Avast, a global leader in digital security products, has introduced built-in performance and battery-saving enhancements in the latest release of Avast Secure Browser, code-named ‘Zermatt’. Memory benchmarking tests* show the new browser controls reduce CPU and RAM demand by up to 50%, and also prolong battery life by up to 20%, the equivalent of 30 additional minutes.
The controls in the new Performance Manager feature of Avast Secure Browser have been introduced in response to the growing trend among consumers to use the browser as the primary channel to online content, opening multiple tabs and keeping them active simultaneously which contributes heavily to system degradation. The new controls allow people to automatically suspend active tabs and manage the amount of time these tabs remain active. For multi-taskers, this means more tabs can be opened without affecting system performance. The extended battery life feature also acts as a tab suspension mechanism and operates when laptops use battery power.
“The browser is the most used computer application today and it needs to be secure without slowing you down. You bank through it, shop through it, read news through it, subscribe to services through it and work through it. Until now, options to help people control the impact of heavy browser-based multi-tasking on PC performance have been limited,” said Will Drewett, Senior Product Manager at Avast. “In our latest ‘Zermatt’ release of Avast Secure Browser, we’ve added customizable performance controls and tab suspension insights to reduce memory consumption and improve battery life, improving the user experience. We recognize that the browser, once a tool for web queries or email, now functions more like an operating system and serves as the main gateway to the internet. This new release is part of our broader initiative to help people manage their security, privacy and performance services centrally through the browser.”
Alongside the performance updates, Avast Secure Browser’s Anti-Fingerprinting technology has been upgraded to protect user identities against advanced data gathering methods and tailored attacks by cybercriminals looking to exploit installed software modules. The following tracking techniques have been added to the Anti-Fingerprinting feature which works by returning randomized values to mask an individual’s ID:
- Audio Fingerprinting – a technique used to identify the computer’s sound hardware
- Device Fingerprinting – use of a computer’s API to identify the types of multimedia devices running on the machine
- WebGL Fingerprinting – a method used to capture information about the computer’s graphical system
- Rendering Fingerprinting – Similar to WebGL Fingerprinting, this tactic also makes use of the individual features of the computer’s graphical system
Automatic Data Breach Alerts
Users can also check their email addresses and login credentials with a database of data breaches which has been integrated directly into the browser. People can sign up to get proactive notifications when accessing online accounts to let them know if they have been a victim of a data breach and whether they need to take action, such as improving the strength of passwords.
Avast Secure Browser is available on Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7 and can be downloaded now at www.avast.com/secure-browser.
*Benchmark tests of Performance Manager were carried out using an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2620M CPU with 8142 MB of RAM (internal memory). Twelve popular websites were left open in separate tabs and activated every minute to simulate typical user interaction until the battery was emptied.
