Ad-Aware

Lavasoft's Ad-Aware

Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition Pro running under Windows Vista.
Developer(s)	Lavasoft AB, Sweden
Stable release	8.0.6 / 2009-06-17; 10 days ago
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Available in	Multilingual[1]
Type	Spyware removal software
License	Proprietary
Website	Lavasoft.com

Ad-Aware is an anti-spyware and anti-virus program developed by Lavasoft that detects and removes malware,spyware and adware on a user's computer. It detects spyware, viruses, dialers, Trojans, bots, rootkits, data miners, aggressive advertising, parasites, browser hijackers, and tracking components.

Lavasoft offers a free, downloadable version called Ad-Aware Free, and three paid-for products called Ad-Aware Plus, Ad-Aware Pro and Ad-Aware Enterprise 2.1. The current version, Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition, celebrates Lavasoft's 10th year of providing malware detection and removal.

History

Ad-Aware 2008 Screenshot

Ad-Aware was originally developed in 1999 to highlight web beacons inside of Internet Explorer. On almost every website the user would see a tiny pixelated square next to each web beacon. This was to warn the user that the computer's IP address and other non-essential information was being tracked by this website. Over time, they added the ability to block those beacons, or ads. Ad-Aware no longer makes the user aware of the ads on the screen, instead the program fights spyware, adware and malware.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2008 Edition, Ad-Aware Pro and Plus were bundled, for the first time, with an antivirus scanner, which uses the Avira engine and this is continued in the latest release.

From Ad-Aware 2007 onwards, Ad-Aware does not support Windows 98 or Me; previous versions did support these older versions of Windows.^[2]

Overview

Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition is the latest version of Lavasoft’s anti-malware solutions. Each new version includes integrated real-time threat protection. The Plus and Pro versions include anti-virus protection. Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition allows computer users to combat malicious spyware, viruses, and malware; it protects users from malware that takes control of a computer and can result in aggressive advertising pop-ups, sluggish computer activity and stolen private information. Ad-Aware detects hazardous content on a user's computer, identifies the threat level, and then gives the user the ability to block or remove unwanted content.

Ad-Aware is compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems only^[3].

Versions

Ad-Aware is currently available in four versions: Free, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise.^[4]

Ad-Aware Free

Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition Free is Lavasoft's freeware anti-spyware software that is available for home, non-commercial use. It is offered to consumers worldwide to protect their personal and home computers from malware attacks, and has been downloaded over 350 million times worldwide. The download includes real-time protection (users are protected as they use the Internet), skins, help manuals and the latest definition files, however, anti-virus protection is currently not included with this version but Lavasoft has said that this is coming soon.^[5] Other advanced features are available in the paid versions of Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition.

Whilst the Free version of Ad-Aware does not entitle the user to Lavasoft Customer Support, free support forums are provided for user-to-user support.

Ad-Aware Plus

The main differences between the Free and the Plus and Pro versions are the addition of anti-virus protection and extended threat detection. Other additional features include behavior-based heuristical threat detection, network drive scanning, scheduled scans, and bonus tools for added security (such as the Hosts File Editor).

Ad-Aware Pro

Ad-Aware Pro incorporates all the features of the Plus version while also offering command line support, and the ability to scan other hard drives across a network. Ad-Aware Pro also includes Ad-Watch Live Expert (real-time network protection) and a Process Watch Module.

Ad-Aware Enterprise

Ad-Aware Enterprise is for businesses that want central control of all their network computers with Ad-Aware installed. It includes network tools to manage and monitor Ad-Aware across a network.

Version features summary

Usage

Between May 27, 2005 (when version SE 1.06 appeared on Download.com) and April 23, 2007, the program was downloaded over 239 million times. It has now been replaced with Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition, which is listed as having been downloaded over 315 million times as of January 2009^[update].^[6]

System requirements

Criticism

Ad-Aware's previous version, Ad-Aware SE, has been criticized by reviewers for having a confusing interface and not being able to schedule scans and automatic updates. Some found the customer support poor and thought the product was expensive compared to other similar products.^[7] It was also claimed to only use basic security protection in the coding.^[8]

Test results showed that Ad-Aware SE did not always remove the bundled adware program, "WhenUSave", and that removal of the program would disable the free, advertising-supported eDonkey parent program.^[9][10]

References

This section's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

External links

Computer security portal

• Lavasoft Web Page
• Lavasoft Support Forums