Ad-Aware Let Us Down Again

[Amie]

Fred, You have taught me more then anyone else
over the years and I sincerely thank you. I was
disappointed last year when Lavasoft stopped
supporting Updates to Ad-Aware and left the
customers all hanging. Without current updates it
was worthless and I deleted it. I now have Ad-
Aware Plus, version 6.0, build 158, and wondered
why for well over a month there were no "new"
updates available? In that time my Spybot and Pest
Patrol had many updates. I went to the Lavasoft
web site tonight and found that even though, I
have version 6.0, they have stopped Update access
to any release less than build 181.... If I cannot
even manually download and install the Updates to
my older build of the current version, then this
utility will go into my Dumpster and I will never
use Lavasoft again. Lavasoft seriously needs to
rethink what they are doing if they want people to
use their product.--- Dean Ross

I agree, Dean. It's now been almost a year since Lavasoft
started having major trouble, first with their site going
dark for days and weeks; then, when the site came back,
there was a period of many month with no updates, despite
the proliferation of new hostile adware/spyware/malware;
then they had a new round of site problems; and now there
have been a number of glitches with the new version 6, too.
PestPatrol and Spybot also have had their share of growing
pains--- no one is immune, especially in this, which may be
the fastest-growing area in software: New hostile
adware/spyware/malware crops up almost every day, requiring
an extremely aggressive coding effort on the part of the
vendors selling protective software.

But Lavasoft's ongoing and pernicious problems--- almost a
year!--- make me unwilling to rely on Ad-Aware as much more
than a backup or secondary tool. I have not purchased the
Pro version of Ad-Aware, and don't plan to until and unless
the dust settles and they have a *long* run without serious
outages, hassles or glitches.

Meanwhile, I rely on Spybot (which I paid for via voluntary
donation) and PestPatrol (which I simply bought). No tool is
perfect, and all the tools in this category have some rough
spots. But these two tools seem to nicely backstop each
other. Combined with a good firewall and an up-to-date
antivirus tool, they've kept my PC safe and pest-free,
despite the worst the internet has had to offer.

[amb141]

Amie

I noticed the same thing. And I upgraded AdAware to the most recent build and downloaded the updated definitions.

While it would have been better for Lavasoft to have continued to support the older versions of the software I don't really see a big problem if they require a free upgrade. Except, possibly, that people might not notice that there is a NEED to upgrade if they want updated defs -- and I don't remember how clear that fact was made.

I think that getting rid of AdAware because Lavasoft is requiring that its users upgrade the software is a baby ... bathwater situation. AdAware does detect spyware that Spybot doesn't (and vice versa.)

alan

[Kathie]

Wow!
I have the free version of adaware and have been getting updates every two to three days for the past few weeks.
Maybe you should switch to the free version. It doesn't make since.

[amb141]

Kathie

I am using the free version. But there was a point several weeks ago, even with the free version, at which you had to upgrade to the most recent build in order to download updates to the definitions file.

alan

[mfarley]

I was burnt by Lavasoft the first time and have stuck with Spybot ever since. It seemed to get all my nasties just fine.

[mikey]

Everyone complains about those months without update. What most folks don't seem to understand is that; for the entire year previous to the update cessation, LS knew that the engine could not perform complex removal routines needed for the current evolution of malwares. Every sig update for more than 8 mos prior was flawed terribly. I made my usual stink about it but I think most folk just figured 'he's always bad-mouthing them'. I still have all the data just like I can still prove that the reason all those thousands of crippled sys from AA6/160 were due to non-existent testing. It couldn't have even been tested at the alpha level. I believe SSD was released when it was because there was a void that needed filling. I wont mention what I think of LS ethics or any of the hundreds of other ways they have shown that the user is at the bottom of their priorities.

But, I still think it's OK(no major conflicts) for folks to use both...especially if the user is novice. JMO

[Kathie]

Originally posted by amb141@Sep 4 2003, 11:58 PM
Kathie

I am using the free version. But there was a point several weeks ago, even with the free version, at which you had to upgrade to the most recent build in order to download updates to the definitions file.

alan
Ok,I automaticaly did the update because I thought it was like all the other things and it was something you should do to make the prgram better. I didn't know there were issues going on as this is the progam everyone recomended.

