone some big changes.

What’s new in version 12.1.2272:

• Lower system impact – faster boot time, less space taken on disk
• CyberCapture – better detection of unknown and unique files via our cloud technology
• Regular monthly program updates – automatic and silent, configurable via Settings
• Improved detection of router vulnerabilities
• New Bank mode in SafeZone browser
• Faster SecureLine connection
• Antispam is now as opt-in component
• Removed hardware virtualization (NG) – replaced with CyberCapture,that has much lower impact on system resources
• Removed Remote assistance – not used enough and not a core functionality

Two biggest changes are monthly program updates and CyberCapture. Monthly updates mean more flexible updating, faster fixing of vulnerabilities and faster evolution of protection technologies with less bugs since they can focus on individual parts of the program instead of accumulating huge number of changes for big releases every few months.

CyberCapture, the second and probably one of largest things is replacing old Secure VM (NG Technology). Secure VM was a big virtualized behavior analysis system running on local system. Imagine creating a clone of your entire system and running it as a secure analysis system on top of your own system. Not only this was very demanding or system, it was also quite problematic and it rarely really worked well. CyberCapture is basically an inverted system of old Secure VM. Instead of running virtualized system on every user computer, suspicious files are now sent to avast! cloud where it essentially does even more advanced analysis on avast! servers. Freeing user computers of heavy load while allowing avast! analysts to have more control over file analysis, being able to update their detection systems more often and provide better protection. Analysis take a bit longer now, but are more rigorous and hopefully with even higher detection rate. We’ll see how that will prove itself in tests and real world scenarios.

More info and download links can be found here. If you’re already using avast!, just invoke Program Update and it’ll update to this version automatically.

More info on CyberCapturee feature.

avast! 2015 Protection Tweaks updated for the new R3 release

AVAST Software has “just” released a new build of avast! named R3. This is basically a 3rd “Service Pack” after original avast! 2015 release.

New features and Improvements in Avast 2015 R3:

• Grimefighter is now redone and called Cleanup.
  – runs without need of reboot
  – much faster
  – runs on more devices (better compatibility)
• Improved Windows 10 compatibility
• Ability to check compatibility issues with other antivirus software
• Host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS): an installed software package which monitors a single host for suspicious activity by analyzing events occurring within that host
• StreamFilter with HTTPS scanning  is now available also for Windows XP/Vista
• NG is not using Volume Shadow Copy Service anymore

avast! download:

http://www.avast.com

Updated avast! 2015 Protection Tweaks:

https://rejzor.wordpress.com/avast-2015-protection-tweaks

Changes:

Changes for the R3 release include adjustments to the newly introduced HIPS functionality which is set to “Monitor system for malware-like behavior” only with highest sensitivity. This should provide higher protection without annoying the user.

avast! Antivirus 2015 released!

AVAST Software has released a new major version of their flagship product avast Antivirus today. Here is the list of major changes/improvements:

• HTTPS scanning
Ability to detect and decrypt TLS/SSL protected traffic in the Web-content filtering component. This feature will protect you against viruses coming through HTTPs traffic as well as adding compatibility for SPDY+HTTPS/ HTTP 2.0 traffic. You can tune/disable this feature in the settings section.

• AVAST NG
A hardware based virtualization solution capable of running each Windows process in standalone safe virtualized environment (VM) and fully integrated to your desktop. Each process is executed in its own instance of VM, which means totally isolated from your other applications. This feature is now powering the Avast DeepScreen, resulting in better detection. Avast NG requires HW virtualization enabled.

• SecureDNS (this feature is active in the paid versions only)
A new provider which guards against unprotected DNS/DNS hijack on a router/client (including unsecured networks, public ones, etc.).

• Home Network Security
Scan your home network for vulnerabilities (wifi status, connected devices, router settings, factory passwords, etc.). It helps to discover potential problems not isolated on the particular device only, but in the entire network of devices you use or connect to the Internet from.

• Smart Scan
Integrated all on demand scans into one (Antivirus, Software updates, Home Network, GrimeFighter). One scan, different results and recommendations.

• New Support System
Easy contact for paid users to submit a ticket with all info included automatically. Improved knowledge base for free users. Help is completely online and is more up to date.

• General bugfixing
This covers a lot of stability & performance changes in all components (but the main focus was traditionally on the network & engine components).

avast! Free download with referer (if you weant to help me out)
http://www.avast.com/get/PylIx3WC

Download locations
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup.exe

avast! cleaner:
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avastclear.exe

My updated, super silent, fully automated config file for the new avast! 2015:
https://rejzor.wordpress.com/avast-2015-protection-tweaks/

It should be possible to install this version on top of your existing avast! installation (all settings should be preserved). Or you can use in-product updater.

