Sunday 10 June 2012

filestube


Google has published detailed information on the wide variety of DMCA takedown requests the company receives for its search engine. During the last month alone Google was asked to remove 1,246,713 links across 24,129 domains, including many torrent sites and cyberlockers. Interestingly enough, Google receives the most takedowns for FilesTube, a colleague search-engine which by itself honors DMCA takedown requests and already removes even more links than Google does.
filestube
Under the DMCA copyright holders have the right to demand that websites disable access to infringing content. One of the top recipients of these notices is without a doubt Google.

To give the public insight into the scope and nature of this process Google has decided to publish all takedown requests online as part of their transparency report.
“Specifically, we’re disclosing the number of requests we get from copyright owners and the organizations that represent them to remove Google Search results because they allegedly link to infringing content,” Google states.

Hotspot Shield



The bottom line: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks.
Review:

The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks, but it's also an excellent tool for ensuring on any network connection that you can access sites and data according to your tastes, and nobody else's. Hotspot Shield's Virtual Private Network services are used by more than 10 million people at the time this review was written, according to the software publisher AnchorFree, making it the largest VPN in the world.
The browser-independent Hotspot Shield establishes an encrypted connection to the Hotspot Shield servers, and turns all HTTP traffic to the safer HTTPS. By rerouting Web traffic and providing you with a new IP address hosted by AnchorFree, the company is able to ensure that your data isn't plucked out of the open by man-in-the-middle attacks or wireless network spoofing.

Download Notepad++ 6.1.3


Release Date: 2012-05-28

Notepad++ v6.1.3 enhancement and fixed bugs:

  1. Enhance the performance issue for xml matching tags highlighting and for displaying clickable links.
  2. While the amount of file to open is larger than 200, a dialog will be shown to warn user.
  3. Fix Notepad++ close bug while move one cloned new empty document into another view, in the destination contained only this new empty document.
  4. Fix hanging problem while double-click on a project folder then (immediately) drag it.
  5. Fix a bug while command argument contain an empty string ("").
  6. Fix mouse cursor disappearing bug on right click while a project item is dragging.

Included plugins (Unicode)

Convert MP4 to AVI - MP4 to AVI Converter


OJOsoft Total Video Converter offers fast and easy access to MP4 to AVI conversion. It is the best MP4 to AVI conversion tool for decoding MP4 files to your desired AVI format or other formats such as TS, PSP, MKV, Cowon, etc.. It can as well fast convert to AVI from MOD, TOD, RMVB, TS, MP4, VOB, etc.. Follow the MP4 to AVI guide to learn how to use the converter.
Free download and run OJOsoft total video converter first for recoding MP4 to AVI. With all decoders and encoders are built in, once you download and install the converter, all supported formats can be converted without downloading any more codec.

Convert MP4 to AVI with MP4 to AVI conversion software

Now turn MP4 video to AVI with the help of step-by-step MP4 to AVI guide and the powerful MP4 to AVI format converterFlash demo of the MP4 to AVI conversion guide is also offered.
Convert MP4 to AVI - MP4 to AVI Converter


Sony Ericsson PC Suite 6.011.00

download
Sony Ericsson (just Sony as of January 2012) is one of the leading mobile phone manufacturers. Selling over 100 million units in 2007 and almost the same amount in 2008, Sony Ericsson just had to create an in-depth application to manage those particular handsets. Thus, Sony Ericsson PC Suite was born. It is the official tool of the company that provides administration of mobile phone data through the connection to a computer.

The only notable thing about the installation process is the necessary time needed for the drivers to complete their deployment. Once you run the application, you’re introduced to several connection types (USB Cable, Bluetooth or Infrared) that you can use depending on your possibilities. The recommended connection method is through USB, as it provides fastest transfers of data between phone and PC.

The interface of Sony Ericsson PC Suite is pretty simple actually and while it does its job, the color scheme may interfere with your emotions – gray is good, but an all-gray GUI is a bit sad. Connecting a phone will try to revive the situation a little by adding some color to the interface. The function categories are lined up in the left side of the window as it follows: Tools, Editors and Application.

