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Ad-Aware Pro Security 11.8 Giveaway
$18
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — Ad-Aware Pro Security 11.8

Ad-Aware Pro Security protects from extreme malware and cyber threats.
$18 EXPIRED
User rating: 246 42 comments

Ad-Aware Pro Security 11.8 was available as a giveaway on October 9, 2015!

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$19.95 / month
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Ad-Aware Pro Security is a complete line-of-defense against the most extreme forms of malware and cyber threats. It provides the most advanced anti-spyware and antivirus detection and threat blocking algorithms, complemented with a powerful two-way firewall, web filters against phishing attacks and real-time email protection. This software is for anyone who wants to protect their PC, personal information, private data, and banking information from malware, spyware, computer viruses and cyber criminals.

Ad-Aware Pro Security offers complete protection and runs behind the scenes, allowing you to continue using your PC without interruption, while being confident that your system is safe from side forces.

Please note: The software includes a 6-months license.

System Requirements:

Windows XP (SP3, x32)/ Vista (SP2)/ 7 (SP1)/ 8/ 8.1/ 10; Processor: 800 MHz or better; RAM: 1 GB; Hard Disk: 1.8 GB free space (at least 800 MB on the system drive)

Publisher:

Lavasoft

Homepage:

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_pro.php

File Size:

5.9 MB

Price:

$18

Comments on Ad-Aware Pro Security 11.8

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Please add a comment explaining the reason behind your vote.
#21

Thanks very good product

Reply   |   Comment by John Rambo  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

Greed is a common human trait. If you already have anti-virus or anti-malware or Internet Security software, then leave it.
Why pile one software on top of another; and another; and another. So brand A anti-virus + brand B anti-rootkit + brand C anti-advert + brand D super firewall + brand E anti-spyware + brand F anti-phishing + brand G anti-identity theft + brand H anti-keylogger + brand J anti-redirect + etc......... Just stick to one good anti-something. And leave well enough alone. You don't have State Secrets or USD$1 Billion for others to steal. Most of us are just plain Mr. Nobody on the street with the usual mundane stuff in our PCs. Not worth a second look by hackers.

Reply   |   Comment by ric  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

another burden for the pc resource.

nothing will detect 100%. any antivirus, antimalware, etc

i use this steps:

i never login administrator account unneded, use standart user for everyday task.
window update to the latest.
use comodo internet security, sandbox everything not in comodo whitelisting. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-install-comodo-firewall.htm

Reply   |   Comment by misidp  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#18

Had to manually uninstall the free version first. Shouldn't it just install over the free version automatically?

Reply   |   Comment by chris lonjers  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

It's not about the installation. It's about your licence key. If it sees a free licence and a paid licence... it doesn't know which one follow.

Reply   |   Comment by steve  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#17

I used this software for years and it was great. Unfortunately it succumbed to progress like so many others and bloated out of control. It was a far better application back then.

Reply   |   Comment by GT  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+17)

I would consider the real culprit to be the criminals that make billions of dollars using malware & exploits [and yes there are stats saying that overall billions have been lost to cybercrime]. With that kind of incentive you have real pros constantly figuring out new ways to breach security measures, which means that security software has to guard against far more today than it did in the past. To do that it has to be bigger & unfortunately more intrusive.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#16

Would love this Adware Pro Security for a Mac....Do you have such a program?

Reply   |   Comment by Jim  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-7)
#15

I was surprised and delighted to find this software offering today. Ad-Aware has been a go-to for support professionals like myself. With over 30 years of PC experience, I can tell you that earlier versions of this software have been toolbox-fix for, shall we say, *problem users*. I haven't tried this software in a couple of years, but I will gladly give it a try. My Windows 7 box had no problem with the download, install and registration. If there is a feedback loop for this product that extends beyond today, I would be happy to participate. If I had a nickel for every time Ad-Aware saved me many hours of cleanup on a customer PC, I would be a rich man. No, I do not know anybody at this software company. :-) I can tell you however, they are one of the old-time heavy hitters in cleaning PCs and keeping them clean. Thanks for the offering today. Marc

Reply   |   Comment by Marc  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-7)
#14

Hi,
I downloaded and installed . Yet to activate with the key. But , why installing of definition files take much time. It is almost an hour that it is being installed.
I just clicked anti malware. But , i get an antivirus updator screen, which installs web companian and definition files. It takes much time, that i could not activate or the programs main screen do not show up until it finishes the definition file. Is this anti virus or anti malware Please

Reply   |   Comment by jraju  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#13

I use to use this back in the early days of computing and it does a good job at stopping malware as such.
I like the extra security where you can use a personal pin number so any intruder cannot disable the program.
On a note, one thing i find totally irresponsible with software developers, like this one for example, where they intentionally want to hijack your search engine, browser etc with either a Google/Microsoft product. A lot out there just want to hit the "next" tab just to get the software up and running without knowing until they go to use the Internet and find its all changed. These should be left unchecked knowing nothing else will be installed. They're making enough money now through subscription software without having to top up their bank balance with Microsoft/Google junk.

