adaware

E-mail scanning and a tiered level of rootkit removal come to Ad-Aware in Monday's update to version 8.2. Ad-Aware Free, Ad-Aware Plus, and Ad-Aware Pro now come with e-mail scanning for Microsoft Outlook users, as well as expand the Ad-Aware Live system to block malicious files from downloading, and introduce a tiered rootkit removal system that increases in efficacy as you upgrade Ad-Aware.

The new features are part of the recent expansive approach that Lavasoft has been pushing in Ad-Aware, looking beyond antispyware as the company tries to keep the program relevant. The tiered rootkit removal is the … Read more

One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation is well-justified. The latest version continues the publisher's tradition of adroitly addressing user concerns, but isn't yet perfect.

Building on the improvements made in version 8, former Ad-Aware users should be glad to hear that the program installs faster than it used to. Without a doubt, though, this version of Ad-Aware improves greatly on what has come before. It loads faster during your boot cycle, and scans are faster. Empirical tests noted that while the Quick Scan finished in less than 10 … Read more

Lavasoft has updated its popular malware and spyware detection and removal tool Ad-Aware. Rather than a dramatic redo, version 8.1 builds on the improvements made in the previous version. The new version is faster, has better removal abilities, and introduces a behavioral detection engine.

Called Genotype, Ad-Aware's heuristic-based behavioral detection engine isn't explicitly called out in the interface. However, I noticed that files that had been flagged falsely as threats in earlier versions were no longer called out as such, and the Quick Scan was able to complete in about three minutes, as opposed to 10 minutes … Read more

One by one, the major Windows security vendors have been updating their antivirus apps and suites to protect against malware. Lavasoft is the latest, but you'll likely know this company better by its flagship product, Ad-Aware.

Like many of the other security apps that have updated for 2010, Ad-Aware 8.1 (download) boasts faster speeds and an engine that detects malware not just by definitions, but by suspicious behavior, too. As with its competitors, Ad-Aware has a three-tiered setup that includes a free version and two premium levels.

Speaking of security, the Google Chrome browser received a new extension … Read more

If you are using a Windows machine or even a Mac running Windows in a virtual environment, you need to pay attention to security. At the very least, you should always have at least one program for each of the major security threats: antispyware, antivirus, and a software firewall (if you don't already have a router-based firewall). Some antivirus suites have begun to include antispyware in their software, so if you have antivirus software, check to make sure you're covered. But if you're reading this and you don't have software to cover these three areas, we … Read more

For Ad-Aware's 10th anniversary, Lavasoft has given us an update that includes dramatically faster boot and scan times, as well as an interface refresh and an overhaul of its real-time defenses.

Check out what's new and what's returning in this First Look video from CNET TV.

One of the first applications built to find and remove adware and spyware, Ad-Aware's excellent reputation is well-justified. The Anniversary Edition continues the publisher's tradition of adroitly addressing user concerns, but is still not quite perfect.

Without a doubt, though, this version of Ad-Aware improves greatly on what has come before. It loads faster during your boot cycle. Scans take less time than before, too--the Quick Scan completed in less than 10 minutes. Although we did notice a major false positive crop up for another program's uninstaller, there were no other flaws in the scan. New users … Read more

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes here at CNET Download.com, and that includes the videos we editors create for the products we find most worthy--or the ones you keep coming back to time and again.

In that vein, we've stuffed this glorious playlist with the the top 10 software videos you watched on our site in 2008. Take a look--you may wind up with a new app you never knew you needed!

(Hint: Click the word "Playlist" to view the whole list or skip ahead.)

Here are the winners:

1. AVG Anti-Virus Free 8 … Read more

Ad-Aware has been around for nearly a decade and has been downloaded by hundreds of millions of people who want to scrub their computers clean. Publisher Lavasoft says that this edition includes better rootkit detection, faster updates, and other improvements. Check out what we thought about the latest version in this First Look video.