The first category, Tools, provides access to Synchronization, Backup & Restore, Internet Connection and Phone repair. The Editors section allows you to manage your Files, Text / Picture Messages, Contacts or Calendar. Media Go and Adobe PhotoShop Album SE are integrated within the Applications area.

All in all, if you have a Sony Ericsson GSM mobile phone, you definitely have to use Sony Ericsson PC Suite. It features the necessary set of tools to easily manage your phone, while adding extra capabilities for accessing the Internet on your PC using your handset or SMS creation using your keyboard. Administration of multimedia content is also available as this particular suite wraps everything you need within.




Spybot - Search & Destroy


Spybot - Search & Destroy has been in the antispyware game for a long time offering features we've come to expect in the best apps in the category, but bugs and false positives make it difficult to recommend.

The program checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders. It also features several interface improvements, including multiple skins for dressing up its appearance. Scan results now appear arranged by groups in a tree, and a sliding panel lets you instantly view information about a selected item to help you decide whether to kill it or not. The Immunize feature blocks a plethora of uninvited Web-borne flotsam before it reaches your computer. Other useful tools, including Secure Shredder, complement the program's basic functionality for completely destroying files. Hosts File blocks adware servers from your computer, and System Startup lets you review which apps load when you start your computer.
Unfortunately, the program has the tendency to lock up at times and even during the install process for this review, we encountered several errors. The ambitious feature list and functionality make Spybot a good choice for those in search of a second antispyware program, and recent updates have made it run faster. It still makes errors in flagging spyware that isn't, and overall there are others in the category that do a better job.
Watch the CNET video review of Spybot - Search & Destroy:


Click Here!
100 Million Trust AVG. Free Download.


VLC media player


VLC Media Player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 2.0.1:
  • Support for MxPEG files and streams
  • New features in the Mac OS X interface for more customization.
  • Numerous fixes in the Qt, the Mac OS and the skins interfaces.
  • Fixes for HTTP Live Streaming, CDDB, UDP/RTP support.
  • Security issues SA-1201 and SA-1202.
  • Limited support more...
REQUIREMENTS
Intel, Mac OS X 10.6 or later.



Download Counter Strike


How to play & install Counter Strike 1.6 online 

Necessary and sufficient conditions can play Counter Strike Online: The phone must have Internet connection, ADSL as hard as possible, if it is Dial Up, but can also play ping will be high ...play it a little bit shocked ... because its path is not as fast as ADSL, on the machine configuration is a bit strong configuration ... if does not meet this problem, do not follow a few steps below, because the lag will be launching the 


Step 1: Download File setup Counter Strike Non Steam (File size 379.42 MB) 


Step 2: Download Patch Version 23 


Here is the Counter Strike I can play it online here. 

Download this map in CS 1.6 

SK aim map mappack 

Download here: http://zpag.es/AWUj 

After downloading the map, extract with winrar or winzip and then copy all the maps folder ... 

Note: after the download finished map, extract and then copy all the files are extracted, then Paste the folder in cstrike Map 

Bot for Counter-Strike 1.6: 

Download: http://zpag.es/AWUk 

uncompress downloaded, copy all the folder cstrike 

CD Key Counter Strike 1.6: 

AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA 

or: 

5RP2E-EPH3K-BR3LG-KMGTE-FN8PY 


Links download CS 1.6 Patch v23 + + Mediafire host ZBot 
4 download the file install CS1.6 much finished, use HJSplit to join files back is. 

Condition Zero 


Download: http://zpag.es/AWUo 

Size: 201 MB 

Download map for Condition Zero here: http://www.czmaps.com/ 

Counter Strike Source: 


Counter Strike Source With Updates 

Cracked multiplayer >>> ==! Play ALL the servers under your favorites! 

