Ad-Aware Pro Internet Security II

very good
key review info
application features
  • Protection against spyware, Trojans, hijackers, and more
  • (12 more, see all...)

The Extras menu in Ad-Aware contains a set of instruments meant to brush off your web surfing tracks as well as tools such as a process manager, hosts file editor or startup manager. It is compact and split into two tabs: TrackSweep and Toolbox. The former deals with traces left behind as a result of your web browsing applications, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. The odd thing is that Google Chrome, which is offered to be installed with Ad-Aware and which continues to gain market share and popularity, is not present in the list.

Eliminating your web browsing footsteps is no more complicated than it used to be in the previous version of the security suite. Ad-Aware automatically detects the web browsers installed on the system (except for Opera, for which it appears that support has not yet been implemented, so the list is basically cut down to the major competitors) and allows you to choose what you want to be erased. There are no fancy options to deal with and sweeping is enabled by ticking the desired boxes for the desired browser: cache, cookies, history, last typed URL and tabs.

However, all things worked great with Internet Explorer, but in the case of Mozilla Firefox no change was recorded. To make it clearer, after sweeping all tracks in Firefox, Ad-Aware left History intact, allowing me to view the pages I visited a day before. But this was the only fluke of the application because the tabs from the last session were removed, just like the cache gathered while browsing. With cookies on the other hand Ad-Aware could not deal and left them as they were.

Considering that the latest versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox come with built-in private browsing, which prevents storing any sort of data regarding your session, TrackSweep is pretty much obsolete for a professional user. But it comes as an assurance for those users unaware of the new web browser features and helps them eliminate their footprints.

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The Toolbox shelters a different type of puppets, which relate more to security in that they can help you detect malicious processes running on the system and track their source on disk. Other than adding a "Scan" button, nothing has changed in this area. Although it accomplishes the same job as Windows Task Manager, Ad-Aware's Process Watch is far more evolved than the default alternative in the operating system.

Besides the basic options available when a process is selected (terminate and set priority), Process Watch also sports process restarting (starts the process all over again), suspending (freezes the process, in that it temporarily stops running) and resuming. It can also take you to the folder containing the file that calls the selected process, and start a Google search on the item, or display a graphic representation of the estimated CPU usage.

In the lower part of the screen Process Watch shows more details on the selected item, such as associated modules and list of threads running for your selection. Of course, these details are for experienced users that have the necessary knowledge to fiddle with unloading modules (some of them are required by Windows or other software so unless you know what you are doing I suggest you keep away from the lower half of the Process Watch window).

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As far as the startup manager included in the suite is concerned, it has not suffered any changes at all. AutoStart Manager preserves the advantage of showing you both the set of services and processes loading with Windows and the valid details about them (manufacturer, if it is signed, CPU and RAM usage). In the context menu of a selection you will find the choice of disabling the service, requesting some information on the item (the Properties window will open). For any unknown items, Ad-Aware throws a hand by launching a Google search.

Just as expected, Host File Editor has modified neither its purpose nor its looks or functionality. Everything here has been frozen to the last version. The tool is designed to give you a hand with blocking ad sites or reversing browser hijack entries by redirecting host names to your local host IP address, rendering any attempt to direct your browsing to advertisement sites useless.

Lavasoft's ThreatWork has turned into an alliance in this edition of Ad-Aware, but it comes with unchanged functionality, that of submitting your suspicious files to the company's labs in order to bring your contribution to improved protection. You can choose to join the community at any time, and even if you don't, you can still submit your files for analysis. No personal information is collected during the submission process and, to make this thing clear, Lavasoft provides a sample of how the information reaches their labs.

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Settings Configuring Ad-Aware requires little effort as there are few options present, because the application does all the work in your stead. Updates menu lets you set up the software and definitions file update (you can import them from an offline source if automatic online updating is not your cup of tea). This is also the tab where you decide whether to join community reporting of suspicious files via ThreatWork Alliance or not.

Although customizing your scan profiles can be done from the Scan window as well, the option is also present in the configuration panel. You are given free hand to create as many profiles as you want, and tweak them to your liking by choosing the areas to be scanned (critical areas, running applications, Windows registry, LSPs, ADS, hosts file, MRUs, browser hijacks or for tracking cookies), specific folders on the disk, and enabling the anti-virus engine.

Under Ad-Watch Live!, the real-time protection system included in Ad-Aware, you can select which of the three modules should be enabled: processes, registry or network (I would leave them all on). Additionally, alerts and notifications can be set up. The application can be a nag (depending on your web browsing habits) and notify at each event, pop a message only about important results or turn off the notification altogether and handle all the events by itself. For increased protection Ad-Watch should function with both behavior-based and antivirus detection layers on.

A new option introduced with this version is the Do Not Disturb mode, which, once enabled, suppresses all Ad-Aware notifications when full screen applications are detected. The feature comes in great when playing games or watching movies as it will not interrupt you at all.

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As far as TrackSweep, the toolbox and band of settings are concerned, very little has changed. Besides adding a new option in the Settings menu (Do Not Disturb mode) and a few modifications like the elimination of the detection levels for Ad-Watch's behavior based analysis, little has been modified. The Toolbox features the same instruments with the same functions and options, adding nothing new to the game.

The Good The startup and process manager are handy instruments to find out what exactly is running on your computer. An experienced user can easily view the processes and determine whether they pertain to legitimate applications or not, as well as locate their source. Host File Editor helps you block ad web sites as well as reverse browser hijacks.

The Bad

TrackSweep does not work with Opera (the latest version, at least) and will not enable the options for this web browser, yet. Ad-Aware was unsuccessful removing the history and cookies raked up by Firefox.

The Truth

Overall, Ad-Aware brings improvement in detecting malware, but during our tests it lost points with cleaning them. Requiring a restart after cleaning high threat level malware may be uncomfortable for the user, but the application leaves the time of the reboot totally in the user's hands, so it does not have to take place immediately. However, upon reboot, you will have to wait for a while for all cleaning to finish.

It comes with its flaws, but this is just the first build of the new Ad-Aware generation, which will be subject to future betterment.

Get to Interface, scanning and resource usage

user interface 4
features 3
ease of use 3
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good