Enjoy this release!

avast! Online Security add-on for Firefox

Apparently avast! team has finally released a stand alone version of avast! Online Security plugin for Mozilla Firefox (for a while now, I just haven’t noticed it). I know I’m already using avast!, but didn’t like the add-on being tied to the antivirus instead of browser. It made add-ons syncing a bit of a pain. But not anymore. If you’re a Firefox user, clicky de click here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/avast-online-security

And you can grab the add-on there even if you’re not actually using avast! Antivirus. It hasn’t been approved fully by Mozilla yet, but it’s made by avast! Software, so you can be sure it’s safe.

What does it do?

It checks webpages for phishing, it checks URL addresses for common typos and auto-corrects them. It also has a community based webpage rating system comprised of over 170 million users and also indicates that status inside search engines.

Additionally it can suggest you better offers and deals on certain webpages and also prevent tracking elements (those stupid Facebook buttons and other crap) from tracking you as you browse around. All this can of course be tweaked and adjusted in add-on settings.

avast! Protection Tweaks

I’ve launched a new sub-page for avast! Antivirus configuration tweaks which provide the least intrusive experience with maximum protection and performance. If you just want antivirus to silently sit in the corner of your desktop and do its job when malware is detected, then you’ll love it. All the animations, information pop ups and sounds are interesting at first, but over time, they do get a bit annoying (at least they did for me). My configuration file takes care about that and much more.

Access the sub-page on the link below or through the right side Pages panel…

https://rejzor.wordpress.com/avast-protection-tweaks

avast! 2014 released!

After a quite long BETA test, avast! team has released their flagship product avast! Antivirus. It brings many new features that I wrote about some time ago. Below here is just an official summary of important new features. I love the way how this new avast! turned and I think you will be too 🙂 It’s a great protection package with some really cool features like Hardened Mode for users who don’t know much about computers, the crazy fast scanning, new completely transparent Auto Sandbox (now called DeepScreen) and so on and on. You won’t be disappointed!

Protection-related features and improvements

• New DeepScreen technology allows avast! to make more intelligent decisions about new/unknown files. DeepScreen is a successor of AutoSandbox, now upgraded with some additional new technologies such as dynamic binary translation and dyna-gen announced earlier.

• New Hardened mode for stricter lockdown scenarios. This is a new mode that is recommended especially for novice users (such as your grandmas): it automatically blocks execution of binaries that would normally be deepscreened (Moderate level) or even allows only execution of programs that are well-known to FileRep (Aggressive level). In a way, it brings the whitelisting concept to the consumer AV space.

• Improved cloud scanning features and crowdsourced analysis of suspicious items. This includes new, optimized mechanism for collecting data from our sensors.

• Continuously streaming update (CSU) technology for up-to-minute detections. This is not entirely new for v2014, but we now have really buttoned up the whole streaming update infrastructure to allow for reliable, uninterrupted service. We’re currently doing 350-400 updates a day, which equals to one update in roughly every 3.75 minutes, 24×7, 365 days a year. Streaming updates can now also carry more types of definitions than before.

• Improved cleaning of malware. This applies to standard malware as well as rootkits and file infectors.

Other new features

• All-new web browser plugins featuring comprehensive security ratings, protection against malware, phishing and typosquatting sites and Do-Not-Track (DNT) functionality for improved anonymity on the Internet. The DNT functionality doesn’t rely on the DNT HTTP headers; instead, it uses a proprietary technology that cannot be overridden by the servers.

• All-new SafeZone for more secure online shopping and banking. Users can now switch back and forth between SafeZone and the regular browser with a single click. Also, online banking sites can be automatically opened in the SafeZone.

• Rescue disk – allow users to create a bootable CD or flash disk with Avast on it. Great for cleaning.

Other improvements

• A new, streamlined user interface for simplified navigation and more user comfort. The new UI is actually much simplified, and it’s probably the biggest change since version 5.0. We have also redefined the shields to the total number of three (File Shield, Web Shield, Mail Shield) and tweaked the action buttons (tiles) on the home page so that they’re now fully configurable.

• Control and manage all protected devices directly from the Avast console. That is, the my.avast.com account is perfectly integrated in the UI to allow for management of all your devices running Avast.