Download 


Pass: 

Torrent Host 

Direct Links: 699MB installation, Patch V1 -> 229Mb V16, V17 9.44Mb Patch, Patch V18 9.11 Mb (Source VietMarket) 

Download CS Source at this map http://www.cstrike-planet.com/maps/source 

Portable Counter Strike 1.6 (No installation, uncompress game download on lun) 


Mirror: 

FrostWire


CNET Editors' note: You will be taken to a third-party site to complete your download. Using P2P and file-sharing software to distribute copyrighted material without authorization is illegal in the United States and many other countries. CBS Interactive does not encourage or condone the illegal duplication or distribution of copyrighted content.

Publisher's Description

From FrostWire:

FrostWire is a free, open source BitTorrent client, first released as a fork of LimeWire. Gnutella support was dropped entirely, and now FrostWire only uses the BitTorrent network. You can now use FrostWire to send large files or entire folders to Colleagues, Friends and family.


download

uTorrent


CNET Editors' note: You will be taken to a third-party site to complete your download. Using P2P and file-sharing software to distribute copyrighted material without authorization is illegal in the United States and many other countries. CBS Interactive does not encourage or condone the illegal duplication or distribution of copyrighted content.
Small enough to run off a USB key, but powerful enough to download any torrent in a jiffy (if it's got enough seeders), uTorrent 2.0 is easy on the eyes and smart on your network. The memory footprint for uTorrent is very small, and system resources are barely touched. While you're torrenting, you shouldn't be surprised to find that other programs that use your Internet connection slow down, but the latest version of uTorrent has an answer to that. Called uTorrent Protocol, or uTP, it's a built-in throttling that detects network congestion and slows down the torrent until the traffic jam has dissipated.
Version 2.0 includes a transfer cap, so that users who have had limits imposed by their ISPs can keep track and automatically kill torrenting when that limit is reached. Skins have also been introduced, but there's no skins option in Preferences: instead, you must go to the uTorrent site and download and install them yourself. That's unnecessarily irritating.
The most difficult aspect of using a torrent client is still finding the torrents, but included are both a torrent search bar and a handy RSS feed download function. Subscribe to select feeds, and uTorrent automatically downloads files as they publish. Adding, starting, pausing, and listing torrents takes merely a click each. A speed guide helps you test your ports and adjust system settings for optimal performance, although watch out for the opt-out Ask.com toolbar when you install. Combined with Local Peer Discovery and DHT Network options, and Teredo and Ipv6 support, uTorrent should be the torrent program of choice for novices, intermediate, and advanced users.





Friday 8 June 2012

Everest Home Edition 2.20

Everest Home Edition is a system information tool that can provide information on basically every single piece of hardware hidden underneath your PC case, be it the motherboard, the display adapter or a multimedia device.

Although you may find it a bit difficult at the first sight, the main window is full of relevant information regarding your computer, but if you still have problems when trying to read the data, there's also the help manual that comprises tons of details.

The application inspects the computer and uses a clean and organized interface to provide information regarding the whole machine, the motherboard, the display adapter, the multimedia and storage devices, the network and the other pieces of hardware your computer may have.

In addition, there are also three benchmarks that enable you to test memory read, write and latency, all of which are completed in just a few seconds.

During our testing, Everest worked like a charm, as it's fast, easy to use and provides the collected information in a simple and clean way. What we liked the most is the amount of info it shows to the user, including details regarding the motherboard and the CPU, the video adapter, storage devices, the operating system and the installed software.

If there's something wrong in your system and Everest detects it, the application displays some recommendations to fix all the problems. Plus, it can also create a detailed report with information regarding your computer in which it presents the current status of all hardware components.

Last but not least, Everest Home Edition can generate reports of the system summary, the hardware-related information or using the benchmark pages, either as a HTML file as as plain text.

All things considered, Everest Home Edition is one of the most useful system information tools on the market. Combining a handy interface with advanced features, it should be one of the top picks for most computer users out there.



DownLoad:

Outlook Express 6.0









Outlook Express is an email client that comes with a classic look, focused mainly on its purpose: delivering emails to users right on their desktop.

