Cleaner and Antivirus Software for Mac

AVG Technologies N.V. introduced two applications to help maintain, clean up, and protect Apple Mac OS X computers.

AVG Cleaner for Mac provides MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Pro users running OS X Mavericks (and previous) with a way to keep their devices running at peak performance.

Available to download for free from the Mac App Store it tackles the data trash and unwanted duplicate files that gather on a computer through everyday usage, helping keep disk space available for storing photos, music and other important files.

AVG AntiVirus for Mac (currently being released in beta test version) is also free to download from AVG’s beta program and features a security engine that works in real time to detect and remove viruses and spyware that could infect your Mac or be passed on to your PC or mobile devices. This is the latest product in the range of free protection products for devices running on most popular platforms and within the Beta program, we welcome early user feedback to help us refine the features.

It can find and remove hidden clutter and duplicates, including:

• Forgotten duplicate files: Viewing, copying and editing files could result in duplicate music, photos, videos and documents taking up gigabytes of space on a drive.

• Uninstall leftovers: Even if an application has been uninstalled, unneeded cache files may remain

• Download folder: Old unneeded files including setup files, videos, pictures and documents may end up in the OS X download folder.

• Browser cache: Safari, Chrome, and Firefox web browsers store non critical temporary cache files and cookies in a cache folder. Deleting this cache not only frees up drive space but can help protect privacy.

• Crash files and logs: Update logs and crash reports are created by both Mac OS and 3rd party applications. This data is not critical and can waste a lot of drive space.

It protects users from viruses and spyware and delivers:

• Triple protection: The detection technology scans for Mac, PC, and mobile-based malware. As well as protecting the user’s Mac and that they don’t transfer malware to their other devices or share them with friends or co-workers.

• Drag and drop functionality: Users can run a scan of their Mac or drag and drop files or folders and scan them individually.

• Automatic Updates: Updates to virus database get pushed to users, so their Mac protection is always up-to-date.

According to Forrester’s Q2 2012 North American Telegraphic Benchmark survey, which profiled Apple Mac and PC users in the US and Canada, Mac users are more likely than PC users to engage in some popular online activities including reading blogs (52% v. 35% for PC users), watching videos from other users i.e. YouTube (74% v. 59%), listening to or downloading music (39% v. 26%) and viewing photo sharing sites (35% v. 22%). Given these activities are online, Mac users would be vulnerable to viruses or spyware and collect data clutter daily.

“Even Macs can slow down over time simply because of duplicate files, cached data and temporary files clogging up the computer drive. This has a negative impact on the experience of using a Mac. We also know that once an OS reaches a minimum of 10% market share as Apple did in North America in 2012, developing viruses and spyware becomes a lucrative investment for cybercriminals,” said David Ferguson, GM consumer and mobile, AVG. “Providing security and maintenance apps for the Mac demonstrates our commitment to delivering protection, performance and privacy on every platform, across all devices and for every one of our customers.“