, 15 December 2020

Here's how to bring your secure browsing experience up to speed

When firing up your browser, does it feel slow as molasses? If so, we’ve got three tools built into Avast Secure Browser that can help give your browsing experience a digital octane boost. We’ll have you back to enjoying the net securely and at optimal speeds in no time.

Clean up the mess with Privacy Cleaner

Avast Secure Browser’s Privacy Cleaner tool for PC and Mac is excellent at removing the excess baggage that builds up over time, such as cached images and files, browsing history, and cookies. With repeated visits to a website, these items usually help speed up your browsing experience by using the saved data in your browser cache to quickly rebuild the page you’re viewing.

Over time, though, saved data can become messy for any browser to manage and cause its performance to take a hit. Cookies, on the other hand, provide the site you’re visiting with data about you — your site preferences, purchases, and location, to name a few examples. The privacy concerns over this are evident and allowing cookies to accumulate on your hard drive isn’t recommended. 

Regular use of Privacy Cleaner will ensure sensitive data is removed and the most up-to-date version of the website you’re visiting is being shown. To take advantage of this great feature, go to the Security & Privacy Center and click ‘Launch Cleaner’ on the Privacy Cleaner tile.

Erase website data with one tap

Exclusive to the Android and iOS versions of Avast Secure Browser are the Nuke and Remove Site Data tools. Use them to clean up browser history, cached images, cookies, and other junk associated with a specific website with just one click to keep your activity private and free up disk space.

The Nuke and Remove Site Data tools are especially convenient. First, open the site you recently visited in Avast Secure Browser. Next, tap the Avast Secure Browser icon at the bottom of the screen. Last but not least, tap on the ‘Nuke this Site’ (Android) or ‘Remove Site Data’ (iOS) icons. And just like that, you’ve successfully removed that site’s data from your device.

Delete sensitive data with a browser reset

Similar to the aforementioned Privacy Cleaner, Avast Secure Browser users on Android and iOS devices can delete their browsing history, cache, and cookies. Resetting will get rid of your PIN, bookmarks, and preferences. Follow these four simple steps to lighten the load.

On Android:

1. First, from inside the Avast Secure Browser app, tap the Avast Secure Browser (keyhole) icon centered at the bottom of the screen 
2. Tap the Settings (gear icon) on the far left
3. Select ‘Security & Data Settings’
4. And finally, tap ‘Reset Avast Secure Browser’

On iOS:

1. First, from inside the Avast Secure Browser app, tap the … (three dots) icon centered at the bottom of the screen 
2. Tap the Settings (gear icon) on the far right
3. Select ‘Browser Security, Privacy & Data’ 
4. Finally, tap ‘Reset Avast Secure Browser’

That’s it! Your browser is completely reset and you’re ready for a fresh start. Now that we’ve covered three quick and easy methods to help put the boost back in your browser, we recommend giving them a try. 

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If you’re still experiencing sluggish behavior afterwards, it’s possible that the issue lies elsewhere. Try walking through five common issues that cause a slow computer (and how to fix them).