Ad-Aware 2008 Grows Up

[Jitway]

It was perhaps the first great advertising tracker purging system, and may have single-handedly redefined the public's notion of malware. Now, Ad-Aware is growing up, becoming more of a fully-fledged anti-virus product.

 

What it means to have "secure" computing, from the perspective of the consumer, is changing -- perhaps evolving -- as users perceive unwanted advertising and spam as a more directly pressing issue than malicious payloads. As a result, the different categories of "anti-malware" packages are continuing to merge, as evidenced this morning with the addition of anti-virus capabilities with the commercial editions of Ad-Aware.

 

For years one of FileForum's most popular downloads, Ad-Aware's free 2008 edition premieres this morning. And starting today, the key premiums for paying customers of Ad-Aware Plus and Pro editions ($26.95 and $39.95, respectively) will include general anti-virus capability, which will also encompass new rootkit detection features, and live scanning of incoming Web streams for Pro users.

 

In BetaNews tests this morning, we confirmed that the Free edition of Ad-Aware 2008 still contains the ability to automate scans for tracking components at system startup. Essentially, the executable file for the free and commercial editions (at least for the Plus edition, we believe) appears to be the same one, the difference being that paid users will enter their license numbers during installation, while free users will click the Use Free button instead.

 

The difference there may be only slightly shocking: One of the installation options that appears to be available even for Free users -- maintaining a constant scanner in the system tray, like a real anti-virus program -- forces the Free edition to respond later with a warning that the option isn't actually available.

 

Ad-Aware's Free 2008 edition, here seen in Windows XP SP3

 

The new front console is big and self-explanatory, unlike the comparably miniature panel of earlier versions. Though the capability to perform customized and scheduled scans appears to be present at first, they're really...well, they're ads, to be honest, and now you're aware of them. Those features are only available with paid licenses, which is fair if only a little...ironically annoying.

 

Although our initial tests only involved Ad-Aware Free 2008 on a relatively clean virtual XP SP3 system, we did notice the signature scan feature appeared to be faster than before. Deep scanning of the local system registry remains one of the slow features, as is scanning inside .CAB archive files, though the process still appears thorough.

 

 

 

 

This is great news and about time that it became more of a true anti-virus type of software.

 

Source HERE

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

Yes, 'bout time it's become even more bloated and taxing. We don't flocking need an all-in-one solution. Nowadays we need very lightweight, open-source, run-on-demand, constantly updated software that focuses on one or two objectives. But I guess a program like this will attract the less savvy who have no clue how to manage their system resources. I used to use Ad-aware prior to it going 2007 and it was relatively lightweight and most importantly it ran-on-demand and didn't leave any processes behind if you'd shut it down.

 

The only programs that I tolerate being constantly on are uTorrent, Zone Alarm and Trillian. Anything else, if I didn't ask for you, GTFO!

 

People should just be forcefully educated in school about keeping their PCs safe and clean, and we'd all be much better off. Spam and malware is to computers what STDs are to humans, so if anyone is serious about having a computer, they should know how to take care of it...