Most of its features can be easily accessed right from the main window, so reading and writing mail messages is a straightforward job. Address management is also at hand and the synchronization function will prove to be quite useful for anyone who wants to keep the email information in sync.

The way it works isn't too different from the rest of the field in the mail clients category, but Outlook Express has a secret weapon too: it is fully integrated with Windows operating systems, a thing that makes it work much easier, without taking too much from your system's resources.

Configuring an account and getting the mails should be a matter of minutes thanks to the simplicity of the software. Outlook Express can handle multiple email and newsgroup accounts, so you can use this application even with several accounts simultaneously.

The software supports both POP and IMAP protocols, which is a must these days, and integrates the most popular features these days, including secure messages, signatures and email folders to better organize your Inbox.

In order to check out and configure the running settings of Outlook Express, you need to access the ''Options'' area. Here you can find the security, signature and connection configurations, as well as those for reading, composing, sending and managing receipts.

Overall, the application works well and requires a minimum amount of system resources. Furthermore, Outlook Express will work on slower computers too, a thing that definitely can't be said about some of the similar newer programs that come packed with tons of unnecessary features.


Download Ubuntu 12.04 Desktops Impact Performance, Power Consumption


How does the choice of desktop environments you make for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS impact your system's performance and power consumption? Here's the latest round of benchmarking from the various Ubuntu 12.04 desktop environment choices -- Unity, Unity 2D, GNOME Shell, KDE, Xfce, LXDE, and Openbox -- when running them on three different laptops.
  
Back in February I provided some initial test results looking at the gaming/graphics performance with Unity, GNOME, KDE, and Xfce. Since then Canonical's Unity desktop has improved with a major new release (v5.8) as well as Compiz improvements, which reportedly have improved the power efficiency and performance. Additionally, there have been the stable releases of GNOME 3.4 and KDE 4.8. (Earlier this month I also delivered extensive Ubuntu 12.04 power consumption benchmarks from several different mobile devices.)
  
As usual, all of this testing was done with the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS default settings for the OS itself and each desktop environment. All of the desktop packages were obtained from the Ubuntu Precise repository.
First up are the results from an Intel Core i7 laptop with NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M and the proprietary 295.33 NVIDIA Linux graphics driver.

USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.2.3


All Windows users surely know by now that there is always more than a single solution to each computer issue, be it software-related or hardware. The same applies when it comes to formatting a disk, as one can rely on the tool integrated in Windows or on a dedicated third-party app. 

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a tiny freeware utility which has been designed for the HP Drive Key or DiskOnKey USB 2.0 devices. Installing it does not represent a problem whatsoever, since it is very compact and it can be run out-of-the-box, i.e. no installation is actually required. 

The interface of HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool resembles the look of the Windows-integrated utility. 

Users simply need to specify the device they wish to format, select the file system and assign the volume a label, then optionally choose quick format or enable compression. One also has the possibility of creating a DOS start-up disk, by either using the internal MS-DOS system files, or the ones located at a specific path.

One of the differences between HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and the regular formatting tool found in Windows is the fact that this third-party freeware allows users to select USB drives, while the Windows version does not provide this option. 

Moreover, unlike this tiny utility, the Windows tool does not offer a NTFS volume label for format; the freeware in discussion also allows users to create a FAT32 volume which is larger than 32 GB. In addition, HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool enables users to rename all their USB flash drives in any way they want.

Furthermore, HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool can be used to delete space on Flash drives that cannot be removed in the traditional way, create bootable USB drives, or simply remove any tracks of malicious software that may have infected it. 

To wrap it up, if handled with care, this application can make it on the list of indispensable tools when using Windows, successfully enhancing its functions.


Avast Free Antivirus



The bottom line: Avast continues to push the envelope of top-shelf free security features with hybrid update tech, file reputation analysis, and more. It's independent benchmarks are a bit weak, but more than 150 million people trust Avast to keep them safe.
Review:

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmarks.