• Dramatic reduction in product size (full installer < 60MB, compared to today’s 120MB) and memory footprint. By default, install is done through a new stub installer though (which has the advantage of always installing the most up-to-date version).

• Faster scanning thanks to optimized scanning engine (raw [in-memory] scans of EXE files are about 2x faster, while scans of text contents (e.g. web pages and scripts) are up to 10x faster).

• Completely rewritten setup/updater that makes the installation and upgrade process faster, easier and more reliable

• Firewall has been redesigned from scratch to allow for better compatibility with latest Windows, better performance and full support for IPv6 (although its UI hasn’t really changed).

• New licensing system allows for much easier management of product licenses. The system relies on activation codes, and these can be added seamlessly by simply clicking a link.

• Various improvement in the Software Updater and Browser Cleanup tool.vvv

Download:

http://www.avast.com

avast! 2014 BETA released!

No, I’m not going to post a link here due to the nature of the product (still being a beta), but I can tell you that you can get it on official avast! forums. Shouldn’t be too difficult if you are interested in testing it before the release.

Now, I’ll write some first few minutes impressions about this new version. And I must say they are mostly positive which is very good.

The biggest change is the interface, something no one can miss (unless if you are blind of course). All the fiddly settings have now been removed from the main interface, no more billions of shields and statistics pages, updates page, no more direct access to hundreds of tweaks and settings. All you have direct access to are the most important settings and features like Quick Scan, Virus Chest, Software Updater, Browser Cleaner etc. So, for a casual user, it kinda feels like slightly more advanced MSE. But for those advanced users, you can still get ALL the existing settings and tweaks, so you can fiddle with them till you die 🙂 Sure some related to separate shields are now gone, because shields have been consolidated, but if I’m honest, I don’t really miss them.

If you’re an advanced user, you might be in a worry now, but I can calm you down, it looks and feels really well. You don’t really need to fiddle with all those settings all the time and once you do in the main settings, they will most likely remain that way for the rest of usage time.

Oh and I really like the new animated trey icon. I didn’t like the rotating icon in the past so I kept it disabled most of the time (rotation, not the icon), but the new one looks like a pie cutout from the orb which moves from right to left side. It’s not even annoying and looks kinda cool.

This is pretty much it. Yes, it’s BETA and thus has few glitches like the magnifying glass icon instead of the actual Virus Chest icon and few other things like old yellow progress bars during scans, but that will all get sorted out before the FINAL version release.

Another big change is the avast! Online Security plugin for browser. This is how it looks in Firefox on my blog. As you can see it offers variety of privacy features plus enhanced phishing and malware detection. Rating has also been simplified to Good and Bad options only, so no more fiddly settings. It is again a bit twitchy on some pages where its graphics become a bit weird, but it works. And I really don’t like its browser icon (that “a” logo with a dot in the middle). But I guess this is just temporal graphic during beta…

It feels really fast and works surprisingly well for a very first beta of such major release so I’m feeling very confident about it.

More info will come once I get more in-depth info.

avast! Antivirus 2014 announced!

At first it was not meant for this info to go live for another week or so, but someone leaked it already so there is no point in keeping the cat in the bag anymore… avast! 2014 has NOT yet been released, this is just a teaser announcement. Public beta testing will soon begin and the actual final release to the end users planned later this year…

New naming scheme

We talked about this a lot in the past years and now the decision has been made to follow the year numbers in the program name. While many of the advanced users generally don’t like this, it makes sense in a way. For me as an advanced user, it doesn’t really matter if it says avast! Antivirus 9.0 or avast! Antivirus 2014. But to some casual user, “2014” tells that he is using the latest version. So, that in a way makes casual users more aware of keeping program up to date. With antiviruses, that is very important as only the latest version can effectively combat latest threats.

New release schedule

In the past years, new avast! version has been released in February every year. This brought few complications for the testing of avast! by various testing organizations like AV-Test and AV-Comparatives which mostly conduct tests from December to July, so avast! often got a bit handicapped because of that. I mean, it was basically old version of avast! against latest versions from competitors, because the casual February release was in the middle of the testing where program versions are usually frozen and they don’t get changed during testing. I’m not expecting drastic changes, but at least the competition will be somewhat more equal for everyone (especially for avast!). Oh and this also goes better with the yearly naming scheme. New year number just before it actually transitions into the actual New Year.

New protection features

Along with new version also come amazing new protection features. Here are few of the most profound ones…

• DeepScreen Technology

A successor to the AutoSandbox, an enhanced version with capability to make much more intelligent decisions for new/unknown files and offers advanced new features like Dynamic Binary Translation and Dyna-Gen (a fully machine generated behavior detection signatures). We’ve seen a great success with Evo-Gen (fully machine generated generic “signature” detections), so we are expecting quite a jump in detection with it.

