General

What is Avast AntiTrack?

Avast AntiTrack is a privacy application designed to keep your identity safe from the latest online tracking techniques, and protect your system privacy. Avast AntiTrack injects fake information into the data that makes up your digital fingerprint. This action changes the information that trackers and other third parties can see about you. Avast AntiTrack also clears tracking cookies and other tracking data from your browser.

How is Avast AntiTrack different from an antivirus or VPN product?

Antivirus products are designed to protect your device from security threats, such as viruses, trojans, and malware, but will not prevent online tracking. VPN products are designed to hide your location by encrypting your connection. However, when you use VPN alone, trackers can still identify you based on your device, browser, and online behavior. Unlike antivirus and VPN products, Avast AntiTrack is designed to prevent third parties and advertisers from tracking your online activity.

Does Avast AntiTrack block ads?

Avast AntiTrack is not an ad blocker and you will probably still see ads on some of your favorite websites after installing the application. However, Avast AntiTrack prevents trackers from gathering information about your online behavior and stops you from seeing targeted ads (for example, an ad for a product you recently viewed).

What is online tracking and how does it affect me?

Online tracking is the process of gathering information about you through sophisticated analytics embedded on websites. Information gained via online tracking is used to create your unique online profile (or digital fingerprint), which allows advertisers to identify you online. This can affect you in several ways:

• Advertisers may use information about your online behavior to spam you with targeted advertising.
• Certain websites may also show higher prices for products that you have been researching online, such as flight tickets.
• Many of your favorite websites store huge amounts of information about you, which is vulnerable to data breaches. If this data is breached, third parties can access and use your personal data.

How am I leaving tracks online?

Many of the websites you visit download cookies to your browser, or identify you by unique data on your device. This information is used to identify you when you return to that site or other sites participating in the same tracking system.

What is a digital fingerprint?

When you visit a website, you usually provide data related to your device configuration, browser, and online behavior. This is continuously stored and builds as you continue to interact with websites. Almost every website collects user data via the same types of advertising networks, which means that all your online activity is tracked and added to your own unique online profile. As you repeatedly visit your favorite websites, access your online accounts, shop online, and fill various forms, your online profile behaves like a "digital fingerprint", which you leave everywhere you go on the web.

Your digital fingerprint is not connected to your actual identity, but it can be used to create an accurate profile of you as an individual. Online tracking techniques study your interests, age, religion, medical issues, income, expenses, shopping habits, and other highly personal information. While this helps sellers personalize their ads, it can also represent a violation of your privacy. Avast AntiTrack protects your online identity by continuously changing your digital fingerprint.

What are cookies?

Cookies are files that websites, trackers, and third parties leave on your browser that allow them to view your online activity. Targeted ads, which are ads that appear to match your online activity, are a direct result of cookies on your browser. Cookies may also cause websites to display higher prices for products that you have been researching online, including flight tickets. To prevent targeted ads and to protect your privacy online, it's important to clear your cookies regularly.

What is browser data?

Browser data is information that is often stored in your browser when you interact with websites. Browser data allows anybody else who uses your device to view your search history, and see which websites you have visited. Additionally, browser data allows websites to automatically fill forms and keep you logged into your accounts after you close a browsing session. Although this can be convenient, it also puts your privacy at risk and may allow third parties to access your private data. Avast AntiTrack makes it easy to remove browser data. You are always prompted to select which types of data you would like to remove before clearing browser data.

Download and Installation

What are the system requirements for Avast AntiTrack?

How do I install Avast AntiTrack?

1. Click the button below to download the Avast AntiTrack setup file, and save it to a familiar location on your PC (by default, downloaded files are saved to your Downloads folder). Download Avast AntiTrack for Windows
2. Right-click the downloaded setup file avast_antitrack_premium_setup.exe and select Run as administrator from the context menu.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Avast AntiTrack on your PC.

After installation, you need to activate the product using a valid activation code. You can usually find your activation code in an order confirmation email, or in your Avast Account.

