Avast (www.avg.com), which specializes in digital security products for business and consumers, revealed that more than half (52%) of the most popular PC applications running on PCs around the world, including Flash and Java are out-of-date.
The Avast PC Trends Report Q1 2017, based on insights from the company’s AVG TuneUp product, highlights the top 10 outdated applications, the most used programs and hardware, and shows the problems people face by not keeping their PC up-to-date. Most critically, people are exposing their PC and their personal data to risks, as malware targets older versions of software to exploit vulnerabilities.
Gathered anonymously from 116 million Windows® desktop and laptop users running AVG TuneUp’s Automatic Software Updater feature, Avast found the most out-of-date programs include:
1. Java (Runtime 6,7), Oracle Corporation
2. Flash Player (Active X), Adobe Systems
3. Foxit Reader, Foxit Software
4. GOM Media Player, Gretech
5. Nitro Pro, Nitro Software
6. WinZip, Corel Corporation
7. DivX, DivX LLC
8. Adobe Shockwave Player, Adobe Systems
9. 7-ZIP, Igor Pavlov
10. Firefox, Mozilla
Topping this list of the least updated applications is Java, the popular framework for web and some desktop applications, with more than 24 million people running the outdated versions Java Runtime 6 and 7. And while another 26 million users are on the latest version Java 8, more than 70% haven’t installed the latest update rollout (currently update 121).
This is closely followed by Flash (ActiveX) where 99% of users have yet to update this control for Internet Explorer; and Foxit Reader which sees 92% of users working with an old version of the application. Conversely, the most up-to-date applications are Google Chrome at 88%; Opera at 84%; and Skype which is 76% up-to-date across the sampled user base, which illustrates that even the programs that auto-update are not necessarily always up-to-date.