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Ad-Aware 2007 Pros & Cons


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I'm still evaluating this new release, I'll post some thoughts on it later. I am interested to hear what everyone thinks about it. I will be keeping the previous ("2006") Ad-Aware version install here on Lunarsoft.net. There was a later version that was a MSI install, however if users with malware are unable to use MSI, this clearly will do them no good. The version kept here will hold older definitions; however the installer will be much more dependable.

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Glad to hear you've got the old version available here - I've downloaded the new one, but haven't installed it yet. I feel much more relaxed about it, knowing I can go back if I want. I'll let you know what I think, after I try it out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had it for over a week now (the free version), no major complaints. Install went smoothly, it uninstalled the old version automatically just like it's supposed to. One nitpick - a pop-up asks if you want to keep the plug-ins; but the old plug-ins are not needed and not compatible (I had checked beforehand), so it's just a time waster. There was a lot more to download after the install, not just definitions files but the new updater module, and skins. I didn't really want to have two different skins to choose between, but I got 'em...

I was going to complain about the process it installed, aawservice.exe, which runs all the time (even after I changed it from automatic startup to manual). When I first installed, that was using about 22,000 K of memory, which was ridiculous considering there's no realtime protection in the free version - higher than it should be even with the realtime shield. There was an update to it, though, now it's more like 7,400 K, which is tolerable. So, while I don't see why it needs to be running a service at all, at least it isn't tying up too much RAM.

The old version's three-step process to update is no more, which is better. Now it automatically updates when you open the program, if you want. A little pop-up appears, telling you the definitions are up-to-date - or if you're offline, that the download failed. If you prefer to do it manually, it's now 2 clicks instead of three. You have to click the Web Update button if you want to see the progress of the update. Still room for improvement, but it's not as clunky as it used to be.

The "Smart Scan" was pretty fast, 7 1/2 minutes on my machine, but a full scan took 55 minutes. This is not a super-fast computer (512 MB SDRAM, 700 MHz AMD Duron CPU), but I was hoping for better. Could be worse, though.

The new GUI is much better than the previous, I will say that for it; both appearance-wise and functionally. Whether the improvements under the hood are as much as they claim, I have no way to judge - I'm not going to infect my computer so I can test the effectiveness of the new scanning engine. Except for the ugly new logo, though, I like it. No real "Cons", just a couple little nitpicks, and some significant "Pros". :hello:

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@ Tarun - I didn't even realize the Custom Scan didn't work, it's not grayed out or anything. Guess I should have tried it, but I never used it in the previous versions, either. Still, that sucks.

@ Ultimate Predator - Yeah, the "Full System Scan" is pretty thorough. It oughta be, considering how long it takes.

That aawservice.exe is back to using around 22,000 K, don't know why it was using less last night - whatever that update was about, it didn't fix the high mem useage. It's not launching at boot now, but once I start it by opening the program it won't stay shut down. Not good if you're short of RAM.

I was wrong about one thing, it's only one click to update if you click the "Update" button in the Status window, it's two click if you click the "Web Update" button in the sidebar - but they both open the same update window. Makes no sense.

I turned off that automatic update on startup of the program, it's just annoying.

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Big software update to Ad-Aware, went very badly. Took repeated tries, program locked up at one point. I finally rebooted before I could get the rest of the update. An update to the updater seemed to be the biggest part of it, I hope it fixed the problems. This happens again, I'm going back to Ad-Aware 2006.

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It had another software update today, to different modules; went very smoothly. The progress bar even worked, which it didn't with yesterday's update.

The pop-ups that tell you definitions are up-to-date, or the update failed (when there's no Internet connection), are gone. Turned the auto-update back on, not sure if it's working since there's now no notification. Was this a deliberate change, or is it just broken? I wish I knew.

The time it takes for the full scan has gone down to 00.46.42, a substantial improvement over the 55 min. it did take; but the smart scan has gone up to almost 9 min. That's still not bad for the smart scan, and much better for the full scan, overall I'm pleased.

Surprisingly, after the extensive beta testing it got, this release has been more like a beta version than a finished product .

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That had occurred to me; I could re-edit what I've posted here and have most of a review written.

About the definitions updates - in the startup window it says "Updating definitions" just before the Status window appears. If it's updating before the GUI initializes, that's cool - but it would be nice to have some notification after the program launches.

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Yesterday, after I launched Ad-Aware with automatic update enabled (and it said "Updating Definitions" while it was starting up), I manually checked for updates - and found there was a definitions update available! Unless it just became available that minute, the auto-update isn't working.

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  • 2 months later...

I've run into a bit of a hangup - Firefox won't allow me to cut, copy & paste to compose a review. The security policy that should allow JavaScript access to the clipboard on this site is still in place in the user.js file, but it no longer works. Tried re-entering it, but still no go.

I can't figure it out - the site's been updated, but it's still lunarsoft.net; the same permissions should still apply. May be a change in Firefox? I'll try the full URL of the page, if that doesn't work I suppose I could use (shudder) IE. What a pain.

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Turns out it was a false alarm - although the message "Text cut, copy and paste not allowed" is displayed, it actually works. Can't believe everything you read.

I suppose I should file a bug about this; that message should not appear after you've allowed the site. Something else for me to procrastinate... :cool:

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