Avast 2012 gets bigger antivirus cannons

Installation

Avast has improved its installation process so it's faster than before. It's not the fastest on the market, not by a longshot, but a standard installation took us about three minutes.

Some items of note during the installation that will come up later in the review: to avoid the new Windows 7 and Vista desktop gadget, or the new WebRep browser add-on, you must choose the Custom install option and uncheck those here.
Automatic installation of these features is frowned upon, although Avast does provide a clear method for uninstalling them. It's just not as simple as a check box that gets its own installation window, since you have to go through the Customize menu, which makes the auto-install sort of surreptitious.
The current versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer both block forced add-on installation. When you run one of those browsers for the first time after installing Avast, they'll ask you if you want to allow the new add-on.
On the plus side, installing Avast doesn't require a reboot, and using its uninstall tool we detected no remnants in the Registry or on the desktop. Avast has said that the installer has shrunk for all three versions by about 20 percent, although it's still a large download at around 70MB for the free version.
A new Avast installation option, available only from the custom install menu, lets you sideload Avast as a secondary security program to supplement your main one. We're not big fans of this option from a security point-of-view, because it can bog down your system resources without actually making you safer. However, for seeing if you like Avast, it's not a bad thing as long as you remember to choose one security suite to go with.



What's puffing the sails in Avast 2012?

Interface

Avast 7's interface hasn't changed much over the past three versions. There've been some decorative changes, a darkening of color here, lightening of grays there, but the changes have been either lightly cosmetic or utilitarian. For example, there are big graphics to illustrate the more nebulous security concepts that only have an on-or-off switch. This may sound useless, but it's actually quite clever because it helps you visualize how one of the more complex Avast features is keeping you safe without bogging you down in jargon.

Highlighted with the familiar security colors of green for safe and red for dangerous, the Summary tab gives up-to-date info on shield status, auto-updates, virus definitions, the program version, and whether the silent/gaming mode is on. There's also an unobtrusive ad urging you to upgrade to Avast Internet Security 7 if you're using the free version, and an option to connect an Avast account. (This is for the Avast Web management tool, expected to be live about a month from when this review is published.)
The Summary tab contains two submenus, Cloud Services and Statistics. The former shows you how Avast's servers help protect you, and offers a Settings button.
The latter is for those intrepid folks who're curious to see how Avast's shields have been performing against threats. It's where you can get your math geek on. For each shield, it tells you how many files were scanned and when, and presents the data in a concise graph.
Avast 2012 includes a hybrid update technology for pushing out security updates to you faster.
Avast 2012 includes a hybrid update technology for pushing out security updates to you faster.

(Credit: Avast)
The scans live in the second tab, where you can choose and adjust four default scan types plus a custom scan option nestled into the bottom right corner. Real-time shields live in the third tab, and again the clean interface comes into play here as navigating what could be a mess of options and tweaks is instead dead simple. Shields are listed on the left, or you can choose one from the interactive shield wheel in the main window.
Click a shield to reveal a real-time chart of what the program's been defending you against, with a Stop button and settings options at the top of the window. Another button at the top takes you to the advanced settings for that shield, and links at the bottom expose the shield's history as a graph and export a log file.
The Additional Protection tab leads to the AutoSandbox, Browser Protection, Remote Assistance, and Site Blocking tools. Avast Pro Antivirus and Avast Internet Security users also get Antispam, Sandbox, and SafeZone options. The Maintenance and Market tabs round out the options. As you might expect, Maintenance is for updating the program, checking out quarantine (called Virus Chest,) and managing your subscription, while the Market tab is a new option for buying extra security components.
Features and support

While these tools are clearly non-essential, and some of the prices struck as high--$10 for a Rescue disc? $50 for an annual backup service?--we like that Avast gives its fans a chance to stay in its eco-system. The Avast EasyPass, for example, is an Avast-branded version of RoboForm's premium password manager and is well worth the $9.99 annual fee.

