First Aid Automatic Problem-Fixing Software a Non-Stop Top 10 Bestseller for 12 Months

SANTA MONICA, CA - November 27, 1996 -- CyberMedia's First Aid was named one of the "Hottest Selling Retail Products of 1996" by Computer Retail Week, the pulse of the computer retail industry. The other top ten category-leading products include Netscape Navigator, the US Robotics Pilot and the Compaq Presario 3000 PC.

CyberMedia's newly-released Oil Change, which shipped just six weeks ago was also named one of the top seven utility titles of 1996 by CRW.

Hot-selling titles such as First Aid signify the growing "consumerization" of the utilities software category, said CRW. Unlike old-style "utility" software diagnosis products, CyberMedia's self-help software operates automatically - with no technical skill required of users - to resolve the hardware and software conflicts that bedevil PC users and bleed PC vendors of billions of dollars in support costs.

First Aid's appeal to the mass-market of PC users is reflected by its explosive sales -- it has sold over 1.6 million copies to date. The company is addressing the international market with localized versions of First Aid in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia. First Aid's sales momentum is not confined to North America -- First Aid immediately became a best-selling product in Germany within weeks of introduction.

FIRST AID AVAILABLE NOW ON POPULAR PCS
It's not just consumers who are grappling with today's PC bedlam. Leading PC vendors are rapidly adopting First Aid as a solution to their spiraling technical support costs. According to Dataquest, PC users are expected to place over 200 million calls for help to PC vendors this year at a cost of $4 billion. Three of the world's largest PC manufacturers - AST Research, NEC Packard Bell and Fujitsu -- are now integrating First Aid directly into their hardware designs to help solve problems before they escalate into a technical support call. First Aid is available now on AST Bravo, AST Ascentia, NEC Packard Bell PowerMate, and the Fujitsu Lifebook 500 series PCs.

CyberMedia is partnering with Phoenix Technologies, the world's largest supplier of system-level software used in over 17 million PCs, to bring its technical support solutions to other leading hardware manufacturers.

CyberMedia's First Aid automatically detects and fixes problems with Microsoft Windows (r) 95 applications, making PCs easier and less frustrating to use, and less expensive for hardware vendors to support. First Aid reduces the number of technical support calls that software vendors, hardware vendors and corporate help desks receive by automatically intercepting system crashes and resolving many common Windows software problems on the fly.

Recognizing that customer support is the "killer app" of the Internet, CyberMedia has become the market leader in developing "living" software that continuously expands its knowledge database of vendor's latest updates and bug fixes for today's most popular software programs, and then uses the Internet to automatically search out, download and install these to your PC.

"The explosive sales of First Aid prove that easy-to-use software that automatically fixes problems - instead of just diagnosing them - is the wave of the future," said Unni Warrier, President and CEO of CyberMedia. "First Aid is one of the fastest-selling retail software products in the history of the personal computer industry because it is the first consumer product that addresses the growing technical support crisis by fixing Windows problems automatically. We are leading the industry in creating an entirely new category of automatic service and support software that makes PCs as easy to use as an appliance."

Shortly after introduction in September 1995, First Aid 95 rocketed to the top of software sales charts. By February 1996 it outsold Symantec's Norton Utilities and by May 1996, it outsold every business software product except Windows 95 itself. First Aid has consistently been on top 10 sales charts for over 12 months. (According to PC Data Retail Sales Report.) First Aid is now available in over 4,000 stores -- 97% of all software stores in North America, including mass merchandisers such as Price Costco, Sams Club, Target, Sears and WalMart.

CRW also named CyberMedia's newest product, Oil Change, one of the top seven utility software titles of 1996. Oil Change gives PCs a "digital oil change" - it searches the Internet and automatically installs the latest software updates, drivers and bug fixes for today's most widely-used computer products.

ABOUT CYBERMEDIA
CyberMedia's mission is to empower computer users to fix computer problems on their own -- before they need to call technical support holiness for help. The company's ActiveHelp products include First Aid, Oil Change and the Tech Support Yellow Pages. CyberMedia's products are distributed in over 4,000 stores in the United States, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia, and via OEM distribution agreements with AST, Fujitsu, Packard Bell-NEC and Phoenix Technologies. Founded in 1991, CyberMedia (NASDAQ:CYBR) employs over 120 with company headquarters at 3000 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 2001, Santa Monica, Calif. Phone: 310/581-4700. To order, call 800-PC-1ST-AID (800/721-7824) or visit the CyberMedia web site at http://www.cybermedia.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Giselle Bisson
CyberMedia
(310) 581-4700 x261
giselle@cybermedia.com