For detailed installation and activation instructions, refer to the following articles:

• Installing Avast AntiTrack
• Activating Avast AntiTrack

Can I use Avast AntiTrack without installing Avast Antivirus?

Yes. Avast AntiTrack can be installed as a standalone application, without Avast Free Antivirus or Avast Premium Security installed.

Is Avast AntiTrack included when I purchased Avast Premium Security?

No. Avast AntiTrack requires a separate subscription to use. You cannot use an Avast Premium Security subscription to activate Avast AntiTrack.

How do I uninstall Avast AntiTrack?

For detailed uninstallation instructions, refer to the following article:

• Uninstalling Avast AntiTrack

Subscription and Activation

How do I activate Avast AntiTrack?

If you purchased Avast AntiTrack via an Avast application on your PC or Mac, your subscription activates automatically on the device you used for purchase. If you purchased Avast AntiTrack using a different sales channel, or you want to start using your subscription on a new device, you need to activate your subscription using a valid activation code.

For detailed activation instructions, refer to the following article:

• Activating Avast AntiTrack

Where can I find a copy of my activation code?

After purchasing Avast AntiTrack, you receive a confirmation email from no.reply@avast.com that contains your activation code. You can also find your activation code in the Avast Account that contains your Avast AntiTrack subscription.

For more information about locating your activation code, refer to the following article:

• Locating your Avast activation code

Can I use my Avast AntiTrack subscription on multiple devices?

You can use your Avast AntiTrack subscription on the number of devices specified at purchase. Check the relevant information below according to the subscription option that you purchased:

• Avast AntiTrack (Multi-Device): You can activate your subscription on up to 10 devices simultaneously, regardless of platform. You can transfer your subscription freely between devices and platforms.
• Avast AntiTrack for PC: You can activate your subscription on 1 Windows PC. You can transfer your subscription to an alternative Windows PC, but you cannot use your Avast AntiTrack subscription on more than one PC simultaneously.
• Avast AntiTrack for Mac: You can activate your subscription on 1 Mac. You can transfer your subscription to an alternative Mac, but you cannot use your Avast AntiTrack subscription on more than one Mac simultaneously.

For instructions on how to transfer your subscription to another device, refer to the following article:

• Transferring an Avast subscription to another device

How do I know when my current period subscription ends?

Open Avast AntiTrack and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings. The duration of your current subscription period is listed in the Your subscription status section next to Valid until.

How can I cancel my subscription?

For information about canceling an Avast subscription, refer to the following article:

• Canceling an Avast subscription - FAQs

How can I start using Avast AntiTrack on another device?

To learn how to transfer your Avast AntiTrack subscription from one device to another, refer to the following article:

• Transferring an Avast subscription to another device

What should I do if activation doesn't work?

If activation is unsuccessful, refer to the following article for advice:

• Troubleshooting activation issues in Avast products

Settings and Usage

How do I get started using Avast AntiTrack?

To learn how to start using Avast AntiTrack, refer to the following article:

• Avast AntiTrack - Getting Started

How can I discover which websites are attempting to track me?

Select the Anti-tracking tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard, and click See full reports. The following information is available:

• Potential tracking attempts: Discover the time and date of recent tracking attempts, as well as the websites that attempted to track you.
• Top tracking attempts: Check which websites have attempted to track you most frequently since you installed Avast AntiTrack.

The graphs at the top of the screen show fluctuations in blocked tracking attempts over the past 6 months and the past week. Hover your cursor over the red dot above a specific month or day to see the exact number of blocked tracking attempts.

What is my privacy score?

My privacy score is a numerical value that Avast AntiTrack assigns you based on the various settings you enable or disable in the application. The more privacy protection components you have enabled, the higher your score.

If your privacy score appears with a yellow or a red message, it means you have a medium or low Privacy score. To improve your score, review the five component tiles on the application dashboard. If a component can be adjusted to improve your privacy score, a yellow alert icon appears on the tile.

