Ad-Aware SE Personal, the free anti-spyware program from Lavasoft, has been one of the most popular solutions for battling malware on the PC. I have been using it for years to protect my systems and would recommend it to anyone. Lavasoft has just released an updated version, complete with new features, a new look and a new name. So let’s take a closer look at the new Ad-Aware 2007 and see if I’ll still be giving it my recommendation.
While the free version of Ad-Aware forces you to give up scheduled, custom scans and customer support (you can find these in both Ad-Aware Plus and Ad-Aware Pro, $27 and $40 respectively), you still keep the powerful engine, frequent updates and ease of use you loved about Ad-Aware SE. I will be comparing 2007 with SE for both scanning prowess (a new program should not mean sacrificing power) as well as the new features.
New features in Ad-Aware 2007 include a redesigned scanning engine, smaller update files, TrackSweep, multi-browser support and a new interface. Lavasoft claims that you will save time and bandwidth with smaller update files. Of course that is true, but previous update files arrived in seconds on my high-speed connection, so unless you are a dialup user, this change is of little benefit. TrackSweep is a privacy control mechanism to erase history left behind in your browser. While this is not exactly innovative (plenty of other security apps include this, as well your browser itself), it is convenient to add to the package and shows that Lavasoft is still improving on their free product. That is something with which some freeware producers can be quite lax. Bowing to the popularity of third party browsers like Firefox and Opera, Ad-Aware 2007 now scans those programs as well to clear out any lingering downloaded baddies.
My scan with Ad-Aware SE yielded a whopping 70 objects, mostly of the ‘negligible’ persuasion, and the ‘critical’ being only tracking cookies. Not too surprising for a month since my last scan. After installing Ad-Aware 2007, I will perform another scan to compare the results. Of course, I have not cleaned the previous finds.
During my installation, the uninstaller popped up, much to my surprise. It appears that if you have an older version of Ad-Aware installed, it will be automatically uninstalled. Continuing with the installation process when it first opens, you will be prompted for a serial key. Since we have the freebie, just hit Cancel. Not surprisingly, it will then ask to update. What was interesting was that I updated to v7.0.1.4. Why couldn’t I just download that version to start with instead of 7.0.1.3? Why indeed.
As promised, I ran a full scan with 2007. There is now both an Overall Progress bar and a Section Progress bar to keep you informed on time. Unfortunately, these are some slow moving bars. Ad-Aware 2007 was almost twice as long at scanning my system; 19 minutes instead of 11. That said, the time difference does seem to pay off, as Ad-Aware 2007 found a few critical objects that SE had not. And while the scan results weren’t very impressive, only 11 instead of 70, the 11 were actually objects needing attention instead of extra cookies and history items that were easily removed otherwise.
Ad-Aware 2007 found a few redirected hosts file entries, which I found interesting. I use a modified host file to block advertisements online. See my review of Hoster for more on this subject: http://www.pcmech.com/article/hoster/ . Ad-Aware found only six (out of thousands) that it deemed noteworthy, but this is a way that malware can infect your system and force you onto websites you would not otherwise visit. So they are worth a look, especially if you have not modified your hosts in anyway.
You can see the slick, glossy interface that Ad-Aware 2007 uses in the previous screenshots. Of course the glitz does nothing to add to function, but it now blends well with Aero for any Vista users. The menus along the left edge slide out with a click, though they reveal mostly unavailable features. Ad-Watch for real-time protection, Process Watch and the Host file editor are all disabled for the free version. The settings tab offers some basic changes for scans and preferences.
So overall, what have we learned? As a package, Ad-Aware 2007 had not changed significantly from the previous iteration. The new look and couple new features are nice but certainly do not seal the deal. However, the scanning engine has improved, which is what counts in the end, earning Ad-Aware 2007 my continued recommendation as a part of your security arsenal. Check it out on http://www.lavasoft.com
