Two-year effort results in the first PC cleaner that detects and removes files that can’t be found while Windows is running

REDWOOD CITY, California, March 26, 2014 – AVAST Software s.r.o., the world’s most-trusted mobile device and PC security company, today announced the launch of avast! GrimeFighter, an intelligent, deep-cleaning tool for PCs. The avast! GrimeFighter product boots in Linux, allowing it to detect and remove files that can’t be detected while Windows is running. The result is a more effective cleaning that truly enhances performance, optimizes security, and prolongs the lifespan of PCs.

“Most PC-cleanup utilities don’t really improve performance – some actually slow down PCs,” said AVAST Chief Executive Officer Vince Steckler. “Since they run in Windows, they are unlikely to find problems with files and registry entries that are locked, protected, or otherwise hidden. Ironically those are the ones most often robbing users of performance and stability. With avast! GrimeFighter, we didn’t want to introduce another me-too product – we wanted to eliminate the problem of slow PCs.”

The user experience is unique as well. Unlike other cleanup tools, avast! GrimeFighter doesn’t force users to know and identify what PC components should be analyzed, nor does it use a complicated dashboard to highlight all of its activities. Instead, avast! GrimeFighter leverages years of IT knowledge to clean and optimize PCs based on best practices.

“Most PC users don’t have computer science degrees,” said AVAST Chief Operating Officer Ondrej Vlcek. “They just want an easy-to-use program that delivers on the promise of making their PCs run faster. Only avast! GrimeFighter does that.”

In addition to providing a uniquely thorough and effective cleaning, avast! GrimeFighter uses a team of illustrated characters called minions to help visualize the process. The minions perform a deep system analysis by booting into Linux and storing and accumulating their results in the cloud, which builds intelligence for future scans. The minions then discard files that have been left behind during de-installations, analyze and enhance security and wireless network settings, scrub away unused pre-installed software, and disable bloatware preventing it from launching at start up. The work they do accelerates the operating systems’ boot time, launching of programs, and overall browsing speed.

When the minions are finished, they provide a simple summary report explaining what they have done to improve performance. Users can also choose to see more detailed results, including the PC’s available memory and a hard drive and CPU analysis.

The new avast! GrimeFighter solution can be purchased as a standalone product from www.avast.com and by AVAST customers via their my.avast.com account.