How do I enable browser protection?

If Google Chrome is installed on your PC, you are prompted to manually install the Avast AntiTrack browser extension in Google Chrome after installing and activating Avast AntiTrack. For all other browsers, browser protection is automatically enabled.

For detailed instructions to install the Avast AntiTrack browser extension in Google Chrome, refer to the following article:

• Installing the Avast AntiTrack Premium browser extension

You can manually enable or disable browser protection for individual browsers by clicking the Browser protection tile on the main application screen.

How can I clear cookies?

You can configure Avast AntiTrack to regularly clear cookies from your web browsers:

1. Click the Browser cleanup tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard.
2. Use the drop-down menu next to your chosen browser to specify how often cookies are automatically cleared.

How can I clear browser data?

Avast AntiTrack allows you to remove browser data from your web browsers:

1. For optimal results, ensure that each browser you want to clear data for is closed.
2. Click the Browser cleanup tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard.
3. Click See data next to your chosen browser. Alternatively, click Clear all browser data to clear data from all installed browsers.
4. Tick the boxes next to types of data you want to remove.
5. Click Clear selected.

The selected browser data is now cleared.

Can I prevent Avast AntiTrack from clearing cookies on certain websites?

Yes. If you want to stop Avast AntiTrack clearing cookies from certain websites, add these websites to your Allowed websites:

1. Click the Allowed websites tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard.
2. Add a website to your list of Allowed websites using either method below:
   • Select a website from the Choose from popular options drop-down menu.
   • Enter a website URL (for example www.example.com) into the left text box, then click Add.

To remove a website from your Allowed websites, click the trash icon in the relevant panel.

What is System Privacy?

Your Windows operating system has many privacy related settings that Avast AntiTrack can optimize and monitor for increased privacy. By enabling the recommended system privacy settings in Avast AntiTrack you can:

• Stop Windows from sending data samples to Microsoft that may contain personal information.
• Stop Windows Task Scheduler (that runs silently in the background of your PC) from sending information to Microsoft about your system and its usage.
• Prevent Windows from recognizing your handwriting patterns and sending handwriting data to Microsoft.
• Prevent websites from being able to see your Windows Media Player. This prevents Windows Media Player from sharing your unique identifier with websites that use this information to gather statistics.
• Prevent Microsoft and other third-party applications from reading and collecting data about your online behavior.
• Stop sharing with Microsoft the data of files you play using Windows Media Player.
• Prevent third parties from remotely accessing your computer and viewing the index identity Microsoft has created on your behalf. The index identity can show third parties which files and applications you are using.
• Stop LAN manager hashes being generated for stored user account passwords. LAN manager hashes are generated using a weak algorithm and are easily hackable. Instead, Avast AntiTrack generates password hashes using a strong algorithm, which makes your user account passwords harder for a hacker to crack using a brute force attack.

To enable System privacy, click the System privacy tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard.

How often does Avast AntiTrack change my digital fingerprint?

Avast AntiTrack makes changes to your digital fingerprint on a randomized schedule. To see exactly when changes are made and how many changes are made each day:

1. Select the Anti-tracking tile on the Avast AntiTrack dashboard, then click See full reports.
2. Under Fingerprint randomization, each digital fingerprint change is listed with the date and time.

How do I manage Avast AntiTrack notifications?

1. Open Avast AntiTrack and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings.
2. Click the drop-down menu below Notify me of blocked tracking attempts to adjust the frequency.

How can I check if my Avast AntiTrack is up-to-date?

To ensure you have the latest version of Avast AntiTrack:

1. Open Avast AntiTrack and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings.
2. Click Check for updates.

If a new version of Avast AntiTrack is available, the application automatically starts updating.

Troubleshooting

What if I experience an error or issue with Avast AntiTrack?

If you experience any problems with Avast AntiTrack, refer to the following article:

• Troubleshooting common issues with Avast AntiTrack