61 replies to this topic

[visitor]

Are the developers of AdAware working on a fix for the program? Have they been in touch with the Norton techies? Does anyone have any tangible, verifiable information on what, if anything, is going on?

Ad-Aware Scan Freeze

we are currently working with Norton to resolve this issue.

[preventcare]

I returned to AAW2008. That works fine.
Waiting for AAW 2010.

Now even 2008 stopped working after an update from Lavasoft.

We're waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[James18]

I've had the same problem. I uninstalled, re-installed and tried the 2008 edition. All just frozen. Does the program leave any files behind after uninstallation that could be corrupting previous editions. Pleeeease help.

[casey_boy]

I've had the same problem. I uninstalled, re-installed and tried the 2008 edition. All just frozen. Does the program leave any files behind after uninstallation that could be corrupting previous editions. Pleeeease help.

Possibly, you should try uninstalling with Revo on its highest setting.

[blueskys]

I downloaded the newest Ad-Aware 2010. And guess what, it still is freezing up. So I will continue to go into Norton and turn off the Tamper Protection. I was hoping that the newest version of Ad-Aware would correct the problem. Has anyone tried contacting Norton to see what they have to say about it?

[casey_boy]

Yeah Lavasoft's official word is that they 'are working with Norton to fix it'.

http://lavasoft.com/...are-scan-freeze

[preventcare]

AAW2010 + NIS 2010 = Result: Freeze.

Still no solution.


Richard

[Lin Yu]

Possibly, you should try uninstalling with Revo on its highest setting.

I have been an enthusiastic user of Lavasoft's Ad-Aware free version software for many years and have recommended it to a lot of my friends. Never had a problem.

But with this recent conflict between Ad-Aware that started with the AE edition, which remains in the 2010 edition, I start to get a sad feeling like I'll have to part with an old good friend...

Somebody (may have been Visitor or Casey, I'm not sure) has provided an explanation to someone who asked about the fact that, in recent months, Ad-Aware seems to report, almost every time, "Scan was completed successfully. No malicious objects were detected". And the explanation was along the line that there was no need to be concerned, this would be due to some kind of new method or approach to the detection process on the part of Lavasoft's.

It still may very well be. But I just encountered a situation that I find a little hard to understand: In two different computers, running on two different operating systems, this issue took place:

Lavasoft reports a successful scan, with no malicious objects encountered; and NIS 2010 reports a complete scan, with seven (7) "items that require attention" on one computer, and three (3) "items that require attention" on the other.

To be sure, they were all "tracking cookies" and they likely have different degrees of privacy invasion. But still, I would like to be notified by Ad-Aware that they were there... And then I would decide whatever to do with them. On the contrary, giving me a false sense of "cleanliness" seems to me like, at least, a little less than acceptable.

As I stated above, if it weren't for this recent annoyance of having to disable the Norton Product Temper Protection, in Windows Vista, in order to get a successful scan with Ad-Aware, these other small annoyances could more easily be tolerated, one of the reasons being, it's free...

Everything considered, I think I made up my mind. I am going to disable or even completely uninstall Ad-Aware.

And here is where I need and kindly ask if someone could please show me exactly how to just "turn off" or "disable" this application. Or, in the alternative, how to cleanly uninstall it. In fact, I have experienced serious problems in the past, whenever I tried to uninstall the Ad-Aware software. To witness, on two occasions I had to finally resort to a full and complete restoration of a previous system backup which, of course, only resolved the problems created by my attempts at getting rid of Ad-Aware, but was no help on actually getting rid of it...

Many thanks in advance for any help anyone could provide on this regard. It will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. -- Does anyone know whether this "Revo" application is relatively simple and safe to use by the average user? Anything in particular to be aware of in advance?

Thanks again!

Edited by casey_boy, 18 October 2009 - 12:40 PM.
Mod. Edit. Removed large blank space. Casey

[casey_boy]

Hi,

Lavasoft reports a successful scan, with no malicious objects encountered; and NIS 2010 reports a complete scan, with seven (7) "items that require attention" on one computer, and three (3) "items that require attention" on the other.

To be sure, they were all "tracking cookies" and they likely have different degrees of privacy invasion. But still, I would like to be notified by Ad-Aware that they were there... And then I would decide whatever to do with them. On the contrary, giving me a false sense of "cleanliness" seems to me like, at least, a little less than acceptable.

This is probably because Ad-Aware will only report threats that are TAI 3 or higher. I'm guessing that Norton will report anything which it gives it's equivalent of TAI 1. Now, tracking cookies are given TAI 3 by default in Ad-Aware, so either Ad-Aware belived they weren't tracking cookies or it didn't detect the cookies (maybe they were on your system after the scan or what browser do you use?).

As I stated above, if it weren't for this recent annoyance of having to disable the Norton Product Temper Protection, in Windows Vista, in order to get a successful scan with Ad-Aware, these other small annoyances could more easily be tolerated, one of the reasons being, it's free...

