The newest version of Avast is better suited for touchscreen displays. The march of technology is inevitable, and not just on the hardware side. As luck would have it, no sooner did we finish our annual antivirus roundup (look for it in the April issue of Maximum PC), Avast, one of the contenders, comes out with a new version. That's bound to happen when you're evaluating 10 different programs, but timing aside, here's what Avast 8 brings to the table. On the security side, Avast 8 introduces new technologies for proactive detection. One of those is "malware-similarity search technology," in which suspicious files are blacklisted if they're similar in nature to known infected files. These are pulled in real-time from Avast's cloud database. It also features a new dynamic-detection engine combined with its existing AutoSandbox feature to analyze suspect files in an isolated environment before they can infect the system as a whole. "As antivirus should remain focused on stopping viruses, our goal for version 8 was to improve upon what we already do very well," said Avast CEO Vince Steckler. "And we’ve been able to achieve that by leveraging our unique advantage: a 177-million-strong worldwide user base." Avast 8 ships with a few additional creature comforts, like a completely redesigned UI with touch-optimized user controls a Browser Cleanup tool, and a Software Updater to make sure all the software on your system stays updated. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Faceboo
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