Avast Secure

Avast Secure was released in April and is a direct successor of the old Avast SafeZone Browser. It’s based on a Chromium engine (like Google Chrome) and focuses on three main areas – speed, privacy, and security.

At the moment it is available only for the Windows operating system, including Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and of course the latest 10. You can use it independently whether you have or haven’t Avast Antivirus installed.

You probably wonder why you should switch from your current browser to Avast Secure Browser.

The best argument is probably the speed, everyone loves the super-fast browsing experience. According to Avast, web pages in Secure Browser are loaded up to 4x faster than in other popular browsers (like Chrome or Firefox).

However, in our testing, we have revealed that is true only for resource-heavy sites with ads and/or flash elements. On the other hand, you will hardly find any site which wouldn’t have ads (even Google Search has them). The level of security and privacy is definitely higher than in any standard (clean) browser.

With Avast Secure Browser you will get Bank Mode, Anti-Phishing, Anti-Tracking, Anti-Fingerprinting, and HTTPS encryption. Some other features like Stealth Mode or Privacy Cleaner look just like the re-named features of Chrome (Incognito Mode and Clear Browsing Data).

Avast Secure Browser Worth Switching from Chrome or Firefox?

Overall Avast Secure Browser is very similar to Chrome with few extras focusing on enhancing browsing speed, security, and privacy.

If you are tired of your current browser then you should definitely go ahead and give Avast browser a try, it’s for free. Especially if you are doing banking/shopping online the Bank Mode is extremely handy. You can also import bookmarks and passwords from other browsers with one click.

However, the browser doesn’t support multiple user profiles which is a shame.

Key Features:

• Avast Secure Browser offers many on-top features compared to popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox. The best thing is they are all present on one simple page with a detailed explanation and toggle to turn on/off each of them. What are they and what they are doing?
• Integration with Avast – Browser is sort of integrated with Avast Antivirus, Avast SecureLine VPN, and Avast Passwords, so you can scan your computer or connect to a VPN server.
• Bank Mode – Very popular feature was available also in the outdated Avast SafeZone Browser. Opens an isolated session for banking and shopping online where no one can steal (for example using a keylogger) your personal data.
• Avast Secure Browser – Bank Mode
• Video Downloader – This is a very cool feature that allows you to download a video from popular video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.). You can even select the quality of the video. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with Facebook
• Adblock – By default browser has installed and enabled the popular extension for blocking all website ads.
• Flash Blocker – Automatically blocks any Flash technology from running. Flash is outdated, slow, and vulnerable.
• Anti-Fingerprinting – Hides real information about your browser (version, extensions, etc.), so no one can identify you or track you.
• Anti-Phishing – blocks dangerous websites and files before you even visit/download them.
• Anti-Tracking – Sets Do Not Track settings to tell websites to don’t collect information about your visit. This is also available in Chrome (Settings » Privacy and security » Send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic), but by default it’s disabled.
• Stealth Mode – Surf the web without leaving any trace on your local drives like cookies or history. This is also available in Chrome via Ctrl + Shift + T (so-called Incognito Mode).
• HTTPS Encryption – Forces websites to use only HTTPS encryption so no one else can ‘see’ it. Please note this won’t help if the site doesn’t have its own SSL certificate.
• Password Manager – This allows you to select which password manager you want to use. You can also select pre-installed Avast Passwords Manager.
• Extension Guard – Protects you from installing malicious extensions (add-ons) to your browser. You can still install the trusted ones.
• Privacy Cleaner – Not much of a feature, simply open settings to clear cache and browsing history.
• Obviously, this is available in all common browsers.