Avast 2012, aka Avast 7, includes several new features that directly impact your security. One of the biggest changes is a hybrid update technology that pushes out updates in real time. Because a full database update isn't required, Avast users will get their security updates much faster than before. Full database updates will also be pushed out, just not as frequently.
Another important security change introduces a file reputation system for evaluating downloads. This tech has existed for a couple of years in paid security suites like Norton, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender, but Avast is the first free antivirus to offer it. It leverages community data from Avast's enormous active user base to help determine if a file is safe.
Avast's WebRep browser add-on for instant Web site safety evaluation has been extended to work with Safari, and it will also now check for fake certificates. Faked security certificates were an unexpected problem last year, demonstrating how fragile Web security protocol could be.
In a half-day of testing, none of these appeared to cause any negative impact on computer or browsing performance. Assuming these technologies work as advertised, your computer ought to be a fair bit safer from malware with them.
And although we're more than half a year away from Windows 8, Avast has included some attention for the forthcoming Windows 8 beta, also known as the Consumer Preview, gets some attention from Avast as the suite includes an Early-Load Antimalware Driver (ELAM) for guarding against system-level rootkits.
Avast's browser add-on now works in Safari (not pictured), and paid users can force their browsers to always run sandboxed from a single checkbox.
Avast's browser add-on now works in Safari (not pictured), and paid users can force their browsers to always run sandboxed from a single checkbox.

(Credit: Avast)
The free version of Avast is arguably the most comprehensive set of freely available security features on the market. There's a reason these guys have more than 150 million active users (at the time this review was written). The antivirus, antispyware, and heuristics engines form a security core that also includes multiple real-time shields. Along with the new features, it's got an AutoSandbox for automatically walling off suspicious programs; a full complement of shields that guard against scripts, P2P networks, instant messaging, and potentially dangerous program behavior; a silent/gaming mode; on-demand boot scanning; and a healthy output of statistics for the data nerds.
Avast's sandbox, by the way, automatically places programs in a virtualized state when it suspects them of being threats. It walls off suspicious programs, preventing them from potentially damaging your system while allowing them to run. As the program runs, the sandbox keeps track of which files are opened, created, or renamed, and what it reads and writes from the Registry. Permanent changes are virtualized, so when the process terminates itself, the system changes it made will evaporate.
The company hasn't said whether the virtualized state begins after the program already has access to your system, so it's theoretically possible that it could be compromised. There's not a single security feature in any program that hasn't been been compromised at some point, though, so "theoretically hackable" is true of all security features. The AutoSandbox will now advise you when you're done using it as to how best to handle the program in the future.
The AutoSandbox for free users is different from Avast's paid-upgrade sandbox, and the paid upgrades to Avast Pro and Avast Internet Security include both the automatic version and the older, manually initiated version.
You can access the AutoSandbox settings from the new Additional Protection option on the left nav. It defaults to asking the user whether a program should be sandboxed, although you can set it to automatically decide. There's a whitelist option for programs that you always want to exclude from the sandbox, or you can deactivate the feature entirely.
In addition to these core security features, Avast has some nifty extras to help you out. The Troubleshooting section now comes with a "restore factory settings" option, which makes it easier to wipe settings back to a familiar starting point, and comes with the option to restore only the Shields settings, leaving other changes untouched, like permanently running in silent mode.
There's a sidebar desktop gadget for Windows 7 and Vista, and you can set automatic actions for the boot-time scan. Available under the Scan Computer tab, the boot-time scan customizations give you far more flexibility in managing the lengthy and time-consuming boot scan.
Meanwhile, new in Avast Free is the Remote Assistance feature, for single-instance, friend-to-friend remote tech support. Part of the main Avast interface, all the other person has to have is...Avast.
It's a good way to get others to install the program, but this isn't the only single-serving tech support option around. Still, in our tests, it worked fine. One person shares a code with the other, and voila! Instant remote PC access. Simply close the window to break the connection.
Avast doesn't offer an on-demand link-scanning feature, like AVG and Norton do, although the company says that the way that Avast's Web shield behaves ought to protect you automatically from any malicious URLs by automatically preventing the URL from resolving in-browser. A page will appear letting you know that Avast has blocked the site because it is suspected to contain a threat.
There weren't many big changes for Avast Pro Antivirus or Avast Internet Security users, but there were improvements made to the Safe Zone and Browser Sandbox features. The Browser Sandbox now lets you force Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari to always run sandboxed away from your system. SafeZone now automatically asks you when you're about to perform a browser-based financial transaction if you'd like to switch to the SafeZone mode.
Performance

