55% of Windows PCs are running outdated software [Security Alert]

A shocking revelation has just been made by Avast: over half of the applications installed on Windows PC as out-dated. The software vulnerabilities can potentially put the users and their private data at a higher risk.

Revelations Made By Avast PC Trends Report 2019

Around 163 million devices participated in collecting the aggregated and anonymized data all over the world. The PC Trends Report 2019 eventually found out that approximately one in six Windows 7 users and one in ten Windows 10 users are using an outdated OS version. Hence, these systems are easily available to hackers so that they can exploit the system-level security vulnerabilities. 

PC users don’t upgrade their apps and software

The updates for most of the applications are usually neglected by most of the users. The report published by the digital security company Avast suggests the percentage to be: VLC Media Player (94%), Adobe Shockwave (96%) and Skype (94%). 

The report further stated that right now around 40% of all PCs are using Windows 10 all over the world. While Windows 7 has been able to grab the 43% share globally.

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Hybrid devices are becoming more popular

As compared to the past, tablets, laptops, and 2-in-1 PCs are being used by most of the people these days. One of the main advantages of using laptops and tablets is that they allow users to browse, stream and work on the go.

Around 67% of users are opting for these devices due to these amazing features and it is expected that we will remain the same during this year as well.

Most popular apps on PC

The statistics regarding the most installed applications also represents the same shift to mobile devices. We can see from the latest trends that the installation rate for Google Chrome increased from 79% to 91% during the last 12 months. Adobe Acrobat Reader grabbed the second position with an installation rate of 60%. Moreover, WinRAR, Microsoft Office and Mozilla Firefox have 48%, 45% and 42% installs respectively. 

The average PC is 6 years old

An increase in the average age of a PC has been reported to be 6 years during this year. Around 62% of users who have older machines are now running Windows 10. As of now, 63% of notebooks are being used globally. Furthermore, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Dell, are known to be the top five PC brands this year. 

Currently, the market is being dominated by the PCs having dual-core processors. Around 20% of the machines have been using a quad-core processor.  It is worth mentioning that the SSD as a sole storage solution is available to 15 percent of the users these days. Finally, avast reported the most used RAM size to be 4GB. 

Today hackers have so many ways to attack your PC, and you have to take a series of steps for the protection of your system.  Keeping in mind the PC Trends Report 2019 you just have to ensure that systems and software are patched and up to date to protect your system from potential cyber attacks.

How often do you update your PC? Let us know in the comments section below.

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