Ad-Aware Plus 2008 Editor's Pick

"Powerful real-time protection against spyware and malware!"
By Softcns Editor: Ad-Aware 2008 Plus
Lavasoft Ad-Aware Plus 2008 enables automatic updates, antivirus scans and real-time protections that are present but disabled in the Ad-Aware Free anti-spyware and privacy protection program.

The 2008 version brings in for the first time a full antivirus component, licensed from Avira, capable of detecting much more malware than the previous standalone anti-spyware software. However, while the company says the addition pits Ad-Aware Pro against major antivirus apps, Ad-Aware doesn't perform the full range of malware checks typical to programs such as Norton, McAfee? and Kaspersky. It doesn't run 'on-access' antivirus scans whenever a file is saved to your hard drive, for instance, though it will use the Avira engine to check files on your drive during scheduled or manual scans.


In addition to antivirus scanning, the Plus version enables many features inaccessible in the popular free version, including automatic updates, tech support and real-time 'Ad-Watch' protection. Ad-Watch alerts you if a known malicious process, or program, attempts to run on your PC. It also alerts you to any changes to the Windows registry and can clear your Web browser cache, cookies and history by default--though those two features can prove troublesome.

Some default settings are a bit extreme. The RegShield registry watcher--enabled by default--pops up a large number of alerts for benign registry changes, such as those from normal Windows processes, without a clear description or advice for whether it should be allowed. TrackSweep clears the browser cache, history, and cookies from Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera. That sounds good, but it meant that in my tests, Ad-Aware cleared all that data from Firefox each time I shut down the browser.

For anti-spyware and antivirus scans, you can choose between a 'smart' scan--which focuses on critical parts of your PC--and a full scan, which digs in everywhere. You can define a custom scan that checks only particular locations and file types, or schedule a scan that runs automatically at certain times. However, although you can schedule regular, recurring scans, you can't create a custom scheduled scan.

Ad-Aware helpfully separates scan results into critical objects that everyone will want to remove, such as Trojans and other harmful spyware, and privacy objects such as tracking cookies or document history, which might not worry some people. You can remove discovered objects individually or all at once. One minor annoyance: To find out what each cookie actually is, you'll need to greatly expand the column that names it. Otherwise there's too much data on one line to see what's there. But that's more than offset by the ability to create a Windows System Restore point from within the software before removing any objects, in case you accidentally remove something necessary.

The Plus version also adds tools for editing or locking down the Windows hosts file, a little-used networking file that is sometimes targeted by malware. The $40 Pro version enables a process viewer that provides technical details on everything that's running on your PC, command line options, and a network traffic viewer.

While the paid Pro or Plus upgrade does add a good deal of additional protection compared to the Ad-Aware Free version, if you're currently using free security software and are considering a paid upgrade, you're likely better off first buying a dedicated antivirus program with on-access scanning.

Note: This software is available in one-, two- and three-year licenses. This price is for a one-year license. you can free download Ad-Aware Plus 2008 now.