Ad Aware

[Loose rivets]

Since Ad Aware changed last Christmas, I've not really found it much use.

It is definitely not as easy to select the areas that you want scanned, and now seems to be failing to finish the job when it has scanned.

I realize that the free issue costs them money with no return, but I would have sooner them said Okay, we've had it with giving stuff away, now yer gotta pay....or something like that.

Now I've go a load of cookies that it finds, but puts a warning up saying that they will be removed on next start up. Why? And, okay that would help...if it did it. Instantly it finds the 91 tracking cookies that were there before, does not show objects scanned. Top lines show waiting for scanner.

So, it didn't remove them on start.

Anyone else find this year's version this bad?

I have to say that prior to the change, it worked very well, and I miss it!

[Tarq57]

I haven't found AdAware any use since the SE version was discontinued, either, apart from a little bit of learning how to fix things when poorly written software plays up, which I could have done without.
Tracking cookies are generally very low risk items, can be managed via the browser settings, and are easily deleted, so I don't expect/need an anti malware program to do that for me. (Although if the nastier of the cookies can be intercepted and blocked, that's a bonus.)
The current similar programs with far better detection and cleaning capabilities are MBAM (http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php) and/or Superantispyware. (http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispyware.html) Both have free (demand scanning) and paid (resident protection) versions available; both will remove a lot of the rogue programs/trojans etc around today, both are well supported and have active forums.
Others you might want to look into include A2 by emsisoftware,and dear old Spybot S&D, which is still actively supported and has useful features.

[call100]

Try This....Free spyware removal and spyware protection - Spyware Terminator (http://www.spywareterminator.com/)

It has performed faultlessly for me..Set it up and it updates itself just like antivirus programmes....Plenty of dubious surfing and nothing untoward on the machine....
Double checked occasionally with...Malwarebytes.org (http://www.malwarebytes.org/)

[PoloJamie]

I don't like the versions after SE (2007/2008 etc). The user interface is far from friendly and the heuristics and detection rate aren't all that great either.

I don't use it anymore full stop, on my own machines or the machines I support for clients. I use a combination of Sophos Anti Virus. Spybot Search and Destroy, CCleaner and occasionallySpy Sweeper by Webroot.

In all honesty, if you're careful with what you download and don't use any dodgy software (when I say dodgy I mean unreputable stuff like keygens/cracks etc which usually contain trojans) and you don't install anything which *might* install adware/spyware, such as free screensaver applications etc, then you'll be fine. If you follow this methodology then you'll be fine. Use a web browser like Firefox.

I personally recommend Sophos Anti Virus for an AV solution. Catches a lot of adware/spyware as well, making it an effective all rounder.

In terms of tracking cookies etc, try using CCleaner for removing temporary files and general rubbish you don't need such as tracking cookies etc. It's free and can be found at CCleaner - Home (http://www.ccleaner.com)

[Loose rivets]

Thanks for that everyone. I'm relieved to know that I'm not alone in thinking it had become less than useful.


I dump that and acquire some of the above.


LR

[Gertrude the Wombat]

In all honesty, if you're careful with what you download and don't use any dodgy software (when I say dodgy I mean unreputable stuff like keygens/cracks etc which usually contain trojans) and you don't install anything which *might* install adware/spyware, such as free screensaver applications etc, then you'll be fine.
Plus some sort of firewall helps, such as the usual domestic NAT/router box in stealth mode, plus keeping patches up to date.

With those caveats, I agree that no anti-virus or anti-spyware or any other of this CPU-hogging stuff is required.

[Earl]

One thing that I have noticed.
If you run adaware or spybot after a week or so it comes up with a few things and takes care of them.
But if you run CCleaner first then adaware or spybot nothing is ever found.
Is ccleaner a better tool than both of these other ones?
Would be interesting to hear why this ccleaner works so well in just a few seconds compared to a few minutes scanning with the others.

[Tarq57]

One thing that I have noticed.
If you run adaware or spybot after a week or so it comes up with a few things and takes care of them.
But if you run CCleaner first then adaware or spybot nothing is ever found.
Is ccleaner a better tool than both of these other ones?
They're different categories of tools.
Ccleaner is for cleaning up excess unwanted and unneeded files, including temporary files, internet cache etc. In so doing it will delete the cookies you have not set to be saved.
AdAware and Spybot specifically target malware. Trojans, worms, various exploits. AdAware isn't much good for finding anything except cookies anyway, if you've deleted them using Ccleaner there's your answer.
And if Spybot doesn't find anything, possibly it means you have mo malware on the computer.