• Hardened Mode

Hardened Mode is a new mode designed to further reinforce the system for less knowledgeable users. There will be two modes, Moderate (which blocks anything that would otherwise be verified by DeepScreen) and Aggressive (which blocks everything unknown to the FileRep service (file reputation in the cloud)). This is very useful for systems operated by those who don’t know much about computers like kids or grandma/grandpa. Basically it brings whitelisting concept into a more every day use.

• Improved cloud scanning and crowdsourced analysis

New array of optimized mechanisms that allow better collection of data from avast! sensors and feeding that data to the whole protection backend.

• Continuous Streaming Updates (CSU)

This technology is not exactly new as it’s already being used in avast! 8.0. Streaming Updates were in the beginning updates that filled the gap between casual every day updates. In the beginning they were released hourly through the operating hours of avast! Virus Lab to avoid possible devastating false positives, but now the process has matured enough to be fully autonomous and released around the clock 24/7, 365 days a year. The process is so mature that is feeding malware detection “signatures” to the end users roughly every 3.75 minutes, giving avast! capability to stay in touch with all the very latest malware. Streaming Updates can now also carry more advanced detections and not just the most basic ones, so they can feed sophisticated detection measures even through these nearly instantaneous updates. avast! Virus Lab is currently feeding roughly 350-400 updates per day to their users!

• Improved malware cleaning and disinfection

This includes improved cleaning capabilities of standard malware as well as rootkits and file infectors.

Other new features

• All new web browsing plugins

Featuring comprehensive security ratings, protection against malware, phishing and typosquatting sites and Do-Not-Track (DNT) functionality for improved anonymity on the Internet. The DNT functionality doesn’t rely on the DNT HTTP headers, instead, it uses a proprietary technology that cannot be overridden by the servers.

• All new SafeZone

New and enhanced SafeZone allowing users to switch between secure and normal browser in one click and also allow to open banking webpages directly into SafeZone.

• Rescue Disc

Users will be able to create a bootable CD or USB drive that can be then used for cleaning of resilient malware or systems infested by ransomware where user cannot access installed antivirus software to initiate cleaning.

Other improvements

• New interface

A new streamlined interface. Till now, the interface only evolved slightly, but with avast! 2014, the interface is going to be revolutionized. It’s an all new, slightly Windows 8 styled interface which you can check in the screenshots below… It’s not finalized yet, but this is roughly how it will look like. Shields have also been consolidated into only 3 shields (File Shield, Web Shield, Mail Shield). Front interface screen will also allow users to place their favorite functions to the front as a fully customizable buttons, so you can always have all the important and most used features at your finger tips.

• Control all devices from one interface

Control and manage all protected devices directly from the Avast console. That is, the my.avast.com account is perfectly integrated in the UI to allow for management of all your devices running Avast.

• Much smaller installer

Dramatic reduction in product size (full installer < 60MB, compared to today’s 120MB) and memory footprint. By default, install is done through a new stub installer though (which has the advantage of always installing the most up-to-date version). I also hope standalone offline versions will be provided for systems that don’t have internet connection at the time of installation.

• Much faster scan engine

Faster scanning thanks to optimized scanning engine (raw [in-memory] scans of EXE files are about 2x faster, while scans of text contents (e.g. web pages and scripts) are up to 10x faster). This should provide less drag on the system and much smaller delays when viewing webpages and running programs.

• New updating system

Completely rewritten setup/updater that makes the installation and upgrade process faster, easier and more reliable

• New firewall engine

Firewall has been redesigned from scratch to allow for better compatibility with latest Windows, better performance and full support for IPv6. The interface hasn’t changed much, but the firewall core engine is all new.

• New licensing system

New licensing system allows for much easier management of product licenses. The system relies on activation codes, and these can be added seamlessly by simply clicking a link. Not much is (yet) known how the FREE version will have to be re-registered. Hopefully the process will be much simplified and less confusing to the casual users who just want to be protected with as little effort as possible.

• Other improvements

There also improvements to the Software Updater and browser Cleanup tool which might not be as apparent on the outside, but they are there 🙂

Preview Screenshots

These images don’t represent the exact final visual appearance, but they will give you a rough idea how avast 2014 will look like 🙂

This is it for now, I will keep you up to date with further info as it becomes available… 🙂