Redwood City, California, United States, January 29, 2019 - Avast (LSE:AVST), the global leader in consumer cybersecurity products, today released the latest version of its flagship PC optimization tool, Avast Cleanup, which now includes Automatic Software Updater and Automatic Maintenance features. Avast Cleanup’s new functions ensure that the third party apps that are most often installed on PCs worldwide are kept up-to-date, while detecting critical errors and stopping resource-draining apps which could impair device performance.

“Our Avast PC Trends Report 2019 shows that people are holding onto their PCs for longer, with the average age of a home PC now being six years. This means we are seeing performance and security issues beginning to cause consumers real pain when using their PC,” said Ondrej Vlcek, President, Consumer, Avast. “Even out of the box, PCs come with a lot of pre-installed programs and as people add their own favorites, it’s easy for them to become bloated and slow down over a relatively short period of time. Keeping all of these programs up-to-date also quickly becomes a challenge. Our new features are designed to help users with exactly these issues.”

Outdated software programs cause a host of issues on PCs, especially with older models, including security and compatibility issues which are often updated through manufacturer patches. Performance issues, such as frequent crashing, and missing features and functionality within programs is also a problem that comes with outdated software. Automating both software updates and routine maintenance makes it easier than ever for consumers to keep their PC in peak condition as well as ensuring they don’t miss out on the latest features for their favourite applications.

Automatic Software Updater

This feature updates the most popular programs, including VLC Media Player and Skype. The Avast PC Trends Report 2019, which analyzed anonymized data from 163 million devices worldwide, found these two applications are among the most commonly neglected programs, with 94% of installs being out-of-date.

Automatic Software Updater regularly checks installed applications for updates and performs an unobtrusive install of the latest updates to not disturb the user; users also have the option to manage updates manually if they prefer. More importantly, the new feature reduces the likelihood of a security issue or a bug, to ensure that users have access to all the latest security patches and features that their applications have to offer.

Automatic Maintenance

Avast Cleanup now includes automatic routine maintenance that takes place every seven days to ensure people’s PCs are kept in the best of health. The feature removes broken shortcuts, excessive system junk files, browser cache items, tracking cookies and other history logs, in a seamless and secure manner.