Unfortunately, whilst this problem affectes Ad-Aware - it's not Lavasoft's problem as such so they can't fix it. They're relying on a competitor to fix the problem (see why this might take a while? lol). It does also affect other programs too.

And here is where I need and kindly ask if someone could please show me exactly how to just "turn off" or "disable" this application. Or, in the alternative, how to cleanly uninstall it.

You can completely disable Ad-Aware by right clicking the tray icon and then clicking Exit. If you want to perform a clean uninstall then I do recommend Revo - it's very good at deleting left over files and registry entries.

P.S. -- Does anyone know whether this "Revo" application is relatively simple and safe to use by the average user? Anything in particular to be aware of in advance?

Yes, it is we recommend it a lot here in the forums and everyone seems to get on well with it. You just click the program you want to unistall, then hit uninstall choose the level of thoroughness (I recommend highest) and just delete the left overs.

I hope that helps,
Casey

Edited by casey_boy, 18 October 2009 - 12:50 PM.

[Windfox]

Thanks for the help I disabled the Norton Tamper Protection and everthing is OK now.

I will continue monitoring this thread to know when Ad-Aware will have solved the problem.

[preventcare]

After shutting down the Tamperfunction in NIS 2010, I ran a full scan.

SUCCESS. It work fine. Took 2hr15 min. to finish and found 93 tracking cookies, where NIS found nothing.

Hoorah for AAW.

Richard

[visitor]

please show me exactly how to just "turn off" or "disable" this application.

You can completely disable Ad-Aware by right clicking the tray icon and then clicking Exit.

Doing as Casey suggests will turn off Ad-Aware in your current session, but if you turn off the module(s) under Ad-Watch settings, then it will be an on-demand scanner.

[Lin Yu]

[...]
You can completely disable Ad-Aware by right clicking the tray icon and then clicking Exit. If you want to perform a clean uninstall then I do recommend Revo - it's very good at deleting left over files and registry entries.

Yes, it is we recommend it a lot here in the forums and everyone seems to get on well with it. You just click the program you want to unistall, then hit uninstall choose the level of thoroughness (I recommend highest) and just delete the left overs.

Casey,

First of all, thank you, I appreciated your prompt and thorough reply.

About the detection issue:

I wanted to make a test. And like said, there were two different computers. One runs on Vista, the other one on XP. They both have the last version of Ad-Aware (8.1.0) and they both were recently updated to the 2010 version of NIS.

On the XP one, I first ran my weekly NIS full scan and was alarmed for encountering a whooping (for my standards, at least, it’s whooping!) number of SEVEN tracking cookies. Since I run AAW every other day or so, and very rarely encounter any tracking cookie, at all, I thought I should be surprised…

So, before I took any action on these objects detected by Norton, I decided to run a AAW full scan right away. “No malicious objects were detected”. Obviously, my surprise kept rising…

That’s when I thought of the test: Let me perform the same exact tasks on the Vista computer, but on a reverse order -- first I ran a full AAW scan and was notified that “no malicious objects were encountered”.
Then, after Norton finishes its full scan, lo and behold… “THREE tracking cookies”…

Now, as you suggest, did they reach this second computer (the Vista one) AFTER the AAW scan? Well, it is possible, but how likely is it? Zippo…

In any case, what about the XP? Norton reports SEVEN tracking cookies and, before doing anything else, I immediately run AAW and… Zippo???

Well, it’s a while since I quit believing in the guy who used to fly from the North Pole…

But, all said and done, yes… I feel sad. Both Norton and Lavasoft, for me, it’s been quite a good number of years of great service. It does feel like losing a friend…

That’s why I’m leaning towards disabling Ad-Aware, instead of getting rid of it completely. Maybe one of these months it comes back to reclaim its place of honor…

Just one last question, if I may:

Your suggestion about right clicking the tray icon and then click Exit doesn’t seem to be practical because, as I understand it, that would be only a temporary “disability” for the day… Meaning, this would be something I would have to remember to do every single time I reboot my computers!...
With so many other things to worry about, I think this would be a shameful waste of time and energy…
Would you not?

If I cannot find a clean way of keeping it asleep until I go there I wake it up again, then I might have to go through the pain (really, trust me) of “Revoing it”… If you assure me that I will not likely have the same nightmares I previously had, when trying to uninstall Ad-Aware!

Once again, my sincere thanks for all your kind help and cooperation.

Best regards.

Yu

[Lin Yu]

Doing as Casey suggests will turn off Ad-Aware in your current session, but if you turn off the module(s) under Ad-Watch settings, then it will be an on-demand scanner.

Visitor,

Sorry, I only saw your post after having posted mine… Actually, that's what I suspected.

I just checked and I think that, since I have the free version installed, the only module I really need to disable (which I just did) is the Ad-Watch Live. I understand that keeping the Web Update and the Scan System under “Status: OK” will keep the application current and will perform a scan ONLY upon user demand, and nothing else.

Am I right?

Thank you also, for your help.
Yu

[visitor]

Your terminology is wrong, but you get the idea. Web Update, Scan System, and Ad-Watch Live! are the 3 status indicators on the main GUI. Ad-Watch Live! is real-time protection with 3 modules - processes, registry, and network. The free version only has processes protection - Plus version adds registry and Pro has all 3. Once you turn off Ad-Watch Live! in settings and exit Ad-Aware by tray icon, it will be an on-demand scanner only (Ad-Aware.exe, AAWService.exe, and AAWTray.exe will not be running in task manager processes/applications until you open Ad-Aware).

Update is a bit more complicated. I turn off auto-update since I prefer to find out about new versions before updating blindly. That's why I still use AE version 8.0.3 - it works and I've avoided possible problems with 8.0.4 onward. I manually update definitons only (link to instructions).

Using "Web Update" in the GUI and update by tray icon or start menu will update both the software and definitions. Auto-update will update software and definitions, but only when Ad-Aware is running. In AE, the update time is set for when Ad-Aware was installed - I'm not sure if they made this user-definable in the 2010 version. So, if Ad-Aware or your computer are turned off at that time, auto-update will not work.

I recommend turning off auto-update in the settings and manually updating the definitions only. Then you can check this forum to see how updates progress with fixing problems.

[Lin Yu]

I understand most of what you say, but I’m now a bit confused:

If I turn off Ad-Watch Live in settings, why should I still need to “exit Ad-Aware by tray icon”? I mean, what would happen if I don’t, that would not if I did?

Besides, wouldn’t that be precisely what you had questioned about the “temporary” nature of the solution suggested by Casey?

Why, exactly, wouldn’t it be sufficient to turn off Ad-Watch Live, since everything else seems to be dependent on the user’s initiative, to render Ad-Aware just an on-demand scanner?

Please clarify and thank you again for your continued support.

[visitor]

When you turn off Ad-Watch Live in the settings, AAWService.exe and AAWTray.exe will not start at the next reboot but, if you check task manager, they're still active in the current session. Right-click/exit via the tray icon will shutdown Ad-Aware immediately without the need to reboot.

[Robert1]

When you turn off Ad-Watch Live in the settings, AAWService.exe and AAWTray.exe will not start at the next reboot but, if you check task manager, they're still active in the current session. Right-click/exit via the tray icon will shutdown Ad-Aware immediately without the need to reboot.

HiYa,

That will work only until you update again and then Ad-Ware will default to starting on boot up again. I'm so use to this now, that after I update Ad-Aware ( Manually ) I go into administrative tools and services, ( In XP Home ) highlight Lavasoft and put Ad-Aware back to manual. BTW I'm using the previous version as I had problems with the new one. I'm still reading the pinned topics as Norton seems to be causing the problem. However why would it cause a problem with the newest version and not the previous one I'm running now????.

Sorry...didn't mean to get off the topic in this post.

Cheers! Robert1

[visitor]

That will work only until you update again and then Ad-Ware will default to starting on boot up again. I'm so use to this now, that after I update Ad-Aware ( Manually ) I go into administrative tools and services, ( In XP Home ) highlight Lavasoft and put Ad-Aware back to manual. BTW I'm using the previous version as I had problems with the new one.

When you update manually, are you talking about using the GUI, start menu, or tray icon update which update both the software and definitions? I update only the definitions manually (see my link in your other post), and all my settings stay put.

I'm still reading the pinned topics as Norton seems to be causing the problem. However why would it cause a problem with the newest version and not the previous one I'm running now????.

Not sure why. The Norton problem seemed to affect Ad-Aware AE on Vista machines and carried over to version 8.1. I guess you're lucky!

[Robert1]

When you update manually, are you talking about using the GUI, start menu, or tray icon update which update both the software and definitions? I update only the definitions manually (see my link in your other post), and all my settings stay put.
Not sure why. The Norton problem seemed to affect Ad-Aware AE on Vista machines and carried over to version 8.1. I guess you're lucky!

Hello Visitor,

I always update Via the GUI, and it seems 99% of the time that as I said I have to go into services and switch it back to manual myself. As for the Norton thing it never effected AW AE. I have always kept my Norton on when installing things, as I have it set to alert me about apps and if I want to allow or block. My luck ran out however with the newest version. I am running NIS 2009 version 16.7.2.11. ( XP Home, Pent 4, 2.5 GB Ram, SP3, and fully updated in everything else to the best of my knowledge ) I do regular weekly scans with NIS which is automated, but as for my other apps they are just stand alone scans which I perform when I want.

Maybe I'lltry to turn off some Norton features and try the new AW again, but if I have to shut NIS off to use AW that isn't worth the head-ache so I'll probably keep using the previous AW AE as everything seems GREAT thus far.

Cheers! Robert1

Edited by Robert1, 23 October 2009 - 07:29 PM.