Avast! is an antivirus computer program developed by AVAST Software a.s. (formerly known as ALWIL Software a.s.), a company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It was first released in 1988[citation needed]. Avast! is based on a central scanning engine that is certified by ICSA Labs and West Coast Lab's Checkmark process and incorporates anti-spyware technology, also certified by West Coast Lab's Checkmark process, as well as anti-rootkit and self-protection capabilities. It is a multiple recipient of the Virus Bulletin VB100 Award for its detection of 100% of "in-the-wild" viruses, and is a past winner of the Secure Computing Readers' Trust Award. The name Avast is derived from "Anti-Virus – Advanced Set". Its trademarked name is styled in all lower-case and includes an exclamation mark