Reply   |   Comment by Maureen  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+21)
#12

Downloaded this software, but on installing i receive the message "You already have the latest update", but that is not so, I have the free edition, and that is not the Pro, that has several extensions, due to their own website.

Reply   |   Comment by kjell  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+14)
#11

I used to use this Software before, but I think now Malwarebytes Anti Exploit does the job well. And I regularly run Microsoft Anti-Malware/Malicious Software Removal Tool. Also in case of doubt, running Adwcleaner now and again is calming. These free good programs stop, find, remove unwanted/stubborn 'intrusion'.

Reply   |   Comment by aba  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+22)
#10

The default setting to update the database is "every hour" and when you have the web-function on "the list is updated every 5-20 minutes". No, thank you! I don´t need a tool that so often contact the internet.

Reply   |   Comment by Georg  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+23)
#9

hi GAOTD. many thanks for the daily offerings but i have to agree with "AnAceBuyer." it really isn't worth the effort for twelve month licences and so six months is even less use. it feels like a protracted trial rather than a giveaway. most of us will have systems that have this type of s/w installed and there needs to be a reason to fiddle with the current setup, learn a new program and so on. i do hope that i am not sounding unappreciative and i expect it will suit others to try it.

Reply   |   Comment by lord scott  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+32)
#8

Much too expensive for a tool that has NO network monitor and show NOTHING that it works. Example: In the description: "Scans your downloads..." - but you see not if it really do or had done this...

After installing it will download over 140 MB database - takes a while.

Reply   |   Comment by peter  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+21)
#7

Where real estate is concerned, it's said that the three most important considerations a prospective purchaser should bear in mind are location, location, location. Where antivirus/ malware "suites" are concerned, it's provenance, provenance, provenance.

In that respect, AdAware certainly has it aplenty: it's been around for years, though as LavaSoft, its developer, would be the first to admit, the era when AdAware AntiSpyware justifiably dominated the freeware sector is now long gone. Today's promotion, however, is far more than an offering of a tried and trusted single-purpose app; rather, it's a compendium of different apps, brought together in what should, theoretically, be a persuasive tool-set.

Two problems unfortunately crop up when suites of this type are bundled together: (1) just because one of the parts may be good, that doesn't necessarily mean that the sum of all parts will be; and (2) imposition of a recurring annual license -- which just about all developers in this sector have adopted, including Malwarebytes -- means that prospective users need to be especially careful that they're getting the best protection possible because they're legitimately entitled to the best value for money possible.

Lavasoft's difficulty here -- and it's an entirely self-imposed difficulty -- is that having teamed its well-known anti-spyware product to others of more recent invention, it continues to decline to submit its work to independent laboratory testing:

https://www.av-test.org/en/

and instead wishes you to believe what it says about itself. That's especially unfortunate right now, seeing as AV Labs has just put no less than 21 of these "security suites" under the microscope. . . but there's no sign of the LavaSoft product.

The company's failure to submit to independent testing doesn't, of course, mean that the claims it makes for itself aren't true. But it raises a massive question mark about the wisdom of buying blind, a question which never arises in the freeware sector where if something doesn't work, there's no financial loss.

As an ancillary to that, there's also the issue -- with products of this specific nature -- as to just how well the ordinary everyday consumer can actually evaluate them, because the level of knowledge required and the sheer scale of research expertise that must necessarily be applied is going to be far, far beyond their own individual skill-sets. All they can do is check out reports such as those from testing labs like AV Test install and try to make an informed judgment on the facts available.

For all those reasons, then, I have to thank both GAOTD and LavaSoft for today's offer of what is, effectively, a six-month free trial, but have to say no thanks because this product, though from a producer of established provenance, has no actual, proven provenance of its own.

There's also the fact that even in today's world of AV annual licensing, some of the absolute best combinations of freeware are still available to protect the average user's computer, most notably (in my experience):

Antivirus: either Avira Free AV, or Panda Cloud AV

http://www.avira.com/en/download/product/avira-free-antivirus
http://www.pandasecurity.com/uk/homeusers/solutions/free-antivirus/

teamed with Malwarebytes Free:

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/

and the irreplaceable Scottie of WinPatrol Free:

http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

All three (be Panda or Avira the AV choice) play perfectly well together, a "suite" of proven calibre which costs not a penny to purchase nor a penny to keep, year on year, and can be put together by even the most novice computer user: download, install. . . and that's that.

