Be Safer Online with New, Faster AVG 9.0
MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Auckland, 6
October 2009 – AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, New Zealand, Australia
and South Pacific distributor of the world’s most popular
free anti-virus software, today announced the availability
of a new family of paid internet security products, AVG 9.0.
Boosted by significant enhancements in speed and levels of
protection, AVG 9.0 is also easier to use and improves end
user experience. AVG’s new technology products ensure
that users are safe in whatever activities they undertake in
today’s cyber criminal infested online world.
“AVG 9.0 will provide home computer users with a
more powerful and more streamlined solution that adds
protection without impacting user experience, taking us back
to our core strength of low impact, high performance
security,” said Lloyd Borrett, Marketing Manager at AVG
(AU/NZ).
“We’ve always believed that everyone has
the right to a safe online experience. With AVG 9.0, we are
ensuring that our users are safe from all of the threats
posed by cyber criminals and identity thieves, whether
they’re working, playing, banking or shopping on the
web.”
AVG 9.0 — Faster. Safer. Easier to
Use.
Because AVG knows scanning time is critical to
its customers, scan optimisation is a top priority for AVG
9.0’s combined anti-virus/anti-spyware scanner. It
employs new technology which marks files as safe or
potentially unsafe during the initial scan and skips the
safe files in future scans, unless the file structure
changes. As a result, users experience dramatically reduced
scan times — by up to 50 percent depending on system
configuration — as well as improvements of 10 to 15
percent for boot times and memory usage.
In order to
face the increasing threats of today’s online world, AVG
9.0 combines all modern technologies to optimise real time
protection. Starting with the foundation of signature-based
protection to deal with known threats, AVG 9.0 builds on top
of that behavioural, in-the-cloud and white listing
technologies to address the tens of thousands of new threats
daily.
Revolutionary in AVG 9.0 is the integration
between the Resident Shield, Firewall and Identity
Protection modules. This enables the modules to share
malware information with each other, increasing AVG’s
ability to detect and remove most malicious types of
malware, rootkits and ID Theft threats, for which signatures
have not yet been issued.
The firewall enhancements
include a complete redesign to reduce intrusive questions
from the firewall module by 50 percent. This makes the
firewall module significantly quieter and less intrusive for
users. Its new trusted database of known applications and
application certificates allows the firewall, without user
intervention, to decide whether it’s safe to allow the
application to communicate via the Internet, or if such
communication should be blocked. Additionally, because the
new firewall works behind the scenes with the behavioural
detection technology in the AVG Identity Protection module,
it can deliver one of the most accurate detection levels for
new and unknown threats.
AVG 9.0 also delivers
improved anti-phishing detection through enhancements to its
LinkScanner® module. LinkScanner can now more quickly and
accurately determine whether or not a web page is hosting a
phishing attack. This is accomplished by allowing the
software to apply more than 100 different potential threat
indicators to a page. If the result is inconclusive,
LinkScanner then makes a call to the cloud to check a
multitude of phishing feeds plugged into the AVG research
network, to make a final determination regarding threat
potential.
AVG 9.0 delivers a solution that is laser
focused on user concerns and protection. It’s marked by a
new look and feel designed to significantly improve user
experience and ease of use. Responding to customer feedback,
the AVG installation process has been shortened by 50
percent and the user protection process is dramatically
simplified. Finally, it is also significantly easier for
users to detect and remove any third-party security product
that could cause conflicts with AVG 9.0 and interfere with
the user’s level of protection.
Expanded
Reputation-Based Technology
“Some other security
vendors have recently been announcing how they’ve
introduced ‘new’ reputation-based security
technology,” said Borrett. “AVG already had this
technology in its AVG 8.x product range. Indeed, West Coast
Labs honoured AVG as the first vendor with a product to
receive its Checkmark Anti-Malware Dynamic Certification.
“By expanding the use of reputation-based security
technology in AVG9.0, we’re able to provide an even
better, worry-free experience for users,” Borrett
continued. “The combination of improved traditional
detection methods with enhanced dynamic detection,
white-listing, behavioural analysis and reputation-based
technologies in AVG 9.0 enables users to get on with their
online lives, safe in the knowledge that they’re protected
against new and unknown threats.”
Availability,
Compatibility and Pricing
The complete AVG 9.0 paid
family of consumer products is available now. Pricing for a
one-year, one PC licence for AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 is NZ$54.99,
while a two-year, one PC licence for AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 is
NZ$81.99.
A one-year, three PC licence for AVG
Internet Security 9.0 is NZ$115.99, while a two-year, three
PC licence for AVG Internet Security 9.0 is NZ$173.99.
The above prices include free telephone support
during Auckland business hours, backed up by free 24/7
technical support by e-mail and online. Also included is
access to all protection updates and software upgrades for
the term of the licence.
AVG 9.0 supports Microsoft
Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers running a
32-bit or 64-bit version of the operating system.
The
AVG 9.0 security product range for consumers and small
business is available for purchase and download from
http://http://www.avg.com.au plus through a network of more
than 2400 independent software resellers throughout
Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. AVG 9.0
consumer products are available singly and in multi-license
packs for 3, 5 and 10 PCs, with a licence period of 1 or 2
years.
AVG Anti-Virus Free 9.0 will be available
mid-October from http://http://www.avgfree.com.au.
All
existing users of AVG consumer products will be
automatically upgraded to AVG 9.0 for free in due course.
This is AVG delivering on its commitment to keeping users
up-to-date with the latest protection for the term of their
licence.
For up-to-the-minute news on the latest cyber threats:
* Subscribe to AVG Chief Research Officer
Roger Thompson’s blog at http://thompson.blog.avg.com/
For
general AVG updates:
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at http://http://www.facebook.com/avgfree
* Follow AVG
on Twitter http://http://www.twitter.com/officialavgnews
ENDS