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Adware
1. Ad-Aware
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This article is about the anti-spyware program. For advertising supported software,
see Adware.
Lavasoft's Ad-Aware
Ad-Aware 8.1 Pro running under Windows 7.
Developer(s) Lavasoft AB, Sweden
9.0.2.0 / March 3, 2011; 16 days
Stable release
ago
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Available in Multilingual[1]
Type Spyware removal software
License Proprietary
Website Lavasoft.com
Ad-Aware is an anti-spyware and anti-virus program developed by Lavasoft that
detects and removes malware, spyware and adware on a user's computer. According
to Lavasoft, Ad-Aware detects spyware, computer viruses, dialers, Trojans, bots,
rootkits, data miners, aggressive advertising, parasites, browser hijackers, and
tracking components.[2]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Overview
2. • 3 Market share
• 4 References
History
Ad-Aware was originally developed in 1999 to highlight web beacons inside of
Internet Explorer.[citation needed] On many websites, users would see a tiny pixelated
square next to each web beacon, warning the user that the computer's IP address and
other non-essential information was being tracked by this website. Over time, Ad-
Aware added the ability to block those beacons, or ads. Ad-Aware no longer makes
the user aware of the ads on the screen, instead the program fights spyware, adware,
viruses and other malware.[citation needed]
In the 2008 Edition, Lavasoft bundled Ad-Aware Pro and Plus for the first time with
an antivirus scanner,[3] which uses the Avira engine[4] and this practice continued in
the subsequent releases.[5]
Overview
As of 2010, Lavasoft makes Ad-Aware version 8.3 available in three core versions:[6]
1. Ad-Aware Free Internet Security
2. Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security
3. Ad-Aware Total Security
Lavasoft also offers an Ad-Aware version for businesses, named Ad-Aware Business
Edition,[7] which is designed for use over networks. It has a central server console
interface with licences for installing Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security on the
networked machines.[8]
Lavasoft also makes available an Ad-Aware spin-off product aimed at online gamers
and entertainment fans, called Ad-Aware Game Edition.[9]
Each version includes anti-spyware and anti-rootkit protection, as well as integrated
protection against real-time threats. As of July 7th the Ad-Aware Free Internet
Security version also include antivirus.[10] According to Lavasoft, Ad-Aware allows
computer users to combat malicious spyware, viruses, and malware; it protects users
from malware that takes control of a computer and can result in aggressive advertising
pop-ups, in sluggish computer activity and in the stealing of private information. The
vendors says that Ad-Aware detects hazardous content on a user's computer, identifies
the threat level, and then gives the user the ability to block or remove unwanted
content.
According to PC World magazine, an older version of Ad-Aware, the Anniversary
Edition, could locate only 83.6% of malware in a comparative test carried out by the
security firm av-test.org.[11] However, as the article states, no such tests have been run
on the newest version. Neil J. Rubenking at PCMag has performed a lab test on the
3. latest version, 8.3, where Ad-Aware scored 9.2 points, beating the previous top score
of 9.1.[12]
Ad-Aware installs Google Chrome, which will be done automatically unless the user
de-selects the tick-box in the Ad-Aware installation program.
Market share
Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition, which has now been replaced with Ad-Aware 8.1, is
listed as having been downloaded over 339 million times as of November 2009;[13]
however, since its primary competition is not downloadable from the same location, a
comparison of relative market-share is not possible with these figures.
The paid versions of the product are under threat from more functional and lower
cost, even free, competition such as Microsoft Security Essentials.[11]
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad-Aware