Reply   |   Comment by MikeR  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+146)

"the irreplaceable Scottie of WinPatrol Free:".
So true; an unobtrusive little program that can save you from endless problems, actions of which you would normally be unaware.
These include attempts to add themselves to your startup programs, hijacking of file association.
If you don't have it you should get it.

Reply   |   Comment by XP-Man  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+63)

Thank you MikeR for your yet another very informative comment.
The readers though should exercise caution when downloading winpatrol.
There is a new owner now of winpatrol, and the download you linked to, is not virustotal clean.
But one can get an older, and still very popular and clean version of it named winpatrol1112007 from here:
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/winpatrol-11-1-2007

Thanks again, MikeR, for your great contributions to this site.

Regards,

consuella

Reply   |   Comment by consuella  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+20)

"the irreplaceable Scottie of WinPatrol Free"

TERRIBLE program. When I had it installed, it would warn me that some program was asking to write things to the registry LONG after the program had already written things to the registry and there was nothing I could do about it. What ON EARTH is the point of that??

Uninstalled it within days of installing it. Just annoying, serving NO purpose.

Reply   |   Comment by DD  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-6)

Re comment by DD: I always try to make it clear in any comment I post here that I speak only from my own personal experience. Other's mileage may be different. I'm sorry your own experience of WinPatrol hasn't been a good one, though have to say that I honestly don't recognise it based on my own years of usage of this product in both free and paid-for versions.

The only times WinPatrol has flagged up a behavioural alert -- in my experience -- in regard to a known, existing app or known, existing program is when that app or program is seeking to make a one-time update. . . or when Scottie has barked to let me know that, for some reason, there's something wrong out there . . .

WinPatrol is installed in (literally) hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. I truly cannot reconcile the sheer scale of that usage, as well as WinPatrol's enviable longevity, with the word TERRIBLE.

Reply   |   Comment by MikeR  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+14)
#6

Did not install on my XP2 SP2 system. I received an error and had no program. I have used Ad Aware in the past so I was looking forward to trying this. I will have no vote today but I appreciate the opportunity to try this. Thank you GOTD team and Lavasoft.

Reply   |   Comment by gpc111  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)

You need SP3 for it to work on xp

Reply   |   Comment by Buckoooo  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+26)

Alas? XP on the web?? And you are concerned with Ad's?

SCS CISSP

Reply   |   Comment by SCS  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-15)
#5

Where is Karl? His reviews were invaluable agree with them in 80%. Where is my lighthouse? Kaaaarl! Where are you?

Reply   |   Comment by Pawel Sapinski  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+82)

Yup... Karl's reviews were the "go to" on the download page for me, too. Covered enough, including previous releases. He was an asset to users here.

Reply   |   Comment by Mark  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+73)

I asked the same question about a week after not seeing his postings. I don't recall in seeing an answer to that. His comments were Invaluable as were the comments by Giovanni.

Reply   |   Comment by Andy  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+27)

Me too, I really miss Karl's reviews. I think it's already more that two (2) months that I didn't see any review from Karl. I wish he's fine and in good health.

Reply   |   Comment by Tolitz  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#4

First, past use of this software created severe problems for me and my clients with some services like WSJ.com, because Ad-Aware blocked me from logging into WSJ.com or from running certain critically important browser-based applications like OpenEMR. To make matters infinitely worse, Ad-Aware did not actively signal me that it was interfering, so troubleshooting was miserably difficult. In some cases, weeks were spent trying to "fix" the application, only to find the only solution was telling all users they need to turn off Ad-Aware. That is a shame, because in many other cases, Ad-Aware seemed to do its job competently in the background. There was no apparent way to easily create fully functional exceptions, or to get Ad-Aware to efficiently disclose why and how it was having problems with a particular site like WSJ.com.

Second, I am no longer willing to add "free" programs to my systems that have 6-month or 1-years licenses. It is a waste of my time for me to learn to use software, find ways around limitations, and provide feedback to the developer only to be held ransom for ongoing updates. When only one or two programs behaved this way, but when multiple pieces of software are expiring each month, it forces me to constantly update, delete, reconfigure, or otherwise fight with "free software." In many cases, I may only use a particular software once a month or less, and having to deal with multiple overlapping license lapses each month, or finding a piece of software I have not used in a year is no longer usable, is an intolerable frustration. To make matters worse, not all software uninstalls cleanly or completely, leaving my system with erratic behavior, slow booting, and other unacceptable artifacts.

