uses see avast disambiguation . avast software s.r.o. trading name avast formerly called alwil software type private s.r.o. industry internet security program optimization internet privacy founded 1988 ; 28 years ago 1988 founders pavel baudi eduard ku era headquarters prague czech republic area served worldwide key people vincent steckler ceo ond ej vl ek coo rene h. bienz cfo robin selden cmo glenn taylor cso john g. schwarz chairman pavel baudi chairman eduard ku era chairman products avast antivirus avast secureline number of employees 650 1 subsidiaries avg technologies website www.avast.com avast software v st st is a czech security software company headquartered in prague czech republic that develops antivirus software and internet security services . it was founded by pavel baudi and eduard ku era in 1988 as a cooperative and is a private company since 2010 . avast holds the biggest share of the world market for antivirus applications 2 and its portfolio includes a wider array of security related products targeting both consumer and corporate markets such as avast antivirus and avast secureline virtual private network for android microsoft windows ios and macos platforms . as of 2016 avast had 400 million users and 40 percent of the security software market outside of china . 3 avast has over 650 employees based in the czech republic 1 with offices in the united states germany china south korea and taiwan . 4 in september 2016 avast software acquired avg technologies for us 1.3 billion . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 1988 2000 founding and company beginnings 1.2 2001 2015 avast free antivirus and global growth 1.3 2016 present acquisition of avg technologies 2 products 2.1 microsoft windows products 2.2 mac os products 2.3 android products 2.4 ios products 2.5 business products 3 awards and certifications 3.1 independent testing 3.2 download sites ratings 3.3 other acknowledgements 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history 1988 2000 founding and company beginnings after coming across the vienna virus in 1988 researcher pavel baudi of prague s mathematical machines research institute set to writing a program that would be able to successfully remove it . he then shared the program with his colleague eduard ku era and later that year the pair started alwil software which released the first avast antivirus . because of restrictions on forming a company in then czechoslovakia alwil software was founded as a cooperative . the velvet revolution however brought with it the introduction of the free market . in 1991 baudi and ku era were able to register alwil software as a joint partnership company . 6 current coo and former cto ondrej vl ek joined alwil in 1995 as a student at the czech technical university 7 and wrote the company s first antivirus for windows 95 . 8 the following year avast antivirus was one of the first three antivirus programs worldwide to win virus bulletin s vb100 awards in all testing categories . in 1997 alwil software licensed the avast antivirus engine to mcafee for use in its own line of mcafee virusscan antivirus products . 6 within the next seven years the company reached the 1 million user mark for its avast product following the launch of a free antivirus solution for home non commercial use in 2001 . 2001 2015 avast free antivirus and global growth alwil partnered with sandisk in 2005 leading to language localization for all of sandisk s markets . in 2006 avast reached 10 million users by the beginning and ended the year with 20 million ; it also swept the sc awards categories of best antivirus 9 anti malware european and readers choice usa . the following year alwil software became a joint stock company and the number of registered avast users reached 40 million despite the company having just 38 employees . by 2009 there were more than 100 million users 10 and 100 employees ; vincent steckler formerly of symantec also joined alwil as ceo that year . alwil software changed its legal name to avast software in 2010 and summit partners invested 100 million for a minority share of the company . 11 over the next two years avast launched its business protection line and avast free mobile security which became the best rated security app on google play . in 2012 avast free antivirus became the most downloaded software on download.com . as of 2013 more than 200 million pcs macs and android device users were protected with avast programs . avast software acquired the german company secure.me 12 and the u.s. based start up jumpshot 13 that same year and was awarded best employer 2013 for the czech republic in the category of large companies . 14 this was also the year that the avast 2014 series avast secureline vpn and avast grimefighter were launched . in february 2014 cvc capital partners signed a binding agreement for a large scale investment in avast . valuing the company at 1 billion the investment was set to position cvc alongside summit partners and founders baudi and ku era as avast s shareholders . 15 in july 2014 avast released data about a study carried out on 20 used android smartphones in regards to data security during which it was discovered that android s factory reset functionality did not delete all of the data from used phones ; avast found that it was able to retrieve 40 000 photos from used smartphones ; news of this discovery made international headlines . 16 avast then created a product called avast anti theft which is able to wipe and overwrite all data from a phone . that same month avast acquired a czech based mobile app company called inmite which has developed apps for mobile banking mobile television several applications for google glass and a car buying app for koda auto . 17 in october 2014 it was claimed 18 that since around december 2013 avast had included its own shopping recommendation system safeprice in its online security browser extension and had enabled it by default . the claims were rebutted 19 point by point in an avast community forum post made by ondrej vlcek avast s chief operating officer in response to the article . 