As far as Avast's impact on system performance goes, in a real-world test Avast completed its scans in a timely yet not blazingly fast manner. A Quick Scan took about 20 minutes, and the Full Scan took 59 minutes. RAM usage was surprisingly light, with Avast only eating up about 16MB when running a scan.

CNET Labs determined that Avast has a fairly light touch on your computer's performance. Avast Free 2012 scored well below the average impact on startup time, and had the least impact of all suites tested on your PC's shutdown time. Scans were faster than average, beating big names like Norton, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender, a tad slower than AVG, but not as fast as Trend Micro or Webroot.
Security ProgramBoot timeShutdown timeScan timeMS Office performanceiTunes decodingMedia multitaskingCinebench
Unprotected system406n/a39512034217,711
Average of all tested systems (to date)67.416.21,05841412534717,129
Avast Free Antivirus 201255.29.680041212634716,976
Avast Pro Antivirus 201269.811.373240212634317,148
Avast Internet Security 201263.612.283140712534617,060



*All tests measured in seconds, except for Cinebench. On the Cinebench test, the higher number is better.
Avast performed better than average on the MS Office test, around average on iTunes Decoding and Media Multitasking, and a bit worse than average in our Cinebench test. On the key end-user experiences of its impact on your startup and shutdown times, and scan time performance, Avast won't make you want to walk a plank out of frustration.
All the security features in the world do you no good if they don't keep you safe, and on that count Avast performs well in general. However, as results from independent efficacy testing groups indicate, Avast could've had a better 2011.
AV-Test.org gave the previous version of Avast a passing rating in its most recent test, on a Windows 7 computer from December 2011. Avast 6 barely passed with the minimum passing score of 11 out of 18. It reached 4 out of 6 in Protection, 3.0 out of 6 in Repair, and a 5 out of 6 in Usability, for a total of 12. Usability includes testing for false positives, which Avast suffered on.
AV-Comparatives.org also saw room for improvement in Avast during November 2011. The suite blocked only 93.6 percent of threats tested during that month, which could then be kicked up to a more respectable 95.9 percent with some settings tweaks by the user. Looking at January 2011 to November 2011, Avast did much better, blocking 95.6 percent outright and bumping to 97.5 percent with adjusted settings.
As far as certification goes, Avast received the Advanced+ certification from AV-Comparatives for the first half of 2011, but only Standard certification in the second half. Right now, we doubt that this is going to cause much consternation among Avast fans, but a full year of weak scores could smite the ardor of even the most enthusiastic fan.
Judging from these results, Avast has to make some changes to its detection rates quickly to convince people that its strong feature set is worth it.
Conclusion

When it comes to your security, Avast 2012 gets a lot right. It's got a usable, uncluttered interface, solid although not stellar benchmarks, and a set of features that keeps it at the forefront of Windows security.

It's true that the changes to the suite better improve its performance in efficacy tests or there could be serious problems, but for now we've got three key reasons for enthusiastically recommending Avast Antivirus Free 2012 as an Editors' Choice for free security suite. First, it's got the most aggressively forward-thinking feature set of the free suites. Second, it's very good at protecting you. It's not the best at it, but it does what it does well, and that leads to the third reason it's earned its award: it protects you without dragging your PC into the mud. Few people want security that makes a good machine run like an old one, and on that count, Avast has your back.

Watch the CNET video review of Avast Free Antivirus: