7 replies to this topic

[wmetcalf]

Seems to me that Ad Aware is going the route of many other once, lean-and-mean utility programs. Norton AV, PC-cillin, etc. Eventually their overhead becomes too much, the ability to control and constrain them becomes too difficult, and I go looking for another solution. I find Ad Aware's Anniversary Edition comes with too little explanation as to the differences between how it and its predecessors operate, and how to manage it. Ad Aware is beginning to give me that feeling that I'm no longer in control of things. It is running scans, seemingly at its own whim, which, at times causes conflicts with, or even crashes of other software. Whenever the computer seems to go unresponsive, I look down at the bottom tray, and lo-and-behold, that devilish little icon is spinning around! Ad Aware is doing it's thing again! I have gone into the interface and made sure that NO automatic scans are set, preferring to manually do these things myself. Still, Ad Aware continues to run scans. Startup is now probably 2 minutes longer than before I installed Ad Aware, and I can't get it to stop running at startup, no matter what I do with the settings. Maybe increased complexity is a growing necessity for all security software, but this feeling that Ad Aware (like other programs I have dumped in the past) has taken over my computer has me very close to looking for a more manageable solution.

[Ray DeGennaro]

I agree that ad-aware is becoming more trouble than it's worth. Here's my question: How can I get ad-aware AE to remain dormant until I choose to load it and run a scan? I don't want it to load when I boot up and I don't want any part of it to reside in memory unless I specifically activate it. Period.

How can I do that? If you want to respond directly, my email address is below.

Ray

Edited by Pierre67, 27 March 2009 - 05:55 AM.
Email address munched.

[DDon]

The problems seem inconstant, don't hit everyone the same, and sometimes telling us "I don't have that problem." I hate to quit Ad-Aware, but I'm not putting any faith in it. Hitting it with Revo Uninstaller is a temptation.

[Raziel v. Nosgoth]

Hey Guys
plz have a look to this 'little Workaround'

Kind regards
Raziel

[wmetcalf]

Ray, Thank you, exactly what I meant, but much more succinct! I have also been working along the line of Raziel's suggestions, to stop Ad Aware from automatically running. There should be a simple one-click option in the Ad Aware control panel to configure Ad aware to run only manually, then another on-click button, perhaps residing in the Task Bar, that would run Ad Aware only when the user chose to do so. As a careful user, I have always preferred NOT having these kinds of processes running in the background. My preference is to run them manually every few days, at a time of my choosing. I realize that many users wouldn't want to trust themselves to do this, but there should be a simple interface option that allows more advanced users to take control without having to go through numerous steps in the software and the operating system. The only two processes I usually leave running full time are my firewall and my virus program. I can easily shut these down temporarily when I am using game software.

[maf23]

Ray, Thank you, exactly what I meant, but much more succinct! I have also been working along the line of Raziel's suggestions, to stop Ad Aware from automatically running. There should be a simple one-click option in the Ad Aware control panel to configure Ad aware to run only manually, then another on-click button, perhaps residing in the Task Bar, that would run Ad Aware only when the user chose to do so. As a careful user, I have always preferred NOT having these kinds of processes running in the background. My preference is to run them manually every few days, at a time of my choosing. I realize that many users wouldn't want to trust themselves to do this, but there should be a simple interface option that allows more advanced users to take control without having to go through numerous steps in the software and the operating system. The only two processes I usually leave running full time are my firewall and my virus program. I can easily shut these down temporarily when I am using game software.

Go to Services.msc and set the Lavasoft Adaware service to Manual. It will stay that way every time you reboot. It will revert to Auto every time you start the app however. The Free edition does not even seem to offer real time support, so why a service needs to be running all the time in the background is beyond me. Lavasoft, is there going to be a fix for this annoying problem? I also have been a faithful user for many years and find myself using this program less and less with each new incarnation. Please bring back the ease of the SE version. Really does not seem to be too difficult to provide a service shutdown from the tray app like you are asking. Perhaps if more users express their dis-satisfaction there will be an update to correct this, until then I will rely on other more user frendly tools such as Malwarebytes.

Edit: My apologies to LS as this has been fixed:

http://www.lavasofts...rt=0#entry95611

I had previously read the sticky thread describing the need for a service and tray app but just recently "stumbled" on this "solution". I might add that it is very un-intuitive and not surprising that it is misunderstood. The AdWatch Tab shows the three columns of protection being "OFF" (Process, Registry & Network) . However, click on "Settings" and you will see that the "Processes Protection" box is checked. Therefore if you uncheck this box THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED. Why not show the Process protection as ACTIVE on the Summary screen when the "Processes Protection" box is checked to avoid this confusion?

Edited by maf23, 30 March 2009 - 02:28 AM.

[maf23]

I had previously read the sticky thread describing the need for a service and tray app but just recently "stumbled" on this "solution". I might add that it is very un-intuitive and not surprising that it is misunderstood. The AdWatch Tab shows the three columns of protection being "OFF" (Process, Registry & Network) . However, click on "Settings" and you will see that the "Processes Protection" box is checked. Therefore if you uncheck this box THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED. Why not show the Process protection as ACTIVE on the Summary screen when the "Processes Protection" box is checked to avoid this confusion?

I decided to install AE Free onto my kids computer and used the same installer that I used for mine (both XP Home SP3). However, the start-up icon is different and the issue above has been resolved (i.e. the Process Tab shows ON when the Process protection is check in Settings. Also you can shut down the AdWatchLive service by right clicking on the start-up icon and when you do so, a shield in the icon goes away.

Will those of us who have already installed get this update at some point or will we have to uninstall and reinstall?

[Boyce]

I might add that it is very un-intuitive and not surprising that it is misunderstood. The AdWatch Tab shows the three columns of protection being "OFF" (Process, Registry & Network) . However, click on "Settings" and you will see that the "Processes Protection" box is checked. Therefore if you uncheck this box THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED. Why not show the Process protection as ACTIVE on the Summary screen when the "Processes Protection" box is checked to avoid this confusion?

I know what you mean, I mentioned this HERE awhile back. You might also want to read post #19 in that same thread to get a personal opinion of how things work around here.

Edited by Boyce, 30 March 2009 - 10:59 PM.