[amb141]

Kathie

The issues (most of them) are with the way Lavasoft has gone about its business rather than with the effectiveness of the current version of AdAware. I use a couple of spyware detectors, AdAware is certainly one of them.

alan

[billm65]

Adaware
I'm very surprised to hear that about Ad-Aware..I've had it since I got me new PC with XP on it and their have been many more up-dates for Ad-Aware than there have been for Spy-Bot S&D. I make it a point to check for up grades for each of these programs at least once a week. So far Ad-Aware has had quite a few more than Spy-Bot. I wouldn't dump either one of these. And you must remember, they are FREE programs. :thRt:

[mikey]

"I've had it since I got me new PC with XP on it and their have been many more up-dates for Ad-Aware than there have been for Spy-Bot S&D."

Of course they have. After nearly 1 1/2 years of neglecting the user/product and a real rival emerging in the wake of that neglect, they FINALLY deved a new version. After v6 was released and they crippled thousands of users with more neglect(which I believe they will soon see legal actions brought for), they were forced to play catch up...which they have done well at for now. My only real concern with LS now is; how long will they continue to maintain a viable product this time? Perhaps their zeal to sell their worthless 'Plus' will entice them to do the right thing for a while. Who knows?


"The issues (most of them) are with the way Lavasoft has gone about its business rather than with the effectiveness of the current version of AdAware."

Quite so. Today, the product is viable. Tomorrow is another question.


BTW&OT LS's wares are not the only I take issue with. I have also taken great issue with the recent lack of testing protocols and lack of timely bug fixes for SSD too. I believe those issues are now being addressed tho. The current beta(v1.21b2) seems quite stable.

[LeRoi]

Mikey,

When I upgraded to Spybot v1.2, I did it using the internal update system, therefore I have an entry in add/remove programs for 1.1 and not 1.2, it works perfectly, BTW.

When I upgrade to the new beta, should I attempt to uninstall the old one through add/remove or just delete the SSD folder and its' contents then hunt down the registry entries that are leftover?

Thanks.

[mikey]

Hey LeRoi, depending on what kind of tests and to what degree of benchmarking, what I do when I'm testing multiple betas of SSD(doesn't work like this for other apps), I just open SSD and look under the 'file' tab and choose uninstall/partial uninstall(this will remove all the active reg items) and then I change the name of the main folder(just adding a number works) and install new. This gives the advantage of easily comparing versions in the same sys.

As a rule, I believe it best to always uninstall before loading new except where the dev designed it to upgrade internally...as SSD sometimes does.

Did that answer or confuse? :)

As for taking care of leftover/unremoved items in add/remove; well, they can be removed but I don't recall the location as I manage my add/remove(incl the hidden ones) with XSetup from Xteq. http://www.xteq.com/ Perhaps someone remembers that location and will speak up.

[LeRoi]

Thanks Mikey,

That didn't confuse me, not much anyway. I will follow your procedure for removing SSD, when the time comes. I'm still very satisfied with the way my version works. It scans my system in well less than a minute, with system internals. I have read that it isn't as fast as that on some systems, I think.

I have X-Setup, I think I can find the option for removing ghost entries from add/remove programs. JV16 Power Tools has a similar option, I believe. I'm still using the last free version.

[mikey]

Originally posted by LeRoi@Sep 7 2003, 09:31 PM
I think I can find the option
Yea, lots of tweaks. :)

System/SoftwareInstalation/UninstallSoftwareListEditor

You can edit the name and/or comand or choose to delete the entry.

[LeRoi]

Mikey,

I wonder if you can tell me how to re-enable a plugin of X-Setup? The option to change cpu priority is greyed out on my copy (actually oranged out), I didn't understand the way it asked me about the plugin and whether to completely disable it, so I did, now that option is no longer available. I just recently started using X-Setup.

The same option is not greyed out in my copy of FreshUI, but I have never changed the cpu priority.

Is that even advisable?

Thanks.