No thank you.

Reply   |   Comment by AnAceBuyer  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+301)

A was unsure if I should try this program or not but after reading your excellent comment I'll pass.
Just recently been trying to trace a similar problem in my XP system it can be really difficult and time-consuming and I don't go through that again.

Reply   |   Comment by XP-Man  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+83)

All programmers should to take heed to your comments. My hat's off to you, well written.

Reply   |   Comment by gerrymar  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+20)

Responding the anacebuyer comment. It appears to me that my system after awhile, the performance of my pc slows down when I load free stuff from giveaway of the day This is why I make a restore point time to time. Anyone else have this problem? This is why I read the reviews on any programs offered.

Reply   |   Comment by Charles Cemeno  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+11)

"Second, I am no longer willing to add "free" programs to my systems that have 6-month or 1-years licenses."

In the case of security software I'd politely as possible disagree. You're generally only going to get a year anyway when you buy the software, so what we're talking about here is a 6 mo. trial. A standard 30 day trial may be too short to fully evaluate the software, & from a consumer perspective, it is most often too short a time to find a good deal on that product once you decide you want it. The last 4 times I bought security software it took 3-4 months of patiently waiting for the right price, but then I didn't pay more than $15 for 3 or more PC licenses -- I didn't want the hassle of the much more common free after rebate offers. And I was only offered one of those deals because I had registered an extended trial, like today's offer, though it wasn't Lavasoft.

"To make matters worse, not all software uninstalls cleanly or completely, leaving my system with erratic behavior, slow booting, and other unacceptable artifacts."

If security software is easy to disable &/or remove, then it is likely to be easier for malware to disable or remove it. So these apps sink their roots pretty deep into Windows. Because of that most of the major brands I've checked have software freely available to fully remove it from your system, making this a total non-issue. You do need to research, making sure that just such a removal tool is available from the company making the software, & optionally you can test it, perhaps with a trial in a VM, but generally these work & make a trial worry free.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+11)

Time limited licenses are standard for security software due to their need to be constantly updated to adapt to new threats, but I agree that I wouldn't sign up for a 6 month license for the reasons you state.

Changing to a new antivirus program is a major pain and I prefer to stick to a tried and true, in my case Kaspersky.

Reply   |   Comment by Godel  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#3

As there is no way I can test the quality of this program a search for reviews produced the following.
http://uk.pcmag.com/ad-aware-total-security-11/331/review/ad-aware-total-security-11

It was only given a fair rating in this review.

Reply   |   Comment by XP-Man  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+69)

And that is the Total Security suite, the Pro Sec. offered here probably have less features.

Reply   |   Comment by Mark  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+25)

I don't consider PCMagazine a good source of reviews. Security forums and the lesser-known test labs are good sources of information.

Reply   |   Comment by Rolo  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

"... a search for reviews produced the following...."

If you follow the link in the article to the page: "How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests" [ pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2426848,00.asp ] it lists 6 independent testing labs with links to their sites. One that isn't listed, & may/may not be useful to you since, as the name suggests, it deals with what servers see real world -- shadowserver.org

Please bear in mind that not every testing site lists every security app -- it can depend on whether or not a company submits their product(s) for testing -- e.g. av-test.org [which may be the most user friendly] does not list Lavasoft. Also note that ratings vary -- the top rated product at one site may not be so highly rated at another.

"I don't consider PCMagazine a good source of reviews. Security forums and the lesser-known test labs"

Magazine reviews are just another voice -- add & compare what PCMag says to other reviews. Forums are helpful to spot real world problems with a product in day-to-day use that might not show up in limited testing, because anyone is qualified to report what they experienced. OTOH Alfred E. Neuman can claim to be the world's foremost expert, & unless you find something using Google you have no way of judging their competence. Lesser known sites &/or companies are lesser known for a reason -- often enough it's because they have little of value -- so I wouldn't consider being lesser known any sort of criteria for saying a site or company is worthwhile.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+20)
#2

What happens after the 6 months license? Just curious, it is a great kind of software,which I used before.

Reply   |   Comment by Kjell  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+37)

i think it just goes to the free version after 6 months but even that is well worth having

Reply   |   Comment by Daniel  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#1

Cool.. lavasoft is one of the best names out there. i have got many of there products already Ad-aware is legendary .. you can't go wrong with this. 100% thumbs up

Reply   |   Comment by Daniel  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-72)
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