Hello

I'm running Ad-Aware SE Personal Build 1.06r1. For the past 9 days I've been unable to update the definitions file. It always reads "Error retrieving Update". I've tried deleting the defs.ref and defs.red.old files but it still doesn't work. Please help.

Thank you.


HelpNeeded

Hello HelpNeeded,

You've tried the first suggested step - now I would suggest trying a manual update. Do as follows:

Close Ad-Aware.
Download the latest definition file here in ZIP format and save the file to a temporary location (as per screencap, make sure that you select Definitions for AAW SE):

Click to view attachment

• Unzip the contents of the file either with your favorite ZIP utility or the built-in support in Windows to the Ad-Aware installation directory, which by default is C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-aware SE\ (change the file path is you installed to a different location).
• Open Ad-aware.
• Confirm that the latest definition file is installed by checking out the Initialization Status in the main program window.

Regards,

Spike

Hi

Can I join in? I too am having the same problem. Update gets to 5% and stalls. "Error retrieving update" message. I tried deleting the def files. I have tried the second suggestion a dozen times (manual update) it is still telling me I have outdated definitions.

I don't know hat to do next. I am running Vista premium on my laptop and wondered if it is to do with that..... but why stop after it has been running. Tried Adaware 2007, but it wouldn't work at all, so went back to SE (after much searching) and now this!!!

Any help would be gratefully received

Thanks
Penny

Hi Penny,

A few questions which may be able to help me assist you:


AAW SE 1.06 is not Vista compliant at all - AAW 2007 currently supports Vista32.

1) Are you running Vista 32 or Vista 64 (support not due until year-end or thereabouts for Vista64)
2) What other security programs are you running (anti-virus, anti-,malware, firewall etc)


Which version of AAW are we talking about - AAW SE or AAW 2007? The Defs for both are here:

Click to view attachment

Firstly, in AAW SE delete the Defs file in C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-aware SE\, then download and unzip the new Defs from here to the same folder.

Secondly, in AAW 2007 delete the core.aawdef file in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\ and download/un-zip the Defs file to the same location (there was a glitch in AAW 2007 which showed the wrong date but the correct Defs file - that has been fixed now).

I will do my best to assist however details such as AAW version and any other error messages would help.

Regards,

Spike

Thank you for taking your time to help me.

HelpNeeded

Just thought I'd add my 2-cents worth; what I found is deeply weird, but maybe the Lavasoft folks can shed some light on it if they monitor this forum.

I have 2 PCs on a home LAN, a W2K SP4 and a XP Pro SP2, both using AAW SE. About a week ago, the W2K PC started displaying this error message when I tried to update; since the XP PC did not, I thought this was a machine-specific problem and relegated it to the things-I'll-do-later pile. Today, however, updating AAW SE on the XP PC also broke. So I went to the FAQ page (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/faq_aawse.php) and followed all the steps there. Only the manual update worked. So now I have 2 PCs on the same LAN not getting updates, meaning it's probably NOT PC-specific. What's common? The router. What changed? Last week I changed the primary and secondary DNS addresses from those of my ISP to those of OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220). I just changed them back and -- lo and behold -- all is well!

What initially confused me is that both PCs did not break at the same time, and no other connectivity was broken. Anyone have any ideas? Inquiring minds want to know.....


Nick

HelpNeeded
Happy to help, that is what I'm here for


nickster


Sorry, can't explain that one - hopefully one of our Windows experts will post with a knowledgeable reply.

By the way, support for AAW SE (ie: Def files) is likely to cease around the end of the year. It might pay to update to AAW 2007 before then.

Regards,

Spike

Hello, Spike.

Thanks for the reply. That was my first thought - that the AAW SE support had ended. However, from the posts I've seen about AAW 2007's performance, I'm not sure I'll go that route.

Cheers,


Nick

Part of the problem may be due to a change in the update site from download.lavasoft.de to download.lavasoft.de.edgesuite.net sometime between Oct. 16-22, and the delay associated with updating the DNS servers.

Hi Nick,


Without wishing to denigrate in any way the users who have been posting here, please bear in mind that the problems being reported in the forum represent a very small fraction of the huge number (millions) of downloads of the free version alone to date.

However, it is of course your choice

Regards,

Spike

Hello, Spike. Perhaps I used the word "posts" too loosely. I meant to refer not only to actual forum postings but also expert reviews. Specifically, neither PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2155541,00.asp) nor PC World (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136197-page,1-c,securitysoftware/article.html) gave the new version a high rating. It's a shame since I've been using AAW for at least 5 years.

In my opinion both forum posts (positive and negative) and reviews by magazines/websites are invaluable in deciding a course of action. Nevertheless, after a week I still cannot update AAW using other than the DNS entries from my ISP. It doesn't make sense to me, especially when all other connectivity is unaffected. I wonder if it's an OpenDNS issue? I'll try to drop them a line and ask whatup.

Cheers,

Nick

I was having the same problem. I uninstalled Ad-Aware and installed the newest version and it works now.

I eventually removed the OpenDNS servers from my network properties and reverted back to my ISP's DNS servers, because I was having problems with some other sites not rendering properly.