Ad-Aware is a decent security product which is particularly good at detecting spyware and adware components. Latest version of Ad-Aware, the Anniversary Edition, was recently released by Lavasoft and is now available for download. The new version includes a faster scanning engine, improved heurists detection, SmartSet, Ad-Watch Live! along with many other enhancements.
I’ve been using Ad-Aware for quite a while now but it’s never been my primary security software. I usually leave Kaspersky Anti-Virus to do the background scanning while Ad-Aware and SuperAntiSpyware scans are run about once a week (or if I smell anything fishy). This has become much easier with Ad-Aware 8.0.0.0 - In previous versions a background system service had to be enabled at startup for the proper functioning of Ad-Aware (regardless of whether ad-watch was enabled or disabled). But in this version you can set this service startup type to ‘manual’ instead of automatic and still use the application without issues.
There are several different versions of Ad-Aware titled Free, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. The free version has everything you need except heurists to catch spyware and adware - you need not bother with cracks or serials for Ad-Aware Plus or Pro in most cases.
Features
- Detect, Remove AND Clean
- New!Ad-Watch Live! Basic integrated real-time protection
- Rootkit Removal System
- New!Radically improved resource efficiency
- New!Lavasoft SmartSet
- New!Customizable Profile Scans
- New!External Drive Scanning
- New!Pin-Point Scanning
- New!Full integration with Windows Security Center
- Easy to download, install & use
Download
Ad Aware free can be downloaded directly from official download page or from one of the mirrors.
[Click Here] to download Ad Aware Anniversary Edition from Softpedia
[Click Here] to download Ad Aware Anniversary Edition from official download page
For people who are having trouble trying to get Ad-Aware to start after installation or those who are experiencing startup error messages, check this thread for a solution.
P.S. - If anyone was wondering, it’s called the Anniversary Edition because Lavasoft is celebrating their 10th year running in security software development.