2016 present acquisition of avg technologies avast announced on july 7 2016 that it had reached an agreement to purchase avg technologies for 1.3 billion . 20 in september 2016 avast acquired a majority stake of avg and both operate as a single company since october 3 2016 . the company continues to offer both the avg and avast branded products for the foreseeable future . 5 following the acquisition avast had 400 million users and 40 percent of the consumer computer market outside of china . according to reuters avast would de list avg shares and offer its own shares in the future . 3 products avast programs are only available to internet connected devices and are available in 45 languages . the avast product range includes the following 21 microsoft windows products avast free antivirus free for non commercial and home usage . this product s features include antivirus with antispyware avast passwords secure https scanning streaming updates hardened mode deepscreen home network security scanner do not track sitecorrect antiphishing anti malware smart scan rescue disk and software updater manual . requires 1 year registration and includes advertisements for other avast products . avast pro antivirus for home use . includes all features of the free version with the addition of safezone browser secure dns and sandbox . does not require registration but does require a license or activation code . avast internet security includes all the features of pro with the addition of a silent firewall and antispam . does not need registration but does require a license or activation code . avast premier includes all the features of internet security with the addition of a data shredder an accessanywhere service and automatic software updater for programs such as google chrome . does not require registration but does require a license or activation code . avast cleanup a pc cleaning tool and optimizer . avast secureline a virtual private network for encrypted anonymous communications and browsing via wi fi . avast safezone browser a web browser that is installed with each avast antivirus product mac os products avast free mac security an antivirus solution for apple macintosh machines running mac os x based on a central virus scanning daemon ; offers three shields on demand scanning and webrep clients which are automatically optionally installed to safari chrome and firefox browsers . avast secureline a virtual private network for encrypted anonymous communications and browsing via wi fi . android products avast mobile security & antivirus freemium app for use on android devices . free version includes a virus scanner virus removal protector network meter app manager app lock backup and a firewall on rooted phones . paid version includes the features found in the free app plus app locking geo fencing remote sms data recovery and identification and extended backup . avast anti theft anti theft rooted locates and tracks lost mobile phones and can control phones remotely via sms or desktop . remotely locks or wipes phone memory . avast battery saver avast secureline proprietary vpn avast wi fi finder avast passwords avast app locker ios products avast secureline proprietary vpn for iphone and ipad avast secureme free vpn for wifi avast wi fi finder avast photo space cloud photo storage avast passwords business products avast for business free for small and medium sized businesses smbs . it is a cross platform solution that includes antivirus protection web threat scanning and integrated browser protection and a cloud management console . 22 endpoint protection protection plus protection suite protection suite plus email server security file server security security suite for linux awards and certifications independent testing avast free antivirus 2016 has a detection rate of 99.5 % in av comparative s real world protection test in april 2016 . 23 avast free antivirus 2016 scored 98.8 % protection against 0 day malware attacks in av test s product review and certification report mar apr 2016 24 avast free antivirus 2016 received the highest rating for malware detection accuracy from se labs . 25 avast free antivirus received certification by satisfying the requirements for the desktop server av detection module from icsa labs anti virus certification testing laboratory . 26 avast free antivirus placed 1 in the may june 2015 performance test by av comparatives . 27 avast received an advanced rating in the real world protection test conducted august to november 2014 . 28 avast received an advanced rating in the performance test conducted october 2014 . 29 the performance test evaluates the impact of antivirus software on system performance compared to other internet security products . it does not tell about the effectiveness of the protection and product provides . the test is performed on an up to date windows 8.1 64 bit system . the awards are based on the observed test results and range from advanced plus advanced standard and tested . 30 avast free antivirus received the july august 2015 av test certified badge for protection performance and usability . 31 avast free antivirus scored 100 % in av test s may june 2015 detection of widespread and prevalent malware test . 32 avast free mac security scored 100 % in malware detection in an april 2015 mac av test . 33 avast home user products were marked as av test certified in av test s january and february 2015 test round . 34 avast mobile security received an av test certified in av test s january 2015 test round . 35 avast free antivirus received the vb100 certification in the december 2014 comparative anti virus test . 36 virus bulletin is a security information portal testing and certification body . download sites ratings download.com is the software download portal of cnet .